Home

DAC960SX Ultra-SCSI to Ultra-SCSI RAID Controller User Guide

Contents

1. 3 6 Disk Media Error Management 3 6 Checking Consistency ssseeeneeeeenenennns 3 7 Hot e eee 3 7 Chapter 4 Controller Maintenance Accessing the Controller 4 1 Replacing a Controller seen 4 2 Replacing a Battery Backup Unit BBU 4 5 Upgrading the DAC960SX 2 20 0000 4 9 Installing a Mezzanine Board 4 9 Chapter 5 User Interface ieu 5 1 User Interface Screen Modes seeeeneeen 5 2 Navigating the VT100 Terminal Screens 5 4 Controller Screen Descriptions 2 5 6 Menu Screen Locator 5 7 Monitor Mode Main Title Screen 5 8 Menu Mode Log in Password Prompt 5 9 Menu Mode Main Menu Screen 5 10 vi DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 6 Configuration Menu Configuration Menu Summary sse 6 1 Configuration Menu Page One seen 6 2 Get Configuration Screen 6 4 Show Configuration Page One 6 6 Create Array Function essen 6 10 Configuration Menu Page Two
2. 6 28 Delete Last Array Function 2 6 30 Create Standby Function 6 32 Save Configuration Function 2 6 38 Configuration Menu Page Three 6 40 Start lhitialiZe nite et feed 6 42 Change Write Policy 6 48 Save Configuration Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen 6 52 Initialize Logical Unit Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen 6 54 Chapter 7 Administration Menu Administration Menu Summary essen 7 1 Administration Menu Page 7 2 Rebuild Check Rate 22 8 4 7 4 Start Rebuild 7 8 Start Parity Check nee tme teres 7 14 Administration Menu Page 7 20 LUN StatiSliCS st ce e eit tree Dae tectis 7 22 Enclosure Status nete ttd teretes 7 26 Relinquish Controller 7 28 Administration Menu Page Three 7 32 Chapter 8 Toolkit Menu Toolkit Menu Summary esses 8 1 Toolkit Menu Page 0 9 8 2 Show Drives Function esseeeseeeeeenennennnnenrrns 8 4 Drive Intormatloh 3 5 8 6 Change Drive State s sse 8 12 Manual No 77
3. lt m Moves cursor to the left below the drive capacity numbers K2 gt gt Moves cursor to the right below the drive capacity numbers Num keypad Increments number above the cursor position K4 Num keypad Decrements number above the cursor position Enter Enter Completes the size selection for this LUN and displays the next page Note All available capacity must be used when configuring the DAC960SX with the LCD panel or VT100 terminal It is not necessary to initialize unneeded LUNs however To define an array without configuring all available capacity use the RAIDfx software utility Manual No 771975 6 17 Configuration Menu Page One Write Cache Mode Create Array Page Five 96 5 co _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 2 1 Start Initialize 2 Change Write Policy 3 Change LUN Affinty ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Hit spacebar to toggle write policy other to continue INFORMATION Mrite policy of LUN B Hrite Through Write policy LN n Wx CI 000102 chg Figure 6 9 Write Cache Mode Create Array Page Five DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 9 Create Array Page Five Description Indication Key Description Write policy Wx Indicates the setting of the on board write cache for the logical unit being
4. Figure 6 21 Start Initialize Page Two 6 44 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 22 Start Initialize Page Two Description Indication Key Description Initialize LUN 4 n Prompt notifies the user that the function initializes the LUN identified by the number shown LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key K1 yes Y Selection starts the initialization process and returns the display to the previous menu K2 no N Cancels the function no initialization is performed and displays the previous menu screen AN Caution Pressing Yes will immediately begin the initialization function Initializing the wrong logical units will result in data loss Manual No 771975 6 45 Configuration Menu Page Three Initialize Status Start Initialize Page Three 9685 CONFIGURATION lt ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE Start Initialize Change Write Policy nN INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION Initialize started successfully Initialize started Press any key Figure 6 22 Start Initialize Page Three 6 46 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 23 Start Initialize Page Three Description Indication Key Description Initialize started Message indicates the initialization process is started Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status scr
5. 2 1 Rebuild Check Rate 2 Start Rebui 3 Start Parity Check Enter Channel Number Channel n lt gt gt Figure 7 4 Start Rebuild Page One 7 8 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 4 Start Rebuild Page One Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates the SCSI channel of the drive to rebuild LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments channel number K4 Num keypad Decrements channel number Enter Enter Selects the drive channel for the drive to be rebuilt and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 Administration Menu Page One Select Target Drive Start Rebuild Page Two 9 5 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 2 1 Rebuild Check Rate 2 Start Rebuild 3 Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID INFORMATION Target ID n lt 2 Figure 7 5 Select Target Drive Start Rebuild Page Two 7 10 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 5 Start Rebuild Page Two Description Indication Key Description Target ID n Number indicates the SCSI ID of the drive to rebuild LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K3
6. Cl 00 Format in progress Please wait Figure 8 14 Format in Progress Screen Format Drives Page Four 8 28 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 14 Format Drives Page Four Description Indication Key Description Format in progress Message line indicates that the drive formatting is in process on the selected drive s listed on the next line nnnnnn Number pairs indicate the SCSI ID of each drive that is being formatted Message Message line will prompt for user action when all drive formatting is complete and it is time to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any character key No function until drive formatting is complete Displays previous menu screen after Format Drives process is complete for all selected drives Manual No 771975 8 29 Too Menu Page Two Format Status Format Drives Page Five URLSbHSA cv 7 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS Format Orives Controller Paraneters Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Please wait INFORMATION Format in progress Formatting Drives CHN TGT 4 6 Format message CH nn Press any key Figure 8 15 Format Status Screen Format Drives Page Five 8 30 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 15 Format D
7. Enter LUN n Number indicates the logical unit number LUN of the logical unit from which to view statistics LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key gt Cursor Indicator arrow marks active selection ESC Esc Cancels the function and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments the logical unit number K4 5 Num keypad Decrements the logical unit number Enter Enter Invokes the LUN Statistics function and displays the next page Manual No 771975 7 23 Administration Menu Page Two Statistics Display LUN Statistics Page Two CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE LUH Statistics Enclosure Status Rel inguish Controller ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION I per Second 27 Read Hits 85 Reads 17 Writes 82 QO 27 HIT 85 RDS 17 WRT 82 Press any key Figure 7 12 LUN Statistics Page Two 7 24 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 12 LUN Statistics Page Two Description Indication Key Description n Number indicates the average transfers per second since the last time this function was invoked HIT n Number indicates percentage of cache read hits since the last time this function was invoked RDS Number indicates percentage of LUN I Os
8. Figure 8 16 Controller Parameters Screen 8 32 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 16 Controller Parameters Description Indication Key Description Prompt Message indicates controller parameter to be displayed variable Message indicates the current parameter state LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function If changes were made it displays the save parameters screen otherwise it displays the previous menu screen K3 chg Spacebar Changes the current parameter selection Enter Enter Records the current parameter selection to the controller s temporary working space and displays the next parameter until all have been shown Manual No 771975 Toolkit Menu Page Two Save Changes Controller Parameters 9 5 co 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE TEH 2 1 Format Drives 2 Controller Paraneters 3 Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to save the configuration to quit INFORMATION Controller parameters have been changed Parameters changed Save sav ext Figure 8 17 Save Controller Parameters 8 34 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 17 Save Controller Parameters Description Indication Key Description Parameters changed Function that loads the current saved configur
9. Continue with Fmt 00 yes no Figure 8 13 Confirm Format Format Drives Page Three 8 26 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 13 Format Confirmation Format Drives Page Three Description Indication Key Description Continue with Fmt Prompt indicates that the function will start the Format Drives process on all drives listed on the next line Cl nnnnnn Number pairs indicate the SCSI identification of each drive that will be formatted The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit is the SCSI ID number LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no drives are formatted and displays the previous menu screen K1 yes Y Selection formats all drives listed K2 no N Cancels the function no drives are formatted and displays the previous menu screen WARNING Selecting YES will immediately start the Format Drives process ALL DATA WILL BE LOST on the drive s being formatted Manual No 771975 8 27 Too Menu Page Two Format in Progress Format Drives Page Four URLSbHSA 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS Format Orives Controller Paraneters Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Please wait INFORMATION Format in progress Formatting Drives CHN TGT 4 6
10. Manual No 771975 4 3 If you are replacing a working controller issue a Kill Partner command from the controller that is not being replaced See Chapter 7 Administration Menu 4 Depending on your system setup you may have to power off the enclosure 5 Remove the failed controller 6 Following the instructions provided in your enclosure vendor s documentation install the replacement controller 7 Follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to reconfigure your controller as required 8 Follow the instructions in Chapter 7 Administration Menu to bring the new controller online using the Relinquish Partner function 9 Optionally follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to Show Drives and make sure the new controller sees all the disk drives 4 4 DAC960SX User Guide Controller Maintenance Replacing a Battery Backup Unit BBU The controller memory is battery backed with a DBB960SX battery backup unit BBU The BBU holds three 800mAh NiCad rechargeable batteries on a circuit board that plugs into connector J2 on the controller board The procedures for replacing a BBU are described in this section Testing the BBU The BBU can be tested by following these steps l Initiate an operation such as a copy of a file to a dummy file and power off the system before the cache has time to be flushed approximately 4 seconds 2 Power on the system 3 Check to see if the dummy file exists I
11. Input Output Refers to disk reads and writes Logical unit Disk storage space on one or more physical drives which appears to the computer as one drive Sometimes referred to as a system drive or a logical drive RAID levels The disk array controllers monitored by this utility support four RAID Advisory Board approved RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 and two special RAID levels RAID 0 1 and JBOD RAID 0 The controller stripes data across multiple drives Benefits Very high data throughput especially for large files Drawbacks Does not deliver any fault tolerance All data is lost if any drive in the array fails Uses Intended for non critical data requiring high performance Glossary 2 DAC960SX User Guide Glossary RAID 1 Disk mirroring controller duplicates data from one drive to another Benefits Provides 10096 data redundancy Should one drive fail the controller simply switches reads and writes to the other drive Drawbacks Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive While a controller is rebuilding a drive users will experience reduced performance if they try to read or write data to the logical unit Uses When data availability is most important RAID 3 Stripes blocks of data across all drives Maintains parity information which can be used for data recovery Benefits Uses a fraction of the disk space required by RAID 1 to achieve data redundancy The arra
12. Ive wod aseqeed 7 pj sorudvur sseursng 10 sorgdeao p GSTT 7 od Kueduro 5 Mok Isou 10128 YIM lt Jes DpnjN 7 PAIYA wed sseursng 7 euosieg 7 urojs s INOA JO S SN uouruioo SOU oseo q SUNSEL HMNW 7 TenprArpum 7 onpo d peseuound ouA TT i S1onpoud yory sak ND soA prj ased oq ur sjonpoud peseuound 1949 OT 1390 puaug j Mamoy my Jopisuoo prp Aue 19410 YM pesn sr BOY c eure 1ueuresnieApy XA TAI uea 150 no MOH 71 eseo d sposu INOA Xo A A 10 JOPIO pz HdOO dIZ HIVIS ALIO 559 5 ON 5 ON THHOW 5 ALYA ON XVA AaNOHdd TAL HdOO dIZ HIVIS ALIO SSHHIGGV ANVdINOO AINVN aseyoind jo s ep QT prp SIU umy pue ojo duroo NOK jonpoud
13. Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Manual No 771975 7 35 Administration Menu Page Three 7 36 DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 8 Toolkit Menu Toolkit Menu Summary The Toolkit Menu allows monitoring of drive information and drive preparation prior to array configuration This menu can also be used for diagnostics and maintenance The Toolkit menu is organized as follows Toolkit Menu Page One Show Drives Drive Information Change Drive State Toolkit Menu Page Two Format Drives Controller Parameters Controller Diagnostics Toolkit Menu Page Three AEMI Scan Manual No 771975 8 1 Toolkit Menu Page One Toolkit Menu Page One _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 5 Show Drives Drive Information Change Drive State ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION LIN Show Drives Drive Information Change Drive State sho inf str nxt Figure 8 1 Toolkit Menu Page One 8 2 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 1 Toolkit Menu Page One Description Indication Key Description Show Drives Function that displays the operational state of drives in the
14. Num keypad Increments the drive SCSI ID number K4 2 Num keypad Decrements the drive SCSI ID number Enter Enter Selects the drive to rebuild invokes the Rebuild process and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 7 11 Administration Menu Page One Rebuild Status Start Rebuild Page Three 9605 _ L HFTGURRTTUH ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ RBLD LUN H 7 7 0 5 2 1 Rebuild Check Rate 2 Start Rebuild 3 Start Parity Check PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION Rebuild started successfully Rebuild started Press any key Figure 7 6 Rebuild Status Start Rebuild Page Three 7 12 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 6 Start Rebuild Page Three Description Indication Key Description Rebuild started Message indicates that the Rebuild process is started Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu rebuild process character key continues in background mode until completed Note An audible alarm beep sounds periodically until the Rebuild process is complete Status indication showing the completion percentage of the Rebuild is displayed on the monitor mode main title screen Manual No 771975 7 1
15. When a menu item is selected its number appears next to the OPTIONS prompt to verify its selection Pressing the Enter key activates the selected function sub menu Pressing the n key accesses the next page of a menu when there are more than three items to list The panel below the INSTRUCTIONS prompt shows an abbreviated list of other functions and the corresponding key to press to access each one Pressing the lt Esc gt key allows you to go back to the previous screen at nearly any point in the menus Controller Screen Descriptions The following sections show the principle screens of the DAC960SX interface They provide tabular descriptions of the controllers main features and functions Except for the title screen and the log on screen the screens are presented in the order in which they appear as subordinate command screens of the main menu selections Some sub menu screens have further subordinate screens and these are shown and described immediately following their associated parent screen Descriptions for the Menu Mode screens and their subordinate screens are provided in the chapters that follow this one 5 6 DAC960SX User Guide User Interface Menu Screen Locator Table 5 1 provides a quick reference guide to menu screen locations Table 5 1 Controller Menu Screen Locator Main Menu Submenu Submenu Selection Locator Title Configuration Screen 1 Get Configuration Show Configurat
16. Configuration Menu Page Three Configuration Menu Page Three 9685 co CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 1 Start Initialize 2 Change Write Policy ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION gt Start Initialize Change Write Policy int wpl nxt Figure 6 19 Configuration Menu Page Three 6 40 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 20 Configuration Menu Page Three Description Indication Key Description Start Initialize Menu selection that allows user to initialize the logical units Change Write Policy Menu selection that allows user to select the cache write policy Write Through or Write Back that provides the best performance for the array gt Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 int 1 Selects the Start Initialize function K2 wpl 2 Selects the Change Write Policy function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Configuration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu or function indicated by the arrow Manual No 771975 6 41 Configuration Menu Page Three Start Initialize The Initialize function should be used on all logical units immediately after they are created and before data
17. Determining the Purpose of the Array Determining the Purpose of the Array What is the Purpose of Your Array This is the first question you must answer before preparing to configure your array Will the array be used to increase the capacity of your general purpose file and print server Will it be used to support a database application that has to keep running 24 hours a day Will it contain large files of audio or video clips that will be played back on demand Will the array be used as a repository for imaging systems The Data Access Profile Each of the above applications has a different access profile that means the type and frequency of read and write activity that is performed against the array over the course of time Identifying the data access profile will help you determine a strategy favoring capacity availability or performance For example so called video servers typically write data 1 the video clip infrequently but play back the data very often The ratio of reading to writing in this type of an array is far different from a general purpose file server that s doing small read and write operations all day long In addition the characteristics of the files themselves are very different video and image files are typically very large when compared to letters memos and spreadsheet files Video server applications or in general all imaging applications need to read very large segments of data compare
18. LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key K1 yes Y Selection creates a logical unit with the configuration settings shown on this screen If full capacity is used the next page displays otherwise the RAID level page is displayed for the next logical unit until the full capacity is used K2 no N Selection cancels the creation of this logical unit and abandons the configuration data entered for this LUN RAID level and LUN size The user is returned to the screen shown in Create Array Page Three Manual No 771975 6 23 Configuration Menu Page One Array Configuration Create Array Page Eight DRCgbB5X _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ DPTIUHS 3 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION All the capacity in the created array haye Bern used Selected Drives CHN TGT B H 1 1 4 1 1 Entire array used 000102 Press any key Figure 6 11 Array Configuration Create Array Page Eight 6 24 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 12 Create Array Page Eight Description Indication Key Description Entire array used Message indicates that all available capacity on the drive group is assigned to one or more logical units nnnnnn Number pairs indicate the SCSI identification of the drives that co
19. 2 15 Configuring for Maximum Availability 2 16 Configuring for Maximum Performance 2 19 Determining Drive Distribution 2 20 Drive Groups tree cene rere eee 2 20 Arranging Drive Groups eee 2 21 Determining Cabling and Termination Requirements 2 22 Termination omaes 2 22 SGSI Gablihig Uo ele ei 2 23 Dual Active Cabling Requirements 2 24 Manual No 771975 V Determining Other Factors 2 2 25 Standby Hot Spare Drives 2 25 Cache Management 2 25 Dual Active Configurations 2 27 Creating Logical System Drives 2 28 Assigning RAID Levels to Logical Drives 2 28 nu ee ha ee ee 2 30 Chapter 3 RAID Management Drive Management 3 1 Controlling Physical Drive States 3 1 Controlling Logical Unit States 3 4 Automated Management 2 3 5 Controlling Standby Replacement Drives Hot Spares 3 5 Hot Swap Drive Replacement 3 6 Disk Failure Detection
20. Disks are programmed to report errors When a disk reports a media error during a read the controller reads the data from the mirror RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 or computes the data from the other blocks RAID RAID 5 and writes the data back to the disk that encountered the error If the write fails or the following verify of data fails media error on write the controller issues a REASSIGN BLOCKS command to the disk and then writes the data to a new location Since the problem has been resolved no error is reported to the host 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 3 6 DACO960SX User Guide RAID Management Checking Consistency A consistency check is a process that verifies the integrity of redundant data For example performing a consistency check of a mirrored drive assures that the data on both drives of the mirrored pair are exactly the same To verify RAID 3 or RAID 5 redundancy a consistency check reads all associated data blocks computes parity reads parity and verifies that the computed parity matches the read parity Hot Plug Capability The controllers in a dual active system are hot pluggable This means that a failed controller can be removed and replaced while the remaining active controller is powered on and processing requests While this allows you to remove a working control
