Promise Technology FastTrak TX4650 User Manual
  1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Promise Technology Manuals
  4. Computer Hardware
  5. FastTrak TX4650
  6. User manual

Promise Technology FastTrak TX4650 User Manual

Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

F
T
AST
RAK
TX4650, TX2650
U
M
SER
ANUAL
Version 1.0

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the FastTrak TX4650 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Promise Technology FastTrak TX4650

Summary of Contents for Promise Technology FastTrak TX4650

  • Page 1 TX4650, TX2650 ANUAL Version 1.0...
  • Page 2 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: Table Of Contents

    FastTrak TX Series ........2 FastTrak TX4650 ........2 FastTrak TX2650 .
  • Page 4 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Chapter 3: Installing Drivers, cont. Windows 2000 .........32 New OS Installation .
  • Page 5 Contents Chapter 5: WebPAM, cont. Managing the Controller ....... . .68 Viewing Controller Information .
  • Page 6 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Chapter 6: Technology ........109 About FastTrak .

  • Page 7: Chapter 1: Introduction

    • Key Features and Benefits (page 4) • Specifications (page 6) Thank you for purchasing Promise Technology’s FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 SATA/SAS RAID Controller card. About This Manual This User Manual describes how to setup, use and maintain your FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 SATA/SAS RAID Controller cards.

  • Page 8: Overview

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Overview The PC which you are using either already contains FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 card installed by a third-party or you have acquired a FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 retail product for your existing PC and plan to install the card yourself.

  • Page 9: Webpam Software

    PC users wanting to continually protect valuable data on their PC. Should a physical drive in a mirrored logical drive fail, FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 use the mirrored drive (which contains identical data) to assume all data handling.

  • Page 10: Key Features And Benefits

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Key Features and Benefits The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak TX4650 and TX2650. Advanced Hardware Design Features Benefits Supports single-lane PCIe Allows maximum data transfers of up to 2.5 Gb/s...
  • Page 11 Chapter 1: Introduction Advanced Hardware Design Features Benefits Mirror supports automatic Fault tolerance can be restored automatically background rebuilds without rebooting. DOS based flash upgrade of Verifies proper file, option to backup existing file. BIOS Download files from Promise website. Gigabyte Boundary Allows easier interchangeability among physical drive vendors.

  • Page 12: Specifications

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Specifications • Low-profile printed circuit board • PCI Express x1 Slot • Controller card dimensions (H x W): 2.70 x 4.43 inches (68.5 x 112.5 mm) ° ° ° ° • Operating temperatures: 32 to 122...

  • Page 13: Chapter 2: Installation

    If any of the items are missing or appear to be damaged, please contact your dealer or distributor immediately. Warning The electronic components on the FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 card are sensitive to damage from Electro-Static Discharge (ESD). Observe appropriate precautions at all times when handling the FastTrak card or its subassemblies.

  • Page 14: Installing The Fasttrak Card

    No changes are necessary in the motherboard CMOS/ BIOS Setup for resources or drive types in most applications. Installing the FastTrak Card The FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 card fits into any available PCI-E x1, x4, x8, or x16 slot in your PC’s motherboard. Attaching screw...
  • Page 15 Chapter 2: Installation Figure 1. Connectors on the FastTrak TX4650 card I2C/SMBus Connector for SuperSwap Port 3 Port 1 Port 4 TX4650 Port 2 Global LED Connectors Individual LED Connectors FastTrak TX4650 card Figure 2. Connectors on the FastTrak TX2650 card...

  • Page 16: Connecting The Fasttrak Card

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Connecting the FastTrak Card The FastTrak TX4650 and TX2650 cards support SATA 1.5Gb/s, SATA 3.0 Gb/s, and SAS physical (disk) drives. For optimal performance, install drives of the same model and capacity. The drives’ matched performance allows the logical drive to function better as a single drive.

  • Page 17: Without A Superswap Enclosure

    Chapter 2: Installation • SuperSwap 1600: Connect a SATA-to-SATA data cable (not included) from one of the Port connectors on the FastTrak card to the Interface connector on the SuperSwap. See Figures 1 and 2. Repeat this action for each SuperSwap enclosure in your system. 4.

  • Page 18: Creating Your Logical Drive

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Creating Your Logical Drive You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create a logical drive with the attached drives. For an explanation of the logical drive concepts, see Chapter 6 Note You can omit this step, proceed with the WebPAM installation on page 16, then create your logical drive using WebPAM.
  • Page 19 Chapter 2: Installation 4. 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). 5. Choose the RAID Level you want. In the Define LD Menu section, press the Spacebar to toggle through logical drive types: •...
  • Page 20 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual 6. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Fast Init erases the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the physical drives when this feature is set to ON. ON is recommended.

