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A Pool Hot Fix Drive is a spare drive within the so-called Hot Fix Pool. A drive in a Hot Fix
Pool is available for several RAID 1 and RAID 10 Array Drives as a Hot Fix drive. Thus, sev-
eral Array Drives can share one Hot Fix drive. Of course, once this drive has been used by
one of the Array Drives, it is no longer available for the others.

After selecting this option, GDTMON scans the ICP Controller for drives which are suitable

Summary of Contents for GDT monitor

Page 1: ... KDSWHU LDJQRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 KDSWHU 7KH LDJQRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 ...

Page 2: ...he utilization Read Hits Write Hits Separate indication for data and parity cache RAID 4 5 Allows online changing of the GDT cache parameters Cache ON OFF Delayed Write ON OFF Allows online changing of the SCSI devices parameters SCSI protocol Synchronous or Asynchronous data transfer Setting of the synchronous data transfer rate Disconnect Reconnect Disk Cache ON OFF Tagged Queues ON OFF Indicate...

Page 3: ...various settings and per formance data The Windows NT Windows 95 and OS 2 driver diskettes include so called DLLs for the sup ported protocols Example If the MON4NETB DLL file is located in the same directory as GDTMON EXE file for Windows NT the NETBIOS protocol is automatically used for the GDTMON on this system As soon as the NETBIOS support of this operating system is in stalled during the net...

Page 4: ...n the module CTRLSRV NLM has to be loaded This module searches for a file named CTRLSRV CFG This file must be located in the same directory as CTRLSRV NLM The system administrator has to set up a user group named GDT_OPERATOR All users belonging to this group are given access through GDTMON to the ICP Controller s in this specific fileserver Access level 0 Now the GDTMON program can be loaded from...

Page 5: ...re we have the Array Drives and fi nally level 4 where the Host Drives are Only the latter ones are known to the operating sys tem The drive of a given level of hierarchy is always set up by using the drives of the next lower level as components Accordingly GDTMON has various menu options each referring to one level of hierarchy RVW ULYHV Level 4 RJLFDO ULYHV Level 2 3K VLFDO ULYHV Level 1 Each me...

Page 6: ... KDSWHU 7 8VHU V 0DQXDO MS DOS in the Select Protocol menu indicates that the GDTMON program was loaded on a MS DOS computer I e If GDTMON had been loaded under Windows NT we would see there Windows NT ...

Page 7: ...he operating sys tem if a Host Drive consists of one single SCSI drive of the type disk or of 5 SCSI drives configured to form a RAID 4 Array Drive Apart from the performance the name type state and capacity 1024KB 1MB of a Host Drive is displayed The figures shown at Total repre sent the overall performance of the Host Drives as a whole With the m and o keys you may change the scale of the graphi...

Page 8: ...D DO O U UL LY YH HV V This menu option yields a list of available Logical Drives level 2 Logical Drives are the components for Array Drives and Host Drives In its most simple form a Host Drive consists of one Logical Drive which is made up of a single SCSI drive type disk In case of RAID Host ...

Page 9: ...he other Logical Drives this Logical Drive impairs the overall performance making it the bottle neck of the entire RAID Host Drive b RAID 4 Host Drives In principle the same as in a applies to RAID 4 Host Drives with the exception made for the parity Logical Drive The poor performance can have various reasons the SCSI drive forming the Logical Drive is too slow different from the other SCSI drives...

Page 10: ...he m and o keys you may change the scale of the graphical KB s indication With the n and p keys you can scroll the screen to see more Logical Drives if available 3 3K K V VL LF FD DO O U UL LY YH HV V In addition to the performance report on the SCSI drives you are given additional informa tion on each device ...

Page 11: ...d Obviously retries due to this do not imply bad SCSI cabling 2 The reassign counter reflects the number of media defects which occur on the SCSI drive Defective blocks of the SCSI device are assigned substitute blocks spare blocks which are either on the same track or on alternate ones if all spare blocks on the same track are already in use The administration of the reassignments is carried out ...

Page 12: ... V This menu option gives information on the utilization of the GDT cache For RAID 4 5 Host Drives the data cache and parity cache are displayed separately Note The GDT firmware only allocates cache RAM to the GDT parity cache if RAID4 5 Host Drives have been set up ...

Page 13: ...J 5 5D DW WH H By setting the sampling rate you can choose the interval at which the ICP Controller deliv ers new measurements According to the operating system used the sampling rate can be set to a maximum of 60 seconds The default setting is 1 second ...

