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Promise Technology FastTrak SX Series Version 4.4 User Manual Download Page 69

Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance 

 

 

65 

On Demand Synchronization 

In addition to schedule Synchronization, you can direct FastTrak to begin the 
Synchronization process immediately. To access this feature: 

 

Figure 59.  

Start Synchronization. 

1.  Click on the Array   icon and look in Information View. 
2.  Click the Start Button in the Synchronization box. 
3.  Click OK to the confirmation message. 
Tree View and Information View display the progress (below). 

 

Figure 60.  

Synchronization progress. 

During the Synchronization, the array will be available for use but it may run 
noticeably slower.  

If the popup messages are enabled, one will notify you when the 
Synchronization is successfully completed. The array will return to Functional 
status. 

Summary of Contents for FastTrak SX Series Version 4.4

Page 1: ...PROMISE ARRAY MANAGEMENT PAM FOR FastTrak S150 SX4 and SX4000 series User Manual Version 4 4 ...

Page 2: ... this or any other Promise Technology product Notice Although Promise Technology has attempted to ensure the accuracy of the content of this manual it is possible that this document may contain technical inaccuracies typographical or other errors Promise Technology assumes no liability for any error in this publication and for damages whether direct indirect incidental consequential or otherwise t...

Page 3: ...nstallation 10 Chapter 3 Initial Setup 15 Launch PAM 15 Local PAM Log in 16 Local PAM Log out 16 Remote PAM Log in 17 Remote PAM Log out 18 Remote PAM Future Log ins 19 PAM User Interface 20 Create a New User 21 Create an Array 22 Setup Email Alert Notification 25 Chapter 4 PAM User Interface 29 Tree View 30 Tree View and Component Specific Menus 32 Object View 32 Information View 33 Status Bar 33...

Page 4: ...m the Recipient List 54 Specify Alert Notification Events 55 Controller 57 View Event Log 57 Read Bad Sector Table 57 Controller Options 58 Controller Cache 59 Disk Parameters 59 Rebuild Setting 59 PCI Bus Utilization 60 Error Handling 60 Arrays 61 Create an Array 61 Synchronize an Array 64 Expand Convert an Array 67 Array Critical 74 Rebuild an Array 76 Array Offline 81 Delete Array 81 Appendix A...

Page 5: ... work separately across your network Monitoring Utility The Monitoring Utility is a Graphic User Interface GUI that reports on the condition of the RAID array It receives and displays reports on RAID condition and operation through the Message Server The Monitoring Utility works on any PC with a TCP IP network connection to your RAID When installed on the computer that operates the RAID the Monito...

Page 6: ...ing Utility Warnings appear on the PC in the form of email messages and popup alerts You can select either one or both You can also select which events and problems PAM will report A major benefit of PAM is that it runs over a TCP IP network This enables remote monitoring of your RAIDs including offsite monitoring over an Internet connection Once you become aware of a problem go to the PC that con...

Page 7: ...eries Message Agent PC FastTrak S150 SX4 Message Agent Figure 1 LAN and Internet connections In the example on the facing page there are three PCs with FastTrak SX4000 series and S150 SX4 Controller cards connected to the company s LAN The PAM Message Agent runs on each of the PCs with a FastTrak card The PAM Message Server runs on the company s file server The PAM Monitoring Utility runs on netwo...

Page 8: ...e 2 Company LAN without a File Server In the above example there are three PCs with FastTrak SX4000 series and S150 SX4 Controller cards connected to the company s LAN the same as before But this network has no file server so the PAM Message Server runs on one of the networked PCs PAM Monitoring Utility runs on both networked PCs If this LAN were upgraded with a suitable router and an Internet con...

Page 9: ...the PC s enclosure They have the same need of monitoring and management as an external RAID subsystem All three PAM components run on the PC itself Important This manual accompanies a special version of PAM optimized to run with the FastTrak SX4000 series and S150 SX4 Controller cards Other versions of PAM will run reliably on the Promise RAID product with which they ship They will also run reliab...

Page 10: ...Promise Array Management 6 ...

