Acer Series 520 Overview, Chapter

Chapter 1

Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the MegaRAID® SCSI 320-0 and basic SCSI features. It contains the following sections:

Section 1.1, “Features”

Section 1.2, “NVRAM and Flash ROM”

Section 1.3, “Single-Ended and Differential SCSI Buses”

Section 1.4, “Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards”

Section 1.5, “SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput”

Section 1.6, “Documentation”

The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 zero-channel RAID (ZCR) controller is a high-performance intelligent PCI-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 is a low-profile card that provides reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 can be installed in a special PCI expansion slot in a computer with a motherboard that has the LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI chip. The zero-channel adapter converts a motherboard’s own on-board SCSI controller into a powerful PCI SCSI RAID solution, and is targeted for 1U and 2U server environments.

The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 is part of the LSI Logic Intel i960RM/RS- based MegaRAID controller family, and is an entry-level to mid-range RAID controller solution. This controller offers a cost-effective way to implement RAID in a server.

The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 supports data transfer rates up to 320 Mbytes/s per channel, and it supports up to fifteen non-Ultra SCSI devices. MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 includes MegaRAID features and performance.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Hardware Guide

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Copyright © 2002 by LSI Logic Corporation. All rights reserved.

Contents

HARDWARE GUIDE Page FCC Regulatory Statement Warning: Disclaimer – Page Preface Hardware Installation Troubleshooting Audible Warnings Technical Support MegaRAID Problem Report MegaRAID Problem Report Form (Cont.) Logical Drive Configuration Logical Drive Configuration (Cont.) Physical Device Layout Physical Device Layout (Cont.) Page Page Contents Page Configuring Physical Drives, Arrays, and Logical Drives Page Overview 1.1Features 1.2NVRAM and Flash ROM 1.3Single-Endedand Differential SCSI Buses 1.4Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards 1.5SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput 1.6Documentation 1.6.1MegaRAID SCSI 320-0ZCR Hardware Guide 1.6.2MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide 1.6.3MegaRAID Operating System Driver Installation Guide Page Introduction to RAID 2.1RAID Benefits 2.1.1Improved I/O 2.1.2Increased Reliability 2.2MegaRAID SCSI 320-0– Host-BasedRAID Solution 2.2.1Host-BasedRAID 2.2.2SCSI-to-SCSIExternal RAID 2.3RAID Overview 2.3.1Physical Array 2.3.2Logical Drive 2.3.3Consistency Check 2.3.4Fault Tolerance 2.3.5Disk Striping Figure 2.1 Disk Striping 2.3.5.1Stripe Width 2.3.6Disk Mirroring 2.3.7Disk Spanning 2.3.8Parity 2.3.9Hot Spares 2.3.10 Hot Swapping 2.3.11 Disk Rebuild 2.3.12 Logical Drive States 2.3.13 SCSI Drive States 2.3.14 Disk Array Types 2.3.15 Enclosure Management Page RAID Levels 3.1Selecting a RAID Level 3.2RAID 3.3RAID 3.4RAID Figure 3.3 RAID 5 Array 3.5RAID 3.6RAID Figure 3.5 RAID 50 Array Features 4.1SMART Technology 4.2Configuration on Disk 4.3Configuration Features 4.4Array Performance Features 4.5RAID Management Features 4.6Fault Tolerance Features 4.7Software Utilities 4.8Operating System Software Drivers 4.9MegaRAID SCSI 320-0Specifications 4.9.1PCI Bridge/CPU 4.9.2Cache Memory 4.9.3MegaRAID BIOS 4.9.4SCSI Firmware 4.10 RAID Management 4.10.1MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility 4.10.2 WebBIOS Configuration Utility 4.10.3 Power Console Plus 4.10.4 MegaRAID Manager 4.11 Compatibility 4.11.1Server Management 4.11.2 SCSI Device Compatibility 4.11.3 Software Page Configuring Physical Drives Arrays, and Logical Drives 5.1Configuring SCSI Physical Drives 5.1.1Basic Configuration Rules 5.1.2Current Physical Device Configuration 5.1.3Logical Drive Configuration Page 5.1.4Physical Device Layout Table 5.3 Physical Device Layout (Cont.) Page 5.2Configuring Arrays 5.2.1Arranging Arrays 5.2.2Creating Hot Spares 5.3Creating Logical Drives 5.3.1Configuration Strategies Capacity for RAID Levels (Cont.) 5.3.1.2Maximizing Drive Availability Fault Tolerance for RAID Levels 5.3.1.3Maximizing Drive Performance 5.3.2Assigning RAID Levels 5.4Configuring Logical Drives 5.4.1Optimizing Data Storage 5.5Planning the Array Configuration 5.5.1Using the Array Configuration Planner Array Configuration Planner Array Configuration Planner (Cont.) Page Hardware Installation 6.1Hardware Requirements 6.2Installation Steps 6.2.1Step 1: Unpack 6.2.2Step 2: Power Down 6.2.3Step 3: Set Jumpers Figure 6.1 MegaRAID SCSI 320-0Controller Layout 6.2.3.1J2 Dirty Cache LED 6.2.3.2J3 Clear EPROM 6.2.3.3J4 BIOS Enable Table 6.3 Pinout for J4 BIOS Enable 6.2.4Step 4: Install MegaRAID SCSI 6.2.5Step 5: Power Up 6.2.6Step 6: Run the MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility 6.2.7Step 7: Install the Operating System Driver 6.3Summary Troubleshooting 7.1General Troubleshooting General Problems and Suggested Solutions (Cont.) 7.2BIOS Boot Error Messages 7.3Other BIOS Error Messages 7.4Other Potential Problems Other Potential Problems (Cont.) Appendix A Audible Warnings Page Appendix B Glossary Channel Consistency Check Cold Swap Data Transfer Disk Subsystem Double Buffering Failed Drive Fast SCSI Firmware Host Computer Hot Spare Hot Swapping I/O Driver Initialization Mbyte Multi-threaded Operating Environment Parity Partition RAID RAID Migration Read-Ahead Ready State Rebuild Redundancy Replacement Unit SAF-TE SCSI Service Provider SNMP Spanning Spare Striping Ultra320 Virtual Sizing Wide SCSI Page Index Page Page Page Customer Feedback Reader’s Comments