Page 14: ...meters RJLFDO ULYHV Display the structure of Logical Drives Add Remove Mirror Drives to from Host Drives Perform a Hot Plug on a RAID 1 Host Drive Add Remove Private Hot Fix and Pool Hot Fix drives to from a RAID 1 Host Drive UUD ULYHV Display the structure of RAID 4 5 10 Host Drives Perform a Parity Verify on RAID 4 5 Host Drives Perform a Parity Recalculation on RAID 4 5 Host Drives Perfrom onli...

Page 15: ...ailure could occur soon strong whistling of the hard disk or constant retries of the read write head Only those users with thorough knowledge of RAID and the ICP Controller should use the Hot Plug function Improper use can lead to data loss Naturally we have integrated all kinds of security provisions into the ICP Controller and GDTMON But how can we prevent a user from plugging out the wrong driv...

Page 16: ...uttle itself a shock safe metal or plastic enclosure containing the hard disk a frame which is mounted in the computer case or in an external subsystem and a sufficient cooling system Especially the last component is very important If the hard disks run too hot it is very likely that they will fail In addition their lifetime is reduced dramatically The mounting frame has appropriate slide rails an...

Page 17: ...HU LDJQRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 Press F3 to get detailed information on the configuration of the Intelligent Fault Bus IFB Changing and enabling these features requires the existence of an IFB compatible subsystem ...

Page 18: ...y as a read cache Note Best performance is achieved with Cache ON and Delayed Write ON 3 3K K V VL LF FD DO O U UL LY YH HV V This option gives a list of all direct access SCSI devices connected to the ICP Controller Be sides information on the GDT SCSI channel the SCSI ID the name vendor and the gross capacity 1MB 1024KB it also shows which SCSI device s belong to a given Logical Drive When you s...

Page 19: ... assistance in further analysis of the problem The Grown Defects counter shows the number of media defects which have occurred since the first time the device was operated with a ICP Controller A specific SCSI hard disk is in a good condition when it has 0 grown defects When this counter increases there is definitely something wrong with the device ...

Page 20: ... KDSWHU 7 8VHU V 0DQXDO If you select the SEP of a SAF TE subsystem GDTMON displays a list of the installed and configured slots in the subsystem Press F2 to get the status of the SAF TE enclosure ...

Page 21: ...ogical Drives In addition to the Logical Drive numbers information on the drives type state net capacity and belonging to a given Array Drive Host Drive is displayed Press F2 to obtain further information on a selected Logi cal Drive Press ENTER to select a Logical Drive The following options become available ...

Page 22: ...ary Application 1 The RAID 1 10 Array Drive is in the fault tolerant both drives are valid vv It is likely that a drive will fail soon for example when there is a loud operating noise As a preventative measure this drive ought to be exchanged now that is in a moment when the Array Drive is still in a ready state and still has redundancy Application 2 The Array Drive is no longer fault tolerant bec...

Page 23: ... We assume that there is a RAID 1 Array Drive which is fault tolerant Its state is vv both Logical Drives are valid After selecting the Array Drive we choose the Replace Mirror Drive option A list is displayed which shows the members of the RAID 1 Array Drive ...

Page 24: ... drive Each position is univocally determined by its coordinates SCSI bus SCSI ID Obviously the new drive can only be assigned to a position which is not occupied by another SCSI device yet exception made for the position still occupied by the drive to be exchanged We choose entry number 1 and press ENTER ...

Page 25: ...changed is connected have to be temporarily halted In addition it shows which Host Drives are affected by this brief halt With regard to the new drive we are given some important information Required storage capacity SCSI ID and SCSI bus termination The ENTER key may only be pressed when the new drive is ready at hand and after hav ing checked its capacity SCSI ID and SCSI termination the latter t...

Page 26: ...l Now we have entered the actual Hot Plug procedure Disconnect the drive to be exchanged by plugging it off from the SCSI cable first and then from the power cable We immediately connect the new drive to the plugs that are now free first to the power supply and then to the SCSI bus cable After having reconnected the new drive properly press ENTER ...

Page 27: ...ard disk was already initialized before Confirmation of this message destroys all data on the selected drive After this confirmation the Hot Plug is finished successfully It takes approximately 10 min utes to re synchronize the data with this sample configuration ...

