RAID EzAssist™ v2.
RAID EzAssist™ v2.00 Configuration Utility User Reference Guide Part Number 775029-01 © Copyright 2000 Mylex Corporation. All Rights Reserved. All contents of this manual are copyrighted by Mylex Corporation. The information contained herein is the exclusive property of Mylex Corporation and shall not be copied, transferred, photocopied, translated on paper, film, electronic media, or computer-readable form; or otherwise reproduced in any way, without the express written permission of Mylex Corporation.
Greetings This manual describes the RAID EzAssist v2.00 Configuration Utility. Requests for technical information about this and other Mylex Corporation products should be made to your Mylex authorized reseller or Mylex marketing representative. Please Notice Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation. Global Array Manager, Workstation Array Manager, RAID Assist, RAID EzAssist, DAC960, AcceleRAID, and eXtremeRAID are trademarks of Mylex Corporation.
About This Manual This installation guide covers the use of the RAID EzAssist Configuration Utility. With RAID EzAssist, you can: • Configure controllers, devices, disk arrays, and define logical drives • Monitor and maintain your controllers and arrays • Perform advanced tasks, such as flashing new firmware code and setting clustering Conventions Throughout the manual, the following conventions are used: ❑ This Graphic and Text Identifies a Task.
Contents Chapter 1 First-Time Configuration Welcome! .......................................................................................... 1-1 "Previous" Versus "New" Mylex PCI Controllers ......................... 1-1 How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ............... 1-3 How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers? ............................. 1-31 Chapter 2 Drive Configuration How Do I Start RAID EzAssist? .........................................................
How Do I View the Logical Drive Bad Data Table? ......................... 4-13 How Do I Visually Locate the Physical Drives That Comprise the Logical Drive? .......................................................... 4-15 How Do I Run a Consistency Check on the Logical Drive? ............. 4-17 How Do I Initialize a Logical Drive? ................................................. 4-20 How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data Onto a Logical Drive? ...........
Chapter 1 First-Time Configuration Welcome! Welcome to RAID EzAssist™, Mylex Corporation’s user friendly configuration and maintenance utility for RAID controllers. This chapter will help you get started step by step doing your first Mylex RAID Controller configuration.
Welcome! Where to Go Now... If you have installed only one Mylex RAID Controller in your target system, see the section called “How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time?” on page 1-3. If you have installed two or more Mylex RAID Controllers in your target system, see the section called “How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers?” on page 1-31.
First-Time Configuration How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ❑ Power On Your System. Regardless of whether an operating system is installed on your computer system, you can run RAID EzAssist from the Mylex controller’s BIOS at system boot time. ☞Turn on the system’s power switch. ❑ Start RAID EzAssist. As the system boots up, you’ll see various messages on the display. Pay special attention when you see a message similar to the following: BIOS Version x.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ❑ Get Started. RAID EzAssist always starts by scanning for Mylex controllers and target drives (Figure 1-1). Figure 1-1. RAID EzAssist Scans for Controllers and Drives ☞ Allow scanning to complete. Since this is a first-time configuration, you’ll see a Notice (Figure 1-2). Figure 1-2.
First-Time Configuration ☛ Note After changing controller parameters, select Configure a RAID Drive from the main menu to proceed. ☞ If you want to begin configuring your first RAID drive without changing controller options, press Enter with Yes selected. ❑ Choose a Configuration Method. Three configuration methods are available to you. The method you choose will depend in part on your experience with RAID technology and the number and relative sizes of the disk drives connected to the controller.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? Table 1-1. Selecting a Configuration Method Configuration Method Automatic Who Should Use It -Novice users with little or no RAID experience. -Users who wish to set up a single array with one logical drive when all available disk drives are of similar size/capacity. Assisted What It Does Automatically creates ONE array out of all available disk drives on the controller.
First-Time Configuration You choose your configuration method from the Configure RAID Drive screen (Figure 1-3). Figure 1-3. Choose a Configuration Method ☞ If you want to do an Automatic configuration, press Enter with Automatic selected. Now see “Option 1: Do an Automatic Configuration” for details. ☞ If you want to do an Assisted configuration, use the arrow key to select Assisted, then press Enter. Now see “Option 2: Do an Assisted Configuration” for details.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ❑ Option 1: Do an Automatic Configuration. The RAID Configuration Summary screen is displayed showing the recommended configuration for your system (Figure 1-4). Figure 1-4. RAID Configuration Summary Screen Table 1-2.
First-Time Configuration If there are more than five drives in the array, you’ll see a small down-arrow next to the disk drive display field. ☞ (Optional): If there is a down-arrow next to the disk drive display field, press PgDn to see the additional disk drives in the array. ☞ (Optional): Alternate PgUp and PgDn to see the entire list of disk drives in the array. ☞ (Optional): If you want to see additional configuration details, use the arrow key to select the Details button, then press Enter.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ☛ Note After viewing configuration details, press Enter to select OK and return to the RAID Configuration Summary screen. ☞ To apply the configuration, use the arrow key if necessary to select Apply, then press Enter, OR ☞ To cancel the configuration, use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller.
First-Time Configuration • If you have not installed your operating system software yet, and the Mylex controller is your system’s primary controller, you will need to install the operating system and the Mylex driver concurrently. • If the operating system is already installed, the Mylex controller is a secondary controller. You will need to boot your operating system and install the Mylex driver from within the operating system.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? screen is displayed (Figure 1-8). Figure 1-8. Do You Want Fault Tolerance? In most situations you will want fault tolerance to protect your array in the event of a drive failure. However, if raw performance utilizing maximum available drive capacity overshadows your need for fault tolerance, a RAID 0 (striping) configuration may be more appropriate. ☞ If you want your array to be fault tolerant, press Enter with Yes selected.
First-Time Configuration is displayed (Figure 1-9). Figure 1-9. Do You Want a Spare Drive? A spare drive (hot spare or standby drive) offers an additional level of fault tolerance for existing fault tolerant arrays. If a drive in the array fails, the presence of a spare drive allows the failed drive’s data to be rebuilt onto the spare. After rebuild is complete, the array could still accept another drive failure with no loss of data (although there would be degraded performance).
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ☛ Note If you have only two available drives on this controller, you’ll get a RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration, which optimizes for performance. You will, therefore, NOT see the Optimization Priority choice screen. Assuming your situation meets the conditions above, the Optimization Priority screen is displayed (Figure 1-10). Figure 1-10.
First-Time Configuration Figure 1-11. Optimize for Performance? ■ Logical Drive Count The Logical Drive Count screen is always displayed in Assisted Configuration. You may divide the available drive space into multiple logical drives, or retain the default of one (1) logical drive. The Logical Drive Count screen is displayed (Figure 1-12). Figure 1-12. Logical Drive Count Each logical drive that you create under Assisted Configuration will have identical capacity and settings (RAID level, caching, etc.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ☞ If you want to set up multiple logical drives: ☞ Press the up arrow key to select the logical drive count field. ☞ Type in a number of logical drives to set up. ☞ Press the down arrow key to select Ok. ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected. ■ Capacity Usage The Capacity Usage screen is always displayed in Assisted Configuration.
First-Time Configuration lower than the maximum value displayed.) ☞ Press the down arrow key to select Ok. ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected. ■ Apply the Configuration to the Controller. The RAID Configuration Summary screen is displayed (Figure 1-14). Figure 1-14. RAID Configuration Summary Screen If there are more than five drives in the array, you’ll see a small down-arrow next to the disk drive display field.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? Figure 1-15. RAID Configuration Details Screen ☛ Note After viewing configuration details, press Enter to select OK and return to the RAID Configuration Summary screen. ☞ To apply the configuration, use the arrow key if necessary to select Apply, then press Enter, OR ☞ To cancel the configuration, use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter.
First-Time Configuration Next you’ll see a Configuration Status screen (Figure 1-17). Your assisted configuration has been completed. Figure 1-17. Configuration Complete - Reboot or Main Menu Your next step will be to install the appropriate Mylex Disk Array Controller driver for the operating system you’ll be using on the computer in which the Mylex RAID Controller is installed.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ❑ Option 3: Do a Custom Configuration. Custom Configuration gives you full control over the configuration of your disk drives.
First-Time Configuration ■ Build Disk Arrays. The first step in Custom Configuration is to build at least one disk array. This is accomplished from the Disk Array Configuration screen (Figure 1-19). Figure 1-19. Disk Array Configuration Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • PgDn and PgUp show you all the available drives if there is a small down-arrow beside the Unused Drives field.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? Table 1-4.
First-Time Configuration ☞ To save the array you’ve set up, press Enter with Save Array selected. A Notice is displayed at this point as shown in Figure 1-21. Figure 1-21. Define Logical Drives or Return to Disk Array Set-Up “Do you want to build additional arrays at this time?” If you want to set up additional arrays, it is convenient to do so at this time before logical drives are defined.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? ☞ To define logical drives at this time, use the arrow key if necessary to select Yes, then press Enter. ■ Define Logical Drives. Logical drives for the array(s) you just set up are defined from the Logical Drive Definition screen (Figure 1-22). Figure 1-22. Logical Drive Definition Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the logical drive definition fields.
First-Time Configuration Let’s start by selecting a RAID level for our first logical drive. ☞ With the RAID Level definition field selected... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired RAID level, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired RAID level, then press Enter (Figure 1-23). Figure 1-23. Example of a Selection Box Next, we’ll select the write caching strategy for our logical drive.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? arrow key to select your desired write caching method, then press Enter. Next, we’ll set the stripe size for this logical drive. If you are unfamiliar with the term “Stripe Size” please refer to the Glossary for a detailed definition. ☛ Note Depending on the controller, available stripe sizes are 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024. ☞ Use the right arrow key to select the Stripe Size(KB) definition field, then...