21. Num keypad Increments the RAID level number K4 Num keypad Decrements the RAID level number Enter Enter Invokes the function and displays the next page Manual No 771975 6 15 Configuration Menu Page One LUN Size Create Array Page Four DRCgbB5X _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 3 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array Enter size of LUN to create in MegaBytes Available Capacity HB Selected Drives CHN T 41 GT 0 0 8 1 1 8 1 1 Enter size nnn Aval Cap nnnMB 000102 Figure 6 8 LUN Size Create Array Page Four 6 16 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 8 Create Array Page Four Description Indication Key Description Enter size nnn Number sets the usable capacity in megabytes for the logical unit being created Aval Cap nnn MB Indicates maximum drive capacity in megabytes available for the logical unit being created CI nnnnnn etc Number pairs indicate the SCSI identification of each drive that comprise the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the drive SCSI ID number LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Quits the function before the array is created A prompt screen to Exit or Continue is displayed see Figure 6 12 and Table 6 13
22. Press any key to continue INFORMATION Standby drives in Channel 1 1 SBY C0 1 2 Press any key Figure 6 4 Show Configuration Page Two 6 8 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 4 Show Configuration Page Two Description Indication Key Description SBY Indicates that information on this screen is for standby hot spare drives in the currently displayed configuration Cn Number indicates the SCSI channel number of the standby drives n n Number indicates SCSI ID number of each standby drive on this channel Press any key Prompt to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K1 K4 Any Displays the configuration data for the next channel Enter character key with standby drives until all are shown then displays the previous menu Manual No 771975 Configuration Menu Page One Create Array Function The Create Array function combines selected drives into a Drive Group The Drive Group may be divided into multiple logical units each with its own RAID level cache policy and capacity Logical units may be added until the maximum capacity of the Drive Group is fully used or eight system drives are defined Select SCSI Channel Create Array Page One _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 3 1 Get Conf
23. Suru1eouoo Aue pue INOA GHYVO NOILVHISIO3H ALNVHHVM abelsod 1095 69476 VO 1uoueH d q 105 X31YANJ
24. Figure 2 9 Drive Group Mapped for Block Striping Manual No 771975 2 11 Selecting a RAID Level Striping with Parity RAID 3 and RAID 5 Striping with parity provides complete data redundancy and requires only a fraction of the storage capacity required for mirroring In a system configured under RAID 3 or RAID 5 which requires 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 the missing drive can be reconstructed using the data on the remaining drives RAID 3 OR RAID 5 STRIPING WITH PARITY DATA WRITE DRIVE ID 1 DRIVE ID 3 XN Se DRIVE ID 4 PARITY WRITE Figure 2 10 Drive Group Mapped for Block Striping with Parity 2 12 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Drive 0 Drive 1 Drive 2 Drive 3 Drive 4 Block 0 Block 8 Block 12 Parity 0 12 Block 1 Block 5 Block 9 Block 13 Parity 1 13 Block 2 Block 6 Block 10 Block 14 Parity 2 14 f Sripe 0 Stripe 1 Stripe 2 Stripe 3 Stripe 4 Stripe n Figure 2 11 Block Striping with Parity Manual No 771975 2 13 Selecting a RAID Level Striping with Mirroring RAID 0 1 RAID 0 1 Mylex RAID is a combination of RAID 0 striping and RAID 1 mirroring The advantages of RAID 0 1 are fully mirror
25. Partner flctive MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 5 gt 1 Rebuild Check Rate 2 Start Rebuild 3 Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION THF RHRTIDH Parity Check LUN B DACIBASA _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Hit Y to parity check LUN H to quit Enter LUN Zn yes no Figure 7 8 Parity Check Confirmation Start Parity Check Page Two 7 16 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 8 Parity Check Confirmation Page Two Description Indication Key Description Parity check LUN n Number indicates the logical unit number LUN of the logical unit selected to parity check LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the parity check and displays the first page of the Administration menu K1 yes Y Invokes the Start Parity Check function and displays the previous menu screen K2 no N Cancels the parity check and displays the first page of the Administration menu Manual No 771975 7 17 Administration Menu Page One Parity Check Status Start Parity Check Page Three DACIBASA co _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS 3 1 Rebuild Check Rate 2 Start Rebuild 3 Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue THF RHRTIDH Parity check started suc
26. damage data loss or personal injury Contents Chapter 1 Introduction DAC960SX Keypad and LCD Display 1 2 Eeat leS iie ehe Up et ECHTE 1 3 Enhanced SCSI Performance 1 3 RAID SCSI Disk Array Management 1 3 Configuration on Disk 1 4 Mylex On line RAID Expansion MORE 1 4 User Interface obo uber RE 1 4 Automated RAID Functions 48 1 5 Increased System Availability 1 5 Controller Redundancy 1 5 Battery Backup 4 pred eee eden Rees 1 6 Mezzanine Board Optional 1 6 Specifications Ree ARE et RE EAR 1 7 Chapter 2 Configuration Strategies nen ee eade e e ie tO 2 1 Determining the Purpose of the Array 2 2 The Data Access Profile essen 2 2 Selecting a Controller Configuration 2 2 3 Single Controller Configurations 2 2 3 Dual Controller Dual Active Configurations 2 6 Selecting a RAID Level 2 8 Supported RAID Levels 2 10 Using the CAP Strategy to Select a RAID Level 2 14 Configuring for Maximum Capacity
27. 1 and are described throughout the subsequent chapters of this manual Navigating the VT100 Terminal Screens By connecting a VT100 compatible terminal or a PC operating in an equivalent terminal emulation mode all controller monitoring configuration and administration functions be exercised from the VT 100 terminal _ CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ STARTUP CONPLETE Ta Configuration Administration Toolkit HTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option N for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION Figure 5 4 Menu Mode 100 Utility Screen 5 4 DAC960SX User Guide User Interface The DAC960SX built in utility screens is accessed by sending a Break character from the VT100 terminal keyboard On some terminals this is achieved by pressing the Ctrl and Break keys together and some terminal emulation modes may also require you to press the Enter or Return key refer to the documentation for your specific terminal or terminal emulation software Start up VT100 Screen To start up the controller s VT100 utility power on the terminal the drives and the DAC960SX From the VT100 terminal start the DAC960SX Configuration Administration utility by issuing the Break command The Break command causes a password prompt to appear on the monitor screen Since password support is not implemented in
28. A drive group can contain devices on any channel Include all drives of the same capacity up to eight total in the same drive group If configuring for a standby or hot spare drive make sure that the standby drive size is greater than or equal to the capacity of the smallest drive in ALL the redundant drive groups When replacing a failed drive make sure that the replacement drive size is greater than or equal to the size of the smallest drive in the affected drive group 2 30 DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 3 RAID Management Drive Management The DAC960SX functions that monitor and control the operation of the physical drives and logical units are instrumental to the controller s ability to perform RAID management and automated error recovery tasks Controlling Physical Drive States The state of a physical drive refers to a SCSI drive s current operational status At any given time a SCSI drive can be in one of several states ONLINE STANDBY DEAD or WRITE ONLY The operational state of a disk drive is indicated by a one letter status code on the VT100 monitor screen by a three letter status code on the RAIDfx software utility or by a three letter status code on the LCD Screen Note The controller stores the state of the attached SCSI drives in its non volatile memory as well as on the disks This information is retained even after power off Manual No 771975 3 1 Drive Management DAC960SX
29. EMC EN 50081 1 1992 EN 55022 1992 Class B EN 50082 1 1992 Generic Immunity EN 61000 4 2 1995 4kV CD 8kV AD EN 50140 1995 3 V m 80 1000 MHz 80 EN 61000 4 4 1995 0 5kV I O 1kV Power Supplementary Information The product herewith complies with the requirements to the EMC Directive 89 336 EEC Declaration that the equipment specified above conforms to the above directive s and standard s is on file and available for inspection at the manufacturer s address cited above Manual No Preliminary B 3 C Community of Europe CE mark is rated for the DAC960SX as follows CISPR 22 Radiated Emission EN55022 EN5082 1 Generic immunity standard for the following IEC 801 2 ESD IEC 801 3 Radiated and IEC 801 4 EFT Burst Warning This is a Class B product In a residential environment this product may cause radio interference in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures Achtung Dieses ist ein Ger t der Funkst rgrenzwertklasse B In Wohnbereichen k nnen bei Betrieb dieses Ger tes Rundfunkst rungen aufreten in welchen Fallen der Benutzer f r entsprechende Gegenma nahmen verantwortlich ist Avertissement Cet appareil est un appareil de Classe B Dans un environnement r sidentiel cet appareil peut provoquer des brouillages radio lectriques Dans ce cas il peut tre demand l utilisateur de prendre des m sures appropri es B 4 DAC960PG PJ amp PR PT Installation G
30. Fan Number indicates the enclosure fan identification Pn Power unit Number indicates the enclosure power supply unit identification TO Temperature Indicates the enclosure temperature sensor status message OK operating within specified parameters F failure or operating out of specification Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Manual No 771975 7 27 Administration Menu Page Two Relinquish Controller Partner flctive MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 5 3 1 LUN Statistics 2 Enclosure Status 3 Relinquish Controller ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to continue with operation H exit Do vou want to relinquish the other controller Relinquish Partner yes no pu Figure 7 14 Relinquish Controller Page One 7 28 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 14 Relinquish Controller Page One Description Indication Key Description Relinquish Partner Prompt to confirm that a fail back is to be initiated LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the fail back and displays the first page of the Administration menu K1 yes Y Invokes the fail back K2 no N Cancels the fail back Manual No 77 1975 7
31. Figure 8 20 AEMI Scan Started AEMI Scan Page Three 8 48 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 21 AEMI Scan Started AEMI Scan Page Three Description Indication Key Description AEMI scan initiated Message indicates the AEMI Scan diagnostics program is loaded and ready to be run Press any key Prompt for user action to run the scan on the selected SCSI channel Alarm Tone Audible alarm tone indicates that the AEMI Scan detected a change in the number of drives present on the tested SCSI channel LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Invokes the AEMI Scan function and displays the character key previous menu Manual No 771975 8 49 Toolkit Menu Page Three 8 50 DAC960SX User Guide Appendix A Error Messages Table A 1 DAC960SX Error Messages Error Message Description Menu Function Cannot Format Drive Invalid choice of drive Format Drives Cannot use drive Invalid choice of drive Create Array Controller Busy Diagnostics could not be run because controller is busy Controller Diag Cur cfg will change Current configuration will change if Save is invoked Save Configuration Diagnostics Failed Entire array used Controller diagnostics failed No space remains in current array to create additional logical units Controller Diag Create Array Error Code nnnn Diagnostics failed number indicates type of fail
32. Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no array is deleted and displays the previous menu screen K1 yes Y Selection deletes the last Drive Group created K2 no N Cancels the function no Drive Group is deleted and displays the previous menu screen Manual No 771975 6 31 Configuration Menu Page Two Create Standby Function The Create Standby function is used to designate a drive that will be a standby replacement or hot spare drive for a redundant array for example RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 or RAID 0 1 Note A standby drive must be created for the DAC960SX Automatic Rebuild function to operate properly with a redundant array A Caution A Standby Drive must have at least as much capacity as the largest drive in the array or the rebuild may not start Do not select a standby drive which is currently online as a member of a drive group _ 2 CONFIGURATION 4 ADMINISTRATION Partner Active 5 2 1 Delete Last Array 2 Lreate Standby 3 Save Configuration PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION Channel n lt gt Figure 6 15 Select Channel Create Standby Page One 6 32 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 16 Create Standby Page One Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates th
33. Menu Page Two Description Indication Key Description LUN Statistics Menu selection that provides statistical data about the logical units Enclosure status Menu selection that displays status of the fan power supply and temperature in an AEMI compliant array enclosure Relinquish Controller Menu selection that initiates a fail back in a dual active system causing both controllers to resume normal dual active operation Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 sta 1 Selects the LUN Statistics function K2 enc 2 Selects the Enclosure Status function K3 rel 3 Selects the Relinquish Controller function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Administration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu or function indicated by the arrow Manual No 771975 7 21 Administration Menu Page Two LUN Statistics CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS 1 LUN Statistics 2 Enclosure Status 3 Relinquish Controller ENTER PARAMETER Enter LUN THFORMATION Enter LUN n gt Figure 7 11 LUN Statistics Page One 7 22 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 11 LUN Statistics Page One Description Indication Key Description
34. No 771975 6 35 Configuration Menu Page Two Confirm Standby Drive Create Standby Page Three CONFIGURATION gt ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE TEME 2 1 Delete Last Array 2 Create Standby 3 5aue Configuration PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to create standby H to select again INFORMATION Drive to be created as Standby 6 8 Capacity 2863 Sby 0 3 nnn yes no Figure 6 17 Standby Drive Confirmation Create Standby Page Three 6 36 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 18 Create Standby Page Three Description Indication Key Description Sby n Number indicates the SCSI channel number of the drive to be made a standby hot spare n Number indicates the SCSI ID of a drive to be made a standby hot spare Cap nnn MB Indicates maximum drive capacity in megabytes available for the standby drive being created SBY size too small Prompt notifies the user if the capacity of the standby drive is too small to be used in the existing configuration If a drive failure were to occur the Standby drive may not take over LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the drive SCSI channel and Target ID selection and displays the first page of the Create Standby menu K1 yes Y Confirms the standby drive selection and dis
35. Remove the failed controller 4 2 DAC960SX User Guide Controller Maintenance 5 Following the instructions provided in your enclosure vendor s documentation install the replacement controller 6 Follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to reconfigure your controller as required Replacing a Controller in a Dual Active Configuration To replace a controller in a dual active pair complete the following procedure Note Download the firmware to the controller and define controller settings before configuring it into the dual active system For more information refer to the Installation Guide Both controllers must have the same number of host and disk SCSI channels the same physical configuration amount of memory distribution board daughter board BBU and the same firmware revision build and type 1 Follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to download the correct firmware to the new controller 2 Follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to configure the following controller parameters Disable Force Simplex Ctlr Pres Fault Controller Present Fault configured the same on both controllers enabled or disabled as required Note Dual active installations using a Mylex distribution board and dual active cable should set this parameter to disabled Ctlr Pres Flt Sel Controller Present Fault Select configured the same on both controllers A or B as required
36. State process and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 8 17 Toolkit Menu Page One Status of Change Change Drive State Page Four DURLSbHSR _ CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTTUNS 1 ONLINE DEAD STANDBY ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION State changed successfully Qh State changed Press any key Figure 8 9 Status Change Drive State Page Three 8 18 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 9 Status Change Drive State Page Three Description Indication Key Description State ch anged Message indicates that the selected drive has changed state Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any character key Displays the previous menu Note An audible alarm sounds when a drive state is changed to Dead Manual No 771975 8 19 Toolkit Menu Page Two Toolkit Menu Page Two ca 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION fictive Partner MESSAGE 5 Format Drives Controller Paraneters Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION tod Format Drives Controller Params Controller Diag fmt cpr dia
37. available and are hereby assigned by MYLEX to the purchaser of this PRODUCT If MYLEX issues a revision to the BIOS firmware or software included with this PRODUCT within 30 days of your purchase MYLEX will replace such firmware at no charge except handling fees Out of Warranty Service Mylex products which are ineligible for warranty service may be serviced by MYLEX according to our standard price list as modified from time to time A current copy of the standard price list is available from the Technical Support Department Limitation of MYLEX Liability MYLEX s liability arising from the sale use and disposition of this PRODUCT shall in no event exceed the amount paid to MYLEX for this PRODUCT MYLEX assumes no liability for damages arising from the use or failure of any MYLEX product The WARRANY DESCRIBED ABOVE CONSTITUTES THE ONLY WARRANY MADE BY MYLEX MYLEX EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WHICH ARE HEREBY EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED IN NO EVENT WILL MYLEX BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL SPECIAL OR CONSEQUEN TIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF DATA USE OR INCOME EVEN IF ADVISED OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE Your sole remedies shall be as provided herein P N 772058 05 6 98 Printed in U S A Returned Merchandise Procedures If you suspect that there is a defect in the material
38. defined WT Write Through no write cache WB Write Back write cache enabled nnnnnn Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of each drive that comprise the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the SCSI ID number LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key K3 chg Spacebar Toggles the cache policy mode between WT and WB ESC K1 Any K2 K4 character key Enter Invokes the cache mode selection and displays the next page Manual No 771975 6 19 Configuration Menu Page One Change LUN Affinity Create Array Page Six Partner Active MESSAGE 3 E quus cui y 3 Change LUN Affinty Hit spacebar to toggle LUN Affinty other to continue LUN Affinty of LUN B ECB P1 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Affinity LUN Zn All Aff i chg 6 20 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 10 Create Array Page Six Description Indication Key Description Affinity LUN n All Aff Lun affinity set for all controllers and ports C1 Controller 1 Port 0 PO Controller 0 Port 0 P1 Controller 1 Port 1 CO P1 Controller 0 Port 1 LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key chg Spacebar Toggles LUN affinity ESC K1 Any K2 K4 character key Enter Invokes the selection and display
39. expressly disclaims liability for any error in this information and for damages whether direct indirect special exemplary consequential or otherwise that may result from such error including but not limited to loss of profits resulting from the use or misuse of the manual or information contained therein even if Mylex Corporation has been advised of the possibility of such damages Any questions or comments regarding this document or its contents should be addressed to Mylex Corporation at the address shown on the cover The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law MYLEX CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for indirect special exemplary incidental or consequential damages in certain transactions therefore this statement may not apply to you Also you may have other rights which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction Information in this publication is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Mylex Corporation Changes may be made periodically to the information herein these changes will be incorporated in new editions
40. first drive group on the controller This would permit the creation of a primary logical drive on Drive Group B that could function as a boot drive By sequentially arranging two drive groups with an identical number of disk drives each drive group s capacity is combined or spanned creating a Super Drive Group Such arrangement is done automatically by the DAC960 controller when two drive groups with an identical number of disks are arranged one after another Data is striped across the drive groups of the Super Drive Group irrespective of how data is distributed across the individual drive group A logical drive can span across up to four 4 drive groups Arranging drive groups so that a pack with a different number of drives is in between two groups of equal number drives will prevent this spanning feature from being enabled Another simple way to prevent automatic spanning is to completely finish arranging a drive group defining its RAID level and logical drives and initializing the array before continuing on with creating another drive group that contains the same number of drives In the following illustration a Super Drive Group on the left has been created with the effective capacity of six disk drives because the drive groups with three drives each are arranged sequentially In the example on the right three unspanned drive groups have been created two groups of three drives and one group of two drives SPANNED NOT SPANNE
