Promise Technology FASTTRAK SX4300 User Manual
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Promise Technology FASTTRAK SX4300 User Manual

Promise technology fasttrak sx4300, sx8300 user manual
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Summary of Contents for Promise Technology FASTTRAK SX4300

  • Page 1 SX4300, SX8300 ANUAL Version 1.0...

  • Page 2: Important Data Protection Information

    You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral. Promise Technology is not responsible for any loss of data resulting from the use, disuse or misuse of this or any other Promise Technology product. Notice...

  • Page 3: Radio Frequency Interference Statement

    Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. • Consult Promise Technology, Inc. or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. This device complies with Part 5 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the...
  • Page 4 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual...

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........1 About This Manual .
  • Page 6 Red Hat Linux 8.0, 9.0, EL 3.0, EL 4.0 Install Driver During New OS Installation ....32 Install Driver in an Existing System ..... .33 SuSE Linux 9.1, 9.2, ES 9.0 Install Driver During New OS Installation: Single Processor .

  • Page 7: Chapter 1: Introduction

    Product Overview (page 2) • WebPAM Management Software (page 3) Thank you for purchasing one of Promise Technology’s FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 RAID controllers. About This Manual This User Manual describes how to setup, use and maintain the FastTrak RAID controller.

  • Page 8: Product Overview

    Hot-Swapping Each FastTrak SX4300 can support up to four Serial ATA disk drives while each FastTrak SX8300 can support up to eight Serial ATA disk drives. With either Controller card you can configure the drives as RAID levels 1, 5 or 10. FastTrak SX8300 can also be configured for RAID 50.

  • Page 9: Webpam Management Software

    Chapter 1: Introduction WebPAM Management Software he Web-Based Promise Array Management (WebPAM) software offers local and remote management and monitoring of all FastTrak logical drives that exist anywhere on a network. Browser-based GUI provides email notification of all major events/alarms, memory cache management, drive event logging, logical drive maintenance, rebuild, and access to all components in the RAID configuration (server, controller, logical drives, physical drives, and enclosure).
  • Page 10 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual...

  • Page 11: Chapter 2: Installation

    • Installing the Disk Drives (page 7) • Create a Logical Drive (page 9) SX4300 When you receive the FastTrak SX4300 card, the package should contain the items listed below: • FastTrak SX4300 RAID Controller Card • Quick Start Guide •...

  • Page 12: Installing The Fasttrak Card

    Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss. The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards are PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) devices. No changes are necessary in the motherboard CMOS/BIOS Setup for resources or drive types in most applications.

  • Page 13: Installing The Disk Drives

    Install the FastTrak card into the open slot (above). Fasten the FastTrak card bracket to the system case (above). Attach your system case’s 2- or 4-pin LED cable to the LED connector on the FastTrak card (see the Figures below). Installing the Disk Drives If you wish to include your current bootable Serial ATA drive using the Windows operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored...
  • Page 14 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual Caution Use of removable disk drive enclosures other than Promise Technology’s SuperSwap is not supported and may result in performance loss or other undesired results. Buzzer FastTrak SX4300 SMBus Connector FASTTRAK SX4300 LED Pins FastTrak SX8300...

  • Page 15: Create A Logical Drive

    Attach one Serial ATA data cable to each disk drive. Then attach the other ends of the cables to the connectors on the FastTrak card (above). Attach the Y-cable power splitters to each of the disk drives. Create a Logical Drive You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create a logical drive with the attached drives.
  • Page 16 Press 2 on the Main Menu screen to display the Define LD Menu (below). Press the arrow keys to highlight an logical drive number you want to define and press Enter to select it. The Define LD Menu for the logical drive number you selected will next appear (below).
  • Page 17 Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize logical drive, zero the disk drives. RAID 1, 5, 10 or 50 only. • Stripe Block Size, the default 64KB is best for most applications. •...
  • Page 18 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual...

  • Page 19: Chapter 3: Fastbuild™ Utility

    RAID logical drives that it finds. At this point, you can press Ctrl-F to enter the FastBuild Configuration Utility. The BIOS Startup screen for FastTrak SX4300 is shown above. The FastTrak SX8300 screen is similar. T When the FastTrak BIOS screen appears, press Ctrl-F to enter the FastBuild Utility.

  • Page 20: Main Menu

    is a hot spare drive, the logical drive will rebuild automatically. You must identify and replace the failed disk drive. Offline – The logical drive is no longer operational and the FastBuild utility cannot rebuild it. You must identify and replace the failed drive(s). Then you can create a new logical drive and copy your data to it from the last tape backup or other device.

