Texas Memory Systems RamSam-210 user manual Hot Swapping Disk Drives, Hot Swapping Fans

5.2Hot Swapping Disk Drives

The RamSan-210 includes two mirrored hard disk drives. The system can operate with two disks operational, one disk operational or no disks operational. Normal operation mirrors writes to both disk drives.

If a single disk drive fails, the system will continue to write to the available disk drive. At this point, it is desirable to replace the malfunctioning disk with a new disk drive. Once inserted, the system will rebuild the disk by executing a disk-to-disk copy. Overall system write performance will be degraded during the restore, but read operations will continue uninterrupted.

Important:

Do not remove either disk drive during a disk-to-disk copy. Removing either disk drive will destroy data on both disks. This will then require both drives to be removed and replaced for a memory to disk resynchronization.

If both disks fail, the system will perform all operations from memory. This is a volatile state. When functional disks are inserted, the system takes the Fibre Channel interfaces off-line and executes a memory to disk copy.

The following steps should be used to replace bad disk drives:

1.Verify that a disk-to-disk copy is not in progress. If it is in progress, then wait for the disk-to-disk copy to complete.

2.Slide the disk eject latch to the right.

3.Remove the disk by pulling squarely on the handle.

4.Insert new disk squarely into the available slot. Make sure the disk drive is completely inserted into the system and flush with the chassis.

Important:

Failed disk drives should be replaced as soon as possible. You should only use TMS factory certified disk drives for replacement.

Important:

It is not advised to remove disks that are functional. The action should be perfectly safe, unless a disk-to-disk copy is in progress, but will impact system performance as the new disk drive is rebuilt from the mirror.

5.3Hot Swapping Fans

The fans in the RamSan-210 can be removed and replaced during system operation. There are two blocks of three fans each. The blocks are accessed from different locations. The rear fan block is easily accessed from the rear of the chassis. Removing the front panel from the RamSan-210 provides access the front fan block.

- 22 -