MSI MS-96E0, User Manual

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LSI SAS RAID
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MS-96E0
B-3
LSI SAS RAID
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MS-96E0
2. i
nteGrated
M
irrorinG
o
verview
Ths secton provdes an overvew of the LSI Logc Integrated Mrrorng (IM) feature.
2�1 Introduction
As a result of the shft towards Network Attached Storage (NAS), ISPs need a cost
effectve, fault-tolerant soluton to protect the operatng systems on small form factor,
hgh-densty, rack-mountable servers. The LSI Logc Integrated Mrrorng (IM) feature
-- whch ncludes Integrated Mrrorng Enhanced (IME) -- provde data protecton for
the system boot volume to safeguard crtcal nformaton such as the operatng system
on servers and hgh performance workstatons. The Integrated Mrrorng feature gves
customers a robust, hgh-performance, fault-tolerant soluton to ther storage needs, at
a lower cost than a dedcated RAID controller.
The Integrated Mrrorng feature supports smultaneous mrrored volumes wth two dsks
(IM) or three to eght dsks (IME), to provde fault-tolerant protecton for crtcal data. (If
a hot spare dsk s used, the maxmum volume sze s seven mrrored dsks, plus the
hot spare dsk.) Up to two IM volumes are supported per SAS controller, wth up to ten
drves total per controller.
Note: Ten dsk drves s the theoretcal upper lmt, although the SAS controller
tself may support fewer drves.
If a dsk n an Integrated Mrrorng volume fals, the hot swap capablty allows the vol-
ume to be easily restored by simply swapping disks. The firmware then automatically
re-mrrors the swapped dsk. Addtonally, each SAS controller can have one global hot
spare dsk avalable to automatcally replace a faled dsk n the one or two IM or IME
volumes configured on the controller. The hot spare makes the Integrated
Mrrorng volume even more fault-tolerant.
Note: You can configure an Integrated Mirroring volume and an Integrated Striping
volume on the same LSI Logc SAS controller.
The IM feature uses the same devce drvers as the standard LSI Logc Fuson-MPT
based controllers, provdng seamless and transparent fault tolerance. Ths elmnates
the need for complex backup software or expensve RAID hardware. The IM feature
operates ndependently from the operatng system, n order to conserve system re-
sources. The BIOSbased configuration utility makes it easy to configure IM and IME
volumes.
The Integrated Mrrorng feature s currently avalable as an optonal component of the
Fuson-MPT archtecture on LSI Logc controller products.
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