First-Time Configuration Check your settings among the logical drive definition fields to be sure they are what you want. ☞ If you wish to change any settings, use the arrow key to select the desired definition field and change its value as described earlier. ☞ To add the logical drive, press the Tab key to switch focus to the Add Drive button, then press Enter with Add Drive selected (Figure 1-24). Figure 1-24.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? steps described in “Define Logical Drives.” As long as you haven’t applied the configuration to the controller, you can delete the logical drives you’ve set up and define new ones. RAID EzAssist lets you: • Delete the most recent logical drive you’ve added, OR • Delete all the logical drives you’ve added in this logical drive definition session.
First-Time Configuration is displayed (Figure 1-26). Figure 1-26. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait... ☞ Wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller. When the process is complete, RAID EzAssist brings you back to the Disk Array Configuration screen, or Welcome menu if all drives are assigned.
How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time? You’ll see the RAID EzAssist exit confirmation screen (Figure 1-27). Figure 1-27. Do You Wish to Exit RAID EzAssist? ☞ Use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter to exit RAID EzAssist. The system reboots. Begin operating system installation if necessary, or allow your installed operating system to boot.
First-Time Configuration How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers? ❑ Power On Your System. Regardless of whether an operating system is installed on your computer system, you can run RAID EzAssist from the Mylex controller’s BIOS at system boot time. ☞Turn on the system’s power switch. ❑ Start RAID EzAssist. As the system boots up, you’ll see various messages on the display. Pay special attention when you see a message similar to the following: BIOS Version x.
How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers? ❑ Get Started. RAID EzAssist always starts by scanning for Mylex controllers and target drives (Figure 1-28). Figure 1-28. RAID EzAssist Scans for Controllers and Drives ☞ Allow scanning to complete. Since this is a first-time configuration, you’ll see a Notice (Figure 1-29). Figure 1-29.
First-Time Configuration ☞ If you want to adjust controller parameters, or if you want to configure a controller other than the default, use the arrow key to select No, then press Enter. Please see Chapter 3 for information on changing Global, SCSI, and Startup parameters. Return here when you’re done to continue first-time RAID configuration. ☛ Note After changing controller parameters, select Configure a RAID Drive from the main menu to proceed.
How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers? press Enter (Figure 1-30). ☛ Note All operations will take place on the selected (active) controller. To work with other controllers, you will need to return to the screen shown in Figure 1-30 and select a different controller. Once you’ve selected the controller on which you want to create a RAID configuration, the RAID EzAssist main menu is displayed (Figure 1-31): Figure 1-31.
Chapter 2 Drive Configuration This chapter will provide a detailed description of how to configure disk drives using RAID EzAssist. Chapter 1 focused on first-time configuration of drives. Chapter 2 will cover some of the same topics, but will launch into more advanced configuration issues.
How Do I Start RAID EzAssist? displayed, including: Press for BIOS Options Next you’ll see: Press for RAID Configuration options ☞ When you see the prompt, press . If you’ve pressed within the allotted time, you’ll see: RAID Configuration will start after system initialization completes [X] system drives installed If you were too late pressing , simply reboot and start again. ☞ Wait for RAID EzAssist to start.
Drive Configuration How Do I Begin to Configure a Mylex Controller? What happens after RAID EzAssist starts up depends on the answers to the following questions: 1. Are there multiple Mylex controllers installed? If so, see “How Do I Configure Multiple Mylex Controllers?” in Chapter 1. 2. Is this a first-time configuration? If no previous configuration has been set on the controller, see the “Get Started” step in “How Do I Configure a Mylex Controller for the First Time?” in Chapter 1. 3.
How Do I Choose a Configuration Method? chosen not to perform a drive configuration activity as described above, you’ll see the main menu (Figure 2-3). Figure 2-3. RAID EzAssist Main Menu Refer to Chapter 3 if you’ll be doing controller configuration, to Chapter 4 if you’ll be doing a monitoring or maintenance activity, or to Chapter 5 if you want to use any advanced options.
Drive Configuration Table 2-1. Selecting a Configuration Method Configuration Method Automatic Who Should Use It -Novice users with little or no RAID experience. -Users who wish to set up a single array with one logical drive when all available disk drives are of similar size/capacity. Assisted What It Does Automatically creates ONE array out of all available disk drives on the controller.
How Do I Choose a Configuration Method? You choose your configuration method from the Configure RAID Drive screen (Figure 2-4). Figure 2-4. Choose a Configuration Method ☞ If you want to do an Automatic configuration, press Enter with Automatic selected. Now see “How Do I Do an Automatic Configuration?” on page 2-7 for details. ☞ If you want to do an Assisted configuration, use the arrow key to select Assisted, then press Enter. Now see “How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration?” on page 2-11 for details.
Drive Configuration How Do I Do an Automatic Configuration? The RAID Configuration Summary screen is displayed (Figure 2-5). Figure 2-5. RAID Configuration Summary Screen Table 2-2.
How Do I Do an Automatic Configuration? If there are more than five drives in the array, you’ll see a small down-arrow next to the disk drive display field. ☞ (Optional): If there is a down-arrow next to the disk drive display field, press PgDn to see the additional disk drives in the array. ☞ (Optional): Alternate PgUp and PgDn to see the entire list of disk drives in the array.
Drive Configuration ☛ Note After viewing configuration details, press Enter to select OK and return to the RAID Configuration Summary screen. ☞ To apply the configuration, use the arrow key if necessary to select Apply, then press Enter, OR ☞ To cancel the configuration, use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and the drives.
How Do I Do an Automatic Configuration? selected, OR ☞ To continue using RAID EzAssist, use the arrow key to select Main Menu, then press Enter. When the main menu appears: • Look in this chapter if you’ll be doing an additional configuration activity. • Refer to Chapter 3 if you’ll be doing controller configuration.
Drive Configuration How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration? The sequence of screens displayed during an Assisted Configuration depends on several factors, such as the number of unconfigured drives on the controller and your responses at each step of the Assisted Configuration process.
How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration? ☞ If you prefer a RAID 0 striping or a JBOD configuration and fault tolerance is not a consideration, use the arrow key to select No, then press Enter. ❑ Spare Drive? The Spare Drive screen is displayed under the following conditions: • Fault Tolerance = YES, AND • Number of Unconfigured Drives on Controller > 3 ☛ Note If you have two unconfigured drives on this controller, you’ll get a RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration.
Drive Configuration ☞ If you want your array to reserve a spare drive, press Enter with Yes selected. ☞ If you prefer not to reserve a spare drive and thereby use all the available drives in the array, use the arrow key to select No, then press Enter.
How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration? requesting a RAID 5 (striping with parity) configuration. If you choose Performance, you’ll be requesting a RAID 0+1 (striping with mirroring) configuration. Both give you the safety of fault tolerance. RAID 5 provides the best combination of settings for most applications and has overhead of only one drive’s capacity.
Drive Configuration identical capacity and settings (RAID level, caching, etc.). If you wish to set logical drive capacities or settings individually, you must use Custom Configuration. See “How Do I Do a Custom Configuration?” on page 2-19. ☞ If you want to set only one (1) logical drive, press Enter with Ok selected. ☞ If you want to set up multiple logical drives: ☞ Press the up arrow key to select the logical drive count field. ☞ Type in a number of logical drives to set up.
How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration? logical drives, press Enter with Ok selected. ☞ If you want to reserve some capacity for future use: ☞ Press the up arrow key to select the capacity usage field. ☞ Type in a number representing the gigabytes (GB) to be used in the current configuration. (This number must be lower than the maximum value displayed.) ☞ Press the down arrow key to select Ok. ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected. ❑ Apply the Configuration to the Controller.
Drive Configuration array. ☞ (Optional): Alternate PgUp and PgDn to see the entire list of disk drives in the array. ☞ (Optional): If you want to see additional configuration details, use the arrow key to select the Details button, then press Enter. If you choose to view configuration details, the RAID Configuration Details screen is displayed (Figure 2-16). Figure 2-16.
How Do I Do an Assisted Configuration? Figure 2-17. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait... ☞ Wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller and the drives. Next you’ll see a Configuration Status screen (Figure 2-18). Your assisted configuration has been completed. Figure 2-18.
Drive Configuration How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? Custom Configuration gives you full control over the configuration of your disk drives.
How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? (return to “Unconfigured” status), see “How Do I Unassign Existing Spare Drives?” on page 2-50. If you want to see whether spanning is turned on, OR if you want to enable or disable spanning, see “How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature?” on page 2-54. ☞ To set up a new disk array, press Enter with the Configure a New Disk Array option selected in the Custom Configuration menu. ❑ Build Disk Arrays.
Drive Configuration Caution The drives you select to comprise the array will all be treated as having the capacity of the smallest selected drive, regardless of the actual capacities. This could lead to wasted drive space. Therefore, try whenever possible to select drives of similar capacity when building an array. “How many drives should I select for an array?” The answer depends on the RAID levels you want to be able to choose for the logical drives you’ll set up in that array. See Table 2-4.
How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? Figure 2-21. Sample Disk Array Configuration ☞ If you’re not satisfied with your drive selections, use the arrow key to select Clear, then Press Enter. Press Tab to return to Unused Drives. Your selections will be erased and you can try again as described above. ☞ To save the array you’ve set up, press Enter with Save Array selected. A Notice is displayed at this point as shown in Figure 2-22. Figure 2-22.
Drive Configuration ☛ Note If you want to take advantage of “spanning” your configuration across multiple arrays, you must enable spanning FIRST, build the individual arrays, then create logical drives that can make use of the spanned capacity available. See “How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature?” on page 2-54 for more complete information about this option.
How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? • For RAID Level, Write Cache, and Stripe Size(KB) definition fields, the Spacebar brings up a list of valid options. Arrow keys move among the options and Enter selects an option. • For RAID Level, Write Cache, and Stripe Size(KB) definition fields, the + and - keys cycle through the valid options. When the desired option is visible, use the arrow key to move to another field.