Page 28: ... tolerant Its state is 1 v one drive has failed and is therefore no longer accessible on the SCSI bus The ICP Controller started beeping The audible alarm can be disabled within GDTMON by pressing F2 as soon as the View Change Settings menu is loaded After selecting the Array Drive we choose the Replace Mirror Drive option ...

Page 29: ...ed the missing drive has to be deleted in the RAID 1 con figuration After confirming here with Yes you can follow the next paragraph K 3 5 3 Hot Plug Add Mirror Drive to add a new mirror drive to the remaining drive out of the previously failed RAID 1 Array Drive ...

Page 30: ...ction very interesting 1 An existing hard disk should be given 100 redundancy but there is no time to shut down the system and interrupt the normal operation 2 An existing hard disk has a high probability of failure because it makes for example a strange noise or generates a lot of grown defects but there is no time to shut down the sys tem and interrupt the normal operation Once the new hard disk...

Page 31: ... KDSWHU LDJQRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 After selecting the new hard disk the following message appears The following message indicates that channel B was stopped for the time of the actual Hot Plug ...

Page 32: ...selected Logical Drive The updated list of available Logical Drives shows the change The Logical Drive changed its type to Mirror and the data on the new hard disk are currently synchronized indicated through the be hind the v After pressing F2 the new structure is displayed ...

Page 33: ...letely copied from the first drive After the completion of the synchronization process this entry changes into valid RW 3OXJ 5HPRYH 0LUURU ULYH This option allows the removal of a Mirror Drive from a RAID 1 or RAID 10 Array Drive Once the drive has been removed the data on the other drive are no longer redundant ...

Page 34: ...t Fix Pool is available for several RAID 1 and RAID 10 Array Drives as a Hot Fix drive Thus sev eral Array Drives can share one Hot Fix drive Of course once this drive has been used by one of the Array Drives it is no longer available for the others After selecting this option GDTMON scans the ICP Controller for drives which are suitable ...

Page 35: ...nates SCSI Channel SCSI ID We choose Channel C and SCSI ID 4 for the new Hot Fix Drive After the completion of this function the Pool of Hot Fix drives contains a new drive in our example here it is the only drive To allow a RAID 1 or RAID 10 Array Drive access to the Hot Fix Pool use the Pool Hot Fix Access menu K 3 5 7 ...

Page 36: ...RW 3OXJ 5HPRYH 3RRO RW L ULYH It may become necessary to remove a certain drive from the Hot Fix Pool 3RRO RW L FFHVV This function enables or disables the access of a certain RAID 1 or RAID 10 Array Drive to the Hot Fix Pool ...

Page 37: ...his command yields a list of the existing RAID 4 and RAID 5 Array Drives In addition to the Array Drive number information on the RAID level of the Array Drive 4 or 5 the state er ror idle build ready fail expand rebuild and the net capacity are displayed Press F2 to obtain further information on a selected Array Drive ...

Page 38: ...e physical hard disk 3DULW 9HULI This option verifies online the parity information of the selected RAID 4 or RAID 5 Array Drive Pressing ESC terminates this process If this option is selected for several Array Drives the processes are put into a queue and performed one after the other ...

Page 39: ...isable to recalculate the parity of the selected Array Drive anew The state of the Array Drive changes into build patch and the build process is started im mediately The word patch indicates that the parity of this Array Drive was calculated anew After this procedure the Array Drive assumes the ready patch sate ...

Page 40: ...ray Drive remain intact and are not affected by the expansion The additional capacity is introduced as new Host Drive If a Logical Drive fails during the expansion the expansion process continues until the ex pansion is finished The Array Drive changes into the fail state The new capacity is available as a new Host Drive Windows NT Tool Disk Administrator and Novell NetWare Scan for new Devices an...

Page 41: ... 7021 After confirming this request the SCSI channels are scanned for free positions and already existing available i e not yet assigned to a Logical Drive hard disks For this demo we select the hard disk on channel A and ID 0 ...

Page 42: ...HU 7 8VHU V 0DQXDO The new drive is built into the Array Drive According to the Expansion Progress Information this takes approximately 18 minutes During the expansion the Array Drive s state is ready expand ...

Page 43: ...KDSWHU LDJQRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 As expected the Array Drive s capacity is now 600MB 3RRO RW L FFHVV This function enables or disables the access of a certain RAID 4 or RAID 5 Array Drive to the Hot Fix Pool ...