Page 11: ...lists possible locations for the three PAM components Monitoring Utility Message Server Message Agent Internet connected PC Network PC Network File Server RAID PC Table 1 Acceptable PAM Component Installation Locations Monitoring Utility The Monitoring Utility installs on any computer you will use to monitor and manage the RAIDs If your RAID runs without a network connection install it on the RAID...

Page 12: ...C Monitoring Utility Company LAN Internet Home based PC Monitoring Utility Modem Network File Server Message Server PC FastTrak S150 SX4 Internal RAID array Message Agent PC FastTrak SX4000 Message Agent PC FastTrak S150 SX4 Message Agent Figure 4 Networked RAID has many installation options ...

Page 13: ...ut reconnecting again may involve time consuming network configuration Network configuration is discussed later in this chapter Message Agent The Message Agent installs on the RAID PC whether your RAID is networked or not In order for PAM to monitor and manage a RAID it must have Message Agent installed If you have more than one PAM compatible RAID PC on your network you may install a copy of Mess...

Page 14: ...Procedure Before you start If you are installing PAM to run over a network determine the computers and servers onto which you will install PAM Obtain the IP addresses of all RAID PCs where PAM will be installed Visit the Promise Technology website www promise com and download the latest version of PAM Software PAM Installation With that information ready follow these steps to install PAM on each c...

Page 15: ...M Setup Opening Screen 7 Click Next or press Enter to continue Figure 6 The License Agreement 8 When the License Agreement appears click the Yes button to agree to the terms and continue the installation If you click No PAM Setup will exit ...

Page 16: ... between Complete Recommended and Custom installation Use the Custom installation to change install locations or to deselect individual components 10 Click the Next button or press Enter to continue Figure 8 Ready to Install dialog box 11 When the Ready to Install dialog box appears click Install or press Enter ...

Page 17: ...dialog box appears you may accept the default name or enter a new one in the Name field 13 Enter your password in the Password and Confirm Password fields When you are done click Next or press Enter to continue Note If you are only installing the Message Server this dialog box does not appear ...

Page 18: ...all Complete dialog box appears you have the option to Create program shortcuts on your Desktop Register WebPAM online Both of these options are recommended 15 Click Finish or press Enter to finish the installation This completes the PAM installation Go on to Chapter 3 Initial Setup ...

Page 19: ...n a Desktop icon or go to Start Programs Promise Array Management and select Local PAM Use to monitor and manage the FastTrak Controller in your PC Remote PAM Use to monitor FastTrak Controllers over your network Note If you only installed the Message Server this shortcut does not appear The Message Server works only through network connections and has no user interface Go to the RAID PC or a Netw...

Page 20: ...w Select Login from the popup menu see above The Login dialog box appears Figure 13 Username and Password dialog box 2 In the Login dialog box type your Username and Password and click OK Initially administrator is the only user Use the administrator s password selected during installation Local PAM Log out To log out of a Local PAM right click on the RAID Machine icon and select Logout from the p...

Page 21: ...erver 1 The first time you run Remote PAM right click on the My Console icon and select New Server from the popup menu Or click the New Server icon in the Toolbar A RAID Server icon appears Figure 15 Input the Server s IP address 2 Double click on the RAID Server icon In Information View above type in the IP address of the computer where the Message Server software is installed If the Message Soft...

Page 22: ...the popup menu Figure 17 Login dialog box 6 In the Login dialog box type your Username and Password and click OK You are now logged into a RAID PC over your network Remote PAM Log out Disconnect from a Message Server To disconnect from the network Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Disconnect from the popup menu Or right click on the RAID Server icon and click the Disconnect icon in the ...

Page 23: ...nnect and select Logout from the popup menu Remote PAM Future Log ins The RAID Server remains under the My Console icon until deleted It continues to work as long as the IP address is correct Figure 18 Connect to the Message Server To make a connection with an existing RAID Server Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Connect from the popup menu Or right click on the RAID Server icon and cl...

Page 24: ...w has three views Tree View Displays the elements of your RAID system It works like Windows Explorer with hierarchical menus You can expand individual items to see their components Object View Displays icons representing the devices below the highlighted device in the Tree View Information View Displays information on the item highlighted in the Tree View This may include text boxes list boxes fie...