Drive Configuration If you are unfamiliar with the terms “Write Through” and “Write Back” caching, please refer to the Glossary for a detailed definition. In a nutshell, Write Back caching speeds write performance but risks loss of data in the cache buffer should power fail. Use Write Back only if you have a battery backup unit (BBU) or uninterruptable power supply (UPS) installed to preserve data in the cache. ☞ Use the right arrow key to select the Write Cache definition field, then...
How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? capacity. Logical capacity takes into account overhead for fault tolerance, spare drives, etc. If you intend to set up more than one logical drive in this array, then set the capacity for the first logical drive somewhere below the maximum to leave space for additional logical drives.
Drive Configuration drive definition field line if capacity remains for additional logical drives (Figure 2-26). Figure 2-26. Logical Drive Has Been Added ☞ To define additional logical drives, use the arrow key if necessary to return to the RAID Level definition field. Repeat the steps described in “Define Logical Drives.” As long as you haven’t applied the configuration to the controller, you can delete the logical drives you’ve set up and define new ones.
How Do I Do a Custom Configuration? ❑ Apply the Configuration to the Controller. In order for the disk arrays and logical drives you set up to become a valid, registered configuration, you must Apply the configuration to the controller.
Drive Configuration How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? RAID EzAssist gives you the option of adding capacity to existing disk arrays. This process is referred to as Mylex Online RAID Expansion™ (MORE™). The process allows you to increase the useable space in an array without having to: (1) back up data, (2) reconfigure the array to a larger number of drives, and (3) restore existing data to the new array. The extra space is then used to create additional logical drives.
How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? The Custom Configuration menu is displayed (Figure 2-30). Figure 2-30. Custom Configuration Menu ☞ If you want to add capacity to an existing disk array, use the arrow key to select Add Capacity to Existing Disk Array on the Custom Configuration menu, then press Enter.
Drive Configuration ❑ Select an Array to Expand. The first step in this process is to select the array you wish to expand. You do this from the Disk Array Selection screen (Figure 2-31), which will display only the arrays that are expandable (spanned arrays are not displayed). Figure 2-31. Disk Array Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the available disk arrays. • Enter selects the highlighted disk array.
How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? Figure 2-32. Disk Array Configuration Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • PgDn and PgUp show you all the available or selected drives if there is a small down/up-arrow beside the Unused Drives or Disk Array fields. • Inside Unused Drives, arrow keys select a drive, Enter accepts the highlighted drive and adds it to the Disk Array box to the right.
Drive Configuration field, then press Enter to accept the drive into the disk array. ☞ Repeat the step above for as many disk drives as you wish to add to the existing disk array. ☞ When you’ve finished adding drives, press the Tab key to switch focus to the buttons. Figure 2-33 is a example of how your screen might look after the steps above. Figure 2-33. Sample Add Capacity Configuration ☞ If you’re not satisfied with your drive selections, use the arrow key to select Clear, then Press Enter.
How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? Figure 2-34. Define Logical Drives or Return to Add Capacity Set-Up You should define your additional logical drives for the expanded array at this time unless you may wish first to expand other existing disk arrays. ☞ To expand additional disk arrays, use the arrow key if necessary to select No, then press Enter.
Drive Configuration Figure 2-35. Logical Drive Definition Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the logical drive definition fields. • For RAID Level, Write Cache, and Stripe Size(KB) definition fields, the Spacebar brings up a list of valid options. Arrow keys move among the options and Enter selects an option. • For RAID Level, Write Cache, and Stripe Size(KB) definition fields, the + and - keys cycle through the valid options.
How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? ☞ With the RAID Level definition field selected... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired RAID level, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired RAID level, then press Enter Next, we’ll select the write caching strategy for our logical drive. If you are unfamiliar with the terms “Write Through” and “Write Back” caching, please refer to the Glossary for a detailed definition.
Drive Configuration ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired stripe size, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired stripe size, then press Enter. Next, we set a size for this logical drive based on the maximum available capacity. You can set logical drive size in terms of either physical capacity or logical capacity. Logical capacity takes into account overhead for fault tolerance, spare drives, etc.
How Do I Add Capacity to an Existing Disk Array? lets you: • Delete the most recent logical drive you’ve added, OR • Delete all the logical drives you’ve added in this logical drive definition session. ☞ To delete the most recently-added logical drive, press Tab if necessary to switch focus to the buttons, use the arrow key to select Delete Last, then press Enter.
Drive Configuration OR ☞ To cancel the expanded configuration, press Tab if necessary to switch focus to the buttons, use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter. When you apply the new expanded configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and the drives. This takes a few moments, so a message is displayed (Figure 2-37). Figure 2-37. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait...
How Do I Define Additional Logical Drives? How Do I Define Additional Logical Drives? ☞ From the main menu, press Enter with Configure RAID Drive selected (Figure 2-38). Figure 2-38. Main Menu - Configure RAID Drive ☞ On the Configure RAID Drive screen, use the arrow key to select Custom, then press Enter (Figure 2-39). Figure 2-39. Configure RAID Drive - Custom The Custom Configuration menu is displayed (Figure 2-40). Figure 2-40.
Drive Configuration ☛ Note If you have not previously defined at least one disk array, you will be unable to use the Define Logical Drive(s) option. Begin with the Configure a New Disk Array option. ❑ Define Logical Drives. Logical drives for the array(s) you set up previously are defined from the Logical Drive Definition screen (Figure 2-23). Figure 2-41. Logical Drive Definition Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the logical drive definition fields.
How Do I Define Additional Logical Drives? activates the highlighted button. Arrow keys rotate selections through Add Drive, Apply, Cancel, Clear New, and Delete Last. Let’s start by selecting a RAID level for our logical drive. ☞ With the RAID Level definition field selected... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired RAID level, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired RAID level, then press Enter.
Drive Configuration ☞ Use the right arrow key to select the Stripe Size(KB) definition field, then... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired stripe size, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired stripe size, then press Enter. Next, we set a size for this logical drive based on the maximum available capacity. You can set logical drive size in terms of either physical capacity or logical capacity.
How Do I Define Additional Logical Drives? steps described above. As long as you haven’t applied the configuration to the controller, you can delete the logical drives you’ve set up and define new ones. RAID EzAssist lets you: • Delete the most recent logical drive you’ve added, OR • Delete all the logical drives you’ve added in this logical drive definition session.
Drive Configuration Figure 2-42. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait... ☞ Wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller and the drives. When the process is complete, RAID EzAssist brings you back to the main menu. When the main menu appears: • Look in this chapter if you’ll be doing an additional configuration activity. • Refer to Chapter 3 if you’ll be doing controller configuration.
How Do I Assign Additional Spare Drives? How Do I Assign Additional Spare Drives? ☞ From the main menu, press Enter with Configure RAID Drive selected (Figure 2-43). Figure 2-43. Main Menu - Configure RAID Drive ☞ On the Configure RAID Drive screen, use the arrow key to select Custom, then press Enter (Figure 2-44). Figure 2-44. Configure RAID Drive - Custom The Custom Configuration menu is displayed (Figure 2-45). Figure 2-45.
Drive Configuration ☛ Note If you do not have any unconfigured drives available on this controller, you will be unable to use the Assign Spare Drive(s) option. ❑ Assign Spare Drives. Spare drives for the array(s) you’ve set up are assigned in the Physical Drive Selection screen (Figure 2-46). Figure 2-46. Physical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the defined physical devices. • Enter selects the highlighted physical device.
How Do I Assign Additional Spare Drives? Figure 2-47. Designate Drive as Spare Confirmation ☞ To apply the configuration, use the arrow key to select Yes if necessary, then press Enter. OR ☞ To cancel the configuration change, use the arrow key to select No if necessary, then press Enter. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and the drives. This takes a few moments, so a message is displayed (Figure 2-48). Figure 2-48.
Drive Configuration • Look in this chapter if you’ll be doing an additional configuration activity. • Refer to Chapter 3 if you’ll be doing controller configuration. • Refer to Chapter 4 if you’ll be doing a monitoring or maintenance activity, changing physical device SCSI properties (New Controllers only), or adding drives (requiring a rescan for devices). • Refer to Chapter 5 if you’ll be using any advanced options. • To exit RAID EzAssist, see “How Do I Exit RAID EzAssist?” on page 2-67. Manual No.
How Do I Unassign Existing Spare Drives? How Do I Unassign Existing Spare Drives? ☞ From the main menu, press Enter with Configure RAID Drive selected (Figure 2-49). Figure 2-49. Main Menu - Configure RAID Drive ☞ On the Configure RAID Drive screen, use the arrow key to select Custom, then press Enter (Figure 2-50). Figure 2-50. Configure RAID Drive - Custom The Custom Configuration menu is displayed (Figure 2-51). Figure 2-51.
Drive Configuration ☛ Note If you do not have any spare drives currently assigned on this controller, you will be unable to use the Assign Spare Drive(s) option to unassign. ❑ Unassign Existing Spare Drives. Previously assigned spare drives for the array(s) you’ve set up are unassigned in the Physical Drive Selection screen (Figure 2-52). Figure 2-52. Physical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the defined physical drives.
How Do I Unassign Existing Spare Drives? Figure 2-53. Designate Drive as Unused Confirmation ☞ To apply the configuration, use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter, OR ☞ To cancel the configuration change, press Enter with No selected. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and the drives. This takes a few moments, so a message is displayed (Figure 2-54). Figure 2-54. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait...
Drive Configuration • Look in this chapter if you’ll be doing an additional configuration activity. • Refer to Chapter 3 if you’ll be doing controller configuration. • Refer to Chapter 4 if you’ll be doing a monitoring or maintenance activity, changing physical device SCSI properties (New Controllers only), or adding drives (requiring a rescan for devices). • Refer to Chapter 5 if you’ll be using any advanced options. • To exit RAID EzAssist, see “How Do I Exit RAID EzAssist?” on page 2-67. Manual No.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? “Spanning” is the concept of linking similar disk arrays so that logical drives can make use of the extended capacity across the disk arrays. When to Use Spanning Spanning is generally useful in the following types of situations: 1. To overcome the eight (8) drive limit (Previous Controllers), or 16 drive limit (New Controllers) per disk array For example, if I have eight 4.