41. installed power down the entire system and remove the DAC960SX mainboard from the chassis 2 Attach the mounting blocks to the mezzanine board using four nylon washers and four phillips screws as shown in Figure 4 5 Note Be sure to orient the mounting block as shown with the offset holes closest to the connector edge of the mezzanine board 3 Attach the paddle boards to the mezzanine board as shown in Figure 4 5 AN Caution Each paddle board is marked with an arrow Be sure to attach the paddle board with the arrow pointing toward the mezzanine board 4 Attach J2 and J3 on the mezzanine board to J2 and J3 on the DAC960SX 4 10 DACO960SX User Guide Controller Maintenance Phillips Screw p Nylon Washer Edge card Connector Paddle Board D Note Each mounting block has a hole that B Cg 22 is set farther inside from the block s 7 edge than the other hole Orient each J mounting block with this hole closest to the edge card connector a Mounting lt Z Termination Jumpers Figure 4 5 Preparing the DBI960SX for Installation 5 Secure the Mezzanine Board to the DAC960SX by installing the four remaining nylon washers and phillips screws through the controller board and into the mounting blocks 6 Install the new board assembly into the chassis Manual No 771975 4 11 Upgrading the DAC960SX DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 5 User Inte
42. is written Initialization clears all data on the logical unit and synchronizes the parity and mirror information with the data WARNING Failure to initialize a newly created logical unit can result in loss of data 9 5 ce _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 1 l Enter LUH Enter LUN n lt 2 Figure 6 20 Start Initialize Page One 6 42 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 21 Start Initialize Page One Description Indication Key Description Enter LUN n Number indicates the logical unit number of the logical unit to be initialized LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no logical unit is initialized and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments the logical unit number Num keypad Decrements the logical unit number Enter Enter Invokes the Initialization function and displays the prompt for the next message screen Manual No 771975 6 43 Configuration Menu Page Three Initialize Confirmation Start Initialize Page Two DACIGASX co _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPT TONS 1 1 Start Initialize 2 Change Write Policy INSTRUCTION Hit 77 to Initialize LUN H to quit INFORMATION Initialize LUN B Initialize LUN n yes
43. monitoring during power on as well as during continuous operation Status messages and audible alarms notify the administrator or user of critical conditions Supports SAF TE or AEMI protocols for integrated monitoring of enclosure power supplies fans and temperature Battery backup protects data in the controller cache in the event of a power interruption Firmware resides in the on board Flash EEPROM that retains information even after power is off and can be upgraded without replacing components Controller Redundancy Each controller in a dual active configuration monitors the status of its partner controller Failure of one controller in a dual active configuration automatically initiates a process whereby the surviving controller handles operations for both controllers Manual No 771975 1 5 Features Hotreplacement of a failed controller in a dual active configuration initiates a process whereby the new controller resumes the operations of the original failed controller Battery Backup Prevents data loss by providing power to the cache memory module if the power is interrupted and data is still in the cache An LED indicator on the BBU illuminates when VCC power from the controller is applied to the BBU An external LED with a Samtec TSM 112 01 T DV connector may be connected to the BBU to view the condition remotely Supports three on board 800mAh AA sized NiCad on board rechargeable batteries Includes a Mo
44. n MB Ver nnnn CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION CHO St OOO S DR LN nnn OPTIONS 1 Show Drives 2 Drive Information 3 Change Drive State ENTER PARAMETER Figure 3 1 Drives States on the Show Drives VT100 Screen CHO St SD LN nnnnnnoc Press any key Figure 3 2 Drives States on the Show Drives LCD Screen 3 N DAC960SX User Guide RAID Management On line O or ONL A SCSI drive physical drive is on line if it 1 is powered on 2 has been defined as a member of a drive group and 3 is operating properly Standby S or SBY A SCSI disk drive is in a standby state if it 1 is powered on 2 is able to operate properly 3 has not been defined as part of any drive group and 4 has been defined as a standby Dead D or DED A drive is dead if it 1 is not present 2 is present but not powered on 3 fails to operate properly and is killed by the controller whether or not it has been defined as a member of a drive group When the controller detects a failure on a disk it kills that disk by changing its state to dead A SCSI drive that is in the dead state does not participate in any I O activity No commands are issued to dead drives Rebuild R A SCSI drive is in the process of being rebuilt that is during a RAID 1 rebuild data is being copied from the mirrored drive to the replacement drive or during a RAID 3 RAID 5 or RAID 0 1 rebuild
45. on the CO must be connected to Channel 1 on C1 This is true even when a drive channel does not have any other devices connected to it If a mezzanine board is installed Channel 2 on CO must be connected to Channel 2 on C1 and Channel 3 on CO must be connected to Channel 3 on Cl The controllers must be connected through the Dual Active Heartbeat cable Serial channel B is reserved for this purpose Manual No 771975 2 27 Creating Logical System Drives Creating Logical System Drives After all the physical drive groups are defined and arranged one or more logical drives must be created Logical drives are the system drives that are presented to the operating system A logical drive s capacity can encompass any portion of a drive group up to the total capacity of that drive group or the capacity of more than one drive group up to four drive groups Up to eight logical drives can be created with DAC960 firmware versions below 2 6 With firmware versions at or above 2 6 up to 32 logical drives can be created per controller The following illustration shows a RAID 0 1 configuration with three mirrored logical drives created in a drive group containing three disk drives DRIVE GROUP A 3 Logical Drives wry a Mirrored Logical Drives AO A2 Assigning RAID Levels to Logical Drives Each logical drive has a defined RAID level 0 1 3 5 0 1 JBOD based on the number of drives in the drive group upon which i
46. the controller s cache This function should remain enabled during normal controller operation Super Read Ahead The Super Read Ahead function increases performance for applications that must access large blocks of sequential data This function incorporates intelligent data request monitoring to track data requests by the host With Super Read Ahead enabled the controller detects requests for data that are stored in sequence on the drives It reads the data into the cache so that the 8 38 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu cache remains at least one request ahead of the host This function should remain enabled during normal controller operation Command Tag Drive Channel The Command Tag Drive Channel function controls the SCSI command tag queuing support for each drive channel This function should normally remain enabled Disable this function only when using older SCSI drives that do not support command tag queuing Force 8bit Drive Channel The Force 8bit Drive Channel function allows the controller to communicate with Wide SCSI 16 bit devices connected to it through a Narrow SCSI 8 bit data cable on the specified drive channel The default setting for the Force 8bit function is disabled Enabling this option prevents the controller from negotiating for wide SCSI transfers This function should be enabled only when connecting Wide SCSI 16 bit drives or devices to the controller using a Narrow SCSI 8 bit cab
47. 1975 vii Toolkit Menu Page 8 20 Format Drives Function 2 8 22 Controller Parameters 8 32 Controller Parameter Settings 8 36 Toolkit Menu Page Three 8 44 Appendix A Error Messages Appendix B Regulatory Information Class B Compliance ssseeeeeeneeeenneens B 1 Class B Compliance sssri i aeaa e ane B 2 Declaration of Conformity essen B 3 Community of Europe 200 0 B 4 Glossary viii DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 1 Introduction The Mylex DAC960SX is a high performance Ultra SCSI to Ultra SCSI Disk Array Controller that can provide non stop service with a high degree of fault tolerance through the use of RAID technology and advanced array management features Figure 1 1 DAC960SX Mainboard and Mezzanine Board The DAC960SX is an intelligent controller that supports either industry standard RAID levels 0 1 3 5 and 0 1 or JBOD Just a Bunch of Disks for multiple drive arrays or single drive control functionality The DAC960SX provides high speed fault tolerant RAID disk operations for all popular operating environments Operating systems see the disk array as just another hard drive When configured with two active controllers the DAC960SX provides continuous access to data through a single controller failure Manual No 771975 1 1 DAC960SX Keypad a
48. 29 Administration Menu Page Two Relinquish Controller Status Relinquish Controller Page Two DACS6ASS _ CONFIGURATION 4 ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS 3 1 LUN Statistics 2 Enclosure Status 3 Relinquish Controller ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue THF RHRTIDH Operation successful Operation successful Press any key Figure 7 15 Relinquish Controller Page Two 7 30 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 15 Relinquish Controller Page Two Description Indication Key Description Operation successful Message indicates that the fail back operation has started Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Note This menu selection starts a failback operation that depending on the drive spin up settings may take up to two minutes When the failback is complete a menu message will be displayed Manual No 771975 7 31 Administration Menu Page Three Administration Menu Page Three 9665 _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS 1 Kill Partner ENTER PARAMETER Press to continue with operation H exit NR Do you wan
49. 3 Administration Menu Page One Start Parity Check The Parity Check function is used to verify the integrity of data on a logical drive LUN It verifies that mirror or parity information matches the stored data on the LUNs that are redundant RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 or RAID 1 0 If the parity block information is inconsistent with the data blocks the controller corrects the inconsistencies DACSGHSA CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 5 1 Rebuild Check Hate 2 Start Hebuild 3 Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER Enter LUN Enter LUN n 2 Figure 7 7 Start Parity Check Page One 7 14 DACO960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 7 Start Parity Check Page One Description Indication Key Description Enter LUN n Number indicates the logical unit number LUN of the logical unit to be checked LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no logical unit is checked and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments the logical unit number K4 Num keypad Decrements the logical unit number Enter Enter Selects the logical unit to check invokes the Parity Check function and displays the next message screen Manual No 771975 7 15 Administration Menu Page One Parity Check Confirmation Start Parity Check Page Two
50. Cabling Requirements To help plan cable requirements for a Dual Active system read through the following rules Dual Active system examples are shown starting with Figure 2 2 Disk drives must be connected in series between SCSI ports on the distribution boards Host ports on both controllers must be interconnected that is Host Port 0 must be connected to Host Port 0 and Host Port 1 must be connected to Host Port 1 and so on The Dual Active ports on both controllers must be connected using a Dual Active cable Mylex P N A750159 To ensure access to data in the event of a disk or controller failure all SCSI drive and host busses must be terminated externally not on the devices All drive channels on both controllers must be interconnected even if they are not used Ch 1 to Chl Ch2 to Ch2 etc 2 24 DACO960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Determining Other Factors Standby Hot Spare Drives Drives that are not included in any drive group at the time of configuration are automatically used by the DAC960 controller as standby or hot spare drives There is no limit on the number of available drives that can be configured as standby drives Two arranged packs and a standby drive are shown in the following illustration Notice that what is being illustrated is how the controller is organizing the drives since the cabling scheme depicted in this configuration is the same as the one shown in the first illustrati
51. Change Drive State ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION Vendor IBM D RS 32158H Revision NATA Capacity 2063 Soft Errors Mfr name Model No Rev nnn MB SEr n Press any key Figure 8 5 Drive Information Page Three 8 10 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 5 Drive Information Page Three Description Indication Key Description Mfr name Name of the drive manufacturer Model No Manufacturer s model number for the drive Rev Manufacturer s revision number for the drive nnn MB Numbers indicate the capacity in megabytes of the drive Ser n Number indicates the number of soft errors attributed to this drive Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous screen character key Manual No 771975 8 11 Toolkit Menu Page One Change Drive State The Change Drive State function is used to recover from accidental drive state changes If a user changes a failed drive to an On line state by mistake data integrity may be compromised WARNING Changing the state of a drive can result in data loss DIETER ca _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION fictive Partner MESSAGE PTIONS ONLINE DEAD STANDBY ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more optio
52. D Ig Super Drive Group Individual Drive Groups Manual No 771975 2 21 Determining Cabling and Termination Requirements Determining Cabling and Termination Requirements Termination The DAC960SX controller uses ALT 2 type active SCSI terminators on all drive channels Terminating a SCSI chain is accomplished either by adding a terminator to the each end of each SCSI drive and Host channel or by terminating the devices closest to each of the two ends of each SCSI drive and Host channel Note It is better to terminate the ends of the SCSI bus itself than it is to terminate the end devices on the bus This allows hot swapping of drives and controllers in Dual Active configurations without affecting bus termination The following table describes termination guidelines for each configuration type 2 22 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Table 2 6 Termination Guidelines Configuration Type Controller Settings Single Controller Single Host Simplex Terminate the host channel Externally terminate the ends of the SCSI drive channel s Single Controller Dual Host Externally terminate both host channels Externally terminate the ends of the SCSI drive channel s Dual Controller Single Host Dual active Terminate the host port at the end of the host channel Externally terminate the host channel Do not terminate any SCSI devices th
53. Fault Select Host Rest Delay Array Configuration For each pack provide pack number SCSI channel and ID of physical drives configured into pack P N 772159 001 System Drive Configuration For each system drive provide system drive number size RAID level write cache policy WT WB SD Affinity Host Configuration Host type Host OS level HBA LUN queue depth File system type HBA vendor and model HBA driver version Type of I O random sequential read Host OS service packs write patches installed Additional Information Please attach configuration data structures diagnostic debug output and a SCSI bus trace Benchmark utility Affected Mylex Error codes returned documentation Any error messages displayed on the Is the problem Affected Direct Commands LCD panel reproduceable Step by step instructions to reproduce Description of Problem W S ur paund 96 L 0 8S0CLL PHO SIN Sunon gugu S P NUL 500189895 10 sjuoururoo Aue NOK oq 6 eorAJeg so es 7 7 uonednooo 1no soqrosop 1894 WYM 78 wass Fy spereudueq 10 Suroprsuoo are Jo WYM 7 wun 45 p pue pue1q Ajroeds j opn our urojs s WYM 9
54. MINISTRATION ote a STARTUP COMPLETE Start Initialize Change Write Policy Nn INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION Configuration has been changed but not sayed Cannot execute Initialization uithout saving the changed configuration Cfg changed Exit yes no Figure 6 26 Configuration Changed Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen 6 54 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 27 Initialize LUN Prompt Alternate Screen Description Indication Key Description Cfg changed Exit Prompt notifies the user that a change to the current configuration was made and saved but the new logical units are not initialized LCD Action Key Terminal Action Key K1 yes Y Selection exits the Configuration Menu and returns the display to the previous menu The new or changed configuration is not initialized K2 no N Selection returns the user to the Configuration Menu where the Start Initialize function may be selected Manual No 771975 Configuration Menu Page Three 6 56 DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 7 Administration Menu Administration Menu Summary The Administration menu is used to monitor maintain repair and upgrade physical and logical drives connected to the DAC960S X The menu is organized as follows Administration Menu Page One Rebuild Check Rate Start Rebu
55. N Selects the next page of Administration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu selection or function indicated by the selection arrow Manual No 771975 Administration Menu Page One Rebuild Check Rate _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE PTIONS Rebui ld Lheck Rate Start Rebuild Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Rebuild Check Rate _ Current Rebuild Check Rate is 5H Enter Rate nn Rate is nn gt Figure 7 2 Rebuild Check Rate Page One 7 4 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 2 Rebuild Check Rate Page One Description Indication Key Description Enter Rate nn Number indicates the amount of background activity the controller allocates to the Rebuild Parity Check operation Lowest priority setting 0 Highest priority setting 50 Rate is nn Number indicates the existing rate setting LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the Rebuild Parity Check Rate entered on this screen and displays the next page lt Moves cursor below number to the left K2 gt gt Moves cursor below number to the right K3 Num keypad Increments Rate number K4 Num keypad Decrements Rate number Enter Enter Invokes the selection sets the working R
56. ONS 1 Format Drives 2 Controller Paraneters 3 Controller Diagnostics INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION Select the drives upto to be formatted lt Esc gt to end selection Channel n Slct drives ESC to end lt 2 Figure 8 11 Select Channel Format Drives Page 8 22 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 11 Select Channel Format Drives Page One Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates the SCSI channel of the drive to be formatted drives ESC to end Prompt for user action LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function and displays the previous menu screen if no drive is selected K3 Num keypad Increments the drive channel number Num keypad Decrements the drive channel number Enter Enter Selects the drive channel containing the drives to be formatted and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 8 23 Too Menu Page Two Select Drive Format Drives Page Two URLSbHSA cv CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS Format Orives Controller Paraneters Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID INFORMATION tang Select the drives upto 8 to be formatted lt Esc gt to end select
57. Press any key Figure 6 2 Get Configuration Screen 6 4 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 2 Get Configuration Description Indication Key Description Config loaded Indicates that current data is loaded into the controller s temporary work space Press any key Prompt to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous screen character key Note Always invoke the Get Configuration function before performing any array management task from the Configuration submenu The Get Configuration command ensures that the DAC960SX controller temporary work space contains the current physical configuration data Manual No 771975 Configuration Menu Page One Show Configuration Page One _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ STARTUP COMPLETE 0 5 2 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array HTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue LUN ONLINE 2847 Write Through Drives B 1 1 1 Sectors 8 4192256 LO ON 500MB R5WB 000102 Press any key Figure 6 3 Show Configuration Page One 6 6 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 3 Show Configuration Page One Description Indication Key Description Ln N
58. Prompt 6 52 W SCSI Active Negation 8 38 SCSI Transfer 8 40 Select Channel 8 14 8 46 Select Drive 6 34 8 8 8 24 Select Drives 6 12 Select SCSI Channel 6 10 Select Target Drive 7 10 8 16 Serial Channel A 8 42 Show Configuration 6 6 Show Drives 8 4 Show Standby 6 8 Soft Reset 8 40 Specifications DAC960SX 1 7 Spin up 8 41 Standby 3 3 3 5 Standby Rebuild 3 5 Standby Replacement Table 3 5 Start Initialize 6 42 Start Option 8 42 Start Parity Check 7 14 Start Rebuild 7 8 Statistics Display 7 24 Status of Change 8 18 Stripe Size 8 41 Striping RAID 0 2 11 Striping with Mirroring RAID 0 1 2 14 Striping with Parity RAID 3 and RAID 5 2 12 Super Drive Group 2 21 Super Read Ahead 8 38 T Toolkit Menu Page One 8 2 Page Three 8 44 Page Two 8 20 Toolkit Menu Summary 8 1 Write Cache Mode 6 18 Write Policy Confirmation 6 50 Write Back Cache 2 26 Write Through Cache 2 26 Manual No 771975 Index 3 Index 4 DAC960SX User Guide Mylex Warranty Customer Policy Thank you for purchasing this Mylex product for your computer system In addition to this high quality product your purchase entitles you to the warranty coverage set forth herein In order to provide this warranty coverage and to indicate your acceptance of this warranty we must have the attached Warranty Registration Card completed and returned to us within 15 days of your purchase Also in order for us to provide you the highest level of service we must