Page 25: ...e 20 User Information View 2 Click on the User icon to display the User Information View The User Information View displays a request for new user identification and access rights Rights Definition Creation Allows you to create and delete arrays rebuild and synchronize arrays and make general settings Maintenance Allows you to rebuild and synchronize arrays and make general settings User Account A...

Page 26: ...e Controller icon to see the Channels Click the to the left of each Channel icon to see the unassigned disk drives Unassigned drives have this icon The available RAID selection depends on the number of disk drives available The table below lists the Levels and drives required See the Appendix A in this Manual for a more detailed description RAID Level Name Minimum drives Maximum drives 0 Striping ...

Page 27: ...the data map from the disk drives when the array is created To enable Initialization check the box If you select Quick Initialization for a RAID 5 array be sure you uncheck the Full Initialization box Full Initialization An option for RAID 5 arrays It wipes all existing data from the disk drives and sets up parity To enable Full Initialization check the box Gigabyte Boundary An option for all arra...

Page 28: ...hen you are done Figure 22 New Array The new array appears in Tree View The next step is to partition and format the new array using the RAID PC s Operating System See Appendix B in this Manual for more information There is no need to restart your computer ...

Page 29: ...og checkbox is checked 3 To reduce the volume of repeated messages check the Anti SPAM checkbox and set an acceptable time interval in hours Figure 24 Email Server portion of Information View 4 Click on the Email alert on error box if it is not already checked 5 In the SMTP server field type in the SMTP address for your mail server 6 The default is No Authentication Method If you want an Authentic...

Page 30: ...update your configuration Add a User to the Recipient List After you have setup email alert notification you must specify who shall receive the alerts 1 Click on the RAID Machine icon to which you wish to add an email alert message recipient 2 In the Alert Recipients Email Address List type in the email address of the user who you wish to receive alerts see Figure 25 3 Click the Add button when yo...

Page 31: ...ion events you wish to modify The Event Alert Setting box appears in Information View Figure 27 Event Alert Setting box 2 The Event Alert Setting box has dropdown menus to help you select Alert Events quickly To select Events click on Options and choose Select Figure 28 Specifying Events for Alert Notification 3 Click on Message Type and choose message delivery by E Mail by popup by All both or No...

Page 32: ...ller Create Array Array Rebuild Started Array Rebuild Completed Array Rebuild Aborted Array Synchronization Started Array Synchronization Completed Array Synchronization Aborted Array Expansion Conversion Started Array Expansion Conversion Completed Synchronization on Uninitialized Array Disk Offline Error Event Logged Bad Sector Error Array Offline Array Synchronization Comparison Error 5 To sele...

Page 33: ... should understand that PAM is software running on top of the Promise RAID BIOS and other applications that came with your Promise RAID product PAM adds a graphic user interface to make RAID management functions easier to understand and perform Figure 29 The PAM Monitor window has three views ...

Page 34: ...f your RAID system Use it to navigate to specific components Figure 30 An example of a RAID system in Tree View on Local PAM Remote PAM adds a RAID Server icon to connect with the Message Server PC in order to monitor arrays over a network PAM Software RAID Machine PC with FastTrak RAID System FastTrak Card Controller Channel 1 Assigned Drive on Channel 3 Unassigned Drive on Channel 4 Array Drives...

Page 35: ...t right click on any object and select Hide Pane from the popup menu To open it again go to View menu and Outline PAM Software RAID Server PC with Message Server RAID Machine PC with FastTrak RAID System FastTrak Card Controller Channel 1 Assigned Drive on Channel 3 Unassigned Drive on Channel 4 Array Drives Assigned to Array User Management Users ...

Page 36: ... you are working with The menu bar and popup menus for Tree View items are identical Object View Object View is visible whenever the Tree View is visible The items appearing in Object View are determined by which component you select in Tree View In the example below we selected a Controller icon in Tree View Figure 33 Object View of a Controller s components As a result you see the components of ...

Page 37: ...ettings and information Figure 34 Information View showing the specifications of an Array Status Bar The PAM Status Bar is the same as other Windows applications It indicates such things as the selected RAID is rebuilding and the current user is the Administrator shown below Figure 35 PAM Status Bar Normally the Status Bar is visible To show or hide the Status Bar go to the View menu and check or ...