Drive Configuration • Build an array (A0) from the three 4.0 GB drives, and build another array (A1) from the three 2.0 GB drives, with spanning. I will now have the full 18.0 GB of physical capacity in both A0 and A1 with which to define logical drives. Therefore, the largest logical drive I can define would make use of the full 18.0 GB in both arrays.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? 3. For spanning, capacity of the drives in a disk array does not need to be the same, but each disk array must have the same number of physical drives and be defined consecutively. To avoid downsizing of drives, build each disk array with drives of the same capacity whenever possible. Therefore, you can span an array of three (3) 4.0 GB drives with a second, consecutively-defined array of three 2.0 GB drives.
Drive Configuration ❑ Enable (or Disable) Spanning. ☞ If the main menu is displayed, press Enter with Configure RAID Drive selected (Figure 2-55). Figure 2-55. Main Menu - Configure RAID Drive ☞ On the Configure RAID Drive screen, use the arrow key to select Custom, then press Enter (Figure 2-56). Figure 2-56. Configure RAID Drive - Custom The Custom Configuration menu is displayed (Figure 2-57). Figure 2-57.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? Figure 2-58 will be displayed: Figure 2-58. Enable Spanning? ☞ If you want to enable spanning, use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter, OR ☞ If you don’t want to enable spanning, press Enter with No selected. However, if spanning is currently enabled when you select the Spanning option on the Custom Configuration menu, the Custom Configuration screen shown in Figure 2-59 will be displayed: Figure 2-59.
Drive Configuration OR ☞ If you don’t want to disable spanning, use the arrow key to select No, then press Enter. ❑ Build Disk Arrays. ☞ From the Custom Configuration menu, use the arrow key to select Configure a New Disk Array, then press Enter (Figure 2-60). Figure 2-60. Select Configure a New Disk Array The first step is to build at least two disk arrays with equal numbers of drives. This is accomplished from the Disk Array Configuration screen (Figure 2-61). Figure 2-61.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? Unused Drives. • When buttons are in focus, arrow keys select a button and Enter activates the highlighted button. Caution The drives you select to comprise the array will all be treated as having the capacity of the smallest selected drive, regardless of the actual capacities. This could lead to wasted drive space. Therefore, try whenever possible to select drives of similar capacity when building an array.
Drive Configuration Figure 2-62. Sample Disk Array Configuration ☞ If you’re not satisfied with your drive selections, use the arrow key to select Clear, then Press Enter. Press Tab to return to Unused Drives. Your selections will be erased and you can try again as described above. ☞ To save the array you’ve set up, press Enter with Save Array selected. A Notice is displayed at this point as shown in Figure 2-63. Figure 2-63.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? to select No, then press Enter. Repeat the steps described in “Build Disk Arrays” above and be sure to build additional disk arrays with the same number of drives as the first disk array! ☞ When you’ve built the equal disk arrays you want to span, use the arrow key if necessary to select Yes on the screen above, then press Enter. ❑ Define Logical Drives.
Drive Configuration • The Tab key shifts control to the buttons, or from the buttons back to the logical drive definition fields. • When buttons are in focus, arrow keys select a button and Enter activates the highlighted button. Arrow keys rotate selections through Add Drive, Apply, Cancel, Clear New, and Delete Last. Let’s start by selecting a RAID level for our logical drive. ☞ With the RAID Level definition field selected...
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? ☛ Note Depending on the controller, available stripe sizes are 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024. ☞ Use the right arrow key to select the Stripe Size(KB) definition field, then... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired stripe size, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired stripe size, then press Enter. Next, we set a size for this logical drive based on the maximum available capacity.
Drive Configuration ☞ If you wish to change any settings, use the arrow key to select the desired definition field and change its value as described earlier. ☞ To add the logical drive, press the Tab key to switch focus to the Add Drive button, then press Enter with Add Drive selected. The logical drive is added to the display box, and focus returns to the logical drive definition field line if capacity remains for additional logical drives.
How Do I Make Use of the Spanning Feature? OR ☞ To cancel the configuration, press Tab if necessary to switch focus to the buttons, use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and the drives. This takes a few moments, so a message is displayed (Figure 2-65). Figure 2-65. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait...
Drive Configuration How Do I Exit RAID EzAssist? ☞ To exit RAID EzAssist, press the Esc key multiple times until you see the screen in Figure 2-66 below. Figure 2-66. Do You Wish to Exit RAID EzAssist? ☞ Use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter to exit RAID EzAssist. Begin operating system installation if necessary, or reboot your installed operating system. Manual No.
How Do I Exit RAID EzAssist? 2-68 RAID EzAssist User’s Manual
Chapter 3 Controller Configuration You can use RAID EzAssist to view a controller’s current configuration settings. Additionally, you can change certain settings on your controller. Each Mylex Disk Array Controller is shipped from the factory with default settings which have been found to work well in a majority of applications and environments. However, no two environments are the same, and you may want to modify certain settings.
If you wish to view basic configuration information about the selected Mylex controller, see the section called “How Do I View Controller Configuration Information?” on page 3-3. If you wish to view and/or modify any Global Properties for the selected Mylex controller, see the section called “How Do I Change Global Properties for a Controller?” on page 3-5.
Controller Configuration How Do I View Controller Configuration Information? ❑ Enter the Controller Configuration Screen. ☞If necessary, select the controller you wish to configure from the “Welcome to RAID EzAssist” screen, The RAID EzAssist main menu includes several options (Figure 3-1). Figure 3-1. View or Modify Controller Configuration ☞Use the arrow key to select View or Modify Controller Configuration on the main menu, then press Enter.
How Do I View Controller Configuration Information? ❑ Examine the Controller Configuration Details. Table 3-2 shows the information displayed on the Controller Configuration screen. This information is read only. Table 3-2. Controller Configuration Details Field Description Vendor Identifies the manufacturer of the controlller: Mylex. Model Identifies which Mylex controller you have. For example, DAC1164P = eXtremeRAID 1100.
Controller Configuration How Do I Change Global Properties for a Controller? ❑ Enter the Properties Menu. To view and possibly change Global properties of the controller, you enter the Properties menu from the Controller Configuration screen. ☞Press Enter with Properties selected on the Controller Configuration screen. The Properties menu is displayed (Figure 3-3).
How Do I Change Global Properties for a Controller? The Global Properties screen is displayed (Figure 3-4 or Figure 3-5). Figure 3-4. Global Properties Screen - Previous Controllers Figure 3-5. Global Properties Screen - New Controllers This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the global property fields. • The Spacebar brings up a list of valid options. Arrow keys move among the options and Enter selects an option. • The + and - keys cycle through the valid options.
Controller Configuration ❑ View/Modify Automatic Rebuild Management. Default = Enabled The Automatic Rebuild Management option refers to the function of the same name. It detects the removal of a failed drive and performs an automatic rebuild after a replacement drive is installed into a redundant (fault tolerant) logical array (RAID 1, 3, 5, and 0+1). Automatic Rebuild Management requires hardware compatibility with disk array enclosures that are certified AEMI or SAF-TE compliant.
How Do I Change Global Properties for a Controller? desired, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired setting, then press Enter. ❑ View/Modify Background Process Rate. Default = 50 The Background Process Rate is a relative indication of how much time the controller devotes to a rebuild, add capacity (MORE), or background initialization operation. Integer values from 0-50 can be defined in multiples of 10.
Controller Configuration arrow key to select your desired value, then press Enter. ❑ New Controllers: View/Modify the Drive Size Coercion Setting. Default = Enabled Enable to allow drives of similar but not exact capacities to be treated as identical in capacity for the purpose of hot spares, drive replacements, and array configurations. ☞ Use the arrow key to select the Drive Size Coercion field, then...
How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties for a Previous Mylex PCI Controller? How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties for a Previous Mylex PCI Controller? ❑ Enter the Properties Menu. To view and possibly change SCSI Transfer properties of the controller, you enter the Properties menu from the Controller Configuration screen. ☞Press Enter with Properties selected on the Controller Configuration screen. The Properties menu is displayed (Figure 3-6). Figure 3-6.
Controller Configuration This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the SCSI transfer property fields. • The Spacebar brings up a list of valid options. Arrow keys move among the options and Enter selects an option. • The + and - keys cycle through the valid options. When the desired option is visible, use the arrow key to move to another field. • The Tab key shifts control to the buttons, or from the buttons back to the SCSI transfer property fields.
How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties for a Previous Mylex PCI Controller? ☞ Press the + or - key to set the desired value, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired value, then press Enter. ☞ Repeat the steps above for other controller channels if necessary. ❑ View/Modify the Tag Queueing Setting. Default = Yes The Tag Queueing setting controls SCSI command tag queuing support for each drive channel.
Controller Configuration ☞ Press the + or - key to set the value to 16 or 8 as desired, OR ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired setting, then press Enter. ❑ Accept or Cancel Your SCSI Transfer Property Changes.
How Do I Change Startup Properties for a Controller? ❑ Enter the Startup Properties Screen. ☞When the Properties menu is displayed, use the arrow key to select Startup, then press Enter. The Startup Properties screen is displayed (Figure 3-9). Figure 3-9. Startup Properties Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the startup property fields. • For the Disk Spin Up field, the Spacebar brings up a list of valid options.
Controller Configuration The Disk Spin Up setting controls how the SCSI drives in the array are started (spun-up). There are three different Spin-up modes that may be selected by the user. By Controller. This spin-up mode causes the controller to spin-up all connected drives until every drive in the array is spinning. The controller then interrogates each drive and confirms that the drive is ready for use. The interrogation process repeats until all drives have been verified.