59. Scan diagnostic program utility K4 nxt Cancels the function no scan is run and displays the previous menu screen Enter Enter Invokes the AEMI Scan function and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 8 45 Toolkit Menu Page Three Select Channel AEMI Scan Page Two DACIGHSX co _ CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPT TONS 1 1 Scan ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION Channel n lt 2 Figure 8 19 Select Channel Screen AEMI Scan Page Two 8 46 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 20 AEMI Scan Page Two Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates the SCSI channel to be scanned LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the AEMI Scan function and displays the previous menu K3 Num keypad Increments the SCSI drive channel number K4 Num keypad Decrements the SCSI drive channel number Enter Enter Invokes the AEMI Scan function and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 8 47 Toolkit Menu Page Three AEMI Scan Started AEMI Scan Page Three DRLSbBSA co _ 2 MB CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPT TONS 1 1 AEM Scan Press any key to continue INFORMATION AEN scan initiated AEMI scan initiated Press any key
60. Toolkit Menu Figure 8 7 Select Channel Change Drive State Page Two Description Indication Key Description Channel 2 n Number indicates the SCSI channel of the drive that will change state LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments channel number K4 2 Num keypad Decrements channel number Enter Enter Selects the drive channel for the drive that will change state and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 8 15 Toolkit Menu Page One Select Target Drive Change Drive State Page Three _ 2 CONFIGURATION lt ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS ONLINE DEAD STANDBY ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID IHFORMATION Target ID n 2 Figure 8 8 Select Drive Change Drive State Page Three 8 16 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 8 Select Drive Change Drive State Page Three Description Indication Key Description Target ID n Number indicates the SCSI ID of the drive that will change state LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen K3 Num keypad Increments the drive SCSI ID number K4 Num keypad Decrements the drive SCSI ID number Enter Enter Selects the drive to change state invokes the Change Drive
61. URATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active Enter passuord PASSWORD Figure 5 6 Password Prompt Display Table 5 3 Password Screen Description Indication Key Description PASSWORD The password feature is not implemented in this version of the DAC960SX LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the menu access routine and returns the display to the monitor mode main title screen Enter Enter Clears the password prompt and launches the main menu screen Manual No 771975 Menu Mode Main Menu Screen Menu Mode Main Menu Screen _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 5 Configuration Adninistration Toolkit ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION Configuration Administration Toolkit cfg adm tk nxt Figure 5 7 Main Menu Display 5 10 DAC960SX User Guide User Interface Table 5 4 Main Menu Description Indication Key Description Configuration Menu selection that allows arrays to be created configured saved or deleted Administration Menu selection that allows management of array resources Toolkit Menu selection for drive and controller utilities gt Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Ter
62. X Rev nnnn DAC960SX nMB STARTUP COMPLETE Figure 5 2 Title Screen Display Monitor Mode LCD Screen In Monitor Mode the main title screen displays the STARTUP COMPLETE status message on the front panel LCD until one of the following occurs 1 Controller operations generate a new status message in its place 2 Someone logs on the controller putting it into Menu Mode Menu Mode LCD Screen Menu mode is reached by logging on the controller which causes the main menu screen to appear Holding the Enter key for at least four seconds when the title screen is displayed invokes the log on sequence The main menu screen lists three sub menu choices for Configuration Administration and Toolkit utility functions The nxt prompt is also Manual No 771975 5 3 User Interface Screen Modes displayed but its button does not control a function on this screen Configuration Administration Toolkit cfg adm tk nxt Figure 5 3 Main Menu Display Each of the three menu choices that can be selected from the main menu screen produce subordinate screens that invoke different functions for configuring and managing the SCSI disk array These functions produce additional screens and most of those screens also invoke commands associated with their specific functions The principal main menu command selections and the submenu commands that invoke additional submenus or command functions are shown in Table 3
63. ailability in a single array Some of the disks have to be used for redundancy and in doing so capacity is reduced 2 14 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Similarly configuring a single array for both maximum availability and maximum performance is not an option You will need to make compromises Luckily your DAC960 Series controller is versatile enough to offer you any of these preferences either singly or in the most favorable combination possible It comes down to this you will need to decide which capability is most important for your operational environment and which is next most important Once you ve prioritized your expectations it should be relatively easy to configure the array to meet your expectations Configuring for Maximum Capacity You may want to optimize your array for the greatest possible capacity To see the relationship between the different RAID levels and effective capacities offered for the quantity X drives of N capacity refer to Figure 2 2 As an example computed capacities for five drives of size 2GB each are provided Table 2 2 RAID Levels and Effective Capacity RAID Effective Example Level Capacity Capacity in GB 0 X N 5 2 10 1 X N 2 5 2 2 5 3 X 1 N 5 1 2 8 5 X 1 N 5 1 2 8 0 1 X N 2 5 2 2 5 JBOD X N 5 2 10 As you can see the greatest capacities are provided by RAID 0 and JBOD Mylex RAID 7 with the entire capacity o
64. are specific only to the DAC960 product family Each RAID version referred to as a RAID level supported by the DAC960SX is shown in the table on the next page An appropriate RAID level must be selected when logical drives are defined or created This decision is based on the following priorities Disk capacity utilization number of drives Data redundancy fault tolerance Disk performance The DAC960SX makes the RAID implementation and the disks physical configuration transparent to the host operating system This means that the host operating logical drivers and software utilities are unchanged regardless of the RAID level selected Table 2 1 DAC 960 Supported RAID Levels RAID of Fault Level Description Drives Toler Max Min 0 Block striping is provided which yields 2 8 No higher performance than is possible with individual drives No redundancy is provided 1 Drives are paired and mirrored Alldatais 2 2 Yes 100 duplicated on an equivalent drive 3 and 5 Data is striped across several physical 3 8 Yes drives Parity protection is used for data redundancy 2 8 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Table 2 1 DAC 960 Supported RAID Levels RAID of Fault Level Description Drives Toler Max Min 0 1 Combination of RAID levels 0 and 1 Data 3 8 Yes is striped across several physical drives This level provides redundancy through mirrori
65. array online dead standby write only and the first logical unit number associated with each drive Drive Information Menu selection that allows the user to get specific information about an individual drive Change Drive State Menu selection that allows the user to set a drive operational state to online dead or standby gt Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 sho 1 Invokes the Show Drives function K2 inf 2 Selects the Drive Information function K3 str 3 Selects the Change Drive State function nxt N Selects the next page of Toolkit menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu selection or function indicated by the selection arrow Manual No 771975 8 3 Toolkit Menu Page One Show Drives Function The Show Drives function provides drive status information DACIGASX co _ 2 MB CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ Show Drives Drive Information Change Drive State HTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue THEORMAT ION Channel 8 Status SBY ONL DED DEO DED DED DED 7H CHO St SD LN Press any key Figure 8 2 Show Drives Screen 8 4 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 2 Show Drives Description Indicat
66. as not saved a new or modified configuration before attempting to initialize the array or exit the Configuration Menu D aLS95BS58 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE STARTUP CONPLETE DPTIONS 1 Delete Last Array 2 Create Standby 3 Save Configuration PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Hit Y to exit H to return to menu INFORMATION CAUTION Some Logical Units have not been initialized Config changed save before initializing Press any key Figure 6 25 Save Configuration Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen 6 52 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 26 Save Configuration Prompt Alternate Screen Description Indication Key Description Config changed Save before initializing Prompt notifies the user that a change to the current configuration was made but not saved Press any key Prompt to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Selection clears this message screen and displays character key the previous menu Manual No 771975 6 53 Configuration Menu Page Three Initialize Logical Unit Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen The Configuration Changed Prompt is displayed if the user has not initialized a new or modified configuration before attempting exit the Configuration Menu 5 cl HB Uer 5132 CONFIGURATION AD
67. at are connected to both controllers Dual Controller Dual Host Dual active Terminate the host port at the end of each host channel Externally terminate the host channel s Do not terminate any SCSI devices that are connected to both controllers SCSI Cabling The DAC960SX supports up to five SCSI disk channels In a single controller configuration each disk channel supports up to 15 disks In a Dual Active configuration each disk channel supports up to 14 disks When planning the cable requirements be aware of the SCSI rules for bus termination and maximum cable lengths to avoid performance problems Maximum cable lengths are shown in the table below Manual No 771975 2 23 Determining Cabling and Termination Requirements Table 2 7 Supported SCSI Formats and Cable Lengths SCSI Trade Bus Bus Max Bus Length Max Max Drives Association Speed Width Meters Device STA Terms MBI Single Differential Support Single Dual Max Including ended Controllers Controller Active SCSI 1 5 8 6 25 8 Fast SCSI 10 8 3 25 8 7 Fast Wide 20 16 3 25 16 15 14 SCSI Ultra SCSI 20 8 1 5 25 8 7 Ultra SCSI 20 8 3 25 4 3 Wide Ultra 40 16 25 16 15 14 SCSI Wide Ultra 40 16 1 5 8 7 6 SCSI Wide Ultra 40 16 3 4 3 2 SCSI The listed maximum bus lengths may be exceeded in point to point and engineered applications Dual Active
68. at interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures 1 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna 2 Move the equipment away from the receiver 3 Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is powered If necessary the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio television technician for additional suggestions All external connections should be made using shielded cables A Caution Only equipment certified to comply with Class B computer input output devices terminals printers etc should be attached to this equipment Any changes or modifications to the equipment by the user not expressly approved by the grantee or manufacturer could void the user s authority to operate such equipment B 2 DAC960PG PJ amp PR PT Installation Guide Regulatory Information Fe Declaration of Conformity Manufacturer s Name Manufacturer s Address Declares that the product Product Name Model Number s Year of Manufacture Mylex Corporation 34551 Ardenwood Blvd Fremont CA94555 3607 USA 5 Channel RAID Controller DAC960SX 5 Fab 550117 Rev A3 1997 Conforms to the following Product Specification s
69. ation Replacing a controller in a single controller configuration is easy Simply power down the host system and the array replace the controller and COD Configuration on Disk restores the configuration information to the new controller Replacing a controller in a dual active configuration can be a little more complicated However it can be done while the array is up and running Select from the following For information on replacing a controller in a single controller configuration see Replacing a Controller in a Single Controller Configuration on page 4 2 For information on replacing a controller in a dual active configuration see Replacing a Controller in a Dual Active Configuration on page 4 3 Replacing a Controller in a Single Controller Configuration To replace a controller in a single controller configuration complete the following procedure Note Download the firmware to the controller and define controller settings before installation For more information refer to the Installation Guide The controller must have the same number of host and disk SCSI channels the same physical configuration amount of memory distribution board daughter board BBU and the same firmware revision build and type as the controller it is replacing 1 Follow the instructions in the Installation Guide to download the correct firmware to the new controller 2 Power down the host system Power down the array 4
70. ation data into the controller temporary work space Save Menu selection that allows user to review the current configuration data LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key K1 sav Y Selection changes the controller s working parameters and saves the new settings to the controller s non volatile memory K2 ext N Selection exits the function without saving any changes Manual No 771975 Toolkit Menu Page Two Controller Parameter Settings The default settings for the DAC960SX controller parameters are shown in Table 6 18 These settings will provide optimum performance for most applications and usually will not need to be changed In some applications it may become necessary to change one or more of the default settings Before making any changes to the default parameter settings please read the provided descriptions of the parameter settings and fully understand the implications of the change that is about to be made WARNING Inappropriate changes to the controller parameter settings can result in degraded performance or possibly data loss 8 36 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 18 Controller Parameter Settings Prompt Description Selection Auto Rbld Mgmt Automatic Rebuild Management function Enable Disable Fault Mgmt Fault Management function Enable Disable SCSI Active Neg SCSI Active Negation function Enable Disable Ctl Read Ahd Controller Read Ahea
71. before committing to any particular procurement plan MYLEX DAC960 Problem Report Use the Mylex fax number 510 745 7715 to transmit this form to the Technical Services Department or mail to Mylex Corporation Technical Services Department 34551 Ardenwood Blvd Fremont CA 94555 3607 Customer Identification Name Date DAC960 Identification Purchase Date Company Model Address Invoice Number Serial Number Firmware Type Version Build Country RAM Size Disk Drives Make Model Sizes Phone Number Fax Number Priority of Problem Configuration Information Controller Parameter Settings Auto Rebuild Management Fault Management SCSI Active Negation Controller Read Ahead Super Read Ahead Command Tag Chan 0 Command Tag Channel 1 Command Tag Channel 2 Command Tag Channel 3 Command Tag Channel 4 Force 8 Bit Channel 0 Force 8 Bit Channel 1 Force 8 Bit Channel 2 Force 8 Bit Channel 3 Force 8 Bit Channel 4 Conservative Cache Force Simplex Soft Reset Install Abort Broad Reassign Controller Present Fault Auto Failback SCSI Transfer Channel 0 SCSI Transfer Channel 1 SCSI Transfer Channel 2 SCSI Transfer Channel 3 SCSI Transfer Channel 4 Spinup Stripe Size Block Size Start Option Rebuild Rate Serial Channel A Present
72. build after a replacement drive is installed into a redundant fault tolerant array RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 and RAID 0 1 Automatic Rebuild Management requires hardware compatibility with disk array enclosures that are certified AEMI Array Enclosure Management Interface compliant Fault Management The Fault Management function monitors and reports drive failures background activity completion status enclosure events etc This function should remain enabled during normal controller operation Do not disable this function unless specifically instructed to do so as part of a trouble shooting diagnostic activity SCSI Active Negation The SCSI Active Negation function controls the negation of SCSI signals When using the faster transfer rates associated with future technologies such as Ultra SCSI this feature should be enabled Active Negation provides faster negation of SCSI signals than negation with pull up drivers which is currently the default negation method Active Negation Disabled Controller Read Ahead The Controller Read Ahead function improves data retrieval performance by allowing the controller to read into cache a full stripe of data at a time This greatly improves the percentage of cache hits For example if the stripe size is set to 8k and the host requests 1k of data when this function is enabled the controller will read ahead the full 8k When the host requests the next 1k block that data will already be in
73. ce Data and parity are striped across a set of multiple at least three drives If any of the drives fails the data or parity information from the failed drive is computed from the information from the remaining drives 0 1 Data Mirroring Mirrored and striped fault tolerance Data is striped across multiple drives and written to mirrored set of drives JBOD Just a Bunch of Disks This configuration offers no redundancy and is not recommended for applications requiring fault tolerance 2 18 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Configuring for Maximum Performance Your array can be optimally configured for the type of application you plan to deploy but you should be aware that an optimal setting for one type of access profile is not optimal for all applications What s the best RAID level for a particular application or environment The relative performance advantages of each of the RAID levels is presented in Figure 2 5 Table 2 5 RAID Levels and Performance RAID Level Access profile characteristics 0 Excellent for all types of I O activity 1 Excellent for write intensive applications 3 Excellent for sequential or random reads and sequential writes 5 Excellent for sequential or random reads and sequential writes 0 1 Excellent for write intensive applications JBOD Mimics normal individual disk performance characteristics Manual No 771975 2 19 Determining Drive D
74. cessfully Parity check started Press any key Figure 7 9 Parity Check Status Start Parity Check Page Three DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 9 Start Parity Check Page Three Description Indication Key Description Parity check started Message indicates that the Parity Check process is started Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu parity check process character key continues in background mode until completed Note An audible alarm beep sounds periodically until the parity check process is complete Status indication showing the completion percentage of the parity check displays on the monitor mode main title screen Manual No 771975 7 19 Administration Menu Page Two Administration Menu Page Two DRCgbH5A ca HH CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS LUN Statistics Enclosure Status Rel inquish Controller ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION LUN Statistics Enclosure status Relinquish Controller sta enc rel nxt Figure 7 10 Administration Menu Page Two 7 20 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 10 Administration
75. d RAID 5 Parity transaction oriented JBOD Single drive control RAID 30 Parity and Striping RAID 50 Parity and Striping 12V 596 100 mA 5V 5 3 8 Amp w 4MB memory 5V 5 4 5 Amp w 16MB memory 5V 5 5 0 Amp w 64MB memory Operating 0 C to 50 C Storage 20 C to 70 C Operating 10 to 90 rh Non operating 10 to 90 rh Operating Up to 10 000 ft 3 048 m Non operating Up to 50 000 ft 15 240 m Battery source internal 3 6V nickel cadmium 800mAh Charge current based on 3 6V battery 160mA Charge time 7 hours approx internal nickel cadmium battery from a deep discharge 1 Supply currents assume drives feeding termination power DACO960SX User Guide Chapter 2 Configuration Strategies Overview The DAC960SX is a very flexible controller and depending on your application can be configured to serve many different requirements Before configuring an array you must do the following Determine the purpose of the array Select a controller configuration Select a RAID level Determine drive distribution Determine cabling and termination needs Determine other factors such as the stripe size and caching method Understanding the CAP strategy will help you to achieve your storage goals to maximize storage Capacity to assure data Availability to provide the best possible I O Performance or to utilize combinations of the three Manual No 771975 2 1
76. d function Enable Disable Super Read Ahd Super Read Ahead function Enable Disable Tag n Command Tag channel number Enable Disable Force 8 Bit Ch n Fast SCSI mode channel number Enable Disable Conserv Cache Conservative Cache Mode function Enable Disable Force Simplex Force Simplex Mode function Enable Disable Soft Reset Soft Reset Mode function Enable Disable Install Abort Installation Abort function Enable Disable Broad Reassign Sparing function Enable Disable Ctlr Controller Present Fault Signals Enable Disable function Auto Failback Automatic Failback function Enable Disable SCSI Xfr Chn n SCSI Transfer rate channel number 20MB 10MB Asyn 8MB 5MB Spinup SCSI device spin up method Automatic On Power On Command Stripe Size KB Sequential data Stripe transfer size 8 16 32 64 KB Blk Size Bytes Block size in bytes 512 Not changable Start Opt NoChg NoLunChg NoLunOff NoLOChg NoLOOff Rebuild Rate 0 50 Serial ChnA SLP VT DEBUG Ctlr Pres Flt Sel A B Host Rst Dly 0 15 Indicates default setting Automatic Rebuild Management The Automatic Rebuild Management function works in conjunction with Manual No 771975 8 37 Toolkit Menu Page Two features in AEMI certified disk array enclosures It detects the removal of a failed drive and performs an automatic re
77. d to the relatively small data segments found with spreadsheet or text documents 2 2 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Selecting a Controller Configuration Before configuring an array you should determine the controller configuration Depending on the configuration chosen you can improve array performance availability or both Single Controller Configurations Single Controller Single Host Configuration Simple The simplex configuration is the classic configuration supported by all Mylex DAC960 series SCSI to SCSI controllers The controller connects to a single host bus adapter and all drives in the array This configuration supports all RAID levels However in this configuration if the controller or host bus adapter should fail the data will not be accessible until the failure is corrected DRIVE CHO DAC960 Figure 2 1 Simplex Configuration Manual No 771975 2 3 Selecting a Controller Configuration Single Controller Dual Host Configuration The standard DAC960SX has three SCSI channels with one designated as a host channel and two as disk channels The optional mezzanine board adds three more channels of which two are disk channels and one can be configured as either a fifth disk channel or a second host channel Using the fifth channel as a second host channel is a Dual Host configuration DRIVE CHO DAC960 Figure 2 2 Dual Host Configuration The two host channels may also be c