Page 38: ...ns of each menu are described below Main Menu When no item in Tree View is selected the left most menu item is Main Its only function is Exit which quits the PAM application My Console Menu When the My Console icon is selected the My Console menu appears Its functions include Screen refresh Rename the My Console icon Exit PAM Server Menu The Server menu appears when the RAID Server icon is selecte...

Page 39: ...stem icon is selected Its functions include Screen refresh Rename the RAID System icon Exit PAM Maintenance Menu When other Tree View items are selected the Maintenance menu appears When the Controller icon is selected the Maintenance menu displays Controller functions Read Events in the Event Viewer Clear Events from the Event Viewer Read Bad Sector Table Toggle the Beeper on and off Create a New...

Page 40: ...check to hide each one as you prefer Connection Menu Remote PAM only The Connection menu deals with server connections Use it to Create a new Message Server Connect to a RAID Server Disconnect from a RAID server To create a new Message Server click on the My Console icon then select New Server To connect a Message Server to a RAID server right click on the Message Server icon and select Connect fr...

Page 41: ...ble or uncheck to disable this feature If you are using PAM for remote monitoring running PAM automatically is a good idea This way your PC will be connected to the RAID and you will receive all the alerts messages you have specified Help Menu Under Help PAM has Full online Help file Auto Demo display About page with PAM information ...

Page 42: ...tion of the Toolbar buttons New Server Available when you select the MyConsole icon in Remote PAM Creates a new Message Server Connect Available when you select the Message Server icon in Remote PAM Initiates a connection with the RAID Server Disconnect Available when you select a Message Server icon in Remote PAM Disconnects from the RAID Server Used when you want to shut down a RAID server for r...

Page 43: ...ave User Account Rights to perform them My Console Icon Right click on the My Console icon to access the following commands New Server Remote PAM Screen refresh Rename the My Console icon Message Server Icon Right click on the Message Server icon in Remote PAM to access the following commands Modify the connection Delete the connection Connect Disconnect Screen refresh Rename the Message Server ic...

Page 44: ...he Event Viewer Clear Events from the Event Viewer Read Bad Sector Table Toggle the Beeper on and off Create a New Array Refresh the screen Rename the Controller icon Channel Icon The Channel icon represents an individual channel on the FastTrak PCI card There are two commands for this item Refresh the screen Rename the Controller icon Disk Icon Right click on the Disk icon of an unassigned drive ...

Page 45: ... rebuild Delete this array Refresh the screen Rename the Array icon User Management Icon Right click on the User Management icon to access the following commands Create a New User Refresh the screen Rename the Controller icon User Icon Right click the User icon to access the following commands Delete this User Refresh the screen Rename the Controller icon ...

Page 46: ...Promise Array Management 42 ...

Page 47: ...ers Alert Notification Controller Arrays Launch PAM Figure 37 Desktop icons left and Start Menu entries right To Start PAM click on a Desktop icon or go to Start Programs Promise Array Management and select Local PAM Use to monitor and manage the FastTrak Controller in your PC See log in instructions on the next page Remote PAM Use to monitor FastTrak Controllers over your network See log in instr...

Page 48: ...View Select Login from the popup menu see above The Login dialog box appears Figure 39 Username and Password dialog box 2 In the Login dialog box type your Username and Password and click OK Initially the Administrator is the only user Use the Administrator s password selected during installation Log out To log out of a Local PAM right click on the RAID Machine icon and select Logout from the popu...

Page 49: ...xisting RAID Server Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Connect from the popup menu Or right click on the RAID Server icon and click the Connect icon in the Toolbar The Login list of networked RAID PCs appears Figure 41 List of RAID PCs on the network 1 Right click on the RAID Machine icon in Tree View Select Login from the popup menu see above The Login dialog box appears 2 In the Login ...

Page 50: ...n Remote PAM right click on the MyConsole icon and select New Server from the popup menu Or click the New Server icon in the Toolbar A RAID Server icon appears Figure 43 Input the Server s IP address 2 Click on the RAID Server icon In Information View above type in the IP address of the computer where the Message Server software is installed If the Message Server software is installed on the monit...