How Do I Change Startup Properties for a Controller? request is issued to the array. Delay values range from 0 to 30 in six second increments. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the Initial Delay (seconds) field, then type the desired numeric value for the number of seconds of initial delay. ❑ View/Modify the Delay Between Spins Setting. Default = 0 This specifies the number of seconds between consecutive device spin-up cycles.
Chapter 4 Monitoring and Maintenance Activities In this chapter you’ll learn how to work with: • Disk arrays • Logical drives • Physical devices RAID EzAssist allows you to monitor characteristics and status, change certain properties of logical and physical drives, and perform some useful and sometimes necessary administration and maintenance activities.
Here is a list of the tasks that you can accomplish: DISK ARRAY TASKS: • View a list of the physical drives that make up the selected disk array, capacity and status of the drives, and the amount of unused space in the disk array. • Physically locate (with blinking LEDs) the physical drives that comprise the selected array. LOGICAL DRIVE TASKS: • View properties of the selected logical drive, such as status, capacity, RAID level, stripe size. • Optionally change Stripe Block Size and Write Cache settings.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities PHYSICAL DEVICE TASKS: • View properties of the selected physical device, such as vendor, model, firmware version, capacity, and status. • Optionally change Read and Write Cache settings. • View either the primary drive defect list, or a list of “grown” defects which may have emerged more recently. This information can help you anticipate a drive that may eventually need replacement.
How Do I View Disk Array Status and Information? How Do I View Disk Array Status and Information? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-2). Figure 4-2. Administration Menu - Disk Array ☞Press Enter with Disk Array selected. ❑ Select a Disk Array. The first step is to select the disk array you wish to monitor. You do this from the Disk Array Selection screen (Figure 4-3). Figure 4-3.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities monitor, then press Enter. The Disk Array menu is displayed (Figure 4-4). Figure 4-4. Disk Array Menu - View Array Configuration ☞Press Enter with View Array Configuration selected. ❑ View Disk Array Status and Information. The Disk Array Configuration screen for the selected array is displayed (Figure 4-5).
How Do I Visually Locate the Physical Drives That Comprise the Array? How Do I Visually Locate the Physical Drives That Comprise the Array? RAID EzAssist has an option that allows you to see exactly which physical drives were used to define the selected array. Using Locate Array, you can cause the LEDs to blink on all online physical drives that comprise the array. ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities • Enter selects the highlighted disk array. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the disk array you want to locate, then press Enter. ❑ Locate Physical Drives Comprising the Array. The Disk Array menu is displayed (Figure 4-8). Figure 4-8. Disk Array Menu - Locate Array ☞Use the arrow key to select Locate Array, then press Enter. A Notice is displayed for the selected array (Figure 4-9).
How Do I View Logical Drive Status and Information? How Do I View Logical Drive Status and Information? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-10). Figure 4-10. Administration Menu - Logical Drive ☞Use the arrow key to select Logical Drive, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Logical Drive. The first step is to select the logical drive you wish to monitor.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities monitor, then press Enter. ❑ View Logical Drive Status and Information. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-12). Figure 4-12. Logical Drive Menu - View or Modify Drive Configuration ☞Press Enter with View or Modify Drive Configuration selected. The Logical Drive Configuration screen for the selected logical drive is displayed (Figure 4-13).
How Do I View Logical Drive Status and Information? Figure 4-13. Logical Drive Configuration Screen ☞ (Optional): If a small down-arrow is displayed beside the physical drive field, press PgDn to view additional drives used in this logical drive. Press PgUp to move up the list. ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected to close the Logical Drive Configuration screen. If you want to change the Read Cache and/or Write Cache logical drive settings, please continue to the next section.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Change Logical Drive Stripe Size and Write Cache Settings? If you are unfamiliar with the terms “Stripe Size,” “Write Cache,” “Write Through,” or “Write Back” caching, please refer to the Glossary for a detailed definition. In a nutshell, Stripe Size is the size of the logically contiguous data block mapped to a single disk. A stripe of data is divided over all disks in the drive group.
How Do I Change Logical Drive Stripe Size and Write Cache Settings? ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected to accept the changes, OR ☞ Use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter to leave the settings unchanged. If you made any changes and selected Ok,a Notice is displayed asking you to confirm your changes.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I View the Logical Drive Bad Data Table? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-14). Figure 4-14. Administration Menu - Logical Drive ☞Use the arrow key to select Logical Drive, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Logical Drive. The first step is to select the logical drive whose bad data table you wish to view.
How Do I View the Logical Drive Bad Data Table? table you want to view, then press Enter. ❑ View Logical Drive Bad Data Table. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-16). Figure 4-16. Logical Drive Menu - View Bad Data Table ☞Use the arrow key to select View Bad Data Table, then press Enter. The Bad Data Table screen for the selected logical drive is displayed (Figure 4-17).
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Visually Locate the Physical Drives That Comprise the Logical Drive? RAID EzAssist has an option that allows you to see exactly which physical drives were used to define the selected logical drive. Using Locate Drive, you can cause the LEDs to blink on all online physical drives that comprise the logical drive. ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-18).
How Do I Visually Locate the Physical Drives That Comprise the Logical Drive? • Arrow keys move among the available logical drives. • Enter selects the highlighted logical drive. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the logical drive whose physical drives you want to locate visually, then press Enter. ❑ Locate Physical Drives Comprising the Logical Drive. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-20). Figure 4-20.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Run a Consistency Check on the Logical Drive? From time to time it’s wise to check the parity on your fault tolerant logical drives for consistency, and to restore consistency if necessary. You do this by using the Check Consistency option. ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-22). Figure 4-22.
How Do I Run a Consistency Check on the Logical Drive? • Enter selects the highlighted logical drive. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the logical drive on which to run the consistency check, then press Enter. ❑ Enter the Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-24). Figure 4-24. Logical Drive Menu - Advanced Options ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options, then press Enter. The Logical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-25). Figure 4-25.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ❑ Run a Consistency Check. ☞ Press Enter with Check Consistency selected. The Check Consistency screen is displayed (Figure 4-26): Figure 4-26. Check Consistency - Repair Inconsistent Data? You can check consistency with or without data repair. If you check consistency with data repair, errors will be fixed as they are found. Some errors may not be reparable, however, and attempting to fix them may further corrupt the data.
How Do I Initialize a Logical Drive? How Do I Initialize a Logical Drive? With the Immediate RAID Availability feature built into Mylex products, logical drives are initialized in the background just after they are configured. The logical drives can be used right away without the need to wait for a lengthy drive initialization process to complete.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities Figure 4-28. Logical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the available logical drives. • Enter selects the highlighted logical drive. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the logical drive to initialize, then press Enter. ❑ Enter the Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-29). Figure 4-29.
How Do I Initialize a Logical Drive? The Logical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-30). Figure 4-30. Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu - Initialize Drive ❑ Initialize the Logical Drive. ☞ Use the arrow key to select Initialize Drive, then press Enter. The Initialize Drive warning screen is displayed (Figure 4-31): Figure 4-31. Initialize Drive? Initialization will erase all data on the logical drive.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data Onto a Logical Drive? One of the most important features of RAID technology is fault tolerance (data redundancy). It’s the redundancy built into your RAID 1 (10), RAID 3 (30), RAID 5 (50), and RAID 0+1 (0+1+0) logical drive data that allows for a physical disk drive failure without the loss of that data.
How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data Onto a Logical Drive? ❑ Select a Logical Drive. The first step is to select the logical drive that is in critical mode. You do this from the Logical Drive Selection screen (Figure 4-33). Figure 4-33. Logical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the available logical drives. • Enter selects the highlighted logical drive. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the logical drive with Critical status, then press Enter.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities The Logical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-35). Figure 4-35. Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu - Rebuild Redundancy Data ❑ Rebuild Redundancy Data on the Logical Drive. ☞ Use the arrow key to select Rebuild Redundancy Data, then press Enter. The Rebuild Redundancy Data warning screen is displayed (Figure 4-36): Figure 4-36. Rebuild Redundancy Data? Rebuild redundancy will regenerate the data that was on the failed or offline drive.
How Do I Cancel a Background Task That’s Running on a Logical Drive? How Do I Cancel a Background Task That’s Running on a Logical Drive? One of the following tasks may be running in the background: • Consistency Check • Drive Initialization • Redundancy Data Rebuild You may wish to cancel a background task in order to boost disk array performance in the short term, since the presence of a background task usually degrades array performance to some degree.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-37). Figure 4-37. Administration Menu - Logical Drive ☞Use the arrow key to select Logical Drive, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Logical Drive. The first step is to select the logical drive on which the background task is currently running. You do this from the Logical Drive Selection screen (Figure 4-38). Figure 4-38.
How Do I Cancel a Background Task That’s Running on a Logical Drive? ❑ Enter the Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-39). Figure 4-39. Logical Drive Menu - Advanced Options ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options, then press Enter. The Logical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-40). Figure 4-40.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ❑ Cancel the Background Task Running on the Logical Drive. ☞ Use the arrow key to select Cancel Background Task, then press Enter. A Cancel Background Task warning screen of the following type is displayed (Figure 4-41): Figure 4-41. Cancel Background Task? Answering “Yes” will cancel the task currently running in the background.
How Do I Delete the Most Recently Configured Logical Drive? How Do I Delete the Most Recently Configured Logical Drive? RAID EzAssist allows you to delete the most recently configured logical drive through a menu selection. ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-42). Figure 4-42. Administration Menu - Logical Drive ☞Use the arrow key to select Logical Drive, then press Enter.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities • Enter selects the highlighted logical drive. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the HIGHEST NUMBERED logical drive, then press Enter. ❑ Enter the Logical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Logical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-44). Figure 4-44. Logical Drive Menu - Advanced Options ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options, then press Enter. The Logical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed, and this time it has an additional choice (Figure 4-45).
