FASTTRAK SX4300, SX8300 USER MANUAL Version 1.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Copyright © 2006 Promise Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (Promise Technology). No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise Technology. Trademarks Promise, and the Promise logo are registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Notices Radio Frequency Interference Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy, and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
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Contents Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 XOR Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Hot-Swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 WebPAM Management Software .
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers, continued Windows 2000 Install Driver During New OS Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Install Driver in an Existing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Confirm Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Red Hat Linux 8.0, 9.0, EL 3.0, EL 4.0 Install Driver During New OS Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Install Driver in an Existing System . . .
Chapter 1: Introduction • About This Manual, below • Product Overview (page 2) • WebPAM Management Software (page 3) Thank you for purchasing one of Promise Technology’s FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 RAID controllers. About This Manual This User Manual describes how to setup, use and maintain the FastTrak RAID controller. It also describes how to use the Web-based Promise Array Management (WebPAM) RAID management software.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Product Overview FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are Serial ATA RAID controllers. When used with WebPAM software, the FastTrak RAID Controllers offer a feature-rich, secure and versatile enterprise-wide ATA RAID solution. In addition, the FastTrak SX Series supports RAID expansion.
Chapter 1: Introduction WebPAM Management Software he Web-Based Promise Array Management (WebPAM) software offers local and remote management and monitoring of all FastTrak logical drives that exist anywhere on a network. Browser-based GUI provides email notification of all major events/alarms, memory cache management, drive event logging, logical drive maintenance, rebuild, and access to all components in the RAID configuration (server, controller, logical drives, physical drives, and enclosure).
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Chapter 2: Installation • Package lists, below • Installing the FastTrak Card (page 6) • Installing the Disk Drives (page 7) • Create a Logical Drive (page 9) SX4300 When you receive the FastTrak SX4300 card, the package should contain the items listed below: • FastTrak SX4300 RAID Controller Card • Quick Start Guide • Four 1.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Warning Before installing the adapter into an existing system, backup any important or useful data. Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss. Note The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards are PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) devices. No changes are necessary in the motherboard CMOS/BIOS Setup for resources or drive types in most applications. Installing the FastTrak Card The FastTrak RAID Controller card fits into any available 3.
Chapter 2: Installation 3. Install the FastTrak card into the open slot (above). 4. Fasten the FastTrak card bracket to the system case (above). 5. Attach your system case’s 2- or 4-pin LED cable to the LED connector on the FastTrak card (see the Figures below).
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Caution Use of removable disk drive enclosures other than Promise Technology’s SuperSwap is not supported and may result in performance loss or other undesired results. Buzzer FastTrak SX4300 Ch1 SMBus Connector Ch3 Ch4 Ch2 FASTTRAK SX4300 LED Pins Buzzer FastTrak SX8300 Ch1 SMBus Connector Ch3 Ch2 Ch4 FASTTRAK SX8300 LED Pins Ch5 Ch7 Ch6 2. Ch8 Attach one Serial ATA data cable to each disk drive.
Chapter 2: Installation 3. Attach the Y-cable power splitters to each of the disk drives. Create a Logical Drive You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create a logical drive with the attached drives. Even if you plan to use the WebPAM software to manage your logical drive, you can still create your first logical drive using the FastBuild Utility, as described here. For an explanation of the logical drive concepts, see Chapter 5 of this manual. 1. Boot your system.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual 3. Press 2 on the Main Menu screen to display the Define LD Menu (below). 4. Press the arrow keys to highlight an logical drive number you want to define and press Enter to select it. The Define LD Menu for the logical drive number you selected will next appear (below). 5. Choose the RAID Level you want.
Chapter 2: Installation 6. 7. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize logical drive, zero the disk drives. RAID 1, 5, or 10 only. • Stripe Block Size, the default 64KB is best for most applications. • Gigabyte Boundary, allows use of slightly smaller replacement drives. • Cache Mode, WriteThru or WriteBack. Press the arrow keys to move to Disk Assignments.