Page 51: ...rom a Message Server To disconnect from the network Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Disconnect from the popup menu Or right click on the RAID Server icon and click the Disconnect icon in the Toolbar Important This is the only correct way to log out a RAID Server from the system Logout of RAID PC Logout of the RAID Server effectively logs you out of all RAID PCs using that network conn...

Page 52: ...long as the IP address is correct Figure 44 Connect to the Message Server To make a connection with an existing RAID Server Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Connect from the popup menu Or right click on the RAID Server icon and click the Connect icon in the Toolbar The Login list of networked RAID PCs appears as before ...

Page 53: ...changes for the computer where the Message Server software is installed an existing RAID Server with the old address will no longer work 1 Right click on a RAID Server icon and select Delete from the popup menu 2 Click OK in the confirmation dialog box 3 Create a new RAID Server as described above ...

Page 54: ...oolbar Figure 45 User Information View 3 Click on the User icon to display the User Information View The User Information View displays a request for new user identification and access rights Rights Definition Creation Allows you to create and delete arrays rebuild and synchronize arrays and make general settings Maintenance Allows you to rebuild and synchronize arrays and make general settings Us...

Page 55: ...a User Select the User s icon in Tree View then click the Delete User button in the Toolbar Change Password Every User can change his her own password The Administrator cannot change other Users passwords 1 Log into PAM under the User Name whose Password you want to change 2 Click on the icon of the User whose Password you want to change 3 In Information View type in the new Password in the two pa...

Page 56: ...heckbox is checked 3 To reduce the volume of repeated messages check the Anti SPAM checkbox and set an acceptable time interval in hours Figure 47 Email Server portion of Information View 4 Click on the Email alert on error box if it is not already checked 5 In the SMTP server field type in the SMTP address for your mail server 6 The default is No Authentication Method If you want an Authenticatio...

Page 57: ...on to update your configuration Add a User to the Recipient List After you have setup email alert notification you must specify who shall receive the alerts 1 Click on the RAID Machine icon to which you wish to add an email alert message recipient 2 In the Alert Recipients Email Address List type in the email address of the user who you wish to receive alerts see Figure 48 3 Click the Add button w...

Page 58: ...lowing 1 Click on the RAID Machine icon from which you wish to delete an email alert message recipient The Current Recipients window appears in the Information View Figure 50 Current Recipients window 2 Select the recipient you wish to delete 3 Click the Remove button or press the Delete key to remove the address from the list ...

Page 59: ...notification events you wish to modify The Event Alert Setting box appears in Information View Figure 51 Event Alert Setting box 2 The Event Alert Setting box has dropdown menus to help you select Alert Events quickly To select Events click on Options and choose Select Figure 52 Specifying Events for Alert Notification 3 Click on Message Type and choose message delivery by E Mail by popup by All b...

Page 60: ...ller Create Array Array Rebuild Started Array Rebuild Completed Array Rebuild Aborted Array Synchronization Started Array Synchronization Completed Array Synchronization Aborted Array Expansion Conversion Started Array Expansion Conversion Completed Synchronization on Uninitialized Array Disk Offline Error Event Logged Bad Sector Error Array Offline Array Synchronization Comparison Error 5 To sele...

Page 61: ...can view the events make a permanent record by saving them to a file and clear the events from the Viewer You can also clear the events using the popup menu in Tree View Note that the collecting and reporting of these Events is independent from the Alert Notification preferences set for the RAID System Read Bad Sector Table To see the Bad Sector Table right click on the Controller icon in Tree Vie...

Page 62: ...at you are accessing the RAID from a remote location You must make these settings at the RAID PC To return to the default settings click Reset To Apply the changes you have made click Apply Figure 54 Controller Options for FastTrak System Information This describes the Controller type in this case a FastTrak S150 SX4 the FastTrak driver and PAM Message Agent version and the IRQ the FastTrak card i...