How Do I Delete the Most Recently Configured Logical Drive? ❑ Delete the Logical Drive. ☞ Use the arrow key to select Delete Logical Drive, then press Enter. The logical drive is deleted. This is confirmed in the Logical Drive Selection screen (Figure 4-46): Figure 4-46. Logical Drive Selection - Logical Drive Has Been Deleted.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I View Physical Drive Status and Information? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-47). Figure 4-47. Administration Menu - Physical Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Physical Device, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Physical Device. The first step is to select the physical device you wish to monitor.
How Do I View Physical Drive Status and Information? ❑ View Physical Drive Status and Information. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-49). Figure 4-49. Physical Drive Menu - View or Modify Drive Configuration ☞Press Enter with View or Modify Drive Configuration selected. The Device Configuration screen for the selected physical device is displayed (Figure 4-50).
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities Figure 4-50. Device Configuration Screen ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected to close the Device Configuration screen. If you want to change the Read Cache and/or Write Cache physical drive settings, please continue to the next section. Manual No.
How Do I Change Physical Drive Read and Write Cache Settings? How Do I Change Physical Drive Read and Write Cache Settings? If you are unfamiliar with the terms “Read Cache,” “Read Ahead,” “Write Cache,” “Write Through,” or “Write Back” caching, please refer to the Glossary for a detailed definition. In a nutshell, Read Ahead caching speeds read performance in situations where large blocks of sequential data need to be read. For random read situations, however, it may actually reduce performance.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected to accept the changes, OR ☞ Use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter to leave the cache settings unchanged. If you made any changes and selected Ok, the following Notice is displayed (Figure 4-51). Figure 4-51. Confirm Changes to Physical Drive Cache Settings ☞ Press Enter with Yes selected to register the physical drive configuration changes. Manual No.
How Do I View the Physical Drive Defect List? How Do I View the Physical Drive Defect List? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-52). Figure 4-52. Administration Menu - Physical Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Physical Device, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Physical Device. The first step is to select the physical device whose defect list you wish to view.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities list you want to view, then press Enter. ❑ View Physical Drive Defect List. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-54). Figure 4-54. Physical Drive Menu - View Defect List ☞Use the arrow key to select View Defect List, then press Enter. The Defect List menu is displayed (Figure 4-55).
How Do I View the Physical Drive Defect List? Figure 4-56. Defect List Menu - Grown ☞To view the Grown defect list, use the arrow key to select Grown, then press Enter. The Grown Defect List screen for the selected physical drive is displayed, or a message that no defect list was found. ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected when you have finished.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I View and Reset Physical Drive Error Counts? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-57). Figure 4-57. Administration Menu - Physical Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Physical Device, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Physical Device. The first step is to select the physical device whose error count information you wish to view and reset.
How Do I View and Reset Physical Drive Error Counts? counts you want to view and reset, then press Enter. ❑ View Physical Drive Error Count Information. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-59). Figure 4-59. Physical Drive Menu - View Error Counts ☞Use the arrow key to select View Error Counts, then press Enter. The Error Counts screen for the selected physical device is displayed (Figure 4-60).
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ❑ Reset Physical Drive Error Counts. After viewing and noting the error counts, you should reset the counts to zero (0) to grow a fresh list for future observation. ☛ Note The counter will be reset to 0 automatically once you exit RAID EzAssist and reboot the system. ☞ Press Enter with Reset Counts selected to reset all error counts and close the Error Counts screen. Manual No.
How Do I Designate a Physical Drive as a Spare, or Reset a Spare Drive as Unused? How Do I Designate a Physical Drive as a Spare, or Reset a Spare Drive as Unused? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-61). Figure 4-61. Administration Menu - Physical Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Physical Device, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Physical Device.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities • Arrow keys move among the available physical devices. • Enter selects the highlighted physical device. ❑ Option 1: Assign the Physical Device as a Spare. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select an unconfigured physical drive to assign as a spare, then press Enter. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-63). Figure 4-63.
How Do I Designate a Physical Drive as a Spare, or Reset a Spare Drive as Unused? necessary, then press Enter. OR ☞ To cancel the configuration change, use the arrow key to select No if necessary, then press Enter. When you apply the new configuration, RAID EzAssist writes configuration information to the Mylex controller and drives. This takes a few moments, so a message is displayed (Figure 4-65). Figure 4-65. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait...
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities Figure 4-67. Physical Drive Menu - Designate Drive as Spare/Unused ☞ On the Physical Drive menu, use the arrow key to select Designate Drive as Spare/Unused, then press Enter. ■ Apply the Configuration to the Controller. To add the physical drive you selected to the registered configuration, the configuration changes need to be applied to the controller. At this point in the process, a confirmation screen is displayed (Figure 4-68). Figure 4-68.
How Do I Designate a Physical Drive as a Spare, or Reset a Spare Drive as Unused? a message is displayed (Figure 4-69). Figure 4-69. Writing RAID Configuration. Please Wait... ☞ Wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller and drives.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Visually Locate a Physical Device? RAID EzAssist has an option that allows you to see exactly where a particular physical device is located in your hardware setup. Using Locate Device, you can cause a selected physical device’s LED to blink. ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-70). Figure 4-70.
How Do I Visually Locate a Physical Device? locate visually, then press Enter. ❑ Locate the Physical Device. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-72). Figure 4-72. Physical Drive Menu - Locate Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Locate Device, then press Enter. A Notice is displayed for the selected physical device (Figure 4-73). At the same time, the physical device will show a blinking LED (if applicable) to help you see its location in your hardware setup. Figure 4-73.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data on a Physical Drive? One of the most important features of RAID technology is fault tolerance (data redundancy). It’s the redundancy built into your RAID 1 (10), RAID 3 (30), RAID 5 (50), and RAID 0+1 (0+1+0) logical drive data that allows for a physical disk drive failure without the loss of that data.
How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data on a Physical Drive? ❑ Select a Physical Device. The first step is to select the physical device that is in offline mode. You do this from the Physical Drive Selection screen (Figure 4-75). Figure 4-75. Physical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the available physical devices. • Enter selects the highlighted physical device.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities The Physical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-77). Figure 4-77. Physical Drive Advanced Options Menu Rebuild Redundancy Data ❑ Rebuild Redundancy Data on the Physical Drive. ☞ Press Enter with Rebuild Redundancy Data selected. The Rebuild Redundancy Data warning screen is displayed (Figure 4-78): Figure 4-78. Rebuild Redundancy Data? Rebuild redundancy will regenerate the data that was on the offline drive.
How Do I Rebuild Redundancy Data on a Physical Drive? OR ☞ To rebuild redundancy data, press Enter with Yes selected. Rebuild Redundancy Data runs in the background. To check the status of any background task(s), see the section in Chapter 5 called “How Do I Check the Status of a Background Task?” on page 5-19.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Format a Physical Drive? RAID EzAssist gives you the option of low-level formatting physical devices. This may be necessary if you obtain new drives that have not been formatted previously, or if you wish to reuse an older drive and completely erase its previous data. A low-level format of a physical drive takes time and slightly slows system performance, so be sure you run this function at a convenient time.
How Do I Format a Physical Drive? Figure 4-80. Physical Drive Selection Screen This screen uses the following navigation strategy: • Arrow keys move among the available physical devices. • Enter selects the highlighted physical device. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the physical drive you want to format, then press Enter. ❑ Enter the Physical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-81). Figure 4-81.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities The Physical Drive Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 4-82). Figure 4-82. Physical Drive Advanced Options Menu - Format Drive ❑ Format the Physical Drive. ☞ Use the arrow key to select Format Drive, then press Enter. The Format Drive warning screen is displayed (Figure 4-83): Figure 4-83. Format Drive? ☞ To cancel your request to format the drive, press Enter with No selected, OR ☞ To format the drive, use the arrow key to select No, then press Enter.
How Do I Format a Physical Drive? Figure 4-84. Physical Drive is Formatting To check the status of any background task(s), see the section in Chapter 5 called “How Do I Check the Status of a Background Task?” on page 5-19.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities How Do I Change Physical Drive Status? Certain status changes in physical devices are allowed in RAID EzAssist. See Table 4-1 below: Table 4-1. Allowable Physical Drive Status Changes Current Drive Status ...Can Be Changed To... Unconfigured Spare Spare Unused (Unconfigured) Online Offline Offline Online WARNING Be careful about changing online status to offline! Under certain conditions, this will result in a failed drive status and potential data loss.
How Do I Change Physical Drive Status? ☞Use the arrow key to select Perform Administration on... on the main menu, then press Enter. The Administration menu is displayed (Figure 4-85). Figure 4-85. Administration Menu - Physical Device ☞Use the arrow key to select Physical Device, then press Enter. ❑ Select a Physical Device. The first step is to select the physical device whose status you wish to change. You do this from the Physical Drive Selection screen (Figure 4-86). Figure 4-86.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities with status “Spare,” then press Enter. ☞ Option 3: If you want to set a physical drive offline, use the arrow keys to select a physical drive with status “Online,” then press Enter. ☞ Option 4: If you want to set a physical drive online, use the arrow keys to select a physical drive with status “Offline,” then press Enter (Figure 4-86). ❑ Enter the Physical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-87). Figure 4-87.
How Do I Change Physical Drive Status? Table 4-2.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities Figure 4-89. Example of Status Change Warning/Notice ☞ Press Enter with Yes selected to accept the physical drive status change you’ve requested. Setting an unconfigured drive to spare or a spare drive back to unconfigured (unused) is a configuration change. In these cases, RAID EzAssist will write the new configuration to the controller. ☞ If you changed Unconfigured or Spare status, please wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller.