  • Page 21: View Drive Assignments

    Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility View Drive Assignments From the Main Menu screen, press 1 to see the View Drive Assignments screen (below). This screen reports disk drive assigments and provides the following information: Channel: ID – Shows the FastTrak Controller channel ID (SX4300, 1 through 4; SX8300, 1 through 8) to which a particular disk drive is attached.

  • Page 22: Create A Logical Drive

    Create a Logical Drive From the Main Menu screen, press 2 to display the Define LD Menu (below). Press the arrow keys to highlight an logical drive number you want to define and press Enter to select it. The Define LD Menu for the logical drive number you selected will next appear (below).

  • Page 23: One Logical Drive

    See “Choosing a RAID Level” on page 42 for more information. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize logical drive, zero the disk drives. RAID 1, 5, 10 or 50 only. •...

  • Page 24: Two Logical Drives

    Two Logical Drives Continued from Create Logical Drive step 7, above. Press Ctrl-Y to allocate a portion of the disk drives to the first logical drive. Enter the desired capacity in MB for the first logical drive and press Enter. The Define LD Menu displays again.
  • Page 25 Press the up and down arrow keys to select an available logical drive number and press Enter. Choose the RAID level and options for the second logical drive. Note that the disk drives in Channels 1, 2 and 3 reflect smaller capacities because a portion of their original capacity belongs to a different logical drive.

  • Page 26: View Drive Assignments, Split Disk Drives

    FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual View Drive Assignments, Split Disk Drives After you create two logical drives from the same set of disk drives, press 1 on the Main Menu screen to see the View Drive Assignments screen (below). In this example, observe how each of the disk drives in Channels 1, 2 and 3 are split between two logical drives.

  • Page 27: Delete Logical Drive

    Delete Logical Drive Deletion of an existing logical drive will result in the loss of all data saved on the logical drive. Record all logical drive information, including RAID level, disk members, stripe block size and gigabyte boundary, in case you wish to undo a deletion.

  • Page 28: Controller Configuration

    Press Ctrl-Y to confirm and complete logical drive deletion. The screen returns to the Delete LD Menu. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu. Controller Configuration From the Main Menu screen, press 4 to display the Controller Configuration Options screen (below). the Controller Configuration Options screen has one setting and provides diagnostic information.

  • Page 29: Halt On Error

    Halt On Error The Halt On Error function causes the FastTrak controller to stop the boot process at the FastTrak BIOS screen when there is a problem with your logical drive. For example, a disk drive failure causes your logical drive to go critical. Depending on the Halt On Error setting, one of the following events will happen: •...
  • Page 30 When you boot your system, the FastTrak BIOS screen informs you if there is a critical or offline logical drive. If you enabled the Halt On Error option, your system will stop booting at this point. Press Ctrl-F to access the FastBuild utility. From the Main Menu screen, press 3 to see the Define LD Menu.

  • Page 31: Raid 0 And Jbod

    In the Define LD Menu screen, compare the number of drives assigned to the logical drive (Total Drv) with the disk drives listed under Drive Assignments. In the above example, three drives are assigned but only two appear. The missing disk drive is the failed drive. The disk drive on Channel 2 has failed. In an actual situation, you would replace this disk drive.
  • Page 32 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual...

  • Page 33: Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers

    Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Following are driver installation procedures for the FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards. Download the latest drivers from the Promise Technology website at www.promise.com. Procedure Page Number Windows Server 2003 Install Driver During New OS Installation ......30 Install Driver in an Existing System .

  • Page 34: Windows Server 2003

    When the Windows Setup window is generated, press S to specify an Additional Device(s) Insert the Promise Technology driver diskette into drive A: and press Enter. Choose Windows 2003 Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller from the list that appears on screen, and then press the Enter. 1. Press S to use the driver on the floppy disk and then press Enter to continue with installation.

  • Page 35: Confirm Installation

    When the Windows Setup window is generated, press S to specify an Additional Device(s) Insert the Promise Technology driver diskette into drive A: and press Enter. Choose WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller from the list that appears on screen, and then press the Enter. 1. Press S to use the driver on the floppy disk and then press Enter to continue with installation.

  • Page 36: Install Driver In An Existing System

    Note: If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed, do so at this time. Once all devices are specified, continue to the next step. From the Windows Setup screen, press the Enter. Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows XP installation.

  • Page 37: Install Driver During New Os Installation

    Click on the System icon. Choose the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button. Click the + in front of SCSI controllers. WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4300/ 8300 (tm) Controller should appear. Windows 2000 Install Driver During New OS Installation Start the installation: Boot from the CD-ROM.