78. data is being regenerated via the exclusive OR XOR redundancy algorithm and written to the replacement drive Manual No 771975 3 3 Drive Management Controlling Logical Unit States The state of a DAC960SX logical unit can be ONLINE CRITICAL or OFF LINE Notice that the same term on line is used for both physical drives and logical units Note I O operations can be performed only with logical units that are either on line or critical On line A logical unit is on line if all of its participating physical drives are on line Critical A logical unit is considered critical when any failure of another of its physical drives may result in a loss of data A logical unit is critical if it meets both of the following conditions 1 Itis configured for RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 or RAID 0 1 2 One of its physical drives is not on line Off line No data can be read from or written to an off line logical unit No operations can be performed on off line logical units System commands issued to off line logical units are returned with an error status A logical unit can be off line under one of two conditions 1 Itis configured with a redundant RAID level 1 3 5 or 0 1 and two or more of its SCSI drives are not on line 2 Itis configured as RAID 0 or JBOD or in a spanned set and one or more of its SCSI drives is not on line 3 4 DAC960SX User Guide RAID Management Automated Management Controlling Standby R
79. e Last Array function K2 sby 2 Selects the Create Standby function K3 sav 3 Selects the Save Configuration function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Configuration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu or function indicated by the arrow Manual No 771975 6 29 Configuration Menu Page Two Delete Last Array Function The Delete Last Array function displays the logical unit numbers comprising the last Drive Group created and deletes that Drive Group and all of its associated logical units WARNING Data on the drives will be lost when the array is deleted URLSbHSA ca CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS 1 Delete Last Array Create Standby Save Configuration ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to delete the last array to quit INFORMATION Deleting an array may cause deletion of more than one LUN Logical Unit numbers May delete LUNs OK 2 LUN 0 1 2 yes no Figure 6 14 Delete Last Array Screen 6 30 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 15 Delete Last Array Description Indication Key Description May delete LUNs OK Prompt indicates that the function will delete all logical units of the last Drive Group created LUN n Number identifies the LUNs that make up the last Drive Group created LCD Terminal Action Key Action
80. e SCSI channel number of the drive to be made a standby hot spare LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no standby drive is created and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments channel number K4 Num keypad Decrements channel number Enter Enter Selects the channel number indicated and displays the next page Manual No 771975 6 33 Configuration Menu Page Two Select Drive Create Standby Page Two CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 1 Delete Last Array 2 Create Standby 3 Save Configuration ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID INFORMATION Target ID n 2 5 9 Figure 6 16 Select Drive Create Standby Page Two 6 34 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 17 Create Standby Page Two Description Indication Key Description Target ID n Number indicates the SCSI identification of a drive to be made a standby hot spare LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no standby drive is created and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments the Target ID number K4 Num keypad Decrements the Target ID number Enter Enter Invokes the standby drive selection and displays the next screen Manual
81. e size or array size is made Mylex On line RAID Expansion MORE Using the Add Capacity option additional physical drives are added to an existing array and the data is restriped across the entire drive set For example a three drive RAID 5 array can be increased to a four drive RAID 5 array Using the Enlarge System Drive option the size of an existing System Drive can be increased to accommodate growing data requirements User Interface Front panel keypad and LCD interface controls all array configuration and management functions independent of the host operating system Serial communications port permits array configuration and control through a standard terminal emulation interface or over a network Software utility RAIDfx provides DOS level control through a PC running ASPI drivers DACO960SX User Guide Introduction Automated RAID Functions Automatic failed drive detection Automatic rebuild of the array using stand by hot spare disk after a drive failure Transparent drive rebuild permits automatic rebuild of failed drives during normal operation without having to take the array off line Disk drive error logging specifies why a drive was placed in the Dead state Automatic detection correction of parity errors bad blocks etc Automatic sector re mapping recovers defective media and corrects data errors Increased System Availability Built in diagnostics provide controller and drive fault
82. ebuild Parity Check Rate and displays the next page Manual No 771975 Administration Menu Page One Rate Setting Rebuild Check Rate Page Two URLSDHSX _ 2 MB CONFIGURATION 4 ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE Rebui Id Check Rate Start Rebuild Start Parity Check ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION QO Press any key to continue INFORMATION Rebuild Check Hate set to Rate set to nn Press any key Figure 7 3 Rate Setting Rebuild Check Rate Page Two 7 6 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 3 Rebuild Check Rate Page Two Description Indication Key Description Rate set to nn Indicates the current Rebuild Parity Check Rate Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Manual No 771975 7 7 Administration Menu Page One Start Rebuild Function The Rebuild function is used after a drive fails and is replaced It restores the original information on a replacement drive Note Rebuilding a drive may impact controller performance Use the Rebuild Rate function to vary the priority that the controller allocates to the Rebuild process Partner Active INESSAGE_ STARTUP CONPLETE DACSBBSA co 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION
83. ected to be used If an error message appears wait 10 seconds for the drive to spin up then try again Manual No 771975 6 13 Configuration Menu Page One RAID Level Create Array Page Three DACIGASA ca _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 3 Get Configuration 1 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array Enter RAID Level for the LUN Possible RAID Levels RRIDB RAIDS RAIDE Selected Drives 6 B B 8 1 1 8 1 1 Enter RAID n RAID ROR3 R5 000102 lt 2 Figure 6 7 RAID Level Create Array Page Three 6 14 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 7 Create Array Page Three Description Indication Key Description Enter RAID n Number indicates the RAID level to be assigned to the array being created Only numbers for valid RAID levels are accepted Avi RAID Rn Prompt indicates the possible RAID level s that may be assigned to the logical unit nn nnmn etc Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of each drive that comprise the drive group The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the SCSI ID number LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Quits the function before the array is created A prompt screen to Exit or Continue is displayed see Figure 6 12 and Table 6 13
84. ed data and better performance than RAID 1 The disadvantage of RAID 0 1 is its 50 percent utilization capacity if all drives are the same size Disk 2 Stripe 2 Sectors 20 2F Stripe 1 Sectors 10 1F Disk 0 Disk 1 Stripe 0 Stripe 1 Sectors A F Sectors 10 1F Stripe 2 Stripe 0 Sectors 20 2F Sectors A F Stripe 3 Stripe 4 Sectors 30 3F Sectos 40 4F Stripe 5 Sectors 50 5F Stripe 5 Stripe 3 Sectors 30 3F Stripe 4 Sectos 40 4F Sectors 50 5F Figure 2 12 Striping with Mirroring Using the CAP Strategy to Select a RAID Level Capacity Availability and Performance these are the three benefits that all DAC960 RAID solutions have in common The terms collectively known as CAP should characterize your expectations of the disk array subsystem What is your best strategy for configuring the array Do you want to access the maximum capacity of your disk drive investment Or do you want to configure your array for a high degree of fault tolerant operation Perhaps performance is extremely important to you Every installation has a different set of requirements and most installations have a combination of these Unfortunately it isn t possible to configure an array with all of these characteristics optimized that s a limitation of the technology as they re somewhat mutually exclusive For example you can t have maximum capacity and maximum av
85. een LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu initialization process character key continues in background mode until completed Note Pressing the ESC key several times displays the monitor mode main screen An audible alarm beep sounds periodically until the initialization process is complete Status indication showing the completion percentage of the initialization process displays on the monitor mode main title screen Manual No 771975 6 47 Configuration Menu Page Three Change Write Policy The Change Write Policy function allows you to reset the write policy to either write through or write back 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active 2 Zi Ehanse linite Pal ies Enter LUN Enter LUN n lt gt Figure 6 23 Change Write Policy Page One 6 48 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 24 Change Write Policy Page One Description Indication Key Description Enter LUN n Number indicates the logical unit identification of the logical unit on which to Change Write Policy LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function no change is made and displays the previous menu screen K3 Num keypad Increments the logical unit number K4 Num keypad Decrements the logical unit number Enter Enter Invo
86. eplacement Drives Hot Spares The standby replacement drive or hot spare is one of the most important features the DAC960SX controller provides to achieve a high degree of fault tolerance With the standby rebuild function the controller performs a rebuild operation automatically when a SCSI disk drive fails and both of the following conditions are true e standby SCSI disk drive of identical or larger size is found attached to the same controller All system drives that are dependent on the failed disk are config ured in a RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5 or RAID 0 1 logical unit During the automatic rebuild process system activity continues as normal System performance may degrade slightly however during a rebuild Note The priority of rebuild activity can be adjusted using the configuration utilities to adjust performance versus rebuild time Using Standby Rebuild To use the automatic standby rebuild feature it is necessary to maintain a standby disk in the system A standby disk can be created in one of two ways 1 A disk may be labeled as standby using the Create Standby option under the Configuration menu 2 When the DAC960SX configuration is created or changed using the software utility all disks attached to the controller that are not assigned to a drive group will be automatically labeled as standby disks Standby Replacement Table A standby replacement table stores data on up to eight automatic replaceme
87. ept the Mezzanine Board Termination All host channels should be terminated unless a differential distribution board is used or the controller is in a dual active configuration Differential SCSI and dual active configurations require external termination and on board termination must be disabled To change host channel termination settings locate the termination jumper block The termination jumper block is unlabeled on the mezzanine board and is labeled as J5 on the DAC960SX controller Host Channel Termination Jumper _4 Figure 4 4 Termination Jumper Block J5 on DAC960SX Unlabeled on DBI960SX Manual No 771975 4 0 Upgrading the DAC960SX Table 0 1 DAC960SX and DBI960SX Jumper Settings DAC960SX Termination Jumpers J5 DBI960SX Termination Jumpers Pin 1 Termination of Disk Channel 0 Pin 1 Termination of Disk Channel 2 Pin 2 Termination of Disk Channel 1 Pin 2 Termination of Disk Channel 3 Pin 3 Termination of Host Channel 0 Pin 3 Termination of Host Channel 1 or Disk Channel 4 Pins 4 amp 5 Do not Jumper Pins 4 amp 5 Do not Jumper Note For more information refer to the Installation Guide Installation The Mezzanine Board connects to the DAC960SX by two paddle cards Two mounting blocks and eight screws secure the Mezzanine Board to the DAC960SX mainboard Connectors on the DAC960SX are labelled J3 and JA 1 If the DAC960SX is already
88. erant set the hot spare disk takes over for the failed drive and the array continues to function in a fully fault tolerant mode after it completes its automatic rebuild cycle This means that the array can suffer a second drive failure and continue to function before any disks are replaced Impact of Controller Cache on Availability Every DAC960 Series controller has a disk cache The DRAM EDRAM FPM or EDO physical memory depending on the controller is used to increase the performance of data retrieval and storage operations The amount of disk cache varies with the controller model but is usually on the order of 4MB of cache RAM 2 16 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies The controller may report to the operating system that the write is complete as soon as the controller receives the data This is referred to as Write Back WB cache This will improve performance but will expose you to data loss if a system crash or power failure occurs before the data in the cache is written to disk To avoid this potential loss of data at the very least you should outfit your controller with a battery backup module for the cache memory The battery backup will enable the cache to be retained until normal operation resumes at which time the data in the cache can be written to the array Your data is most likely as important as your server probably much more so and this simple and inexpensive insurance can prevent a power interru
89. f all disks being used Unfortunately with these two solutions there is no fault tolerance RAID 3 and RAID 5 give the next best capacity followed by RAID 1 and RAID 0 1 Manual No 771975 2 15 Selecting a RAID Level Configuring for Maximum Availability When considering optimizing for availability it s important to understand some of the terminology concerning the condition of array operation These definitions are presented in Figure 2 3 Table 2 3 Array Operational Conditions Array Condition Meaning Normal The array is operating in a fault tolerant mode and can sustain a drive failure without potential data loss Critical The array is functioning and all data is available but the array cannot sustain a drive failure without potential data loss Degraded The array is functioning and all data is available but the array cannot sustain a drive failure without potential data loss Additionally a reconstruction or rebuild operation is taking place reducing the performance of the array The rebuild operation takes the array from a critical condition to a normal condition Not fault tolerant No fault tolerant RAID levels have been configured for any of the drives in the array An additional measure of fault tolerance or improved availability can be achieved using a hot spare or standby disk This disk is powered on but idle during normal array operation If a failure occurs on a disk in a fault tol
90. f data on two disk drives Each disk con tains identical data If one fails a copy is retained on the surviving drive FC RAID 1 MIRRORED ARRAY DAC960SX gt RP IDENTICAL DATA ON BOTH DRIVES Figure 2 7 Mirrored Drive Group 2 10 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Striping RAID 0 Striping refers to the storing of a sequential block of incoming data across multiple drives in a drive group For example if there are three drives in a drive group or pack the data is separated into blocks A block of data can be specified to be either 16 32 64 or 128 sectors in depth Block zero of the data will be stored on drive zero block one on drive one block two on drive two Drive zero will again be the location of the next block block three then block four is stored on drive one block five on drive two and so on This method can significantly increase disk system throughput particularly for transferring large sequential data blocks Note RAID 0 does not provide parity for redundancy and is susceptible to data loss in the event of a drive failure DRIVE 0 DRIVE 1 DRIVE 2 Block 2 Block 5 Block 8 Block 11 Block 14 aS ROREM n eL Block 2 Figure 2 8 Block Striping RAID 0 STRIPED ARRAY DAC960SX ow lt gt DRIVE ID 0 E Ss DRIVE ID 1 De NaS DRIVE ID 2
91. f so the BBU was able to keep the cache intact To further test the integrity of the BBU compare the original file with the copy Removing the BBU Removing the BBU requires that you access the bottom of the controller board If the BBU needs to be removed follow this procedure Power off the system 2 Remove jumper J2 For the location of J2 refer to the Installation Guide 3 Remove the DAC960SX from its enclosure 4 Turn the DAC960SX controller board over so that the BBU is down AN Caution Do not attempt to pull the BBU away from the controller board without releasing the nylon stand off Doing so will damage the BBU 5 Locate the nylon stand off on the underside of the controller board Refer to Figure 4 2 Manual No 771975 4 5 STAND OFF LOCATION N Figure 4 2 BBU Stand Off Location 6 Using a pair of needle nose pliers pinch the end of nylon stand off together to release it from the controller board 7 Grasp the BBU by the board edges and pull the BBU straight off the DAC960SX connector The nylon stand off should stay attached to the BBU Note For the DAC960SX to operate a BBU must be installed or the BBU Jumper must be in place P N D040014 on the BBU connector J 2 To reinstall a BBU refer to Installation on page 4 6 Installation The BBU is attached to the DAC960SX by one nylon standoff and Connector J2 on the DAC960SX Figure 4 3 shows the mounting locations for
92. ffNLEX DAC960SX Ultra SCSI to Ultra SCSI RAID Controller User Guide and Reference Manual Part Number 771975 Rev B Copyright 1998 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 Thank you for purchasing the Mylex DAC960SX Disk Array Controller This manual describes the operation and maintenance of the Mylex DAC960SX controller 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 and DAC960 are registered trademarks of Mylex Corporation RAIDfx and Mylex on Board are trademarks of Mylex Corporation MS DOS and Windows NT are trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation VT100 is a trademark of Digital a division of Compaq Corporation Unless otherwise noted companies names and data used in examples herein are fictitious Our Policy Although reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained herein this publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors Mylex Corporation
93. ged and is then immediately recharged it has a tendency to develop a memory of the shortened charge time This produces the effect of having a battery with a reduced capacity To prevent this from occurring the battery should be completely discharged before it is put into operation The following procedure is recommended prior to the first use of the BBU This procedure should also be followed any time after a power failure that causes the BBU to maintain cache memory for a significant duration 1 Power on the system long enough for the DAC960SX controller to restore cached data to the disks more than 5 seconds with no write activity 2 Initiate an operation such as a copy of a file to a dummy file and power down the system before the cache has time to be flushed approximately 4 seconds 3 Allow the BBU to completely discharge to estimate discharge time see Calculations for Battery Duration located later in this manual 4 Restart the system after the BBU has completely discharged 5 Recharging the battery will begin after the system is restarted 6 Allow the battery to charge for at least seven hours 4 8 DAC960SX User Guide Controller Maintenance Upgrading the DAC960SX This section describes how to perform upgrades for the DAC960SX Installing a Mezzanine Board The following sections describe how to install the mezzanine board onto the DAC960SX mainboard Note Only six channel distribution boards acc
94. guration Strategies provides an overview of how the DAC960SX implements RAID technology and provides suggestions for configuring disk arrays for optimal performance Chapter 3 RAID Management provides information on SCSI drive and disk array subsystem management specific to the DAC960SX Chapter 4 Controller Maintenance provides information for performing routine maintenance on the DAC960SX Chapter 5 User Interface Provides an overview on using the front panel terminal emulation and RAIDfx software for configuring and maintaining RAID disk arrays Chapters 6 7 and 8 contain detailed descriptions of the DAC960SXI front panel LCD and terminal emulation menu screens Appendices A and B contain reference materialabout error codes and regulatory declarations Conventions This guide uses the following text conventions for entering keyboard actions bold Enter text in bold exactly as shown Enter Press the key labeled Enter or Delete etc Ctrl Press the key labeled Ctrl or Delete etc This guide provides additional information to notify you of additional useful information or of situations where special care is required Note Notes provide supplementary information that can be useful AN Caution Notification that an action has the potential to adversely affect equipment operation system performance or data integrity WARNING Notification that an action will result in equipment
95. he SCSI Drive before a completion status is returned to the host oper ating 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 lower performance in most environments Write Back Cache Write Back Cache refers to a caching strategy whereby write operations result in a completion status being sent to the host operating system as soon as the cache not the disk drive receives the data to be written The target SCSI Drive receives the data at a more appropriate time in order to increase controller performance In dual active configurations write data is always copied to the cache of the second controller before completion status is issued to the host initiator A Caution A cache battery backup protects against cache data loss in the event of a power failure and is required when using write back cache 2 26 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Dual Active Configurations The hardware requirements for a Dual Active installation are as follows Both controllers must have the same amount of memory Both controllers must have the same number of host and drive channels Both controllers must be at the same firmware revision level All SCSI drive channels must be connected one to one For example Channel 0 on the primary controller CO must be connected to Channel 0 on the partner controller C1 and Channel 1
