DS351 User Guide
SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd. http://www.SilverStonetek.com support@SilverStonetek.com Contents About this guide.................................................................................................................................... 10 Audience................................................................................................................................................ 10 1 3132 Driver Installation.............................................................................
5 Getting Started ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Start the SiI 4726 Manager .................................................................................................................. 20 Start the SiI 4726 Manager................................................................................................................... 20 MS Windows.........................................................
Set up a remote connection .......................................................................................................... 30 10 Configure SAFE Volume Rebuild Storage Policy ............................................................................. 30 When is a rebuild necessary?......................................................................................................... 30 What happens during a rebuild?..............................................................................
Troubleshooting................................................................................................................................... 36 15-1 Using the SATARAID5 Manager (For Windows Only)....................................................................... 38 Launching the SATARAID5 Manager.................................................................................................. 38 Windows Systems.......................................................................................
Resources............................................................................................................................................... 28 Legacy Support Menu............................................................................................................................ 28 Create Legacy RAID Group................................................................................................................... 29 Rebuild Legacy RAID Group.........................................
15-4 Managing the BIOS (For Windows Only)............................................................................................ 53 Control Panel Method........................................................................................................................... 53 Device Manager Method.......................................................................................................................
1 Begin with 3132 Driver Installation Please install 3132 Driver before continue 2 Introducing the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance This chapter introduces the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance through a product overview, a description of system- level function, and definition of the SiI 4726 storage policies. Product overview The SiI 4726 Storage Appliance is powered by Silicon Image’s industry-leading Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).
How the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance operates The SiI 4726 architecture (Figure 1) supports configuration and management of multiple storage devices connected to a single host. Its built-in features include RAID configuration, disk rebuild, and virtualization capabilities. Disk virtualization uses the SiI 4726’s innovative SteelVine processor technology to map the physical drives to virtual drives for optimal storage.
SiI 4726 storage policies The following terms represent SiI 4726 configuration options, or storage policies, for mapping physical to virtual drives. The end-user can choose from these policies when s/he configures the volumes (virtual drives) using the Basic Configuration Wizard or the Advanced Configuration Wizard. JBOD A storage policy that grants the host computer direct access to a physical disk drive.
Hot Spare One or more hard disk drives are unused during normal operation and are configured to be a spare. If an active drive in a SAFE volume fails, the data on the remaining hard disk drive is duplicated onto the Hot Spare to regain redundancy. All SAFE volumes can have a designated Hot Spare (SAFE, SAFE and FAST, and SAFE and BIG). Volume A virtual drive comprised of one or more physical hard disk drives.
Software • For x86 platforms: Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 with the latest Service Pack installed. • For Mac platforms: Mac OS X with the latest set of patches installed. • SV-HBA3124 CD Install the SiI 4726 hardware In order to run the SiI 4726 Manager, first install the Silicon Image SV-HBA3124 host controller (card and driver) or another SATA host controller with port multiplier (PM) support.
4. Click Disk Management under Storage to view the disk drives. 5. If an Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard dialog appears, click Cancel to close the Wizard and proceed to Disk Management. 6. Verify that all five drives are visible in their preconfigured and unallocated state. If the host does not see the SiI 4726 hard disk drives, refer to the Troubleshooting section for corrective actions. The Status window provides details of the volume allocation.
4. Launch Disk Utility from the Application > Utilities folder to view the disk drives. 5. Verify that all five drives are visible in their pre-configured and unallocated state. If the host does not recognize the SiI 4726 hard disk drives, refer to the Troubleshooting section for corrective actions. A “320.0 KB Config Disk Media” disk appears in the list of hard disk drives to represent the SteelVine processor. Do not initialize or partition the “320.0 KB Config Disk Media” disk.
Note: Do not initialize or partition the “320.0 KB Config Disk Media” drive. Mac OS X recognizes five 152.7 GB hard disk drives for an SiI 4726 Storage Appliance in JBOD (bypass mode) populated with five 160GB hard disk drives. The SiI 4726 Manager searches for an active daemon and launches a daemon process if the daemon is not active. This application also launches the SiI 4726 Manager to display the information captured by the daemon.
4 SATARAID5™ Management Software (For Windows Only) SATARAID5 Features Data Security SATARAID5 provides our highest commitment to data security through the use of RAID architecture to back up and protect data. RAID levels 1, 5, and 10 provide data security. SATARAID5 supports sophisticated sparing support so that hardware failure risk can be minimized by automatically regenerating the failed disk’s data on a backup disk.
This chapter explains how to start the SiI 4726 Manager and describes the Status window. Start the SiI 4726 Manager The SiI 4726 Manager starts with the Status window visible so the end-user can monitor the SiI 4726 Storage Appliances connected to the host computer. Access the Basic Configuration Wizard from the Status window. From there, the end-user can optionally use the Advanced Configuration Wizard to create multiple volumes (virtual drives) on each hard disk drive.