  • Page 38: Confirm Installation

    Click on the System icon. Choose the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button. Click the + in front of SCSI controllers. Win2000 Promise FastTrak SX4300/ 8300 (tm) Controller should appear. Red Hat Linux 8.0, 9.0, EL 3.0, EL 4.0...

  • Page 39: Install Driver In An Existing System

    Scroll down to the Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller and click When the Installer displays Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller has been found, click Done. Continue with the installation normally. Note: Check the readme file, included with the downloaded driver files, for instructions on installing the RAID Console.

  • Page 40: Install Driver In An Existing System

    When the boot: prompt appears on the bottom of the screen, type acpi=oldboot into the lower input box. Press the left Alt key and insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the floppy drive. Finish the installation normally. Install Driver in an Existing System Insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the floppy drive.

  • Page 41: Chapter 5: Concepts

    Other Logical Drive Features (page 44) About FastTrak FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are high performance RAID Controller cards that feature concurrent data channel operation and onboard BIOS. The channels on the FastTrak card support concurrent operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multi-tasking operating systems and sharing the workload between multiple drives.

  • Page 42: Raid 0 - Stripe

    RAID 0 – Stripe When a logical drive is striped, the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sectors of multiple disk drives. Performance is increased, since the workload is balanced between drives or “members” that form the logical drive. Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency.

  • Page 43: Raid 1 - Mirror

    Chapter 5: Concepts RAID 1 – Mirror When a logical drive is mirrored, identical data is written to a pair of disk drives, while reads are performed in parallel. The reads are performed using elevator seek and load balancing techniques where the workload is distributed in the most efficient manner.

  • Page 44: Raid 5 - Block Striping With Distributed Parity

    100 GB disk drive will have a capacity of 200 GB. RAID 5 logical drives on the FastTrak SX4300 consist of 3 or 4 disk drives. RAID 5 logical drives on the FastTrak SX8300 consist of 3 to 8 disk drives.

  • Page 45: Raid 10 - Mirror / Stripe

    RAID 10 – Mirror / Stripe Mirror/Stripe combines both of the RAID 0 and RAID 1 logical drive types. It can increase performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication. At least four disk drives are needed for RAID 10 to be installed. With a four-disk-drive logical drive, one drive pair is mirrored together then striped over a second drive pair.
  • Page 46 About Dual Data Redundancy One unique (though rarely occurring) feature of RAID 10 is dual fault tolerance. In some cases, two drives can fail simultaneously and still maintain the integrity of data. There are six combinations in which two drives can fail. The FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 card protects your data array in four of those cases.

  • Page 47: Raid 50 - Striping Of Distributed Parity

    Figure 5. RAID 50 Striping of Distributed Parity logical drives RAID 50 logical drives on the FastTrak SX8300 consist of 6 or 8 disk drives. The FastTrak SX4300 does not support enough disk drives to create a RAID 50 logical drive.

  • Page 48: Jbod - Single Drive

    JBOD – Single Drive An alternative to RAID, JBOD capacity is equal to the size of the disk drive itself. JBOD appears in the User Interface as one individual drive. There are no performance or fault-tolerance features. When one disk fails, all data on that disk is lost.
  • Page 49 RAID 1 Advantages Simplest RAID storage subsystem design Can increase read performance by processing data requests in parallel since the same data resides on two different drives Recommended Applications for RAID 1 • Accounting • Payroll • Financial • Any application requiring very high availability RAID 5 Advantages High Read data transaction rate...

  • Page 50: Other Logical Drive Features

    • Imaging applications • Database servers • General fileserver RAID 50 Advantages High Read data transaction rate Medium Write data transaction rate Good aggregate transfer rate High reliability Supports large volume sizes Recommended Applications for RAID 50 • File and Application servers •...

  • Page 51: Gigabyte Boundary

    • Choose a stripe block size equal to or smaller than the smallest cache buffer found on any disk drive in your logical drive. A larger value slows the logical drive down because disk drives with smaller cache buffers need more time for multiple accesses to fill their buffers.

  • Page 52: Cache Settings

    Logical Drive Expansion To expand a logical drive is to increase the number of disk drives. The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards support logical drive expansion. However, you must use the WebPAM software to access this function. WebPAM ships with the FastTrak SX Series card on the software CD.

  • Page 53: Raid Level Migration

    • Increase the number of disk drives (sometimes called Expansion) The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards support RAID Level Migration. However, you must use the WebPAM software to access this function. WebPAM ships with the FastTrak SX Series card on the software CD.