Page 44: ...d be able to disable it now RW 3OXJ 5HSODFH ULYH In a similar way as was described a few pages before with the RAID 1 Array Drives this func tion is designed to replace a defective drive of a RAID 4 or RAID 5 Array Drive while the sys tem continues to be fully operational ...

Page 45: ... because a drive of the Array Drive has actually failed The Array Drive is still fully operational but it does not have redundancy any more If another drive should also fail the Array Drive s func tionality is impaired DPSOH 6HVVLRQ IRU SSOLFDWLRQ We assume that there is a RAID 5 Array Drive which is fault tolerant Its state is ready all drives are valid After selecting the Array Drive we choose t...

Page 46: ...ate vendor type attributes size and Logical Drive number are displayed No 1 2 3 Free available i e not yet assigned to a Logical Drive drives 1 and 3 could also be used for the replacement No 4 to No 17 These are free i e not occupied plugging positions for the new hard disk On the above screen you can t see positions No 9 to No 17 but you can scroll the list with the Page Down Up keys ...

Page 47: ...ple we now take the new hard disk which must have a capacity equal or larger than 200MB set it to SCSI ID 3 and observe the SCSI termination After this message we can unplug the old drive and plug in the new one again and confirm this procedure ...

Page 48: ...0DQXDO If everything was OK GDTMON displays the following message If the new drive which we have plugged in just before had contained data from a previous operation with a ICP Controller GDTMON would have reported this ...

Page 49: ... 7021 DPSOH 6HVVLRQ IRU SSOLFDWLRQ We assume that there is a RAID 5 Array Drive where one drive has failed Its state is fail After selecting the Array Drive we choose the Replace Drive option GDTMON shows the failed drive No 1 ...

Page 50: ... KDSWHU 7 8VHU V 0DQXDO After pressing the ENTER key GDTMON scans the ICP Controller for free plugging posi tions ...

Page 51: ... disk s state vendor type attributes size and Logical Drive number are displayed No 1 2 3 Free available i e not yet assigned to a Logical Drive drives 1 and 3 could also be used for the replacement No 4 to No 17 These are free i e not occupied plugging positions for the new hard disk On the above screen you can t see positions No 9 to No 17 but you can scroll the list with the Page Down Up keys ...

Page 52: ...e now take the new hard disk which must have a capacity equal to or larger than 200MB set it to SCSI ID 3 and observe the SCSI termination After this message we can unplug the old drive and plug the new one in again and confirm this procedure ...

Page 53: ...QRVLV 3URJUDP 7021 GDTMON has detected data on the new drive i e it was already used as a Logical Drive with a ICP Controller This confirmation deletes all data on the new drive and prepares it for the Array Drive ...

Page 54: ... KDSWHU 7 8VHU V 0DQXDO The Array Drive changes its state to rebuild This means that the ICP Controller rebuilds the original data on the new drive ...

Page 55: ...Drive to an existing RAID 4 RAID 5 Array Drive Private means that this Hot Fix Drive is only available for the selected Array Drive and cannot be accessed from other Array Drives After selecting this option GDTMON scans the ICP Controller for free positions where the new Hot Fix Drive can be plugged in ...

Page 56: ...ample we choose the drive on Channel C and SCSI ID 4 If we would plug in now a new drive we would have to set the SCSI ID to 4 and make sure that the SCSI termination is set properly GDTMON adds the new drive to the selected Array Drive ...

Page 57: ...s F2 we can see the new drive added as a Hot Fix Drive to the Array Drive RW 3OXJ GG 3RRO RW L ULYH A Pool Hot Fix Drive is a spare drive within the so called Hot Fix Pool A drive in a Hot Fix Pool is available for several RAID 4 5 Array Drives as a Hot Fix drive Thus several Array ...

Page 58: ...been used by one of the Array Drives it is no longer available for the others We select SCSI Channel C and ID4 for the new Pool Hot Fix Drive You may disable or enable the access of a certain RAID 4 5 Array Drive to the pool of Hot Fix Drives with the option Pool Hot Fix Access see K 3 6 4 ...

Page 59: ... you can remove a Hot Fix Drive from the Hot Fix Pool A possible reason for this could be that you want to add it as a private Hot Fix Drive to an Array Drive 6 6D DY YH H Q QI IR RU UP PD DW WL LR RQ Q The Save Information option gives you the possibility to save the configuration information regarding the selected ICP Controller and its SCSI devices in an ASCII file This may help if you require ...

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