Mac OS X 1. Launch the Finder and locate the SiI 4726 program within the Applications > Utilities > SteelVine folder. Click the SiI 4726 icon to start the SiI 4726 Manager. 2. If the launch sequence does not find an active daemon, a warning appears. Click OK. 3. Enter the administrator password and click OK. 4. A notice appears as the launch sequence attempts to start the daemon. Click OK. If the daemon fails to start, an error appears.
message to correct the problem. 5. Monitor the status of SiI 4726 Storage Appliances on the Status window. 6. Select menu options or click toolbar buttons and follow the instructions in the remainder of this guide to configure SiI 4726 Storage Appliances. When prompted, enter the administrative password. The default password is admin. You end-user can customize your password. See “Change password” for details.
Status Cells Description System Status section Temp Indicates the current temperature of the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Fan Speed Indicates the system fan status. Use this data to monitor possible malfunctions. Drive Status section Box Status Shows the drive status: Normal, Rebuilding, Unplugged, Needs Rebuild, New Drive, Wrong Slot. Drive S/N Shows the unique serial number assigned by the disk manufacturer. Exp. S/N Shows the expected serial number of the hard disk drive.
Table 4 Toolbar on the Status Window Button Tooltip Description Configure Box Opens the Basic Configuration Wizard. From there, the end-user can access the Advanced Configuration Wizard. Specify Policy Information Opens the Rebuild Policy dialog. Email Notification Sends email notification for the selected items. Show Event Log Opens the Event Log viewer. Specify Firmware Opens the Firmware Selection dialog.
Table 5 Sections of the Basic Configuration Wizard Wizard Section Description Storage Policy Identifies available storage policies to assign to the SiI 4726 configuration. Volume List Shows Volume, Mode (storage policy), and Size details for created volumes. The ‘Total GB’s Left’ field (beneath the volume list) shows the remaining capacity in gigabytes for all the hard disk drives. Drive Graph Displays disk space for each hard disk drive.
Configure Volumes Note: Use the Disk Management utility provided by the OS to delete all SiI 4726 partitions except the un-allocated, un-initialized disk that represents the SteelVine processor. See “Partitioning volumes” for details. 1. Select Configure Box from the Edit menu or click the Configure Box toolbar button to open the Configuration Wizard. 2. When prompted, enter the administrator password. The default password is admin. 3. Select a storage policy in the Storage Policy frame.
Table 8 Basic Storage Policy Options Storage Policy Description JBOD (bypass) Creates a logical volume for each physical hard disk drive. SAFE (RAID 1) Creates two volumes. For each volume, one hard disk drive is mirrored onto a second drive. Makes the remaining drive the Hot Spare for both volumes. BIG (span) Concatenates all hard disk drives into a single volume. FAST (RAID 0) Creates one volume that is striped across up to five hard disk drives.
7 Advanced Configuration This section describes how to use the Advanced Configuration Wizard to apply more than one storage policy to volumes on the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Why Advanced Configuration? The Basic Configuration Wizard provides six predefined storage policies to quickly configure the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Each predefined storage policy allocates the maximum system capacity to the selected storage policy.
A Look at the Advanced Configuration Wizard The Advanced Configuration Wizard is an extension of Basic mode that allows you to create two volumes (virtual drives) on each physical hard disk drive. Storage Policy Drive Graph Volume List Advanced Controls Table 9 Sections of the Advanced Configuration Wizard Section Description Storage Policy Shows the available storage policies that you can assign to volumes. The options are enabled after you create a new volume or select an existing volume to edit.
Table 10 Toolbar Buttons on the Advanced Configuration Wizard Button Tooltip Description Read a configuration from a file Reads a saved configuration into the Advanced Configuration Wizard so you can apply the configuration to the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Available in Basic and Advanced modes. Write configuration for system to a file Saves a configuration to a file on the host computer. Available in Basic and Advanced modes. Restore configuration to last Commit Cancels proposed changes.
Configure Multiple Volumes The Advanced Configuration Wizard allows many combinations of storage policies and capacities. This procedure shows how to modify a basic SAFE configuration so that it contains several volumes, each with different storage policies. This example illustrates one possible combination that allocates all of the system’s available capacity to: • One 50-gigabyte (GB) SAFE volume on drives 0 and 1, with no reserved space for a Hot Spare.
2. Click To Advanced Mode to open the Advanced Configuration Wizard. 3. Select the “Delete all volumes” from the toolbar.
4. When prompted to confirm the deletion of the volumes, click Yes. 5. Select “Create a new volume” from the toolbar. Click Create a new volume.