  • Page 54: Ranges Of Disk Array Expansion

    From RAID 1 RAID 50 RAID 10 RAID 5 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 50 RAID 10 RAID 5 RAID 1 * Increases the existing redundancy • The Target logical drive may require more disk drives than the Source logical drive •...
  • Page 55 Multiply the number of blocks by the sector size to find the capacity of a logical drive: 4,000,000,000 blocks x 512 bytes per sector = 2,048,000,000,000 bytes of data for a 2TB drive. Note that you cannot change the size of the sectors nor can you increase the number of address blocks above 4 billiion.
  • Page 56 FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual...

  • Page 57: Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips

    • Drive-Related Errors, page 52 This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 installation problems. Also refer to the README.TXT file on the FastTrak driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline services listed in Chapter 7.

  • Page 58: System Cmos Issues

    System locks up during boot up or when Windows starts There may be a possible IRQ conflict with an ISA card. Identify what IRQs are used by ISA cards, enter the Motherboard PCI Setup, and reserve the IRQ for use with ISA. PCI slots cannot share IRQs with ISA cards. Miscellaneous problems such as: •...

  • Page 59: Operating System-Related Issues

    Powering the system off and on once to reset the drive. Also confirm that cables are properly attached and the drive is receiving power. If the drive still appears to have failed, refer to the Rebuilding a logical drive option in the WebPAM software as detailed in the WebPAM User Manual. Drive cannot be formed into an logical drive Disk drives must be free of media defects to be added into a logical drive.

  • Page 60: Performance Tips

    For Windows 2000, XP and 2003 Server, Promise recommends a clean install of the Operating System. This action restores the MBR and OS boot record. This requires repartitioning and formatting the drive. Promise Windows driver does not appear in Device Manager Windows may already be listing the controller under Other Devices instead of the Hard disk controllers section.

  • Page 61: Chapter 7: Support

    Chapter 7: Support • Frequently Asked Questions, below • Contact Technical Support, page 59 • Limited Warranty, page 61 • Return Product for Repair, page 63 Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre-installation, drive issues, installation, and post-installation. Pre-Installation (Speed, Device Types, Capacity, Cabling) What kind of HDDs can I use for a FastTrak SX Series logical drive? You can use any Serial ATA hard drive(s) to create arrays on the FastTrak...

  • Page 62: Drive Issues

    How can I change the resources that the FastTrak uses? The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are fully PnP. This means all the resources that it uses are given to it by the PnP BIOS on the motherboard. The FastTrak Controller supports IRQ sharing, but this feature only works when ALL the concerned devices support it.
  • Page 63 I already have an array on an older FastTrak controller. Can I move that array to my new FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 controller? Yes. All FastTrak controllers read the arrays the same way and can be moved from one controller to another.

  • Page 64: Installation Issues (Capacity, Booting)

    You have not created a logical drive yet. Without a logical drive, the system will not recognize the disk drives attached to the FastTrak Controller. How can I obtain the latest FastTrak drivers? Download the latest drivers from the Promise Technology website at www.promise.com. Click on Support, then on Download.

  • Page 65: Contact Technical Support

    If you wish to write us for support: http://www.promise.com (technical documents, drivers, utilities, etc.) support@promise.com (408) 228-1097 Attention: Technical Support (408) 228-1400 option 4 8:00am-5:00pm M-F Pacific Time Promise Technology, Inc. Attn: Technical Support 580 Cottonwood Drive Milpitas, CA 95035, USA...
  • Page 66 +31 (0) 40 256 9463 Attention: Technical Support +31 (0) 40 235 2600 8:30am-5:00pm M-F The Netherlands Time Promise Technology Europe B.V. Attn: Technical Support Luchthavenweg 81-125 5657 EA Eindhoven, The Netherlands support-de@promise-emea.com +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 29...

  • Page 67: Limited Warranty

    If you wish to write us for support: Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for three (3) years from the time of the delivery of the product to the original end user: the product will conform to Promise’s specifications;...

  • Page 68: Disclaimer Of Other Warranties

    is valid only when accompanied by a copy of the original purchase invoice. Is not valid on spare parts, fans, and power supplies This warranty shall not apply to defects resulting from: improper or inadequate maintenance, or unauthorized modification(s), performed by the end user; operation outside the environmental specifications for the product;...

  • Page 69: Your Responsibilities

    failure of the essential purpose of the foregoing remedy and regardless of whether Promise has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Promise is not an insurer. If you desire insurance against such damage, you must obtain insurance from another party. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages for consumer products, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
  • Page 70 Promise will pay for standard return shipping charges only. You will be required to pay for any additional shipping options (such as express shipping). Promise Technology, Inc. Customer Service Dept. Attn.: RMA # ______ 47654 Kato Road...

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