Page 63: ...ace the drive before it actually fails Rebuild Setting Check the respective boxes to enable these features Enable Hot Spare Disk Enables a spare drive not assigned to the array to automatically replace a failed drive in the array You must also enable Auto Rebuild for this feature to be effective Enable Auto Rebuild Enables automatic rebuilding of a fault tolerant RAID 1 0 1 and 5 array when it goe...

Page 64: ...feature deals with a bad sector on a disk drive that the FastTrak Controller encounters during a Rebuild The options are Fix if possible The Controller attempts to repair the disk error Skip Bypasses the disk error and works around it Abort Halts the Rebuild and sends an error message Inconsistency Error Handling This feature deals with inconsistencies in mirrored or parity data on the disk drives...

Page 65: ...n depends on the number of disk drives available The table below lists the Levels and drives required See the Appendix A for a more detailed description RAID Level Name Minimum drives Maximum drives 0 Striping 2 4 1 Mirroring 2 2 0 1 Striping Mirroring 4 4 5 Distributed Parity 3 4 JBOD Single Drive 1 4 Table 3 RAID Levels available with FastTrak SX4000 series and S150 SX4 2 Right click on the Cont...

Page 66: ... the data map from the disk drives when the array is created To enable Initialization check the box If you select Quick Initialization for a RAID 5 array be sure you uncheck the Full Initialization box Full Initialization An option for RAID 5 arrays It wipes all existing data from the disk drives and sets up parity To enable Full Initialization check the box Gigabyte Boundary An option for all arr...

Page 67: ...ctly it displays Functional status When your array is first created it will display Functional status If you have enabled Scheduled Synchronization see next page you will occasionally notice that your array is Synchronizing Then it returns again to Functional If your array encounters a problem with a disk drive it will display Critical status see page 74 This indicates that your array requires you...

Page 68: ...the RAID is least busy reading and writing data The early morning hours are often a convenient time Figure 58 Array Synchronization Schedule To enable scheduled synchronization 1 In Tree View select the RAID Machine icon In Information View scroll down to the bottom 2 Check the Enabled box 3 Click on the radio button beside the time interval by day week or month you want 4 Based on the time interv...

Page 69: ...icon and look in Information View 2 Click the Start Button in the Synchronization box 3 Click OK to the confirmation message Tree View and Information View display the progress below Figure 60 Synchronization progress During the Synchronization the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower If the popup messages are enabled one will notify you when the Synchronization is succ...

Page 70: ...look in Information View The options are Skip Bypasses the data error and works around it Fix Corrects the data error Abort Halts Synchronization and sends an error message Make your selection and click Apply Stop Pause Continue Promise recommends that you let your rebuild run to completion If you need to pause the process 1 Right click on the icon of the Array that is rebuilding and select Pause ...

Page 71: ...fecting data availability You can expand an existing array by adding one or more free disk drives to the array using the Expand Array function Notes With most operating systems expanding an array will require you to partition the added space with a new drive letter In effect you will end up with two arrays Plan to run your expansion during off hours This will eliminate delayed read write response ...

Page 72: ... to the array 3 In the Select Free Disk dialog box click on the icon of any available disk drive to select it Then click Next to continue Figure 64 Do not select a RAID Level 4 In the Select RAID Mode dialog box do not select a RAID Mode Just click Next to continue ...

Page 73: ...f the array you are expanding Then click Finish to begin the expansion process Figure 66 Expansion progress During the Expansion the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower If the popup messages are enabled one will notify you when the Expansion is successfully completed The array will return to Functional status ...

Page 74: ...rocess to go faster FastTrak S150 SX4 and SX4000 support the following RAID Conversions From To Comments RAID 5 RAID 0 Increases the capacity and performance but loses the data redundancy RAID 5 Adds performance capacity and redundancy 3 or 4 drives required RAID 0 1 Adds performance and capacity 4 drives required RAID 1 RAID 0 Increases capacity and performance but loses data redundancy Must add ...

Page 75: ... View to show the Conversion Expansion Wizard and click the Start button Figure 68 Select a drive only if you are adding one 3 In the Select Free Disk dialog box If you are adding a disk drive to your array click on the icon of any available disk drive to select it Then click Next to continue If you are not adding a disk drive to your array just click Next to continue ...