6. Select SAFE (RAID 1) as the Storage Policy. Click on the “Use” check boxes underneath Drives 0 and 1. Move the slide to 50. Tip: Click to the right or left of the slider within the slider’s channel to make half-GB changes. SAF E Mod e Unchec k Hot Spare Move Slider 7. Click Update Volume. 8. When prompted whether to create a Hot Spare for the SAFE volume, click No. In some configurations, the end-user may want the added redundancy of a Hot Spare.
9. Click the Create a New Volume toolbar button.
10. Select the FAST radio button in the Storage Policy section. 11. Select the ‘Use’ check box beneath both Drive 0 and Drive 1. This example illustrates two-drive striping. 12. Move the slider beneath Drive 0 all the way to the right to allocate the remaining capacity on the two drives to the Fast volume. If you wish, you can allocate less than the total remaining capacity to the new volume. However, doing so makes the unallocated capacity unavailable and unused. 13. Click Update Volume.
14. Click the Create a New Volume toolbar button. 15. Select the BIG radio button in the Storage Policy section. 16. 17. Select the ‘Use’ check box beneath Drive 2, Drive 3, and Drive 4 to allocate all of the remaining system capacity to the BIG volume. Click Update Volume. 14 15 16 17 Note: Only the last Volume listed (in the above example, Volume 2) can be edited. In order to edit Volume 1, Volume 2 must be deleted.
18. Click the Write Configuration for System to a File toolbar button to save the configuration. 18 19 19. Click Update Volume to create the multi-volume configuration, close the Wizard, and display the volumes in the Status window (within a minute or so). 20. Partition the configured volumes to complete the implementation. See “Partitioning Volumes” for details.
Manage Configuration Files The Basic Configuration Wizard provides menus and icons to manage configuration files. • The Read Config File command from the File menu in the Basic Configuration Wizard imports a configuration file so that the end-user can restore a previously saved configuration (storage policy). • The Save to Config File command from the File menu in the Basic Configuration Wizard exports an SiI 4726 configuration to a file.
Save a configuration file 1. Select Configure Box from the Edit menu or click the Configure Box toolbar button in the Status window to open the Basic Configuration Wizard. 2. Select Save to Config File from the File menu in the Basic Configuration Wizard. 3. Navigate to the appropriate directory, specify a file name in the File Name text box, and click the Save button.
8 Partitioning Configured Volumes This chapter explains how to partition volumes after configuring them with the SiI 4726 Manager. The end-user must partition volumes for the host computer’s operating system before one can store data on the volumes. Refer to the operating system documentation for further guidance. Partition a Volume MS Windows Important: Before reconfiguring a volume, back up the data and delete previously defined SiI 4726 partitions.
2. From the Computer Management window select Disk Management under Storage to open Windows Disk Manager.
Note: The Disk numbers in the Windows Disk Manager may be different from the Volume numbers shown in the SiI 4726 Manager Status window, the Basic Configuration Wizard, and the Advanced Configuration Wizard. Be sure to select the correct disk based on the expected disk capacity to create a partition. 3. Right-click on the configured disk’s unallocated space and select New Partition. If the New Partition option is not available, select the disk and Initialize it first.
5. Select the Primary or Extended option and click Next. 6. Specify the partition size. By default, the partition occupies the entire volume. Click Next.
7. Assign a drive letter or mount path and click Next.
8. Select file system and name the partition and click Next. 9. Review the file system settings and click Finish to create the logical partition. 10. Repeat steps 1 through 9 to partition any remaining disks you configured in the SiI 4726 Manager. Remember, do not partition the disk that represents the SteelVine processor.
Mac OS X 1. Launch Disk Utility from Application > Utilities folder. 2. Select a configured disk and click the Partition tab. 2 4 5 3 6 7 3. Select 1 Partition from the Volume Scheme drop-down list. 4. Enter a name for the volume in the Name field. 5. Select Mac OS Extended (journaled) from the Format drop-down list. 6. Specify the size of the partition in the Size field. 7. Click the Partition button.
8. Click Partition to acknowledge the warning. Disk Utility mounts the created partition and represents it with an icon on the desktop. The icon is labeled with the partition name. 9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 to partition any remaining disks you configured in the SiI 4726 Manager. Remember, do not partition the 320.0 KB Config Disk that represents the SteelVine processor.
9 Administering the SiI 4726 This chapter explains how to perform administrative functions in the SiI 4726 Manager. Change Password The SiI 4726 Manager limits configuration access with a password prompt. The password information is stored locally on the server running the daemon. The default password is admin. 1. Select Change Password from the File menu. 2. Enter the current password (or use ‘admin’ if the default password has not been changed). 3.
Manage Client Connection to the Daemon The SiI 4726 Manager consists of two modules: • Daemon • User interface The daemon monitors the status of SiI 4726 Storage Appliances and performs SAFE volume rebuilds. By default, the user interface attaches to a daemon running on the same host to display the information gathered by the daemon. The end-user can configure the user interface to display information tracked by a daemon running on a remote host.