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Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility • FastTrak BIOS (below) • Delete Logical Drive (page 21) • Main Menu (page 14) • Controller Configuration (page 22) • View Drive Assignments (page 15) • Logical Drive Problems (page 23) • Create a Logical Drive (page 16) FastTrak BIOS This section explains the information that you can obtain from the FastTrak BIOS. When the FastTrak BIOS loads during bootup, it displays pertinent information about the RAID logical drives that it finds.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual hot spare drive, the logical drive will rebuild automatically. You must identify and replace the failed disk drive. Offline – The logical drive is no longer operational and the FastBuild utility cannot rebuild it. You must identify and replace the failed drive(s). Then you can create a new logical drive and copy your data to it from the last tape backup or other device. For RAID levels 1, 5, and 10, at least two or more disk drives in the logical drive have failed.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility View Drive Assignments From the Main Menu screen, press 1 to see the View Drive Assignments screen (below). This screen reports disk drive assigments and provides the following information: Channel: ID – Shows the FastTrak Controller channel ID (SX4300, 1 through 4; SX8300, 1 through 8) to which a particular disk drive is attached. Drive Model – Identifies the manufacturer, model, and model number (if applicable) of each disk drive.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Create a Logical Drive 1. From the Main Menu screen, press 2 to display the Define LD Menu (below). 2. Press the arrow keys to highlight an logical drive number you want to define and press Enter to select it. The Define LD Menu for the logical drive number you selected will next appear (below). 3. Choose the RAID Level you want.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility 4. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize logical drive, zero the disk drives. RAID 1, 5, or 10 only. • Stripe Block Size, the default 64KB is best for most applications. • Gigabyte Boundary, allows use of slightly smaller replacement drives. • Cache Mode, WriteThru or WriteBack. See “Other Logical Drive Features” on page 43 for more information. 5.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Two Logical Drives Continued from Create Logical Drive step 7, above. 1. Press Ctrl-Y to allocate a portion of the disk drives to the first logical drive. 2. Enter the desired capacity in MB for the first logical drive and press Enter. The Define LD Menu displays again. 3. Press the up and down arrow keys to select an available logical drive number and press Enter.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility 4. Choose the RAID level and options for the second logical drive. Note that the disk drives in Channels 1, 2 and 3 reflect smaller capacities because a portion of their original capacity belongs to a different logical drive. In this example the disk drive in Channel 4 is not assigned to a logical drive in order to use it as a hot spare drive. 5. Press Ctrl-Y to save your logical drive configuration. 6. Press Esc to exit to the Main Menu.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual View Drive Assignments, Split Disk Drives After you create two logical drives from the same set of disk drives, press 1 on the Main Menu screen to see the View Drive Assignments screen (below). In this example, observe how each of the disk drives in Channels 1, 2 and 3 are split between two logical drives. Extent 1 belongs to logical drive 1 (LD 1). Extent 2 belongs to logical drive 2 (LD 2). Under Assignment, the disk drive is divided into LD 1 and LD 2.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility Delete Logical Drive Caution Deletion of an existing logical drive will result in the loss of all data saved on the logical drive. Record all logical drive information, including RAID level, disk members, stripe block size and gigabyte boundary, in case you wish to undo a deletion. Logical drives may possibly be recovered after deletion by immediately re-defining the logical drive with information identical to the original configuration. To delete a logical drive: 1.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual 3. Press Ctrl-Y to confirm and complete logical drive deletion. The screen returns to the Delete LD Menu. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu. Controller Configuration From the Main Menu screen, press 4 to display the Controller Configuration Options screen (below). the Controller Configuration Options screen has one setting and provides diagnostic information.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility Halt On Error The Halt On Error function causes the FastTrak controller to stop the boot process at the FastTrak BIOS screen when there is a problem with your logical drive. For example, a disk drive failure causes your logical drive to go critical. Depending on the Halt On Error setting, one of the following events will happen: • Enabled – Your system will stop booting at this point to alert you to the condition.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual When you boot your system, the FastTrak BIOS screen informs you if there is a critical or offline logical drive. If you enabled the Halt On Error option, your system will stop booting at this point. 1. Press Ctrl-F to access the FastBuild utility. 2. From the Main Menu screen, press 3 to see the Define LD Menu. 3. Press the up and down arrow keys to select the logical drive with Critical status and press Enter.
Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility In the Define LD Menu screen, compare the number of drives assigned to the logical drive (Total Drv) with the disk drives listed under Drive Assignments. In the above example, three drives are assigned but only two appear. The missing disk drive is the failed drive. The disk drive on Channel 2 has failed. In an actual situation, you would replace this disk drive. See “Installing the Disk Drives” on page 7 for help identifying Channels on the FastTrak Controller card.
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Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Following are driver installation procedures for the FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards. Download the latest drivers from the Promise Technology website at www.promise.com. Procedure Page Number Windows Server 2003 Install Driver During New OS Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Install Driver in an Existing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Confirm Installation . . . . . . . . . . .
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Windows Server 2003 Install Driver During New OS Installation 1. Start the installation: Boot from the CD-ROM. Press F6 after the message “Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver” appears. 2. When the Windows Setup window is generated, press S to specify an Additional Device(s) 3. Insert the Promise Technology driver diskette into drive A: and press Enter. 4.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 4. Under Select the device driver you want to install, click Have Disk... 5. Under Install from Disk, type A:\wnet wnet and click OK. 6. Under Select the device driver you want to install, click Next. 7. If a warning about Windows Logo testing appears, click Continue Anyway. 8. Under Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard, click Finish. 9. If the New Hardware Wizard appears again, close it. 10. Click Yes to restart your PC. 11.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Note: If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed, do so at this time. Once all devices are specified, continue to the next step. 6. From the Windows Setup screen, press the Enter. Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows XP installation. Note: Check the readme file, included with the downloaded driver files, for instructions on installing the RAID Console.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 3. Click on the System icon. 4. Choose the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button. 5. Click the + in front of SCSI controllers. WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4300/ 8300 (tm) Controller should appear. Windows 2000 Install Driver During New OS Installation 1. Start the installation: Boot from the CD-ROM. Press F6 after the message “Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver” appears. 2.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual 2. Insert the Promise FastTrak Driver diskette in the A: drive. 3. Under Install Hardware Device Drivers, select Search for a suitable driver... and click Next. 4. Under Locate Driver Files, uncheck Floppy disk drives and CD-ROM drives. Check Specify a Location and click Next. 5. Under Insert the manufacturer’s installation disk, type A:\win2000 and click OK. 6. Under Driver Files search Results, when a:\Win2000 \ft8300.inf should appears, click Next. 7.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 7. Scroll down to the Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller and click OK. 8. When the Installer displays Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller has been found, click Done. 9. Continue with the installation normally. Note: Check the readme file, included with the downloaded driver files, for instructions on installing the RAID Console. Install Driver in an Existing System 1. Insert FastTrak Driver Diskette into the floppy drive. 2. Log in as root.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual 3. When the boot: prompt appears on the bottom of the screen, type acpi=oldboot into the lower input box. 4. Press the left Alt key and insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the floppy drive. 5. Finish the installation normally. Install Driver in an Existing System 1. Insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the floppy drive. 2. Type the following commands: # mount /dev/fd0 /media /floppy # cd /media /floppy # .
Chapter 5: Concepts • About FastTrak, below • Introduction to RAID, below • Choosing a RAID Level (page 41) • Other Logical Drive Features (page 43) About FastTrak FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are high performance RAID Controller cards that feature concurrent data channel operation and onboard BIOS. The channels on the FastTrak card support concurrent operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multi-tasking operating systems and sharing the workload between multiple drives.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual RAID 0 – Stripe When a logical drive is striped, the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sectors of multiple disk drives. Performance is increased, since the workload is balanced between drives or “members” that form the logical drive. Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency.
