Sans Digital TOWERRAID TR5M1 Detailed User's Manual
  1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Sans Digital Manuals
  4. Storage
  5. TOWERRAID TR5M1
  6. Detailed user's manual

Sans Digital TOWERRAID TR5M1 Detailed User's Manual

Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
TR5M 1
TOWERRAID
DETAILED USER'S MANUAL
v1.0

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the TOWERRAID TR5M1 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel

Related Manuals for Sans Digital TOWERRAID TR5M1

Summary of Contents for Sans Digital TOWERRAID TR5M1

  • Page 1 TR5M 1 TOWERRAID DETAILED USER’S MANUAL v1.0...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 - OVERVIEW..........................4 1.1 PRECAUTION ..............................4 1.2 FEATURES..............................4 1.2.1 D ..............................4 ECURITY 1.2.2 D ...............................4 ERSATILITY 1.3 EASE OF USE..............................4 1.4 SPECIFICATIONS............................4 1.5 SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS ....................5 1.6 PRODUCT CONTENTS ..........................5 CHAPTER 2 - AN INTRODUCTION TO RAID..................6 2.1 RAID VOLUMES ............................6 2.2 SEGMENTING DISKS..........................6 2.3 RAID LEVELS IN DETAILS ........................7...
  • Page 3 3.8.1 I SATA H .......................52 NSTALLING E DAPTER 3.8.2 I SATARAID5 U ........................53 NSTALLING TILITY 3.8.3 D ..........................58 RIVE ETUP 3.8.4 A ............................58 LLOCATING ARTITIONS CHAPTER 4 - SATARAID5 ARRAY MANAGER ..................63 4.1 OVERVIEW ..............................63 4.2 CREATING RAID GROUPS ........................63 4.2.1 C RAID G ..........................64...

  • Page 4: Chapter 1 - Overview

    PRECAUTION Please read the safe precautions carefully before you using SANS DIGITAL TR5M1 storage appliance. Ensure that you use the product correctly according to the procedure described in this guide. The following safety precautions are intended to remind you to operate the product safely and correctly. Please read and ensure that you understand them before you proceed to the other sections of this guide.

  • Page 5: Supported Operating Systems

    • Windows XP, 32/64-bit • Windows Server 2003, 32/64-bit • Windows Vista, 32/64-bit The following operating systems are supported by the SANS DIGITAL TR5M1 with driver. Hard Drive can be use as individually using JBOD mode: • MAC OS X •...

  • Page 6: Chapter 2 - An Introduction To Raid

    Chapter 2 - AN INTRODUCTION TO RAID RAID VOLUMES RAID technology allows one or more disks to be combined into a logical volume which provides greater performance and/or protection than standard single disk drives. These volumes, also known as RAID Groups, appear like regular disk drives to the operating system and can be partitioned, formatted and used just like any other normal disk.

  • Page 7: Raid Levels In Details

    RAID LEVELS IN DETAILS 2.3.1 Disk Striping (RAID 0) Striping is a performance-oriented, non-redundant data mapping technique. While Striping is discussed as a RAID Group type, it is does not provide any fault tolerance. With modern SATA and ATA bus mastering technology, multiple I/O operations can be performed in parallel, enhancing data throughput.

  • Page 8: Concatenation

    Parity RAID uses less capacity for protection compare to RAID 1 and RAID 10 and is the preferred method to reduce the cost per Gigabyte for larger installations. Mirroring requires half of the capacity to protect the data whereas the above example using three hard drives only requires a one-third of the capacity.

  • Page 9: Raid Volume Status

    RAID VOLUME STATUS A RAID volume can be in any one of the following statuses. STATUS MEANING Good All disks are currently functioning as normal. For RAID levels that provide data protection, one or more disks have failed but the data Reduced is still available via the RAID protection.

  • Page 10: Chapter 3 - Installation

    Chapter 3 - INSTALLATION OVERVIEW There are three separate steps that to install SANS DIGITAL TR5M1 completely in Microsoft Windows Environments. You will need to install the Hard Drive to the TR5M1, eSATA Host Bus Adapter (HBA) hardware and Driver, and SATARAID5 Utility.

  • Page 11: Uninstalling Hard Disk Drive

    5. Close the front hard drive panel. 3.2.1 Uninstalling Hard Disk Drive • Open the front hard drive panel of the unit. • Remove the hard drive trays by pushing the silver tray tab to the right and releasing the tray handle. •...