10 Configure SAFE Volume Rebuild Storage Policy This SiI 4726 feature is provided to manage rebuilds of SAFE volumes. When is a rebuild necessary? A rebuild is initiated to restore data redundancy for a SAFE volume that has entered a vulnerable state. In a vulnerable state, one of the two mirrored disks goes offline or is inaccessible.
Note: Once the daemon rebuilds to a designated Hot Spare, a designated Hot Spare will not exist and the SteelVine processor will rebuild to empty space. With Automatic Rebuild and Immediate Rebuild options selected, the daemon automatically initiates an immediate rebuild. If the end-user wants the daemon to delay the rebuild until after the first write to the SAFE volume, select the Rebuild Only If Needed option. The latter setup allows temporary removal of a hard disk drive without requiring a rebuild.
2. Select one of the following policy options: • The Manual Rebuild radio button requires a user to manually initiate a rebuild of the volume. • The Automatic Rebuild option forces the daemon to initiate the rebuild process automatically and minimize the possibility of data loss. 3. If the Automatic Rebuild option is selected, the end-user will have the following additional choices: • Immediate Rebuild causes the daemon to rebuild immediately following detection of an offline hard disk drive.
11 Email Notification The Email Notification feature allows the end-user to have the SiI 4726 Manager send an email if any of the following conditions/situations occur: Partition Rebuild Start Partition Rebuild Complete Partition Verify Start Partition Verify Complete Partition Rebuild Resume Temperature Too High System Fan Too Slow Power supply Fan Too Slow No Boxes Found Box Removed Drive Unplugged Drive Inserted Each of the above conditions can be customized for sending options as well as the
Setting-up Email Notification 1. The box available for the SMTP Server Name can be left blank. The SiI 4726 Manager will perform a DNS lookup and automatically find the correct address. 2. The box available for the SMTP Server Port# uses Port 25 as a default. 3. The From, To, and CC boxes are for specifying the intended receivers of the condition notifications. Note: In the From: box, the end-user should type in his/her own email address. 4.
the email portions of this feature. 5. The Email Notification feature also allows the end-user to customize a message for each of the line items (of which each has its own default message already built in). For instance, if the end-user wants to edit the message for ‘Drive Unplugged’… a. Click on the ‘Message’ box. b. The following will appear: c. The message information can be customized to suit the end-user’s needs.
e. Click on ‘Accept’ to complete the change. Receiving an Email Notification When one of the conditions/situations occurs, a pop-up appears on the host computer stating that a email has been sent.
Note: The end-user must click ‘OK’ to remove the pop-up from the screen.
12 Install New Firmware & Software Firmware Update Note: Do not power off or access the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance while upgrading firmware. 1. Click the Specify Firmware toolbar button or select Specify Firmware from the Edit menu of the Status window. The Firmware Selection dialog shows all of the SiI 4726 Storage Appliances attached to the host, the integrated circuit (IC) revision, and the current firmware installed on each Storage Appliance. 2 3 4 2.
4. Click Install Firmware to begin the upgrade. 5. Click OK to dismiss a message box that states the firmware was successfully downloaded. Install New SiI 4726 Manager Software Before the end-user installs new software, the current version will need to be un-installed. The un-installation process stops the daemon so it can be removed along with the user interface. The new version of the daemon starts automatically when the new software has been installed. Uninstall Current Software MS Windows 1.
6. Click Finish to complete the un-installation process. 7. Optionally, move or delete the .xml configuration files that the InstallShield Wizard left in the installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\SteelVine\SiI 4726 Manager). Mac OS X 1. Optionally, move saved.xml configuration files from the Applications > Utilities > SteelVine > SiI 4726 Manager Resources folder to another location. 2.
13 Editing the UserConfig.xml The UserConfig.xml file is used to define the Status Screen Title Bar and allow configuration of the Policy Change as well as the Advanced Configuration features. The UserConfig.xml file can be found in the following location: C:\Program Files\SiI4726\SiI 4726 Manager\SiI 4726 Config To edit this file, Right Click on the file name, move the mouse to Open With, and select Notepad.
The ‘StatusScreenTitleBar’ is where the end-user can change the Name seen at the top of the GUI. To edit this feature, change the XML tag text string that says ‘SiI 4726 Manager’. SiI 4726 Manager Your Company Name The ‘AllowPolicyChages’ – True – turns on the Policy feature. If the end-user changes the XML tag value to False, the Policy Icon will not appear in the GUI and the feature will not be available.