Chapter 5: Concepts RAID 1 – Mirror When a logical drive is mirrored, identical data is written to a pair of disk drives, while reads are performed in parallel. The reads are performed using elevator seek and load balancing techniques where the workload is distributed in the most efficient manner. Whichever drive is not busy and is positioned closer to the data will be accessed first. With RAID 1, if one disk drive fails or has errors, the other mirrored disk drive continues to function.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual RAID 5 – Block Striping with Distributed Parity RAID level 5 organizes data across the disk drives of the logical drive, and distributes parity information across the disk drives along with the data blocks. This organization allows increased performance by accessing multiple disk drives simultaneously for each operation, as well as fault tolerance by providing parity data.
Chapter 5: Concepts RAID 10 – Mirror / Stripe Mirror/Stripe combines both of the RAID 0 and RAID 1 logical drive types. It can increase performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication. At least four disk drives are needed for RAID 10 to be installed. With a four-disk-drive logical drive, one drive pair is mirrored together then striped over a second drive pair. Data Stripe Data Mirror Disk Drives Figure 4.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual • A/B indicates which striped pair the drive belongs to. • 1/2 indicates which part of stripe data. CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 Drive A1 Drive A2 Drive B1 Drive B2 Under RAID 10, the array maintains data integrity if any 1, 2 combination survives.
Chapter 5: Concepts Choosing a RAID Level There are several issues to consider when choosing the RAID Level for your FastTrak logical drive. The following discussion summarizes some advantages, disadvantages and applications for each choice.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual RAID 5 Advantages Disadvantages High Read data transaction rate Disk failure has a medium impact on throughput Medium Write data transaction rate Good aggregate transfer rate Recommended Applications for RAID 5 • File and Application servers • WWW, E-mail, and News servers • Intranet servers • Most versatile RAID level RAID 10 Advantages Disadvantages Implemented as a mirrored logical drive Very high disk overhead - uses only whose segments are RAID 0 logic
Chapter 5: Concepts Other Logical Drive Features Stripe Block Size The choices are 32K, 64K and 128K. 64K is the default. This selection will directly affect performance. There are two issues to consider when selecting the stripe block size. • Choose a stripe block size equal to or smaller than the smallest cache buffer found on any disk drive in your logical drive.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Spare Drives are automatically added to an array once a disk member of the array has been detected as failed. To restore fault tolerance as quickly as possible, the FastTrak Controller performs an automatic data rebuild on the spare drive in the background without the need to restart the system. At a later time, the failed drive can be physically removed and a new drive added in its place to function as the spare drive.
Chapter 5: Concepts Level Current Number Possible Number of Drives of Drives RAID 5 3 RAID 0 4 3 4 2 3 or 4 1 2, 3 or 4 RAID Level Migration To migrate a logical drive is to do one or both of the following: • Change its RAID level • Increase the number of disk drives (sometimes called Expansion) The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards support RAID Level Migration. However, you must use the WebPAM software to access this function.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Increase From Redundancy To Capacity Performance RAID 0 Add RAID 10 • • • RAID 5 • • • RAID 1 Lose • * Increases the existing redundancy Important • The Target logical drive may require more disk drives than the Source logical drive • If the Target logical drive requires an EVEN number of disk drives but the Source logical drive has an ODD number, ADD a disk drive as part of the migration process • You cannot reduce the number of disk drives in your
Chapter 5: Concepts As a result, there are range limits imposed upon logical drive expansion as shown in the table above. For example: • You can expand a 2.5 TB logical drive up to 4 TB • You can only expand a 1.9 TB logical drive up to 2 TB See the table below.