How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties on a New PCI Controller? How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties for Physical Devices on a New Mylex PCI Controller? For New Mylex PCI Controllers (such as the AcceleRAID 352, eXtremeRAID 2000, and eXtremeRAID 3000), SCSI transfer properties may be set for each device individually that is attached to the controller. Previous Controllers require that the SCSI properties be set identically for all physical devices on the controller.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities • Arrow keys move among the available physical devices. • Enter selects the highlighted physical device. ☞ Use the arrow keys to select the physical drive you want, then press Enter. ❑ Enter the Physical Drive Advanced Options Menu. The Physical Drive menu is displayed (Figure 4-92). Figure 4-92. Physical Drive Menu - Advanced Options ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options, then press Enter. ❑ View or Change SCSI Transfer Properties.
How Do I Change SCSI Transfer Properties on a New PCI Controller? channel controller-not changeable) Figure 4-94. Physical Device SCSI Properties Screen ☛ Note Depending on the situation, some of the fields may be READ ONLY. In most cases Tag Queuing will be selectable, however. ☞ If Bus Speed (MHz) is changeable (cyan color), use the arrow key to select the Bus Speed (MHz) field, then... ☞ Press the + or - key to find your desired bus speed (Async, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, etc.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities ☞ Press Spacebar to display a box of available choices, use the arrow key to select your desired bus width choice, then press Enter. Once you’ve set the properties as desired, ☞ Press Enter with Ok selected to accept the changes, OR ☞ Use the arrow key to select Cancel, then press Enter to leave the settings unchanged. If you made any changes and selected Ok, the following Notice is displayed (Figure 4-95). Figure 4-95.
How Do I Rescan a Controller for New Devices? How Do I Rescan a Controller for New Devices? Here are some situations in which you might add physical devices to or remove physical devices from your hardware setup: • You’ve purchased additional disk drives and wish to add them to one or more controllers. • You want to remove a cabinet or a disk array from one location to install it on another server or workstation. • You are reconnecting devices to different controllers. • You are replacing a failed drive.
Monitoring and Maintenance Activities Figure 4-96. Rescan for New Devices ☞ Use the arrow key to select Rescan for New Devices, then press Enter. RAID EzAssist will rescan the selected controller (Figure 4-97). Figure 4-97. Rescanning in Progress Manual No.
How Do I Rescan a Controller for New Devices? 4-70 RAID EzAssist User’s Manual
Chapter 5 Advanced Options In this chapter you’ll learn how to use RAID EzAssist Advanced Options for some advanced-level tasks that you may be required to perform from time to time. Caution Some Advanced Options can have sweeping effects on configuration and controller performance. It is important that these options be used only by an experienced system administrator.
All functions described in this chapter are carried out using the Advanced Options choice on the main menu (Figure 5-1). Figure 5-1. Advanced Options ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options on the main menu, then press Enter. The Advanced Options menu is displayed (Figure 5-2). Figure 5-2.
Advanced Options How Do I Update Controller Firmware or the RAID EzAssist Utility? From time to time Mylex makes available updated firmware or BIOS code with new features or fixes for your controller. RAID EzAssist offers a straightforward way to update (“ flash” ) the new code to your controller. In addition, you can even use RAID EzAssist to update itself! The same Update Flash Code function can be used to update the BIOS version of RAID EzAssist on your controller.
How Do I Update Controller Firmware or the RAID EzAssist Utility? A message is displayed while RAID EzAssist reads the image file (Figure 5-4 ). Figure 5-4. Reading Image File ☞Wait while the image file data is being read. The Flash Code Update screen is displayed (Figure 5-5). Figure 5-5. Flash Code Update ❑ Choose Controllers to Update. The image file is read from the diskette, then the contents of the image file are displayed in the gray field at the top of the screen.
Advanced Options controller. • The Tab key shifts control to the buttons, or from the buttons back to the Controller field. • When buttons are in focus, arrow keys select a button and Enter activates the highlighted button. ☞Use the arrow keys to select a controller you wish to update, then press Enter. Repeat to select additional controllers. The currently active controller is selected by default. ❑ Update the Selected Controller(s).
How Do I Update Controller Firmware or the RAID EzAssist Utility? Figure 5-7. Flash Process Status RAID EzAssist loads the image file information to the controller and stores it. You will still need to allow the controller to be programmed. ☞Wait for the flash image storage to conclude. Once the image file has been stored to the controller, RAID EzAssist will automatically program the controller with the new image data. A message is displayed (Figure 5-8). Figure 5-8.
Advanced Options How Do I Back Up My Configuration? If you want to create a file that maintains the specifications of your current configuration, you can use the Backup Configuration option to do so. The configuration information can be saved to a floppy diskette so that it can be restored later if necessary. ☛ Note The backup file that is created is only readable by the controller. If you want to create a backup file that maintains configuration information in English, use the Print Configuration option.
How Do I Back Up My Configuration? ❑ Back Up the Configuration to a File. ☞Type a name of your own choosing to identify a file in which the configuration will be saved, type a drive letter if necessary, and press the Tab key. ☞Insert the diskette into the floppy diskette drive and press Enter with Ok selected to continue. The configuration is saved to the file on the diskette. ☞Label the diskette and keep it in a safe place in case you need it to restore the configuration later.
Advanced Options How Do I Restore a Previously-Saved Configuration to a Controller? If you want to restore a configuration saved earlier, you can use the Restore Configuration option to do so. The configuration information will be read from the floppy diskette on which it was saved and then will be written back to the controller and to the drives. WARNING Restore Configuration will ERASE any configuration currently on the controller. Use this option with extreme caution.
How Do I Restore a Previously-Saved Configuration to a Controller? Figure 5-10. Restore Configuration ❑ Restore the Configuration to the Controller. ☞Type the name of the file which contains the configuration, type a drive letter if necessary, and press the Tab key. ☞Insert the diskette into the floppy diskette drive and press Enter with Ok selected to continue. ☞Wait for the configuration information to be written to the controller.
Advanced Options How Do I Print My Configuration to a Text File? If you want to create a file that maintains the specifications of your current configuration in a readable form, you can use the Print Configuration option to do so. The configuration information can be saved to a floppy diskette so that it can be read later if necessary through a text editor.
How Do I Print My Configuration to a Text File? ❑ Print the Configuration to a Text File. ☞Type a name of your own choosing to identify a file in which the configuration will be saved in readable format, type a drive letter if necessary, and press the Tab key. ☞Insert the diskette into the floppy diskette drive and press Enter with Ok selected to continue. The configuration information is saved to the file on the diskette. ☞Label the diskette.
Advanced Options How Do I Clear (Erase) My Current Configuration? RAID EzAssist allows you to clear the current configuration. Clearing the configuration will result in loss of access to any data that is already on the drives. All disk array drive assignments are deleted, and all drives are returned to Unconfigured status. WARNING Clear Configuration will ERASE any configuration currently on the controller and will result in the loss of all data on drives connected to the controller.
How Do I Clear (Erase) My Current Configuration? Figure 5-12. Clear Configuration Warning ❑ Clear the Configuration. ☞To clear the existing configuration from this controller, use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter, OR ☞To cancel your request to clear the configuration, press Enter with No selected. ☞Wait for the new configuration information to be written to the controller and drives.
Advanced Options How Do I Enable (or Disable) PCI Controller Clustering? Under Windows NT 4.0, clustering allows redundancy among controllers. If a controller fails, another controller can take over the disk drives and disk arrays that were formerly handled by the failed controller. This mechanism imparts a “ fault tolerance” among controllers. ❑ Select the Clustering Option. ☞Use the arrow key to select Advanced Options on the main menu, if necessary, then press Enter.
How Do I Enable (or Disable) PCI Controller Clustering? ☞ If you want to enable clustering, use the arrow key to select Yes, then press Enter, OR ☞ If you don’t want to enable clustering, press Enter with No selected. However, if clustering is currently enabled when you select the Clustering option on the Advanced Options menu, the Clustering Control notice shown in Figure 5-14 will be displayed: Figure 5-14.
Advanced Options How Do I Reassign a Host ID For PCI Controller Clustering? If you want to reassign a controller’s Host ID to another ID for use with clustering (controllers are normally set at ID 7 by default) , use the HostID Change option on the Advanced Options menu. This option allows different PCI Controllers that are being “ clustered” to all have unique IDs on the bus. ❑ Select the Controller Whose Host ID Setting Will Change.
How Do I Reassign a Host ID For PCI Controller Clustering? Arrow keys move among the options and Enter selects an option. • In the HostID field, the + and - keys cycle through the valid options. Stop when the desired option is visible. • The Tab key shifts control to the buttons, or from the buttons back to the HostID field. • When buttons are in focus, arrow keys select a button and Enter activates the highlighted button.
Advanced Options How Do I Check the Status of a Background Task? RAID EzAssist allows you to view the status of tasks currently running in the background. Such tasks include drive initialization, consistency checks, and device or logical drive rebuilds. ❑ Select the Controller On Which to View Background Task Status.
How Do I Check the Status of a Background Task? 5-20 RAID EzAssist User’s Manual
Glossary AcceleRAID™ The AcceleRAID family features high performance, cost effective Ultra SCSI/Ultra2 SCSI LVD to PCI RAID controllers and adapters for high-end desktops, workstations, and entry level and mid range servers. AcceleRAID controllers support PCI-based motherboards with embedded SCSI chips and systems that have a PCI expansion slot designated for add-in RAID controllers. The AcceleRAID family consists of the 150, 200, and 250 controllers.
Asynchronous data transfer Data transfer not synchronized to a set timing interval. Asynchronous devices must wait for a signal from the receiving device after each byte. AutoSwap The functional substitution of a replacement unit in a disk system for a defective one, where the substitution is performed by the disk system itself while it continues to perform its normal function without human intervention (compare with Hot Swap).
Glossary motherboard so that the BIOS will always be available and not be affected by failure of a disk. Sometimes the BIOS is recorded on a flash memory chip. BIOS Configuration Utility BIOS-Based Configuration Utility; utility program sequences that are used, upon powerup, for configuring various hardware elements in a system.