  • Page 12: Installing Esata Host Bus Adapter Hardware

    4. Connect the other end to the eSATA connecter on SANS DIGITAL TR5M1. 5. If hard disk drives are not installed in SANS DIGITAL TR5M1, insert the drives into bay 1 to 4 in order, counting from the bottom to top. Gently push the drive until the drive is fully inserted, and twist the tool-less screw seat the drive securely.

  • Page 13: Installing In Microsoft Windows 2000

    INSTALLING IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 3.3.1 Installing eSATA Host Bus Adapter Follow the instruction below for eSATA HBA Driver installation: 1. Insert the Manual and Utilties CD in the CD-ROM drive. 2. When start the Windows, a new hardware will be found, click Next>. 3.
  • Page 14 4. Select Specify a location, than click Next>. 5. Click Browse… to select to driver path, than click OK. 6. Click Next> to install the Silicon Image Sil3132 SoftRaid 5 Controller driver. 7. Click Yes to pass the Microsoft digital signature and continue the installation.
  • Page 15 8. When the Silicon Image Sil3132 SoftRaid 5 Controller installation has completed, click Finish, and begin to the Silicon Image’s Pseudo Processor Device driver installation. 9. Windows will find the Silicon Image’s Pseudo Processor Device hardware, click Next>.
  • Page 16 10. Select Search for a suitable driver for my device (recommended), than click Next>. 11. Select Specify a location, than click Next>. 12. Click Browse… to select to driver path, than click OK.
  • Page 17 13. Click Next> to install the Silicon Image’s Pseudo Processor Device driver. 14. When the Silicon Image’s Pseudo Processor Device installation has completed, click Finish.

  • Page 18: Installing Sataraid5 Utility

    3.3.2 Installing SATARAID5 Utility Follow the instructions below for the SATARAID5 utility: 1. Open the Manual and Utilities CD and select the SATARAID5 Array Manager software from the Utility folder. 2. Double-click the 3132-W-I32-R.exe file. 3. Click Next> to begin setup. 4.
  • Page 19 5. Select Place shortcut on Desktop, than click Next> to create a shortcut on the desktop. 6. Click Next> to use the default installation folder.
  • Page 20 7. Click Next> to begin the installation. 8. When SATARAID5 installation has completed, click Close to exit. 9. Select I agree the terms in the license agreement, click Next> to begin the Java platform installation. (Jave Runtime is installed previously, you may skip to number 12.)
  • Page 21 Select Typical, than click Next>. When Java platform installation has completed, click Finish to exit. Select Start > Programs > Silicon Image > SATARaid5Manager to start the Array Manager software.

  • Page 22: Disk Drive Mode Setup

    3.3.3 Disk Drive Mode Setup Disk Drive Mode setup will create the usable RAID partition to the computer. It is necessary to create the RAID before the allocating partition. Please refer to the chapter 4 for more detail. 3.3.4 Allocating Partition 1.
  • Page 23 5. Select the new disk to write a signature, than click Next>. 6. Do not click any disk to upgrade to dynamic disk, than click Next>. 7. When the Write Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 24 9. Right-click on the Unallocated partition and select Create Partition… from the pop-up menu. 10. Click Next> to create a partition on a basic disk. 11. Select the partition type you want to create, click Next>.
  • Page 25 12. Specify the partition size you want to create, click Next>. 13. Assign the drive letter or path you want to create, click Next>. 14. Click Format this partition with the following settings and Perform a Quick Format, setup the File system to use, Allocation unit size, Volume label, click Next>.
  • Page 26 15. When the Create Partition Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 27 The status of the created partition in the Disk Management window will change to “Formatting”. The percentage complete will be displayed. Depending upon the size of the partition, the format process may take several minutes. When completed, the status will change to “Healthy” and the name and drive letter will be updated. Once the disk reports Healthy, it appears to the computer and ready to use.

  • Page 28: Installing On Windows Xp (32/64-Bit)

    INSTALLING ON WINDOWS XP (32/64-BIT) 3.4.1 Installing eSATA Host Bus Adapter Follow the instruction below for eSATA HBA Driver installation: 1. Insert the Manual and Utilties CD in the CD-ROM drive. 2. When start the Windows, new hardware will be found; Select No, not this time, than click Next>. 3.