Creating a Splash Screen The end-user can further customize the SiI 4726 Manager by creating a personalized splash screen. 1. Create the logo for your splash screen – there are no image size limitations 2. Save the logo as ‘UserLogo.xpm’ The .xpm file type is UNIX based 3. Put the UserLogo.xpm file in the following location: C:\Program Files\SiI4726\SiI 4726 Manager\SiI 4726 Config The splash screen will come up each time the end-user starts the SiI 4726 Manager. It will stay up for 2 seconds.
are used to troubleshoot the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Monitor the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance Monitor drive status The color of the drives in the Status window indicates the status of the hard disk drives. Table 12 Drive Status Color State Green Normal Red Definition Resolution Drive is active. Drive is in a failed state. That is, a write has Needs Rebuild occurred to a SAFE volume while the disk drive was offline. Red Unplugged Drive is offline or unplugged.
Monitor temperature The SiI 4726 Storage Appliance uses the following colors to indicate temperature status. Table 13 Temperature Status Color Definition Resolution Green Temperature is normal. Yellow Temperature is greater than 50º Celsius (122º Fahrenheit). Red Temperature is greater than 53º Celsius (127º Fahrenheit). Remove object(s) that interfere with airflow around the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance. Ensure constant airflow around the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance.
Front Panel LED Indicators Each disk drive and the host connection have two LEDs to indicate drive status and/or host communication status. LED 0 is on the left and is typically blue; LED 1 is on the right and is typically green. In addition, there is one error-condition LEDs, labeled ‘!’ and the SiI 4726 power on indicator ‘OK’.
Troubleshooting Problem Resolution LEDs Green “OK” LED does not light. Confirm power at the outlet, verify power connection, and try an alternate power cable. Red “!” LED is lit. firmware. Power cycle the SiI 4726 Storage Appliance and to reload the SiI 4726 HOST LED 1 is not lit. See HBA connection below. LED 1 continuously flashes for one or more drives. LED1 flashes during a Safe volume rebuild.
15-1 Using the SATARAID5 Manager ( For Windows only) This section explains how to use the SATARAID5 Manager graphical user interface (GUI) to create and manage RAID groups. Please install the SATARAID5 Manager software as explained in the SATARAID5 Quick Installation Guide for your computer’s operating system before you perform these tasks. Refer to Appendix A for information about managing the Flash BIOS of the RAID controller on a Windows system.
When you start the SATARAID5 Manager GUI, the following divided window appears. Note: All of the SATARAID5 Manager screen illustrations are shown for Microsoft Windows. The outer frame and buttons may appear slightly different on other operating system platforms. The number of channels shown in this screen will vary according to the type of RAID controller that is installed in your system. The Legacy Support menu item is not available on Macintosh systems.
you have defined to be the “right” button (which by default is on the right side of the mouse, unless you have changed the primary and secondary buttons using Control Panel Æ Mouse on Windows).
Creating RAID Groups Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology allows one or more disks to be combined into a logical volume, which provides greater performance and/or protection than standard disk drives. These volumes, known as RAID Groups, appear like regular disk drives to the operating system and can be partitioned, formatted and used just like any other disk. The RAID complexity is hidden within the driver.
Disk Mirroring (RAID 1) Disk mirroring creates an identical twin for a selected disk by having the data simultaneously written to two disks. This redundancy provides instantaneous protection from a single disk failure. If a read failure occurs on one drive, the system reads the data from the other drive. RAID 1 sets are typically comprised of two drives, and a third drive can be allocated as a spare in case one of the drives in the set fails.
In exchange for low overhead necessary to implement protection, Parity RAID degrades performance for all write operations. The parity calculations for Parity RAID may result in write performance that is somewhat slower than the write performance to a single disk. Concatenated The Concatenated mode combines multiple disks or segments of disks into a single large volume. It does not provide any data protection or performance improvement but can be useful for utilizing leftover space on disks.
For increased versatility, the SATARAID5 software allows individual disks to be divided into smaller segments that can then be combined into different volumes. As an example, if a user has one set of data that must be protected at all costs, another set of data that should be protected at reasonable cost, and another set that needs no protection at all, the user can divide three disks into segments as shown in Figure 1. • The yellow segments define the high-security volume.
Create RAID Group dialog (for Contiguous, Concatenated and Striped configurations) Create RAID Group dialog (for Mirrored, Mirrored/Striped and Parity RAID configurations) 73
2. Enter values in all fields and click Create to create the RAID Group. Field Definition RAID Group Enter an identifiable name for the RAID group. This value can be any string (up to Label 8 characters including blank spaces) to help users identify this volume. Select a Group ID from the available ID list. The maximum number of RAID RAID Group Groups per controller is 8, so Group ID can be any number between 0 and 7, inclusive.
configuration is Mirrored, Mirrored Striped or Parity RAID, and the “Advanced RAID Features” checkbox in the Configuration/Advanced Options dialog box is checked. Click the radio button to toggle the state of rebuild ability without taking the Parity volume off-line. This selection is only available when the selected RAID configuration is Parity RAID and the “Advanced RAID Features” checkbox in the Configuration/Advanced Options dialog box is checked.