96. iguration 2 5how Configuration 3 Create Array 8 INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION Select the drives upto 8 for the Array Esc ta end selection Channel Slct drvs ESC to end nnnnnn lt 2 552 Figure 6 5 Select SCSI Channel Create Array Page One 6 10 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 5 Create Array Page One Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates the channel identification for the drive to be used in the array Sict drvs ESC to end Prompt indicates user response options Cl nnnnnn Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of each drive that comprise the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the SCSI ID number Note No Cl information is displayed until the first physical drive is selected LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc 1 Cancels the function no array is created and displays the previous menu screen when no drives are selected for the array 2 Completes the SCSI channel selection function and displays the next page K3 Num keypad Increments channel number K4 Num keypad Decrements channel number Enter Enter Invokes the channel number selection and displays the next page Manual No 771975 6 11 Configuration Menu Page One Select Dri
97. ild Start Parity Check Administration Menu Page Two LUN Statistics Enclosure Status Relinquish Controller Administration Menu Page Three Kill Partner Manual No 771975 7 1 Administration Menu Page One Administration Menu Page One Partner Active STARTUP CONPLETE OPTIONS Rebuild Check Hate Start Hebuild Start Parity Check Enter option N for more options Esc for previous menu THFORMAT ION EE _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Rebuild Check Rate Start Rebuild Start Parity Check rte rbd pyc nxt Figure 7 1 Administration Menu Page One 7 2 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 1 Administration Menu Page One Description Indication Key Description Rebuild Check Rate Menu selection that allows user to specifiy the controller rebuild and parity check priority rate Start Rebuild Menu selection that allows user to start a rebuild process Start Parity Check Menu selection that allows user to start a parity check on a logical unit gt Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 rte 1 Selects the Rebuild Check Rate function K2 rbd 2 Selects the Start Rebuild function K3 pyc 3 Selects the Start Parity Check function K4 nxt
98. ion Target 10 n Slct drives ESC to end lt 2 Figure 8 12 Select Drive Screen Format Drives Page Two 8 24 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 12 Format Drives Page Two Description Indication Key Description Target ID n Number indicates the SCSI ID of the drive to be formatted drives ESC to end Prompt for user action LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc 1 Cancels the Format Drives function and displays the previous menu if no drives were selected for formatting by pressing the Enter key 2 Completes the drive selection function and displays the next page K3 Num keypad Increments the drive SCSI ID number K4 Num keypad Decrements the drive SCSI ID number Enter Enter Invokes the Select Drive function and displays another Select Channel page to allow selection of another drive for formatting Manual No 771975 8 25 Toolkit Menu Page Two Format Confirmation Format Drives Page Three DRCgBBSA _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTIONS 1 Format Drives Controller Paraneters Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to format selected drives NH to to quit _ Data on selected drives vill be destroyed continue uith format Selected Drives CHH TGT 9 8
99. ion Create Array Screen 2 Delete Last Array Create Standby Save Configuration Screen 3 Start Initialize Change Write Policy Change LUN Affinity Administration Screen 1 Rebuild Check Rate Start Rebuild Start Parity Check Screen 2 LUN Statistics Enclosure Status Release Relinquish Controller Screen 3 Kill Partner Toolkit Show Drives Drive Information Change Drive State Screen 2 Format Drives Controller Parameters Controller Diagnostics Screen 3 AEMI Scan Manual No 771975 5 7 Monitor Mode Main Title Screen Monitor Mode Main Title Screen Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE DACSGHSA CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION MYLEX DAC960SX nMB STARTUP COMPLETE Rev nnnn Figure 5 5 Title Screen Display Table 5 2 Title Screen Description Indication Key Description MYLEX Manufacturer identification Rev nnnn Controller firmware revision level DAC960S Controller model number n MB Controller cache memory size STARTUP COMPLETE Status message indicates successful completion of power on self test POST diagnostics LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Enter Invokes menu access log on procedure when held for at least four seconds Alarm Resets audible alarm in all screens 5 8 DAC960SX User Guide User Interface Menu Mode Log in Password Prompt MESSAGE co _ 2 MB CONFIG
100. ion Key Description CH n Number indicates which SCSI channel is displayed St x x x Indication shows the state of each SCSI drive on the channel SCSI ID 0 First position SCSI ID 1 Second position SCSI ID 6 Reserved for Controller SCSI ID 7 Reserved for Controller SCSI ID 15 Last position O Online S Spare D Dead R Rebuilding Unconfigured drive LNnnn Numbers indicate the first logical unit associated Press any key with each drive represented directly above Prompt for user action to clear this screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen K1 K4 Enter Any Displays the screen for the next SCSI channel until character key all are shown Manual No 771975 Toolkit Menu Page One Drive Information Partner Active MESSAGE 5 1 Shou Drives 2 Drive Information 3 Change Drive State ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION URLSbHSA 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Channel gt Figure 8 3 Drive Information Page One 8 6 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 3 Drive Information Page One Description Indication Key Description Channel n Number indicates the SCSI channel of the drive about which to display information LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu scree
101. istribution Determining Drive Distribution You must organize physical disks into drive groups and logical drives that can support the various RAID levels Physical disk drives are connected to one or several of the DAC960 SCSI channels as shown below When using a DAC960 Series controller with two or more channels it is recommended that disk drives be evenly distributed among the available SCSI channels for optimal performance This will minimize the effect of any overhead relative to the SCSI bus arbitration scheme The example below shows a three channel DAC960SX d M DAC960 5 HOST Drive Groups Organize the disk drives into drive groups or packs after they are connected to the controller formatted and initialized Up to eight drive groups are supported per controller From one to eight drives can be included in an individual drive group The number of drives in a drive group determines the possible RAID level The following illustration shows a single drive not included in any drive group and two drive groups A and B each with three drives E DAC960 2 20 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Arranging Drive Groups After drive groups have been created they need to be arranged Arranging drive groups provides a means to further organize the array For example Drive Group B in the previous illustration can be arranged to be the
102. kes the Change Write Policy function and displays the prompt for the next message screen Manual No 771975 6 49 Configuration Menu Page Three Write Policy Confirmation Change Write Policy Page Two URLSDHSX _ 2 MB CONFIGURATION 4 ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Hit spacebar to toggle write policy other to continue INFORMATION Mrite policy of LUN B Hrite Through Selected Drives CHN TGT B B 0 1 1 8 1 1 Write policy LUN n Wx chg Figure 6 24 Change Write Policy Page Two 6 50 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 25 Change Write Policy Page Two Description Indication Key Description Write policy LUN n Wx Prompt notifies the user that the function changes the cache write policy for the LUN identified by the number shown to Wx WB or WT LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key chg Spacebar Selection toggles the write policy between WB Write Back and WT Write Through Enter Enter Invokes the function the change is made and displays a prompt to return to the previous menu Manual No 771975 6 51 Configuration Menu Page Three Save Configuration Prompt Configuration Menu Alternate Screen The Save Configuration Prompt is displayed if the user h
103. know where you purchased your MYLEX product Three Year Limited Warranty If at any time during the thirty six month period immediately following the date of original purchase of the MYLEX product enclosed herewith the PRODUCT you discover one or more defects in the material or workmanship MYLEX will repair or at MYLEX s sole option replace the PRODUCT If the PRODUCT fails to operate at any time within seven days after the date of its original purchase it will be replaced by MYLEX Such repair or replace ment will be your sole remedy against MYLEX and MYLEX s only liability to you for any failure or malfunction of the PRODUCT The warranty set forth in this paragraph will be void if 1 The PRODUCT has been installed in an improper manner or in an improper operating environment 2 The PRODUCT has been modified or repaired by any party other than MYLEX or a MYLEX factory authorized service center 3 The PRODUCT has been damaged Some MYLEX products will have a Warranty Expiration Date label affixed to the product itself When present the warranty period will extend through the last day of the month indicated This warranty will not apply to and MYLEX provides no warranty for any BIOS software ROM based firmware or any other PRODUCT developed or manufactured by any third party whether included with this PRODUCT or not Such warranty or warranties as are provided by third parties to the extent permitted thereby shall be made
104. le Conservative Cache Mode The Conservative Cache Mode function when enabled turns off write back cache during recovery operations The normal setting is disabled Force Simplex Operations Enabling Force Simplex Operations forces each controller in the system to operate in simplex single controller mode Once enabled each controller must be separately reconfigured to return to a dual active configuration AN Caution Do not enable Force Simplex unless it is required Disabling Force Simplex and returning to a dual active mode requires that each controller be reconfigured independently of the other controller This is accomplished by removing one controller from the system reconfiguring the remaining one then swapping the controllers and reconfiguring the second controller then reinstalling the first controller Manual No 771975 8 39 Toolkit Menu Page Two Soft Reset The Soft Reset function determines how the DAC960SX responds to a Host SCSI bus reset When enabled this option prevents a hard reset to the controller s microprocessor Soft Reset is automatically enabled and must remain enabled for dual active configurations When disabled a SCSI bus reset on the host SCSI channel resets the controller s microprocessor This option should be disabled when the DAC960SX is used in single controller configurations Installation Abort Installation Abort allows the system to continue operations if a problem occurs du
105. ler during operations it is not considered good practice It is recommended that an operating controller be shut down before removal using the Kill Partner function from the Administration Menu refer to Chapter 7 After the controller is replaced use the Relinquish Controller function to restore it to normal operation Manual No 771975 3 7 Automated Management 3 8 DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 4 Controller Maintenance This section describes some routine maintenance activities that may be performed by the user These maintenance activities are limited to the Field Replaceable Unit level and include how to access remove upgrade and replace the DAC960SX controller and its battery backup unit Accessing the Controller To access the controller remove the four screws that secure the top cover front panel assembly from the top of the unit and carefully lift off the assembly refer to Figure 4 1 WARNING This unit contains electronic components that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge ESD handling precautions are required Be careful not to damage the cables connecting the LCD panel and the cooling fan when removing the top cover assembly Fan Cable Figure 4 1 Removing the DAC960SX Controller Top Cover Manual No 771975 4 1 Replacing a Controller This section explains how to replace a controller whether it is working or has failed and whether it is a single controller or a dual active configur
106. lex 53015 0310 connector for attaching off board batteries Mezzanine Board Optional Adds three channels to the DAC960SX for a total of one host channel four disk channels and one channel that can be used as a disk or host channel 1 6 DAC960SX User Guide Specifications Controller CPU Memory Module Type Size Cache Firmware ROM Type SCSI Processors Transfer Rate Communications Serial Port Baud Rate Data bits Stop bits Parity Signals Connection Introduction DAC960SX Intel 19609 RISC 32 bit microprocessor Two DRAM 60ns 72 pin SIMMs n x 36 froma qualified vendor list contact customer service for a list of approved memory components Minimum 8 Two 1M x 36 4 MB Optional 16 MB Two 2M x 36 8 MB 32 MB Two 4M x 36 16 MB 64 MB Two 8M x 36 32 MB 128 MB Two 16M x 36 64 MB Write Selectable Write Through or Write Back Read Always enabled Flash EEPROM 256K x 8 NCR 53C770 one per channel Up to 40 MB second synchronous One asynchronous RS232 19 200 8 2 Odd Even or None Tx Rx CTS RTS DSR DTR DCD Null modem cable user supplied Manual No 771975 Specifications RAID Levels Electrical Requirements Input Power Environmental Temperature Humidity non condensing Altitude Battery Backup Unit BBU Electrical RAID 0 Striping RAID 1 Mirroring RAID 0 1 Striping and mirroring RAID 3 Parity through put oriente
107. minal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen title screen K1 cfg 1 Selects the Configuration menu screens K2 adm 2 Selects the Administration menu screens K3 tk 3 Selects the Toolkit menu screens K4 nxt N Key not used on this screen Enter Enter Invokes the menu selection indicated by the selection arrow Manual No 771975 Menu Mode Main Menu Screen 5 12 DAC960SX User Guide Chapter 6 Configuration Menu Configuration Menu Summary The Configuration Menu is used to customize the configuration of the RAID array The disks on each available SCSI channel can be combined into arrays with one or more logical units RAID levels 0 0 1 1 3 5 and JBOD are all supported The menu is organized as follows Configuration Menu Page One Get Configuration Show Configuration Create Array Configuration Menu Page Two Delete Last Array Create Standby Save Configuration Configuration Menu Page Three Start Initialization Change Write Policy Manual No 771975 6 1 Configuration Menu Page One Configuration Menu Page One _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE PTIOWS Get Configuration Show Configuration Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION Get Configuration Show C
108. n K3 Num Keypad Increments the channel number K4 Num Keypad Decrements the channel number Enter Enter Selects the drive channel of the drive about which to display information and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 Toolkit Menu Page One Select Drive Drive Information Page Two 2 CONFIGURATION lt ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 2 1 5hou Drives 2 Drive Information 3 Change State ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID INFORMATION Target ID n gt Figure 8 4 Drive Information Page Two 8 8 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 4 Drive Information Page Two Description Indication Key Description Target ID Number indicates the SCSI ID of the drive about which to show information LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K3 Num Keypad Increments the drive Target ID number K4 Num Keypad Decrements the drive Target ID number Enter Enter Selects the drive information function and displays the next screen Manual No 771975 Toolkit Menu Page One Information Display Drive Information Page Three cz _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 1 Show Drives 2 Drive Information 3
109. nd LCD Display DAC960SX Keypad and LCD Display The DAC960SX has a built in keypad and liquid crystal display LCD user interface for array configuration and management This feature eliminates the need for special host software or drivers The compact form factor for the DAC960SX is the same size as a 5 inch full height drive and can be mounted in a server drive bay or a stand alone external cabinet A built in SCSI Access Fault Tolerant Enclosure SAF TE and Array Enclosure Management Interface supports monitoring of power supplies fans and temperature in SAF TE and AEMI compliant cabinets Figure 1 2 DAC960SX 1 2 DAC960SX User Guide Introduction Features Enhanced SCSI Performance 32 bit Intel 1960 RISC microprocessor that controls all functions of the controller including SCSI bus transfers RAID processing configuration data striping error recovery and drive rebuild Symbios Logic 53C770 SCSI I O processor chips on each SCSI channel allow the controller to simultaneously communicate with the host system and read or write data on several drives Ultra SCSI channels provide high performance data transfers at up to 40 MB second Tagged command queuing to the host allows processing of multiple data requests User defined performance tuning through selectable cache write policy and variable stripe width User defined rebuild priority to optimize controller performance during automatic or manual reb
110. nfiguring an array maximum availability 2 16 maximum capacity 2 15 maximum performance 2 19 Configuring the array 2 14 RAID levels and availability 2 18 Confirm Logical Unit 6 22 Index Confirm Standby Drive 6 36 Conservative Cache Mode 8 39 consistency check 3 7 controller replacing 4 2 4 3 Controller Cache effect on availability 2 16 Controller Parameter Settings 8 36 Controller Parameters 8 32 Controller Present Fault Selection 8 42 Controller Present Fault Signals 8 40 Controller Read Ahead 8 38 Controller Screen Descriptions 5 6 Controlling Logical Unit States 3 4 Controlling Physical Drive States 3 1 Controlling Standby Replacement Drives 3 5 Create Array Function 6 10 Create Standby 6 32 Critical 3 4 D Data Access Profile 2 2 DBI960SX Termination 4 9 Dead Drive 3 3 Delete Last Array 6 30 Description see Product Description Disk Failure Detection 3 6 Disk Media Error Management 3 6 Drive groups 2 20 arranging 2 21 assigning RAID levels to system drives 2 28 logical system drives 2 28 spanning 2 21 standby hot spare drives 2 25 Drive Information 8 6 Drive Management 3 1 Drive packs 2 20 Manual No 771975 Index 1 Dual Active Controller Configurations 2 6 3 7 E Enclosure Status 7 26 Error Messages A 1 Exit Continue Configuration 6 26 F Fault Management 8 38 Force 8bit Drive Channel 8 39 Force Simplex Operations 8 39 Format Confirmation 8 26 Format Drives 8 22 Format in Progres
111. ng Mylex RAID 6 JBOD Just a Bunch of Drives Each drive is 1 1 No operated independently like a normal disk controller or multiple drives may be spanned and seen as a single large drive This level does not provide data redundancy Mylex RAID 7 Striped Also known as 0 1 0 3 0 5 0 4 32 Yes 0 1 these variants combine striping either Striped 3 with RAID level 0 1 or with RAID level 3 Striped 5 or RAID level 5 The striped 0 1 striped RAID 3 and striped 5 RAID levels can only be implemented on Super Drive Groups i e spanned drive groups with the same number of drives that have been arranged adjacent to each other Since they are striped these RAID levels can be thought of as RAID level 0 1 0 level 3 0 and level 5 0 respectively Manual No 771975 Selecting a RAID Level Supported RAID Levels Selecting the proper RAID level for a specific data storage application requires that consideration be given to the benefits of each technique JBOD No RAID JBOD is an acronym for Just a Bunch Of Disks The disks function indepen dently of one another just as they would on a non RAID SCSI controller DISK READ OPERATION 55 SEEK AND ROTATION TRANSFER DAC960SX TOTAL EXECUTION TIME _ gt Figure 2 6 Typical JBOD Disk I O Activity Mirroring RAID 1 Mirroring refers to the duplication o
112. ns lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION ONLINE DEAD STANDBY onl ded sby nxt Figure 8 6 Change Drive State Page One 8 12 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 6 Change Drive State Page One Description Indication Key Description ONLINE Menu selection that allows the user to change a drive state to Online DEAD Menu selection that allows the user to change a drive state to Dead STANDBY Menu selection that allows the user to change a drive state to Standby gt Indicator arrow will appear and mark the active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous menu screen K1 onl 1 Invokes the change drive state function to make the drive Online K2 ded 2 Invokes the change drive state function to make the drive Dead K3 sby 3 Invokes the change drive state function to make the drive Standby Enter Enter Invokes the function indicated by the arrow Manual No 771975 8 13 Toolkit Menu Page One Select Channel Change Drive State Page Two DRCgbB5X _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE PTTUHS 1 ONLINE DEAD STANDBY ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Channel Hunber INFORMATION Channel n lt gt Table 8 7 Select Channel Change Drive State Page Two 8 14 DAC960SX User Guide
113. ns for example improper termination wrong drive ID setting SCSI cable is too long faulty equipment and so on Spin up The Spin up function 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 The default mode setting is Automatic Automatic This spin up mode causes the controller to spin up all connected drives two at a time at six second intervals until every drive in the array is spinning The controller then interrogates each drive one at a time at six second intervals and confirms that the drive is ready for use The interrogation process repeats until all drives have been verified On Power This spin up mode waits a period of time default 70 seconds assumes that all drives are spinning and proceeds to interrogate the drives in the same manner as is described for Automatic mode Any drive that is not ready is marked dead On Command This spin up mode causes the controller to wait for a spin up command from the host It then proceeds to spin up the drives in the same manner as is described for Automatic mode Stripe Size The Stripe Size function is used to tune the controller performance for a specific environment or application Generally stripe size optimization is as follows Smaller stripe sizes provide better performance for random I O for example RAID 3 network RAID 5 network or OLTP processing Larger stripe sizes