  • Page 29: Installing Sataraid5 Utility

    5. When the installation has completed, click Finish. 3.4.2 Installing SATARAID5 Utility Follow the instructions below for the SATARAID5 utility:...
  • Page 30 1. Open the Open the Manual and Utilities CD and select the SATARAID5 Array Manager software from the Utility folder. 2. Click Next> to begin setup. 3. Select I Agree, click Next>.
  • Page 31 4. Select Place shortcut on Desktop, click Next> to create a shortcut on the desktop. 5. Click Next> to use the default installation folder. 6. Click Next> to begin the installation.
  • Page 32 7. When SATARAID5 installation has completed, click Close to exit. 8. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement, click Next> to begin the Java platform installation. 9. Select Typical, click Next>.
  • Page 33 10. When Java platform installation has completed, click Finish to exit. 11. Select Start > All Programs > Silicon Image > SATARaid5Manager to start the Array Manager software.

  • Page 34: Disk Drive Mode Setup

    3.4.3 Disk Drive Mode Setup Disk Drive Mode setup will create the usable RAID partition to the computer. It is necessary to create the RAID before the allocating partition. Please refer to the chapter 4 for more detail. 3.4.4 Allocating Partitions on Windows XP 32-BIT/64-BIT Before creating any partitions, RAID groups must first be created using the SATARaid5Manager utility.
  • Page 35 4. Select the new disk to initialize, click Next>. 5. Do not click any disk to convert, click Next>. 6. When the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 36 7. Right-click on the Unallocated partition and select New Partition… from the pop-up menu. 8. Click Next> to create a partition on a basic disk. 9. Select the partition type you want to create, click Next>.
  • Page 37 10. Specify the partition size you want to create, click Next>. 11. Assign the drive letter or path you want to create, than click Next>. 12. Click Format this partition with the following settings and Perform a quick format, setup the File system, Allocation unit size, Volume label, than click Next>.
  • Page 38 13. When the New Partition Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 39 The status of the created partition in the Disk Management window will change to “Formatting”. The percentage complete will be displayed. Depending upon the size of the partition, the format process may take several minutes. When completed, the status will change to “Healthy” and the name and drive letter will be updated. Once the disk reports Healthy, it appears to the computer and ready to use.

  • Page 40: Installing On Windows Server 2003 (32/64-Bit)

    INSTALLING ON WINDOWS SERVER 2003 (32/64-BIT) 3.5.1 Installing eSATA Host Bus Adapter Follow the instruction below for eSATA HBA Driver installation: 1. Insert the Manual and Utilities CD in the CD-ROM drive. 2. When Windows started, new hardware will be found; Select No, not this time, click Next>. 3.

  • Page 41: Installing Sataraid5 Utility

    5. When the installation has completed, click Finish. 3.5.2 Installing SATARAID5 Utility Follow the instructions below for the SATARAID5 utility:...
  • Page 42 1. Open the Manual and Utilities CD and select the SATARAID5 Array Manager software from the Utility folder. 2. Double-click the utility file. 3. Click Next> to begin setup.
  • Page 43 4. Select I Agree, click Next>. 5. Select Place shortcut on Desktop, click Next> to create a shortcut on the desktop. 6. Click Next> to use the default installation folder. 7. Click Next> to begin the installation.
  • Page 44 8. When SATARAID5 installation has completed, click Close to exit. 9. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement, click Next> to begin the Java platform installation. 10. Select Typical, click Next>.
  • Page 45 11. When Java Runtime installation has completed, click Finish to exit. 12. Select Start > All Programs > Silicon Image > SATARaid5Manager to start the Array Manager software.

  • Page 46: Disk Drive Mode Setup

    3.5.3 Disk Drive Mode Setup Disk Drive Mode setup will create the usable RAID partition to the computer. It is necessary to create the RAID before the allocating partition. Please refer to the chapter 4 for more detail. 3.5.4 Allocating Partitions Before creating any partitions, RAID groups must first be created using the SATARaid5 Manager utility (see Chapter 4).
  • Page 47 4. Select the new disk to initialize, click Next>. 5. Do not click any disk to convert, click Next>. 6. When the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 48 7. Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later system supports GPT Disk which supports disk volume greater than 2TB. 8. Right-click on the “Basic Disk” and select “Convert to GPT Disk” from the pop-up menu. 9. Right-click on the “Unallocated” partition and select “New Partition…” from the pop-up menu.
  • Page 49 10. Click Next> to create a partition on a basic disk. 11. Select the partition to create, click Next>. 12. Specify the partition size you want to create, click Next>.
  • Page 50 13. Assign the drive letter or path you want to create, click Next>. 14. Click Format this partition with the following settings and Perform a quick format, setup the File system, Allocation unit size, Volume label, click Next>. 15. When the New Partition Wizard has completed, click Finish.
  • Page 51 The status of the created partition in the Disk Management window will change to “Formatting”. The percentage complete will be displayed. Depending upon the size of the partition, the format process may take several minutes. When completed, the status will change to “Healthy” and the name and drive letter will be updated. Once the disk reports Healthy, it appears to the computer and ready to use.