Page 76: ...ct RAID Mode dialog box click on the icon of the new RAID level to select it Then click Next to continue Figure 70 Verify the Array name and click Finish 5 In the Finish dialog box verify the name of the array you are converting Then click Finish to begin the conversion process ...

Page 77: ...1 Conversion progress During the Conversion the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower If the popup messages are enabled one will notify you when the Conversion is successfully completed The array will return to Functional status ...

Page 78: ...he condition Figure 72 An Array in Critical condition highlighted in Tree View left and shown in red in Information View right Your first action is to identify which disk drive has failed 1 Click on the Controller icon to expand it 2 Click on the Array icon to expand it 3 Observe and compare the disk drives under the Controller with those under the Array Figure 73 The drives under the Controller s...

Page 79: ...er Figure 74 Click on a disk drive icon in Tree View to display its information in Information View 5 In Information View check the disk drive s status The above example shows the suspected drive is Offline This drive has failed If you have a Hot Spare drive installed and enabled the array will begin to Rebuild automatically If you do not have a Hot Spare drive you must replace the drive before a ...

Page 80: ...Rebuild Normally the rebuild process begins automatically when you replace the faulty disk drive The Array recognizes the new or spare drive and begins the process a few moments later If your array has a Hot Spare drive the rebuild begins without waiting for a replacement drive Be sure to replace the faulty drive as soon as possible During the Rebuild process the array is still available to read a...

Page 81: ...ay To initiate an array Rebuild manually 1 In Tree View select the Array icon of the array you want to rebuild Figure 76 Start Rebuild Wizard 2 In Information View click on the Start button inside the Rebuild Wizard box Figure 77 Rebuild Wizard disk drive selection window 3 In the Rebuild Wizard select the drive to be rebuilt the replacement drive and click Next ...

Page 82: ...play the progress below Figure 79 Rebuild progress During the Rebuild process the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower If the beeper is enabled it will beep slowly during this process If the popup messages are enabled one will notify you when the Rebuild is successfully completed The array will return to Functional status ...

Page 83: ...d Enables automatic rebuilding of a fault tolerant RAID 1 0 1 and 5 array when it goes Critical Enable Hot Swap Disk Allows you to replace a faulty disk drive without shutting down the system This feature works with an externally replaceable disk drive enclosure such as the Promise SuperSwap Rebuild Setting Allocates system resources between rebuilding the array and responding to read write comman...

Page 84: ...air the disk error Skip Bypasses the disk error and works around it Abort Halts the Rebuild and sends an error message Stop Pause Continue Promise recommends that you let your rebuild run to completion If you need to pause the process 1 Right click on the icon of the Array that is rebuilding and select Pause from the popup menu 2 To continue right click on the same icon again and select Resume fro...

Page 85: ...ll your attention to the condition Figure 81 An Array in Offline condition highlighted in Tree View left and shown in red in Information View right Your first action is to identify which disk drive has failed Follow the procedure described for Array Critical above When you have identified the failed drive check its connections and run the drive manufacturer s diagnostic program in an effort to res...

Page 86: ...Promise Array Management 82 ...

Page 87: ...able RAID Level selection depends on which Promise product you have and the number of disk drives available The table below lists the options RAID Level Performance Fault Tolerance Capacity No of Drives RAID 0 Striping Highest No No Drives x Smallest Size 2 to 4 RAID 1 Mirroring Normal Yes Smallest Size Drive 2 RAID 0 1 Stripe Mirror High Yes 2X Smallest Size Drive 4 RAID 5 Distributed Parity High...

Page 88: ...ms Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency The disk array data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times the smallest member capacity For example one 100 GB and three 120 GB drives will form a 400 GB 4 x 100 GB disk array Stripe Size A value can be set from 16KB to 256KB sector size The size can directly affect performance In the PAM the def...

Page 89: ...ever Promise recommends replacing the failed drive as soon as possible Due to redundancy the drive capacity of the array is half the total drive capacity For example two 100 GB drives that have a combined capacity of 200 GB would have 100 GB of usable storage With drives of different capacities there may be unused capacity on the larger drive Using a Spare Drive Under a RAID 1 setup an extra hot s...

