User manual

SuperTrak SX6000™ User Manual Chapter 1
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Introduction
Promise Technology, Inc.
Promise Technology, Inc. was founded in San Jose, California in 1988 and established
a proven track record for leading edge storage controller products. With an innovative
product line, the company has pioneered ATA RAID storage, allowing users to
configure RAID arrays using low cost Ultra ATA drives. Promise Technology was the
first to introduce caching controllers to MFM, and then IDE drives, first to fully support
Ultra ATA/33/66 and Ultra ATA/100 drives, and the first to develop a RAID 0, 1 card for
Ultra ATA drives.
What is SuperTrak SX6000?
SuperTrak SX6000 is a hardware-based RAID controller and a software management
suite that provides an enterprise-wide ATA RAID solution. The SuperTrak SX6000
controller card uses the I
2
O architecture and employs Intel’s i960RM RISC processor.
When used with its companion software management suite, SuperTrak SX6000 offers a
feature-rich, secure, versatile, and expandable RAID environment that allows users and
administrators to configure, manage, and monitor everything from single arrays on local
systems to array networks residing in offsite locations.
At its core, SuperTrak SX6000 provides advanced RAID management functions:
creating arrays, monitoring them, keeping them online and operating at optimum
efficiency. SuperTrak SX6000 can also perform many other tasks, such as:
• Create arrays at various RAID levels (0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5), depending on the
application being used
• Set up a network of SuperTrak SX6000 RAID servers (all running under different
RAID levels) and monitor those servers from any workstation on the network
• Create a series of SuperTrak SX6000 RAID networks at any number of offsite
locations
• Monitor and/or repair SuperTrak SX6000 RAID arrays using the Internet from an
offsite location -- all without compromising the integrity of secure servers
The SuperTrak SX6000 controller card features Intel’s i960RM microprocessor moves
much of the I/O workload off the main CPU and transfers it to the controller card’s
processor, boosting the performance of the entire system. Each SuperTrak SX6000
card can support up to six (6) Ultra ATA/100 hard drives configured as RAID levels (0,
1, 0+1, 3, or 5). Attached drives can be “hot swapped,” when used with the optional
SuperSwap drive housing.