114. nstitute the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit is the SCSI ID number Press any key Prompt to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Selection clears this message screen and displays character key the previous menu Manual No 771975 6 25 Configuration Menu Page One Exit Continue Configuration Create Array Alternate Screen The Exit Continue Configuration Prompt appears if you change your mind after starting to create an array and then back out of the process before completion using the ESC key DACSGHSA _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 3 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Hit Y to exit H to continue INFORMATION The current array vill be deleted Selected Drives CHN TGT Array will be deleted ext enu Figure 6 12 Exit Continue Configuration Create Array Alternate Screen 6 26 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 13 Exit Continue Alternate Screen Description Indication Key Description Array will be deleted Message indicates that all target ID size and RAID level configuration data for all LUNs defined during this Create Array session will be deleted if ext is selected LCD Terminal Action Ke
115. nt events in any session from one power on reset to the next power off reset When the limit of eight is reached and a disk failure Occurs a standby replacement can take place but is not recorded in the replacement table Manual No 771975 3 5 Automated Management The standby replacement table can be cleared from the DAC960SX by using the Save Configuration option under the Configuration menu Hot Swap Drive Replacement The DAC960SX supports the ability of certain drive enclosures to perform a hot swap drive replacement while the system is on line A disk can be disconnected removed or replaced with a different disk without taking the system off line The SCSI bus termination must be arranged so that a drive can be removed without disrupting the termination scheme Disk Failure Detection The DAC960SX controller automatically detects SCSI disk failures A monitoring process running on the controller checks among other things elapsed time on all commands issued to disks A time out causes the disk to be reset and the command will be retried If the command time out occurs again the disk is killed by the controller that is its state changed to dead The DAC960SX controller also monitors SCSI bus parity errors and other potential problems Any disk with too many errors will be killed by the controller Disk Media Error Management The DAC960SX controller manages SCSI disk media errors in a manner transparent to the user
116. nxt Figure 8 10 Toolkit Menu Page Two 8 20 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 10 Toolkit Menu Page Two Description Indication Key Description Format Drives Menu selection that allows user to perform a low level format on drives not assigned to a drive group Controller Params Menu selection that allows user to change specific operating parameters for the controller drives and SCSI channels Controller Diag Menu selection that allows user to run a self test diagnostic on the controller Indicator arrow marks the active selection gt LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 fmt 1 Selects the Format Drives function K2 cpr 2 Selects the Controller Parameters function K3 dia 3 Selects the Controller Diagnostics function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Toolkit menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu selection or function indicated by the selection arrow Manual No 771975 8 21 Too Menu Page Two Fo rmat Drives Function The Format Drives function performs a low level format on selected drives WARNING Formatting a drive will result in loss of all data on that drive Make sure that the correct drives are selected before starting the Format Drives function _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTI
117. of the publication Mylex Corporation reserves the right to make improvements and or changes at any time in the product s and or program s described in this publication It is possible that this publication may contain reference to or information about Mylex Corporation products machines and programs programming or services that are not announced in your country Such references or information must not be construed to mean that Mylex Corporation intends to announce provide or make available such Mylex products programming or services in your jurisdiction WARNING The DAC960SX family of disk array controllers contain electronic components that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge ESD preventive measures are required when handling this product outside of its protective packaging About this Manual The DAC960SX User Guide provides information about the DAC960SX Ultra SCSI to Ultra SCSI Disk Array Controller and its options This manual is designed to provide operations routine maintenance and reference information for the experienced system administrator or computer technician who is familiar with the principles and conventions of the Small Computer System Interface SCSI and with Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID technology This user guide consists of the following chapters Chapter 1 Introduction contains an overview of the DAC960SXRAID controller features options and specifications Chapter 2 Confi
118. on The physical capacity of the drive group is six drives but the effective capacity will be less after normal RAID capacity utilization is taken into account BE To Host DAC960 SBY An IR ONES RENE A B Cache Management The DAC960SX provides performance enhancement of data transfers through its on board cache memory The controller supports cache memory sizes from 8 MB minimum to 128 MB maximum Cache memory is allo cated by the controller memory management functions for Read Cache and Write Cache Write cache policy is user selectable for optimum performance within specific applications Manual No 771975 2 25 Determining Other Factors Read Ahead Cache Read ahead cache is a caching strategy where the DAC960SX controller instructs the drives to read data which is anticipated to be requested next and caches the data When a request is made and the data is in the cache perfor mance is improved If the request is not served by the data in the cache the time allotted to the read ahead is lost and a drive read must be performed Read ahead cache is recommended for sequential data for example video servers and is not recommended for random data for example database servers Unless the information requests are very random it is recom mended that read ahead cache is left enabled Write Through Cache Write Through Cache refers to a cache writing strategy whereby data is writ ten to t
119. onfiguration Create Array get shw crt nxt Figure 6 1 Configuration Menu Page One 6 2 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 1 Configuration Menu Page One Description Indication Key Description Get Configuration Function that loads the current saved configuration data into the controller temporary work space Show Configuration Menu selection that allows user to review the current configuration data Create Array Menu selection that allows user to define the configuration parameters for a new array drive group Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 get 1 Selects the Get Configuration function K2 shw 2 Selects the Show Configuration function K3 crt 3 Selects the Create Array function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Configuration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu selection or function indicated by the selection arrow Manual No 771975 6 3 Configuration Menu Page One Get Configuration Screen DACIGHSX 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS Get Configuration Show Configuration Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION WON Configuration loaded successful ly Config loaded
120. onnected to two Host Bus Adapters HBAs in a single system A single HBA failure can occur without losing access to the disk array This may require special software not available from Mylex DRIVE CHO DAC960 HOST CH 1 Figure 2 3 Two Host Channels Connected to two HBAs in One System 2 4 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies A Dual Host configuration is very useful when the array is shared by two systems Although the systems could share the array by connecting to the same host channel a Dual Host configuration physically isolates the systems This provides fault tolerance in case one system fails to release the SCSI bus It also ensures compatibility between systems that are not designed to allow two hosts to share the SCSI bus AN Caution If two systems independently access the same volume of data and the operating system does not support file locking data corruption may occur To avoid this create two or more volumes or LUNs and configure each volume to only be accessed by one system Manual No 771975 2 5 Selecting a Controller Configuration Dual Controller Dual Active Configurations Dual Controller Dual Active Single Host Configuration The Dual Active configuration uses two identically configured controllers to ensure that if either controller fails the other will act on its behalf to process system I O operations Under normal conditions when both controllers are functioning both acti
121. ont California U S A 94555 3607 Mylex will pay for return freight via such carrier as MYLEX shall deem appropriate Technical Support Technical support to assist you in resolving problems with MYLEX products is now available through MYLEX s Technical Support Department In the U S A the Technical Support Department can be reached by telephone at 510 608 2400 by FAX at 510 745 7715 or by e mail at support mylex com Current hours of operation which are subject to change are from 6 00 a m to 6 00 p m Pacific Time Mondays through Fridays excluding U S A national holidays Many problems can also be solved using the Mylex Web site http www mylex com which has a support area available 24 hours a day for interactive technical support Included with the shipment of most MYLEX products is a System Problem Report SPR form When contacting the Technical Support Department for assistance with an installation or compatibility problem we recommend that this form be completed and sent by facsimile or mail to MYLEX Completion of this form will allow our Technical Support Department to solve most technical problems expeditiously Mylex will make reasonable efforts to address compatibility problems which may arise with respect to third party products but shall not be responsible for the compatibility of its products with the products of any third party Cus tomers are advised to verify each product s compatibility with their installation
122. or workmanship of this PRODUCT you should contact the per son or company from which you purchased it That person or company may be able to solve the problem and if not will be able to contact us for technical assistance or repair If it is determined that the PRODUCT must be returned to MYLEX for repair or replacement contact MYLEX s Technical Support Department at 510 608 2400 before it is returned Each returned item must have a separate Return Merchandise Authorization RMA number provided by MYLEX The following rules apply to all returned items 1 The PRODUCT must be returned either in its original packaging or in other packaging which is appropriate for the PRODUCT and the manner of shipment and the RMA number must be displayed prominently on the outside of each such package 2 If a PRODUCT is determined to be ineligible for warranty service the customer will be notified before any fur ther action is taken with the PRODUCT 3 MYLEX will not be responsible for any loss or damage to property shipped with the RMA PRODUCT not origi nally sold by MYLEX e g coprocessor chips peripheral boards memory modules enclosures power supplies or any other accessories or attached items 4 Any item returned to MYLEX without a valid RMA number will be returned to the shipper Products shipped to MYLEX must be shipped or mailed at the shipper s risk freight prepaid to the address below Mylex Corporation 34551 Ardenwood Blvd Frem
123. plays the previous menu screen K2 no N Cancels the drive SCSI channel and Target ID selection and displays the first page of the Create Standby menu Manual No 771975 6 37 Configuration Menu Page Two Save Configuration Function The Save Configuration function must be invoked whenever a configuration is created or changed in order for the configuration parameters to take effect AN Caution Data may be lost if the configuration is changed on an active array URLSbHSR ca _ CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 3 1 Delete Last Array 2 Create Standby 3 Save Configuration ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to save the configuration H exit INFORMATION Saving the configuration will destroy the existing configuration Cur cfg will change yes no Figure 6 18 Save Configuration Screen 6 38 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 19 Save Configuration Description Indication Key Description Cur cfg will change Prompt notifies the user that the function will change the current configuration LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key K1 yes Y Selection saves the current configuration and returns the display to the previous menu K2 no N Cancels the function no configuration is saved and displays the previous menu screen Manual No 771975 6 39
124. provide better performance for sequential transfers for example RAID 0 RAID 0 1 or digital video The default setting is 8K optimum random I O performance and reduced sequential throughput Changing the stripe size to 16K 32K or 64K alters Manual No 771975 8 41 Toolkit Menu Page Two the way data is written on the drives connected to the DAC960SX controller WARNING DATA LOSS will occur after changing the stripe size on a controller with existing logical units Always back up all data before making a stripe size change Always initialize the logical units after a new stripe size is saved Block Size The Block Size parameter indicates that the logical block sizes of the LUNs are 512 bytes This firmware release supports only the default setting of 512 bytes and cannot be changed Start Option The Start Option setting determines whether or not the controller starts up when exiting a Configuration on Disk check No Change No LUN Change No LUN Offline No LUNO Change No LUNO Offline Rebuild Rate The Rebuild Rate parameter sets the percent of controller resources to be devoted to rebuild operations in the event of a disk failure Note that this parameter can also be set directly from the Administration menu options Serial Channel A The Serial Channel A parameter sets serial channel A to be used as either the debug port or the SLP or VT100 port Controller Present Fault Selection Set this option to
125. ption from turning into a disaster If the array controller is not and will not be configured to use Write Back cache then battery backup of the cache is not necessary If the write cache is used without the battery backup installed on the DAC960 then an uninterruptible power supply also known as a UPS should be used with your disk array Manual No 771975 2 17 Selecting a RAID Level RAID Levels and Availability To see the relation between the different RAID levels offered by the DAC960 controller and the advantages and disadvantages of the RAID levels as they apply to availability refer to Figure 2 4 Table 2 4 RAID Levels and Availability RAID Availability Level Fault tolerance 0 No fault tolerance Data is striped across a set of multiple disks If a disk in the set ceases to function all data contained on the set of disks is lost This configuration is not recommended if fault tolerance is needed 1 Disk Mirroring Mirrored fault tolerance Data is written to one disk and then the same data is written to another disk If either disks fails the other one in the pair is automatically used to store and retrieve the data 3 Striped fault tolerance Data and parity are striped across a set of multiple at least three drives If any of the drives fails the data or parity information from the failed drive is computed from the information from the remaining drives 5 Striped fault toleran
126. rface Overview After the DAC960SX hardware installation the array can be configured through one of three user interfaces Front panel touch control keypad Refer to Start up LCD Screen on page 5 3 VTIOO terminal connected through the controller s serial port Refer to Start up VT100 Screen on page 5 5 RAIDfx software running on a PC through the controller s serial port Refer to the RAIDfx Manager User Guide Note The controller allows only one device to access menus at a time Both the DAC960SX front panel user interface and the VT100 terminal can access the built in configuration and administration utility that resides in the controller s firmware They provide complete control and management of the controller and disk arrays eliminating the need for additional hardware or software Manual No 771975 5 1 User Interface Screen Modes User Interface Screen Modes The DAC960SX controller s distinctive operating modes are represented by different displays on the front panel LCD or terminal monitor display These modes are Start up Monitor mode Menu mode Navigating the LCD Screens A touch control keypad and a liquid crystal display LCD on the front panel of the DAC960SX is the primary operational interface and monitor display for the disk array controller This user interface controls all configuration and management functions for the DAC960SX controller and for all SCSI disk array s
127. ring configuration This parameter is normally disabled Broad Reassign Sparing When Broad Reassign is enabled sparing is enabled that is a disk drive failure can result in the drive being reassigned to any other drive slot accessed by that controller Disabling this option results in the drive being reassigned only to the same slot The default setting is disabled Controller Present Fault Signals This function enables the use of back panel signals for sensing the presence of the partner controller Disable this setting for dual active configurations Automatic Failback When enabled in a dual active system Automatic Failback allows the system to automatically invoke a fail back when a failed controller is replaced SCSI Transfer The SCSI Transfer function sets the maximum transfer rate for each drive channel The default setting is This setting produces 10 MB sec transfers for Fast SCSI if 8 bit SCSI drives are used or 20 MB sec transfers for Fast and Wide SCSI drives The 20MB setting allows 20MB sec transfers for 8 bit Wide Ultra SCSI devices or 40MB sec transfers for Ultra Wide devices The default setting should be changed only if problems are encountered in communicating with a drive Do not change the default setting unless you are doing so as part of a trouble shooting activity 8 40 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Note Problems communicating with a drive can be caused by several conditio
128. rives Page Five Description Indication Key Description Format message Message indicates the status of the formatting process on the listed drive Format complete Drive formated successfully Format failed Drive did not format correctly Number pairs indicate the SCSI ID of the drive about which format status is being reported Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Manual No 771975 8 31 Too Menu Page Two Controller Parameters The Controller Parameters function displays the current state of various controller settings It allows the user to change these settings with predefined optional settings WARNING Saving parameter changes causes the controller s working parameters to change This can produce unpredictable results if it occurs during host drive activity All activity to the controller should be stopped before saving parameter changes DACIBHSX ca _ 2 CONFIGURATION 4 ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 1 Format Drives 2 Controller Paraneters 3 Controller Diagnostics ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press spacebar to change lt Esc gt to quit Enter for next parameter INFORMATION Automatic Rebuild Management Disabled Prompt message variable chg
129. s 8 28 Format Status 8 30 G Get Configuration 6 4 Glossary C 1 H Host Bus Reset Delay 8 43 Hot Spares 3 5 Hot Swap Drive Replacement 3 6 Information Display 8 10 Initialize Confirmation 6 44 Initialize Logical Unit Prompt 6 54 Initialize Status 6 46 Installation Battery Backup Unit 4 6 Installation Abort 8 40 Installing the DBI960SX onto the DAC960SX 4 10 J JBOD no RAID 2 10 K Kill Partner Status 7 34 L LUN Size 6 16 LUN Statistics 7 22 M Menu Mode Log in Password Prompt 5 9 Menu Mode Main Menu Screen 5 10 Menu Screen Locator 5 7 Mirroring RAID 1 2 10 Monitor Mode Main Title Screen 5 8 N Navigating the LCD Screens 5 2 5 4 Navigating the VT100 Screens 5 4 5 6 Off line 3 4 On line 3 3 3 4 Overview Configuration Strategies 2 1 P Parity Check Confirmation 7 16 Parity Check Status 7 18 Product Description DAC960SX 1 1 R RAID Introduction 2 8 RAID essentials 2 8 RAID Level 6 14 RAID levels 2 10 assigning to System Drive 2 28 assigning to System Drives 2 28 supported 2 8 RAID levels and availability 2 18 RAID levels and performance 2 19 RAID rules 2 30 Rate Setting 7 6 Read Ahead Cache 2 26 Rebuild 3 3 Rebuild Rate 8 42 Rebuild Status 7 12 Rebuild Check Rate 7 4 Relinquish Controller 7 28 Relinquish Controller Status 7 30 Index 2 DAC960SX User Guide S U Save Changes 8 34 User Interface 5 1 Save Configuration 6 38 Screen Modes 5 2 Save Configuration
130. s the next page Manual No 771975 6 21 Configuration Menu Page One Confirm Logical Unit Create Array Page Seven ca _ 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active ESSAGE_ 5 3 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array NTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press Y to create this LUN H to redefine the LUN IHFORMATION LUN B ONLINE 3859 HB RAIDS Write Through Selected Drives CHN TGT B H 1 1 4 1 1 LO ON 500MB RnWB 000102 yes no Figure 6 10 Logical Unit Confirmation Create Array Page Seven 6 22 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 11 Create Array Page Seven Description Indication Key Description Ln Number indicates the logical unit number LUN ON OF CR Indicates the status of the logical unit ON on line CR critical OF off line nnn MB Number indicates the size of the logical unit defined W x WT WB Indicates the setting of the on board write cache WT Write Through write cache disabled WB Write Back write cache enabled Rn Number indicates the RAID level of the logical unit RAID 0 1 3 5 6 041 7 JBOD nn nnmn etc Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of the drives that constitute the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel address The second digit is the SCSI ID number
131. sers will experience reduced performance if they try to read or write data to the logical unit RAID 0 1 Mylex RAID 6 Combines the benefits of disk mirroring RAID 1 and data striping RAID 0 Benefits Optimizes for both fault tolerance and performance Provides excellent performance for all data needs Drawbacks Requires half the available disk space for data redundancy just like RAID 1 JBOD Mylex RAID 7 The controller treats a single drive as a stand alone disk and provides a high performance cache Benefits Cache reduces the amount of time the computer has to wait for a disk to get to the right place to read or write data Drawbacks Does not provide data redundancy and does not use striping for performance enhancements Glossary 4 DAC960SX User Guide A Administration Menu Page One 7 2 Page Three 7 32 Page Two 7 20 Administration Menu Summary 7 1 AEMI Scan Started 8 48 Array Configuration 6 24 Automatic Failback 8 40 Automatic Rebuild Management 8 37 B Battery Conditioning 4 8 BBU Removal 4 5 BBU Testing 4 5 Block Size 8 42 Broad Reassign Sparing 8 40 Cache Battery Backup 2 26 Cache Management 2 25 CAP strategy 2 1 applying 2 14 Change Drive State 8 12 Change Write Policy 6 48 Command Tag Drive Channel 8 39 Configuration Menu Page One 6 2 Page three 6 40 Page Two 6 28 Configuration Menu Summary 6 1 Configuration on Disk COD 1 4 Configuration strategies 2 1 Co