Page 90: ...s are required With a four drive disk array two pairs of drives are striped Each pair mirrors the data on the other pair of striped drives The data capacity is similar to a standard Mirroring array with half of total capacity dedicated for redundancy 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 Disk Drives Data Mirror Data Stripe Figure 85 RAID 0 1 starts with a two drive Striped array copies it onto two addit...

Page 91: ...cates channels on the FastTrak Controller card A B indicates which striped pair the drive belongs to 1 2 indicates which part of stripe data CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 Drive A1 Drive A2 Drive B1 Drive B2 Under RAID 0 1 the array maintains data integrity if any 1 2 combination survives Event Failed Drives Array Status Why 1 A1 A2 Functional B1 B2 retain array integrity 2 B1 B2 Functional A1 A2 retain arra...

Page 92: ...of hard drives and is the most versatile RAID Level It works well for file database application and web servers 4b 4c 4d a parity 3a 3c 3d b parity 2a 2b 2d c parity 1a 1b 1c d parity Disk Drives Distributed Parity Data Blocks Figure 86 RAID 5 Stripes all Drives with Data and Parity Information The capacity of a RAID 5 array is the smallest drive size multiplied by the number of drives less one He...

Page 93: ...l drives in the group even if the drives are of different sizes JBOD appears in the User Interface as one or more individual drives There are no performance or fault tolerance features When a disk fails all data on the disk is lost Other disks are unaffected Disk Drive 1 2 3 4 Figure 87 JBOD manages drives Individually unlike RAID ...

Page 94: ...Promise Array Management 90 ...

Page 95: ...go to Windows and Device Driver Installation under the Installation section for instructions The instructions here are for data arrays only Figure 88 Right click on the My Computer icon 1 From the desktop right click on the My Computer icon and select Manage from the popup menu The Computer Management window opens 2 From the left menu click on Disk Management The Disk Management window opens with ...

Page 96: ... 4 In the following windows select Disk 1 to Initialize Do not select any disks to Convert Click the Finish button to Initialize the array Figure 90 Initialized array ready for partition and format 5 Right click on the Unallocated portion of Disk 1 and select New Partition from the popup menu The New Partition Wizard appears ...

Page 97: ... in MB Assign the available drive letter of your choice Choose Format this partition with the following settings File system NTFS Allocation unit size Default Volume label Enter your choice of name Do not check Perform a quick format or Enable file and folder compression 8 Review your selections and click Finish The New Partition Wizard will disappear while partitioning and formatting begin This p...

Page 98: ...wly formatted array as it appears under Disk Management When formatting is complete your array will appear as a hard drive in the Disk Management window above and the My Computer window below Figure 93 The newly formatted array under My Computer ...

Page 99: ...PCs To find the IP network address 1 Go to Start Programs Accessories Command Prompt 2 Type ipconfig all and press Enter The Windows IP Configuration displays below Figure 94 Use the Command Prompt to find your PC s IP address In the example above the IP address of this PC is 192 168 1 132 Locate and record the IP addresses of all PCs and Servers on your network that will work with PAM This docume...

Page 100: ...ter as it logs onto the network The IP address will remain the same until the computer logs off or disconnects for any reason such as a power failure When the computer logs on again it will receive a different IP address Because IP addresses are subject to change when a DHCP server is involved make it a point to maintain the RAID PC network connections at all times When a disconnection happens for...

Page 101: ...trollers Technical Support Services Promise Online TM Web Site http www promise com technical documents drivers utilities etc USA Tech Support Center E mail Support support promise com Fax Technical Support 408 228 6401 Attention Technical Support Phone Technical Support 408 228 6402 7 30 5 30pm M F Pacific Standard Time If you wish to write us for support Promise Technology Inc Attn Technical Sup...

Page 102: ...ise Technology Inc Attn Technical Support 2F No 30 Industry E Rd IX Science based Industrial Park Hsinchu Taiwan R O C China Office E mail Support support china promise com Fax Technical Support 86 10 6872 3940 Attention Technical Support Phone Technical Support 86 10 6872 3941 9 00 6 00pm China Time If you wish to write us for support Promise Technology China Attn Technical Support Room 3213 No 1...

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