  • Page 52: Installing On Windows Vista (32/64-Bit)

    Repeat the above procedure if there are any other partitions. Close the Data Management window by clicking on the small boxed “X” in the top right corner of the window. Click on the “My Computer” icon on the Desktop. The new drives will be display and properly named.

  • Page 53: Installing Sataraid5 Utility

    5. When the installation has completed, click Close. 3.6.2 Installing SATARAID5 Utility Follow the instructions below for the SATARAID5 utility: 1. Open the Manual and Utilities CD and select the SATARAID5 Array Manager software from the Utility folder. 2. Double-click the utility file.
  • Page 54 3. Click Next> to begin setup. 4. Select I Agree, click Next>.
  • Page 55 5. Select Place shortcut on Desktop, click Next> to create a shortcut on the desktop. 6. Click Next> to use the default installation folder. 7. Click Next> to begin the installation.
  • Page 56 8. When SATARAID5 installation has completed, click Close to exit. 9. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement, than click Next> to begin the Java platform installation. 10. Select Typical, than click Next>.
  • Page 57 11. When Java platform installation has completed, click Finish to exit. 12. Select Start > All Programs > Silicon Image > SATARaid5Manager to start the Array Manager software.

  • Page 58: Disk Drive Mode Setup

    3.6.3 Disk Drive Mode Setup Disk Drive Mode setup will create the usable RAID partition to the computer. It is necessary to create the RAID before the allocating partition. Please refer to the chapter 4 for more detail. 3.6.4 Allocating Partitions Before creating any partitions, RAID groups must first be created using the SATARaid5 Manager utility (see Chapter 4).
  • Page 59 4. Windows Vista system supports GPT disk which supports disk volume greater than 2TB. 5. Right-click on the Unallocated partition and select New Single Volume… from the pop-up menu. 6. Click Next> to create the partition.
  • Page 60 7. Specify the partition size you want to create, than click Next>. 8. Assign the drive letter or path you want to create, than click Next>.
  • Page 61 9. Click Format this partition with the following settings and Perform a quick format, setup the File system, Allocation unit size, Volume label, than click Next>. 10. When the New Partition Wizard has completed, click Finish. The status of the created partition in the Disk Management window will change to “Formatting”. The percentage complete will be displayed.
  • Page 62 Repeat the above procedure if there are any other partitions. Close the Data Management window by clicking on the small boxed “X” in the top right corner of the window. Click on the “My Computer” icon on the Desktop. The new drives will be display and properly named.

  • Page 63: Chapter 4 - Sataraid5 Array Manager

    Chapter 4 - SATARAID5 ARRAY MANAGER OVERVIEW The SATARAID5 Array Manager is the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) which allows you to create and manage RAID volumes. The Manager divides into two sections, RAID Groups Windows and Device Configuration Windows, as seen below.

  • Page 64: Contiguous Raid Groups

    4.2.1 Contiguous RAID Groups Contiguous RAID Groups (JBOD Mode) allow the user to select a segment of disk drive or a disk drive. Select the disk and its options (detailed in Section 4.2.7). Press “Create” to create the RAID Group. 4.2.2 Concatenated RAID Groups Concatenated RAID Groups (Spanning Mode) allow the user to select different sized segments for each member of the...

  • Page 65: Mirrored Raid Groups

    4.2.4 Mirrored RAID Groups Mirrored RAID Groups (RAID 1) allow the user to select two disks for each member of the volume. Select two or more disk and its options (detailed in Section 4.2.7). Press “Create” to create the RAID Group. 4.2.5 Mirrored Striped RAID Groups Mirrored Striped RAID Groups (RAID 10) allow the user to select minimum of 4 disks for each member of the volume.