132. t is created If a drive group has enough drives to support several different RAID levels the logical drive can be assigned any of the available levels However a logical drive may have only one RAID level DRIVE GROUP B 3 Drives B1 RAID 0 1 4 In the illustration above the smaller logical drive Bo can be assigned a 2 28 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies RAID 5 level of operation while the larger logical drive B might be assigned a RAID 0 1 level of operation Remember that different RAID levels exhibit different performance characteristics for a particular application or environment DAC960 Series controllers allow for complete versatility in this regard by allowing multiple different RAID levels to be assigned to a drive group Manual No 771975 2 29 RAID Rules RAID Rules A small but important set of guidelines should be followed when connecting devices and configuring them to work with a DAC960 controller They are 1 To lessen their impact on the SCSI bus connect SCSI based tape CD ROM and other non disk devices on a single channel which preferably does not service any disk drives If you have more than two disk drives distribute the drives equally among all the channels on the controller This will result in better performance DAC960 Series controllers have between one and five channels depending upon the model A maximum of eight devices can comprise a drive group
133. t menu before initializing a LUN that was created Configuration Menu SBY size too small The size of the Standby Drive is too small to use in the existing configuration Create Standby Manual No 771975 A 4 DAC960SX User Guide Appendix B Regulatory Information Class B Compliance THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS 4 THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE AND 5 THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION 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 residential installations This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is not guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures 1 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna 2 Move the equipment awa
134. t or was Online Start Rebuild Start Rebuild Failed State Changed A change of state has occurred Save Configuration Format Failed Failure on Format function Format Drives Invalid drive Invalid choice of drive Create Standby Invalid Device Invalid device address menus requiring a device address Invalid Option Max LUNs created A submenu was not selected when required Maximum number of logical units have been created All menus requiring the selection of a submenu Create Array No arrays defined No LUNs defined There are no LUNS to delete Invalid configuration Delete Array Create Standby Show Configuration No Stat Avail No LUN statistics are available LUN operation Saving failed Unable to save configuration Controller Params changes to controller parameters SEr n The number of drive soft errors Drive Information Undefined LUN Invalid LUN selection LUN operation DACO960SX User Guide Table A 3 DAC960SX Warning Messages Error Messages Warning Message Description Menu Function Illegal Operation Operation is illegal because there is no Master Slave configuration Release Controller Relinquish Control Array will be deleted Attempt to quit before array is created will cause configuration entries made in this Create Array session to be lost Create Array Cfg changed Exit Attempt to exi
135. t to kill the other controller Kill Partner kil C nxt Figure 7 16 Administration Menu Page Three 7 32 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 16 Administration Menu Page Two Description Indication Key Description Kill Partner Menu selection that initiates a fail over in a dual active system The other controller will be disabled and this controller will handle all further I O processing gt Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 kil 1 Selects the Kill Partner function K4 nxt N Selects the next page of Administration menu selections Enter Enter Invokes the submenu or function indicated by the arrow Manual No 771975 Administration Menu Page Three Kill Partner Status Kill Partner Page Two 9685 ca 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Failed 12 MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE 5 1 Kill Partner Press any key to continue INFORMATION Operation successfull Operation successful Press any key Figure 7 17 Kill Partner Page Two 7 34 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 17 Kill Partner Page Two Description Indication Key Description Operation successful Message indicates that the fail over operation is completed
136. that were reads since the last time this function was invoked WRT Number indicates percentage of LUN I Os that were writes since the last time this function was invoked Press any key Prompt for user action to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key Any key Any Displays the previous menu character key Note The 99 total percentage number achieved by adding I O reads and I O writes is due to the rounding down of the third decimal place of the two numbers Manual No 771975 7 25 Administration Menu Page Two Enclosure Status The DAC960SX includes cabinet fault reporting for AEMI compatible enclosures Status is reported on up to three fans three power supply units PSUs and one enclosure temperature sensor The status messages pass fail report only the fault signals input from the enclosure URLSbHSA cv 2 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE STARTUP COMPLETE OPTIONS 2 1 LUN Statistics 2 Enclosure Status 3 Relinquish Controller ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Press any key to continue INFORMATION FANA FANI FAN2 PHRA PHRI PHH2 TEMPA OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY FO F1 F2 P1 2 TO OK OK OK OK OK OK OK Press any key Figure 7 13 Enclosure Status 7 26 DAC960SX User Guide Administration Menu Table 7 13 Enclosure Status Indication Key Description Fn
137. the BBU 4 6 DAC960SX User Guide Controller Maintenance STAND OFF LOCATION BBU 2 CONTROLLER BOARD Figure 4 3 Installing the BBU If the BBU requires removal and replacement use the following procedure for installing the new BBU Refer to Removing the BBU on page 4 5 for removal instructions AN Caution Be sure to use proper electrostatic protection procedures when removing the DAC960SX controller from the system 1 If the nylon stand off is missing from the controller board install it at the location shown in Figure 4 3 Note A tool may be required to exert the pressure necessary to install the stand off 2 Insert connector J3 of the BBU into connector J2 on the DAC960SX controller 3 Make sure the stand off is properly aligned and press the sides of the BBU to clamp the nylon stand off into the hole on the DAC960SX 4 Reinstall the DAC960SX disk array controller Manual No 771975 4 7 5 Power on the system and boot the operating system 6 In the RAIDfx configuration utility make sure Enable Battery Backup in the Advanced Functions Hardware Parameters menu is selected 7 Reboot the system 8 Prepare the battery and set up the cache write policy as described in the next section Battery Conditioning Prior to Use Nickel Cadmium batteries need to be conditioned before they are placed into operation If the battery is furnished partially char
138. the default setting Disable 8 42 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Host Bus Reset Delay The Host Bus Reset Delay parameter determines how the DAC960SX responds to the host when a failed controller is replaced in a dual active system When set to a number between 1 and 60 the controller asserts a SCSI bus reset on the host bus after that number of seconds A zero value results in not host bus reset being issued Generally this should be set to O If you are using the Solaris operating system set to 5 Manual No 771975 8 43 Toolkit Menu Page Three Toolkit Menu Page Three The AEMI Scan function is a diagnostic utility that is used to scan the SCSI drive channels to detect the removal or insertion of a drive _ 2 CONFIGURATION Z ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 1 Scan ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options Esc for previous menu ION AEMI Scan scn nxt Figure 8 18 AEMI Scan Page One 8 44 DAC960SX User Guide Toolkit Menu Table 8 19 AEMI Scan Page One Description Indication Key Description AEMI scan Function that will start the controller s built in utility AEMI Scan diagnostic program LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Cancels the function exits the Toolkit Menu and displays the Main Menu screen K1 scn Selects the AEMI
139. this version of the DAC960SX clear the prompt by pressing the Enter or Return key to display the DAC960SX main monitor mode screen After you press the Enter or Return key to clear the password prompt the terminal displays the Monitor Mode panel header MESSAGE Monitor Mode VT100 Screen In Monitor Mode the terminal monitor screen displays the status messages in the panel below the screen prompt indicated by the MESSAGE header Any status message displayed in this panel remains on screen until one of the following occurs 1 Controller operations generate a new status message in its place 2 Someone presses the Enter or Return key putting the controller into Menu Mode 3 Someone presses the Esc key causing the controller to exit the utility and return to the main terminal screen Menu Mode VT100 Screen Press the Enter or Return key to display the Menu Mode screen Menu Mode causes additional prompts and panels to be displayed on the screen below the Monitor Mode screen s MESSAGE panel Manual No 771975 5 5 Controller Screen Descriptions Up to three menu items at a time appear in the panel below the OPTIONS prompt Respond to the on screen prompts to select the desired configuration administration or diagnostic functions Typing the number associated with a menu item in the OPTIONS panel such as 1 causes the number to appear next to the prompt labeled ENTER PARAMETER
140. ubsystems to which it is properly connected DACOGOS X Host MYLEX Rev nnnn DAC960SX n MB C3 Drive Cache ta Figure 5 1 9605 Front Panel Keypad and LCD The LCD provides a system of screens with areas for information status or menus The LCD screen displays four lines The first three lines contain menu items or other information The fourth line shows controller status in Monitor mode In Menu mode the fourth line is usually an instruction line which shows an abbreviated list of functions that can be accessed by 5 2 DAC960SX User Guide User Interface pressing the corresponding front panel keypad button below each abbreviation or prompt By pressing the keypad button a command or menu function associated with that prompt is executed if possible otherwise an error indication or status message is provided Start up LCD Screen The start up title screen is displayed on the front panel LCD after the controller is powered on A built in power on self test POST diagnostic checks the controller functions during start up Any errors detected by the POST diagnostic are reported on the title screen Otherwise a successful start up results in a title screen that displays manufacturer identification the on board firmware release level the controller board model number the size of the on board cache and a status message that the startup was successful MYLE
141. uide Glossary Cache Controller memory used to speed up data transfer to and from a disk Channel A path for the transfer of data and control information between drives and the drive controller Disk array controllers often have multiple channels and each channel supports multiple drives Data transfer capacity The amount of data moved between devices Generally measured in Megabytes sec Disk striping The practice of dividing data into blocks and writing them across multiple drives for increased performance Dual active A disk array system with two active controllers handling host I O requests Both controllers are capable of taking over the host traffic operations of the other controller in the event of a failure Also referred to as duplex Fail back A process by which a controller releases its partner controller from reset and allows it to re assume its duties Fail over A process by which a controller puts its partner controller in reset and assumes its duties Manual No 771975 Glossary 1 Hot plug Hot plug is the action of removing and inserting a controller while system power is applied This insertion and removal can occur while the other controller in a dual active system is active Hot plug does not include the removal of a functioning controller Hot spare A physical drive not part of a logical unit that the controller can use to automatically rebuild a logical unit that goes critical
142. uild cycles Supports Deep Drive Queues for improved random I O performance Disconnect reconnect capability for enhanced performance and SCSI bus optimization Up to 128 megabytes minimum 8MB of DRAM cache Supports write back write through and conservative cache mode RAID SCSI Disk Array Management Supports multiple RAID levels 0 1 3 5 and 0 1 and JBOD Just a Bunch of Disks allowing you to select the desired combination of storage capacity data availability redundancy and I O transfer performance for any data application Offers complete RAID Ultra SCSI array configuration and management without special software or drivers Supports all popular operating systems and network environments because it works independently from the operating system Manual No 771975 1 3 Features Connects up to 30 SCSI drives using optional mezzanine board Drives can be grouped and managed as a single very large capacity disk drive as multiple large capacity drive groups or as individual disk drives Industry standard Fast 20 Wide SCSI 3 Ultra SCST interface Programmable LUN mapping allows system drives to be assigned to any controller port s Configuration on Disk COD e If the array is powered off and the DAC960SX is replaced with another DAC960SX the disks and controller automatically reconfigure when the system is restarted Operator intervention is not needed unless a major change such as RAID level strip
143. umber indicates the currently displayed logical unit number LUN ON OF CR Indicates the status of the current logical unit ON on line CR critical OF off line n MB Number indicates the capacity in megabytes of the currently displayed logical drive Rn 0 1 3 5 6 7 Number indicates the RAID level of the logical unit W x WT WB nn nnmn etc Indicates the setting of the on board write cache WT Write Through write cache disabled WB Write Back write cache enabled Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of each drive that comprise the logical unit The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the SCSI drive identification number SCSI ID Config loaded Indicates that current data is loaded into the controller s temporary work space Press any key Prompt to clear this status screen LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen K1 K4 Any Displays the configuration data for the next logical Enter character key drive or hot spare until all are shown then displays the previous menu Manual No 771975 Configuration Menu Page One Show Standby Show Configuration Page Two co _ 7 CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE RBLD 8 1 COMPLETE 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION
144. ure Controller Diag Fail Chk Rbl in Failure due to a parity check or LUN operation Prog rebuild already in progress Failed Bad Failure in saving the configuration to Save Configuration EEPROM EPROM Failed Bad Failure in saving the configuration to Save Configuration NVRAM Non volatile RAM Failed Channel Drive channel is busy Drive Information Busy Change Drive State Failed Check in Prog A parity check is is progress on the addressed LUN LUN operation Failed Disk failed Failed Drive Dead New disk failure Failure due to a dead dependent drive Start Rebuild LUN operation Failed Drv Not Ready Unable to start drive Drive Information Change Drive State Manual No 771975 Table A 2 DAC960SX Error Messages continued Error Message Description Menu Function Failed Init in prog Failed because an initialization is in progress LUN operation Failed Invalid Dev Failure due to an invalid device Rebuild Drive Drive Information Change Drive State Failed Invalid LUN Failure due a non redundant logical unit or because a LUN does not exist LUN operation Failed No Device Drive or other device not available Drive Information Change Drive State Fail in Prog Failed Start failed Rebuild failed because another rebuild or parity check is already in progress Rebuild failed because drive could not star
145. vely process data Consequentially this improves system performance DRIVE CH 0 SERVER DAC960 PRIMARY DUAL ACTIVE CABLE HEARTBEAT DAC960 PARTNER Figure 2 4 Dual Active Configuration 2 6 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Strategies Dual Controller Dual Active Dual Host Configuration The Dual Active Dual Host configuration offers the advantages of being able to sustain data access in the event of a controller failure and if appropriate software is installed of being able to sustain data access in the event of the failure of a server or an HBA DRIVE CH 0 SERVER SERVER HOST HOST CH1 CHO DAC960 a DUAL ACTIVE CABLE HEARTBEAT DAC960 PARTNER Figure 2 5 Dual Active Dual Host Configuration Manual No 771975 Selecting a RAID Level Selecting a RAID Level You will get a better idea of how to configure your disk array if you understand how the DAC960SX implements RAID technology and organizes the disk drives Correct installation of the disk array and the controller requires a proper understanding of RAID technology and the concepts described in this chapter RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks The DAC960SX implements several different versions of the Berkeley RAID technology and some other special versions that
146. ves Create Array Page Two DRCgbHS5X co _ 2 MB CONFIGURATION ADMINISTRATION Partner Active MESSAGE 1 Get Configuration 2 Show Configuration 3 Create Array ENTER PARAMETER INSTRUCTION Enter Target ID INFORMATION Select the drives upto 8 for the Array lt Esc gt to end selection Target ID n Slct drvs ESC to end Cl lt Figure 6 6 Select Drives Create Array Page Two 6 12 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 6 Create Array Page Two Description Indication Key Description Target ID Number indicates the SCSI ID of a drive to add to the array being created drvs ESC to end Prompt indicating user response options nn nnmn etc Number pairs indicate the SCSI address of each drive that comprise the array The first digit in each pair is the SCSI channel number The second digit in each pair is the SCSI ID number LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Completes the drive selection function and displays the next page K3 Num keypad Increments Target ID number K4 Num keypad Decrements Target ID number Enter Enter Checks the drive selected adds the drive to the array and displays the prompt for the next selection Note Only unused or hot spare standby drives may be selected Drives must be physically conn
147. y Action Key K1 ext Y Selection exits the function deletes the LUNs from this array and displays the previous menu No array is created K1 cnu N Selection continues the Create Array function so that LUN definitions may be modified or saved Manual No 771975 6 27 Configuration Menu Page Two Configuration Menu Page Two RE _ 2 CONFIGURATION RTT ECTS TEE Partner Active MESSAGE OPTIONS 1 Delete Last Array 2 Create Standby 3 Save Configuration 1 INSTRUCTION Enter option H for more options lt Esc gt for previous menu INFORMATION Delete Last Array Create Standby Save Configuration del sby sav nxt Figure 6 13 Configuration Menu Page Two 6 28 DAC960SX User Guide Configuration Menu Table 6 14 Configuration Menu Page Two Description Indication Key Description Delete Last Array Menu selection that allows user to remove the last drive group from the configuration Create Standby Menu selection that allows user to specify drive that will serve as a hot spare or standby drive Save Configuration Function saves new or modified configuration data to the controller non volatile memory Indicator arrow marks active selection LCD Terminal Action Key Action Key ESC Esc Displays the previous screen main menu K1 del 1 Selects the Delet
148. y from the receiver 3 Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is powered If necessary the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio television technician for additional suggestions All external connections should be made using shielded cables AN Caution Only equipment certified to comply with Class B computer input output devices terminals printers etc should be attached to this equipment Any changes or modifications to the equipment by the user not expressly approved by the grantee or manufacturer could void the user s authority to operate such equipment Manual No Preliminary B 1 Fe Class B Compliance THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS 4 THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE AND 5 THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION 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 residential installations This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is not guarantee th
149. y will continue to function normally in the event of either a member disk failure of failure of the path to a member disk The controller can recreate lost data on a replacement drive without interrupting access by users The controller will do so automatically if a Hot Spare is available or the administrator can manually initiate a rebuild Drawbacks Cannot match RAID 0 in write performance because of the processing required to compute and write error correction data While the controller is rebuilding a drive users will experience reduced performance if they try to read or write data to the logical unit RAID 5 Stripes blocks of data and parity information across all drives Benefits Uses a fraction of the disk space required by RAID 1 to achieve data redundancy Provides good performance for transaction processing applications because each drive can read and write independently Should a drive fail the controller continues to allow reads and writes on the failed drive by regenerating the missing information The controller can recreate lost data on a replacement drive without interrupting access by users The controller will do so automatically if a Hot Spare is available or the administrator can manually initiate a rebuild Manual No 771975 Glossary 3 Drawbacks Cannot match RAID 0 in write performance because of the processing required to compute and write error correction data While the controller is rebuilding a drive u

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents

Sony MDR-J20W  Fujitsu MDG3230UB User's Manual  Professional Series PS72082 User's Manual  Service Guide  Congrès régional Area Convention Congreso regional  

Copyright © All rights reserved. Failed to retrieve file