Note: Depending on the manufacturer and capacity of the hard drives that you are using, a small amount of the total disk capacity (less than the amount of one chunk size) may not be available, especially if you have selected one of the larger chunk sizes. 6. Refer to Chapter 4, Allocating Partitions for information about how to define partitions and volumes for the RAID Groups you created. Additional SATARAID5 Manager Menu Options This section documents the options available in the SATARAID5 Manager menus.
Configuration This menu option displays a tabbed dialog box to customize the settings for the Log File location and name, Popup notification messages, and Advanced Options: • The Log File tab allows you to define the location and name of the log file. The log file is used to store event information received from all Silicon Image RAID drivers. The log file is a text file and can be viewed with any text viewer (such as “Notepad” on Windows platforms) or with the Event Log window of the SATARAID5 Manager.
• The Popup tab allows you to define the type of events to trigger notification messages in popup windows. Use the slider control to select an event level. Select: • Informational to display Informational, Warning, and Error events in a popup window. • Warning to display Warning and Error events in a popup window. • Error to display Error events in a popup window. • Disabled to turn off popup notification messages.
• The Advanced Options tab allows you to enable the following advanced features. Feature Explanation Legacy Enables the Legacy Support menu to support RAID functions for legacy RAID (Bootable) groups (available on Windows and Linux platforms only). See Legacy Support Support menu options. Delete Enables the Delete Member option on the Device menu to delete a member from Member RAID 1 (Mirrored), RAID 5 (Parity RAID), and RAID 10 (Striped and Mirrored) Support groups.
Device Menu Options Create Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to create a spare disk drive. Enter values for the following parameters. Parameter Description Choose one of: Spare Type • Global if the spare drive is for all RAID groups in the system. • Dedicated if the spare drive is dedicated to a specified RAID group. If you selected Global for the Spare Type, select from a list of spare drive sizes. Capacity Options include sizes from 128 MB to 100 GB, plus MAX.
Delete Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) one or more spare drives to delete. selectable when one or more spare exists. This item is only Delete Member This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) RAID group members to delete. is not fault tolerant, RAID 0 members are not shown in the list. Because RAID 0 Note: Deleting members will demote the RAID group to a non-fault-tolerant RAID group.
Delete Orphan This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) orphan segments to delete. An orphan segment is part of a RAID group that cannot access other segments within the same RAID group. When a member of a RAID group fails in a severe manner (such as a loss of power or a complete hard disk failure), it becomes an orphan. This item is only selectable when one or more orphan segments exist.
To proceed with the conversion to Pass-Thru mode, click Yes. Otherwise, click No to return to the Make Pass-Thru dialog. Note: After you create a Pass-Thru device, be sure to delete any partition information that may have been associated with that device. Device Summary This menu option displays the Device Summary window to show all physical devices’ segments. The Capacity field indicates the number of 512-byte blocks that are available on the device.
• Options > Sorting displays a dialog box to sort the rows based on the selected field. • Options > Fields displays a dialog box to choose which fields will be shown in the Device Summary window. RAID Group Menu Options Create RAID Group This primary menu option is described in Creating a RAID Group.
Rebuild RAID Group This menu option displays a dialog box to choose a replacement segment to rebuild a reduced RAID group. Delete RAID Group This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) RAID groups to delete. Note: After you delete a RAID Group, be sure to delete any partition information that may have been associated with that RAID Group.
RAID Group Summary This menu option displays a dialog box to show the group ID, label, configuration, and status for all RAID groups. The RAID Group Summary window has its own menu bar. • File > Exit closes the RAID Group Summary window. • Options > Sorting displays a dialog box to sort items in the RAID Group list.
• Options > Fields displays a dialog box to choose which fields will be shown in the RAID Group Summary window.
Window Menu Options Task Manager This menu option displays the Task Manager window, which lists all RAID and disk management tasks that have been started or finished. You can set the priority any RAID and disk management operations, such as RAID group creation, rebuild, and test. The Task Manager window has its own menu bar. • File > Open will be activated in a future release. • File > Save will be activated in a future release. • File > Print will be activated in a future release.
• Options > Fields displays a dialog box to choose which fields will be shown in the task list. • Task > Modify lets you modify parameters of the selected task items. The following is an example of changing rebuild priority for a rebuild task. • Task > Suspend lets you suspend the selected task items. • Task > Resume lets you resume previously suspended task items.
• Task > Cancel lets you cancel the selected tasks, after confirming the cancellation. This option does not permanently delete the tasks. • Task > Delete lets you delete the selected tasks, after confirming the deletion. Event Log This menu option displays the Event Log window, which lists SATA device-related events that occur while the SATARAID5 software is running.