Cache Flush Refers to an operation where all unwritten blocks in a Write-Back Cache are written to the target disk. This operation is necessary before powering down the system. Cache Line Size The cache line size is defined as the size, in kilobytes (1024 bytes) of a single I/O operation. The Cache Line Size function is set in conjunction with stripe size and represents the size of the data “chunk” that will be read or written at one time.
Glossary Clustering The concept of grouping controllers or servers so that they may be able to back each other up if one controller or server fails, taking over disk arrays assigned previously to the failed controller or server. CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, a chip that packs many components into a very small semiconductor.
logical drive is considered “critical” because any failure of another of its SCSI drives may result in a loss of data. Note: I/O operation can only be performed with system drives that are online or critical. DAC960 Series A family of RAID controllers from Mylex Corporation. The DAC960 series includes both internal PCI-based RAID controllers and external RAID controllers. The DAC960 series controllers all use Intel’s i960 microprocessor. DAC is an acronym for Disk Array Controller.
Glossary Disk A non-volatile, randomly addressable, re-writable data storage device, including rotating magnetic and optical disks as well as solid-state disks or other electronic storage elements. Disk Array A collection of disks from one or more accessible disk systems combined with an array management software. The array management software controls the operation of the disks and presents them as one or more system drives (virtual disks) to host operation environments.
problem has been resolved, no error is reported to the system. When a disk reports a media error during a write, the controller issues a “reassign” command to the disk, and writes the data out to a new location on the disk. Disk System A storage system capable of supporting only disks. Drive Groups (or Drive Packs) A group of individual disk drives (preferably identical) that are logically tied to each other and are addressed as a single unit.
Glossary EDO Extended Data Output, a type of random access memory (RAM) chip designed to improve the time to read from memory on faster microprocessors such as the Intel Pentium. EEPROM Electrically Erasable PROM EISA Extended Industry Standard Architecture. A bus standard for PCs extending the ISA architecture to 32 bits and allowing more than one CPU to share the bus.
eXtremeRAID The eXtremeRAID controller is the newest member of the Mylex PCI RAID family of products. The eXtremeRAID offers uncompromising fault tolerance, data availability, superior configuration and management flexibility. The eXtremeRAID incorporates the latest performance technology by using the fastest processor on a PCI based RAID solution, a 233 MHz RISC processor, up to three 80MB/sec Ultra2 SCSI channels, and a 64-bit PCI interface to provide eXtreme performance for servers.
Glossary Fault tolerance (failure tolerance) The ability of a system to continue to perform its function even when one of its components has failed. For a system to be fault tolerant requires redundancy in disk drives, power supplies, adapters, controllers and cabling. Mylex RAID controllers offer high levels of fault tolerance.
Gigabit 1,000,000,000 (109) bits Gigabyte 1, 000,000,000 (109) bytes, assuming 1K = 1000 bytes 1,073,741,824 bytes, assuming 1K = 1024 bytes Graphical User Interface A software interface that interacts with the user through color graphics and a mouse. GUI See Graphical User Interface Hard Disk Drive The main data storage unit of a computer. HDD See Hard Disk Drive HDM Hardware Driver Module, a driver set required for SCSI adapters for use in an I2O environment.
Glossary Host I/O Bus An I/O bus used to connect a host computer to storage systems or storage devices Hot Plug The operation of adding or removing a device from a bus while transactions involving other devices are occurring over the bus. Hot Replacement of Disks (Hot Swap) The substitution of a replacement unit in a storage system for a defective unit, executed while the system is performing its normal function and requiring human intervention. (Compare with AutoSwap and Cold Swap).
I/O Input/output, the transmission of information between an external source and the computer. I/O bottleneck Any resource in the I/O path whose performance limits the performance of a storage or I/O system I/O Bus Any path used for the transfer of data and control information between I/O adapters and storage controllers or storage devices. I/O intensive An application whose performance depends strongly on the performance of the I/O system.
Glossary Internet A worldwide system of computer, originally conceived by the U.S. government to construct a network that would continue to function even if a large portion of it were destroyed, for example, in the event of war. The Internet is now a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to tens of millions of users worldwide. Intranet A network contained within an enterprise, the main purpose of which is usually to share company information and computing resources among employees.
LAN Local Area Network, a network of interconnected workstations sharing the resources of a single processor or server, typically within the area of a small office building. Latency 1. The time between the making of an I/O request and completion of the request’s execution. 2. Short for rotational latency, the time between the completion of a seek and the instant of arrival of the first block of data to be transferred at the disk’s read/write head.
Glossary Megabit A million bits, used as a common unit of measure relative to time in seconds as an expression of a transmission technology's bandwidth or information flow capacity. Megabits per second (Mbps) is a frequent measure of bandwidth on a transmission medium. Megabyte (Mbyte) 1,000,000 (106) bytes, assuming 1K = 1000 bytes 1,048,576 bytes, assuming 1K = 1024 bytes Mirrored Cache A cache memory that has duplicate data from another controller.
NFS Network File System, a client/server application that lets a computer user view and optionally store and update files on a remote computer as though they were on the user's own computer. NOS Network Operating System NVRAM Non-Volatile Random Access Memory, a memory unit equipped with a battery so that the data stays intact even after the main power had been switched off. Offline A Logical Drive is in an “offline” state if no data can be read from it or written to it.
Glossary Partitioning The presentation of the full usable storage capacity of a disk or array of disks to an operating environment in the form of several virtual disks whose aggregate capacity approximates that of the underlying disk or array. PCB Printed Circuit Board PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect - This is a high-performance, backplane interface, expansion slot architecture that is found on PCs, Macintoshes, and UNIX workstations.
PROM Read-only memory that can, with provided instructions, be reprogrammed by a user. Protocol The special set of rules for communicating that the end points in a telecommunication connection use when they send signals back and forth. Queue A line of things, commands, or data waiting to be handled, usually in sequential order starting at the beginning or top of the line or sequence. RAID RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks.
Glossary RAID Controller See RAID Adapter RAID Levels Mylex disk array controllers support four RAID Advisory Board-approved (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 3, RAID 5) and two special RAID levels (RAID 0+1, and JBOD). Level 0 Block “striping” across multiple drives is provided, yielding higher performance than is possible with individual drives. This level does not provide any redundancy. Level 1 Drives are paired and mirrored. All data is 100 percent duplicated on a drive of equivalent size.
Level 10 Combines RAID 0 striping and RAID 1 mirroring spanned across multiple drive groups (super drive group). This level provides redundancy through mirroring. Level 30 Data is “striped” across multiple drive groups (super drive group). Maintains parity information which can be used for data recovery. Level 50 Data is “striped” across multiple drive groups (super drive group). For data redundancy, drives are encoded with rotated XOR redundancy.
Glossary Recovery The process of reconstructing data from a failed disk using data from other drives. Redundancy The inclusion of extra components of a given type in a system (beyond those required by the system to carry our its functions.) Replacement Table A replacement table contains information regarding which SCSI devices have been replaced by others through standby replacement. RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computing, an architecture for an applicationspecific processor.
Rotated XOR Redundancy This term (also known as “parity”) refers to a method of providing complete data redundancy while requiring only a fraction of the storage capacity of mirroring. In a system configured under RAID 3 or RAID 5 (which require at least three SCSI drives), all data and parity blocks are divided between the drives in such a way that if any single drive is removed (or fails), the data on it can be reconstructed using the data on the remaining drives.
Glossary enclosures, making it easier for a LAN administrator to obtain base-level fault-tolerant alert notification and status information. All Mylex RAID controllers feature SAF-TE. SCA – Single Connector Attachment A 80 pin disk drive/enclosure backplane connector standard designed to support device hot swap. SCA drives connect to a SCSI backplane that also provides power and SCSI ID selection. There are no TERMPWR lines included ; it is assumed that termination circuit are on the backplane.
Ready: A SCSI disk drive is in a “ready” state if it is powered on and is available to be configured during the current session but remains unconfigured. Online: A SCSI disk drive is in an “online” state if is powered on, has been defined as a member of a drive group; and is operating properly. Standby: A SCSI disk drive is in a “standby” state if it is powered on, is able to operate properly, and was NOT defined as part of any drive group.
Glossary Sequential I/O A type of read and write operation where entire blocks of data are accessed one after another in sequence, as opposed to randomly. Server A computer program that provides services to other computer programs in the same or other computers. The computer that a server program runs in is also frequently referred to as a server. SES SCSI-3 Enclosure Services, a standard in the making for SCSI access to services within an enclosure containing on or more SCSI devices.
update files on the remote server. It can also communicate with any server program that is set up to receive an SMB client request. SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol, the protocol governing network management and the monitoring of network devices and their functions. Software Driver Set of utilities and instructions for controllers to work in a specific operating system environment.
Glossary Stripe Size The size of the logically contiguous data block mapped to a single disk. A stripe of data (data residing in actual physical disk sectors, which are logically ordered first to last) is divided over all disks in the drive group. ☛ Note Controllers using Mylex PCI Firmware Version 6.0 and above allow the setting of stripe size per logical drive. Controllers using older firmware allow only a single stripe size for all logical drives on the controller.
System Disk The disk on which a system’s operating software is stored. System Drives See Logical Drives Target ID A target ID is the SCSI ID of a device attached to a DAC960 controller. Each SCSI channel can have up to 15 attached SCSI devices (target ID from 0 to 6, and 8 to 15). TCP-IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in intranets and in extranets.
Glossary TPC-C The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) is a standards organization that measures transaction throughput of systems. TPC-C reflects new order transaction rate, a benchmark for transaction speed. Mylex products have won consistently high TPC-C results. Transfer Rate The rate at which data moves between the host computer and storage, input, or output devices, usually expressed as a number of characters per second.
Wide SCSI A SCSI protocol and signal definition providing 16-bit wide data path. Write Through Cache Refers to a caching strategy whereby data is written to the SCSI drive before a completion status is returned to the host operating system. This caching strategy is considered more secure, since a power failure will be less likely to cause loss of data. However, a write through cache results in a slightly lower performance.
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