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Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips • Motherboard Issues, below • System CMOS Issues, page 50 • Drive-Related Errors, page 50 • Operating System-Related Issues, page 51 • Performance Tips, page 52 This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 installation problems. Also refer to the README.TXT file on the FastTrak driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline services listed in Chapter 7.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual System locks up during boot up or when Windows starts There may be a possible IRQ conflict with an ISA card. Identify what IRQs are used by ISA cards, enter the Motherboard PCI Setup, and reserve the IRQ for use with ISA. PCI slots cannot share IRQs with ISA cards. Miscellaneous problems such as: • FastTrak BIOS does not appear during boot • FastTrak driver does not load • Slow data transfer rates Move the FastTrak card to a different PCI slot.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips Powering the system off and on once to reset the drive. Also confirm that cables are properly attached and the drive is receiving power. If the drive still appears to have failed, refer to the Rebuilding a logical drive option in the WebPAM software as detailed in the WebPAM User Manual. Drive cannot be formed into an logical drive Disk drives must be free of media defects to be added into a logical drive.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual For Windows 2000, XP and 2003 Server, Promise recommends a clean install of the Operating System. This action restores the MBR and OS boot record. This requires repartitioning and formatting the drive. Promise Windows driver does not appear in Device Manager Windows may already be listing the controller under Other Devices instead of the Hard disk controllers section. In Device Manager under Other Devices to see if it lists a PCI Card or RAID Controller.
Chapter 7: Support • Frequently Asked Questions, below • Contact Technical Support, page 57 • Limited Warranty, page 59 • Return Product for Repair, page 61 Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre-installation, drive issues, installation, and post-installation.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual How can I change the resources that the FastTrak uses? The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are fully PnP. This means all the resources that it uses are given to it by the PnP BIOS on the motherboard. The FastTrak Controller supports IRQ sharing, but this feature only works when ALL the concerned devices support it.
Chapter 7: Support I already have an array on an older FastTrak controller. Can I move that array to my new FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 controller? Yes. All FastTrak controllers read the arrays the same way and can be moved from one controller to another. Can I take a drive used in a FastTrak SX Series logical drive and access it directly with a different controller, such as the one integrated on the motherboard? Yes, but only under certain configurations.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual How do I partition/format my FastTrak SX Series RAID logical drive? The FastTrak Controller represents the logical drive as a single disk drive to your system. Therefore, anything that you can do to a single disk drive you can do to a FastTrak logical drive. For example, you should use the FDISK and FORMAT utilities to partition and format the logical drive. You can format the logical drive with any file system you wish.
Chapter 7: Support Contact Technical Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates. We encourage you to use one of our electronic services, which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Germany E-mail Support support-de@promise-emea.com Fax Technical Support +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 29 Attn: Technical Support Phone Technical Support +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 10 If you wish to write us for support: Promise Technology Germany Europaplatz 9 44269 Dortmund, Germany Italy E-mail Support support-it@promise-emea.
Chapter 7: Support China E-mail Support support-china@promise.com Fax Support +86-10-8857-8015 Attn: Technical Support Phone Support +86-10-8857-8085/8095 If you wish to write us for support: Promise Technology China Room 1205, Tower 3 Webok Time Center, No.17 South Zhong Guan Cun Street Hai Dian District, Beijing 100081, China Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Except as expressly set forth above, Promise DISCLAIMS any warranties, expressed or implied, by statute or otherwise, regarding the product, including, without limitation, any warranties for fitness for any purpose, quality, merchantability, non-infringement, or otherwise. Promise makes no warranty or representation concerning the suitability of any product for use with any other item.
Chapter 7: Support Return Product For Repair If you suspect a product is not working properly, or if you have any questions about your product, contact our Technical Support Staff through one of our Technical Services, making sure to provide the following information: • Product model and serial number (required) • Return shipping address • Daytime phone number • Description of the problem • Copy of the original purchase invoice The technician will assist you in determining whether the product req
FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual You are responsible for the cost of insurance and shipment of the product to Promise. Note that damage incurred due to improper transport or packaging is not covered under the Limited Warranty. When repairing returned product(s), Promise may replace defective parts with new or reconditioned parts, or replace the entire unit with a new or reconditioned unit.