The Event Log window has its own menu bar. • File > Exit closes the Event Log window. • Options > Sorting displays a dialog box to choose up to three fields to sort items in the Event Log window. • Options > Fields displays a dialog box to choose which fields will be shown in the Event Log window.
Resources This menu option displays the Resource Information window. This feature is for debugging purpose only. Legacy Support Menu On Windows and Linux platforms, you can create and manage Legacy RAID sets and JBOD using the SATARAID5 GUI or the BIOS RAID utility. Previous RAID drivers that do not support RAID 5 functionality are known as “Legacy” drivers and are being replaced with the SATARAID5 software.
Create Legacy RAID Group This menu option is disabled if new RAID groups exist. If enabled, this menu option displays a dialog box to create a legacy RAID group. Enter values for the following parameters. Parameter RAID Group Description Select a group ID from the available ID list. The maximum number of Legacy RAID Groups is limited to the number of hard drives that are connected to the RAID controller.
Rebuild Legacy RAID Group This menu option displays a dialog box to choose a replacement segment to rebuild a non-fault tolerant legacy RAID group. Delete Legacy RAID Group This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) legacy RAID groups to delete. This option is disabled if no legacy RAID groups exist. Note: After you delete a Legacy RAID Group, be sure to delete any partition information that may have been associated with that Legacy RAID Group.
Convert Legacy RAID Group This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) legacy RAID groups to convert to new RAID groups of the same RAID type (configuration). This option is disabled if no legacy RAID groups exist. Create Legacy Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to create a legacy spare drive. This option is disabled if new RAID groups exist. Delete Legacy Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) a legacy spare drive to delete.
Convert Legacy Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) legacy spare drives to convert to new spare drives. This option is disabled if no legacy spare drives exist.
Help Menu Options Help Topics This menu option is not currently available. About This menu option displays information about the SATARAID5 software, including its version, operating system and Java Run-Time Environment version.
15-3 Managing Legacy RAID Groups with the BIOS RAID Utility (For Windows Only) On Windows and Linux platforms with RAID controllers that have two or more ports, you can create and manage legacy RAID sets and JBOD using the BIOS RAID utility or the SATARAID5 GUI. You can create and manage new RAID groups only from the SATARAID5 Manager GUI. Utility Overview During the system boot-up process and before the Operating System loads, the following message appears for about 5 seconds.
The RAID Configuration Utility screen is divided into four main sections and a command line. • The Main Menu section in the upper left lists actions to be performed. Select: • Create RAID Group to create a new legacy RAID Set or allocate legacy spare drives. • Delete RAID Group to delete a legacy RAID Set or de-allocate a legacy spare drive. • Rebuild RAID 1 Set to initiate the rebuild of a RAID 1 set after replacing a drive in the Group.
Reserved Logical Drives and RAID Set Sizes When you create a RAID set, spare drive, or JBOD on a physical drive, the BIOS RAID utility saves metadata for the configuration in a reserved area of the physical drive. That metadata is not deleted when a RAID set or drive is deleted. After a set or drive is deleted, the BIOS RAID utility recognizes the physical drive as a reserved logical drive and does not report the drive to the system BIOS.
Creating RAID Groups (Sets) Select from RAID0, RAID1, and JBOD configurations when creating a new RAID group. Select a RAID level based on factors such as performance, data security, and number of drives available. Consider the long- term role of the system and plan the data storage strategy appropriately. 1. Select Create RAID set from the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 2. Select RAID0 (Striped) or RAID1 (Mirrored) and press Enter.
3. Select Auto configuration or Manual configuration of the RAID Set and press Enter. • If you select Auto configuration, the BIOS RAID utility selects RAID member drives automatically and sets the chunk (stripe) size for striped sets to 64KB. • If you select Manual configuration, select the chunk size for Striped Sets or select the Source and Target drives for mirrored sets.
4. Select the size of the RAID set with the ↑ and ↓ keys and press Enter. 5. When the Are You Sure? confirmation prompt appears, respond Y to complete the RAID Set configuration. Note: If you have excess capacity left on the hard drives after creating a RAID set in the BIOS RAID utility, you can later go to the SATARAID5 Manager GUI to create additional logical drives that fully utilize the capacity of all hard drives.
Creating a JBOD Configuration The BIOS RAID utility does not report non-RAID drives to the system BIOS. If a non-RAID boot drive or data drive is desired, create a JBOD so the BIOS RAID utility will report the drive to the system BIOS. 1. Select Create RAID set from the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 2. Select JBOD and press Enter. 3. Select JBOD drive from the Physical Drive list and press Enter. 4. Select the size of the JBOD drive with the ↑ and ↓ keys and press Enter. 5.
Additional BIOS RAID Main Menu Options This section documents additional actions you can perform by selecting menu options in the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. Delete RAID Set Use the Delete RAID set menu option to remove a RAID set, spare drive, or JBOD. 1. Select Delete RAID set from the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 2. Select the item to delete from the Logical Drive list and press Enter. 3.
