OpenEye OE-GRANITE3U, User Manual

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Introduction
1-1
Chapter 1
Introduction
The RAID subsystem is a Ultra 320 LVD SCSI-to-Serial ATA II RAID (Redundant
Arrays of Independent Disks) disk array subsystem. It consists of a RAID disk
array controller and sixteen (16) disk trays.
The subsystem is a “Host Independent” RAID subsystem supporting RAID
levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 6 0+1 and JBOD. Regardless of the RAID level the sub-
system is configured for, each RAID array consists of a set of disks which to
the user appears to be a single large disk capacity.
One unique feature of these RAID levels is that data is spread across sepa-
rate disks as a result of the redundant manner in which data is stored in a
RAID array. If a disk in the RAID array fails, the subsystem continues to func-
tion without any risk of data loss. This is because redundant information is
stored separately from the data. This redundant information will then be used
to reconstruct any data that was stored on a failed disk. In other words, the
subsystem can tolerate the failure of a drive without losing data while operat-
ing independently of each other.
The subsystem is also equipped with an environment controller which is ca-
pable of accurately monitoring the internal environment of the subsystem
such as its power supplies, fans, temperatures and voltages. The disk trays
allow you to install any type of 3.5-inch hard drive. Its modular design allows
hot-swapping of hard drives without interrupting the subsystem’s operation.