  • Page 66: Parity Raid Groups

    4.2.6 Parity RAId Groups Parity RAID Groups (RAID 5) allow the user to select minimum of 3 or more disks for each member of the volume. Select three or more disks and its options (detailed in Section 4.2.7). Press “Create” to create the RAID Group. 4.2.7 RAID Groups Options Before RAID Groups are created, the following options can be modified:...
  • Page 67 RAID Group Enter an identifiable name for the RAID group. This value can be any string (up to 8 characters Label including blank spaces) to help users identify this volume. Select a Group ID from the available ID list. The maximum number of RAID Groups per controller RAID Group is 8.

  • Page 68: Additional Menu Functions

    RAID Level Min # of Disks Contiguous Concatenated Once all parameters have been selected, select “Create” to create the RAID Group. When finished, press Cancel to exit the Create RAID Group Dialog. ADDITIONAL MENU FUNCTIONS The Main menu are shown below: File Device RAID Group...
  • Page 69 “Notepad” on Windows platforms) or with the Event Log window of the SATARAID5 Manager. Use the Log File tab to set the location and the desired filename for the log file. To specify whether the Log File is generated, click on either the Disabled or Enabled radio button. If Log File generation is enabled, you can click the Browse button to specify the file name and location of the Log File.
  • Page 70 Popup Tab SATARAID5 can be configured to notify the user of events using messages in popup windows. Use the slider control to set the event level for popups to occur: Information Level - The following events will trigger a popup window: Informational Warnings Errors...

  • Page 71: Exit

    Advanced Options The Advanced Options tab is used to control advanced features of the RAID driver. By default, all these advanced options are disabled. The Advanced Options tab allows you to enable the following advanced features. FEATURE EXPLANATION When this feature is selected, Legacy Support menu will be available in the menu bar. Legacy (Bootable) Support Enables the Legacy Support menu to support RAID functions for legacy RAID groups (available on Windows platforms only).
  • Page 72 This command displays a dialog box to let user create spare drive, user needs to select the following parameters: PARAMETER DESCRIPTION Choose one of: Spare Type • Global - If the spare drive is for all RAID groups in the system. •...

  • Page 73: Delete Spare

    4.3.3 Delete Spare This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) one or more spare drives to delete. 4.3.4 Delete Member This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) RAID group members to delete. Because RAID 0 is not fault tolerant, RAID 0 members are not shown in the list.

  • Page 74: Delete Orphan

    4.3.5 Delete Orphan This menu option displays a dialog box to select (highlight) orphan segments to delete. An orphan segment is part of a RAID group that cannot access other segments within the same RAID group. When a member of a RAID group fails in a severe manner (such as a loss of power or a complete hard disk failure), it becomes an orphan.

  • Page 75: Create Raid Group

    Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the Segment Summary window. 4.3.8 Create RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user verify a raid type than display Create RAID Group dialog box.

  • Page 76: Rebuild Raid Group

    4.3.9 Rebuild RAId Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose a replacement segment to rebuild a non-fault tolerant RAID group. 4.3.10 Delete RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose RAID groups to delete.

  • Page 77: Bring Raid Group Online

    4.3.11 Bring RAID Group Online This menu option is not available in this product. 4.3.12 RAID Group Summary This command displays a dialog box to show all RAID groups’ group ID, configuration, and status. The RAID Group Summary window has its own menu bar. All options available via the menu bar are shown below. File Options Exit...

  • Page 78: Task Manager

    4.3.13 Task Manager This command displays the Task Manager window. The Task Manager window lists all RAID and disk management tasks that have been started and/or done. This window provides user the ability to schedule any RAID and disk management operations including RAID group creation, rebuild, and test.
  • Page 79 Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the task list. Modify This command allows user to modify parameters of the selected task items. The following is an example of changing rebuild priority for a rebuild task.

  • Page 80: Event Log

    Delete This command displays a dialog box to let user delete the selected task items from the task list in Task Summary window. The following dialog box will pop up to get confirmation from the user. 4.3.14 Event Log This command displays the Event Log window. The Event Log window displays SATA device-related events that occur while SATARAID5 is running.

  • Page 81: Resources

    Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the event log. 4.3.15 Resources This command displays the Resource Information window. This feature is for debugging purpose only. The Event Log window has it’s own menu bar. All options available via the menu bar are shown below File Display Exit...

  • Page 82: Create Legacy Raid Group

    Suspend This command is to suspend the resources informantion. Fields This command is to resume the resources informantion. 4.3.16 Create Legacy RAId Group This menu option is not available in this product. 4.3.17 Help Topics This command opens an interactive help dialog using the standard Windows help interface. This option will be available in future revisions.

Table of Contents