Rebuild RAID1 Set Rebuilding a RAID1 set copies data from an existing drive to a replacement drive that has been installed in a RAID1 set. Take this action if any member of the RAID1 set fails. 1. Select Rebuild Raid1 set from the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 2. Select the RAID1 set to rebuild from the Logical Drive list and press Enter. 3. When the Are You Sure? confirmation prompt appears, respond Y to rebuild the RAID1 set. The set is rebuilt.
Resolve Conflicts When a RAID set is created, metadata of drive-connection information, including the channel on the host adapter to which it is connected, is written to the disk. If a newly installed replacement disk was previously part of a RAID set or was used in another system, the replacement disk may have conflicting drive-connection metadata. This prohibits the RAID set from being created or rebuilt.
Note: The Low Level Format actions are typically not required, because formatting the drive under Windows is sufficient to prepare the drive for use. Logical Drive Info The Logical Drive Info menu option displays the assignment of physical drives within a logical set (RAID set, RAID 1 spare, or unassigned). • Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll between the drives in the Logical Drive list. • Press the ESC key when you are finished viewing logical drive information.
15-4 Allocating Partitions (For Windows Only) After you create RAID groups using the SATARAID5 Manager or BIOS Utility, define partitions on the RAID group and format them for use. Define a Partition on MS-Windows Use the Disk Management utility that is part of the XP, 2000, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems to define and format partitions on a Microsoft Windows host computer. 1. From the Start button in the Windows taskbar, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. 2.
The Disk Management utility has three main sections to the right of the navigation tree: • System listing of all formatted and available disks/RAID Groups (labeled 1 in the image). • Report of physical connections for disks/RAID Groups (labeled 2 in the image). Every disk should display Basic, a Disk Size value (available disk space is reported here), and Online. Instead of Basic, a disk may be marked Unknown, Dynamic, or Not Initialized.
5. Select Primary partition and click Next. 6. Click Next to accept the designated partition size. Because this example is a Striped RAID set with two disk drives, the size of the partition is approximately twice the size of the smallest disk drive.
7. Accept the default drive letter assigned to the partition or select a different drive letter if desired. Click Next. 8. Make sure the Format this partition with the following settings radio button is selected. Keep the default of NTFS for the file system and Default for the allocation unit size. Enter a meaningful volume label (name), such as STRIPED SET, FINANCIAL, CRITICAL, and so on. Click Next.
9. Verify the selections are correct and click Finish. The status of the newly created partition changes to Formatting and the percentage complete is displayed. Depending upon the size of the partition, the format process may take several minutes. When complete, the status changes to Healthy and the name and drive letter are updated. The partitioned disk appears in the System Listing section with all of its pertinent information as well. 10. Repeat this procedure to partition other disks.
11. When you are finished, close the Disk Management utility by clicking the X in the top right corner of the window. The new disks are now available for use. Define a Volume on Mac OS X After using the SATARAID5 Manager to create one or more RAID Groups, you can use the Disk Utility to define and format volumes on a Mac OS X computer system. 1.
4. Click on the “Erase” item along the top menu bar. The following dialog appears: 5. Select the type of Volume Format from the drop-down list in the middle of the page and enter a volume name in place of Untitled (in this example, the name “my volume” is entered). Finally, click on the Erase button.
6. To proceed with the formatting operation, click on the Erase button. After the volume is formatted, an icon for the volume will appear on your desktop, and you can begin using that volume. 7. When you are finished creating volumes, close the Disk Utility. Define a Volume/Partition on Linux Reload the SATARAID5 driver to show the newly created SATARAID5 volume. The SATARAID5 driver will show the resulting volume as a block device with prefix “sd”, /dev/sdx (where x is a, b, c, etc.).
Appendix A Managing the BIOS When the SATARAID5 driver software is installed on a Windows system, a Control Panel applet is also installed that allows you to update and view information about the RAID controller hardware and its Flash BIOS. You can access the Flash BIOS information using either of the methods described below. Third-party motherboard and host bus adapter manufacturers provide product-level qualification.
This dialog box displays information about the current Flash BIOS and allows you to download an updated Flash BIOS version onto the RAID controller. To download a new Flash BIOS version, enter the filename or click on the Browse… button to navigate to it, and then click on the Program Flash button. The progress bar will show the download status. Do not interrupt the download before it completes. Note: If your RAID controller is embedded on your system’s motherboard, the Flash BIOS tab may not appear.
Click on the Flash BIOS tab to display the following dialog box: This dialog box displays information about the current Flash BIOS and allows you to download an updated Flash BIOS version onto the RAID controller. To download a new Flash BIOS version, enter the filename or click on the Browse… button to navigate to it, and then click on the Program Flash button. The progress bar will show the download status. Do not interrupt the download before it completes.