  • Page 21: Installing Webpam

    Chapter 2: Installation Installing WebPAM Important Install the FastTrak software driver for your operating system before installing WebPAM. See “Chapter 3: Installing Drivers” on page 23 for instructions. WebPAM installation software will install two major components: • Utility Server – WebPAM RAID monitoring and Networking software •...

  • Page 22: Java Runtime Environment

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Java Runtime Environment WebPAM uses a private installation of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The JRE is installed the in WebPAM folder and is only used with WebPAM. Any existing installation of a JRE or JDK on your PC will not be affected.
  • Page 23 Chapter 2: Installation Linux Follow these steps to install WebPAM on your Linux-based PC or Server. 1. Boot up the PC/server and launch the Linux GUI. If the computer is already running, exit all programs. 2. Insert the software CD into your CD-ROM drive. 3.
  • Page 24 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual 6. When the License Agreement appears (above), click the “I accept the terms of the license agreement” option. Then click the Next button. 7. When the Choose Install Folder screen appears (above), make your selection of a folder for the WebPAM applications you are installing. The default folder is C:\Program Files\Promise\WebPAM\.
  • Page 25 Internet or outside your company firewall. Security options are invisible to authorized users. Promise Technology provides a default certificate for the server as well as for internal data communication. However, in some cases, it is better to install and verify your own certificate for the webserver. And, if possible, have your certificate verified by a certificate authority such as Verisign or Thwate.
  • Page 26 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual 9. When the Select Options screen appears (above), you have the option of choosing Local Monitoring Only. • If you check this option, you can only log into WebPAM from the Host PC. You cannot log into WebPAM over a network.
  • Page 27 Chapter 2: Installation 10. When the Ready to Install screen appears (above), click the Install button. 11. When the Install Complete screen appears (above), the installation process is finished. Click the Finish button to go to the Promise Registration website.
  • Page 28 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Important Registration of your FastTrak and WebPAM provides useful information that helps Promise Technologies to offer better products and support. Please take a few minutes to register. Thanks! This completes the WebPAM installation. Go to “Chapter 5: WebPAM” on...

  • Page 29: Chapter 3: Installing Drivers

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers • FastTrak Driver Diskette for Windows (page 24) • USB Memory Stick for Windows (page 24) • FastTrak Driver Diskette for Linux (page 25) • Windows Vista • New OS Installation (page 26) • Existing System (page 27) •...

  • Page 30: Fasttrak Driver Diskette For Windows

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual FastTrak Driver Diskette for Windows If you have a Windows PC and plan to install your FastTrak driver from a diskette, follow this procedure. This procedure requires one write-enabled blank 3.5-inch diskette. Place your blank diskette in the appropriate drive.

  • Page 31: Fasttrak Driver Diskette For Linux

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers FastTrak Driver Diskette for Linux If you have a Linux PC and plan to install your FastTrak driver from a diskette, follow this procedure. This procedure requires one write-enabled blank 3.5-inch diskette. Place your blank diskette in the appropriate drive. Insert the Promise CD into your CD-ROM drive.

  • Page 32: Windows Vista

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Windows Vista New OS Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller drivers while installing Windows Vista. Start the installation: Boot from the DVD-ROM. When the “Where do you want to install Windows?” dialog box appears, click Load Driver.

  • Page 33: Existing System

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers Existing System After installing the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller card and rebooting your system, Windows Vista setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. Under Windows Vista, “RAID Controller” will be displayed. Insert the FastTrak driver diskette into drive A: or attach a USB memory stick with the FastTrak driver to the USB port.

  • Page 34: Windows Server 2003

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Windows Server 2003 New OS Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller drivers while installing Windows Server 2003. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows Server 2003 installation diskettes.

  • Page 35: Existing System

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers Existing System After installing the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller card and rebooting your system, Windows Server 2003 setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. Under Windows 2003, “RAID Controller” will be displayed. Insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the A:\ drive. Choose Install the software automatically and press the Enter key.

  • Page 36: Windows Xp

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Windows XP New OS Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller drivers while installing Windows XP. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows XP installation diskettes.

  • Page 37: Existing System

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers Existing System After installing the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller card and rebooting your system, Windows XP setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. Insert the FastTrak driver diskette into the A:\ drive. Choose Install the software automatically and press the Enter key. Choose Promise FastTrak TX [4650, 2650] (tm) Controller from the list that appears on screen, and then press the Enter key.

  • Page 38: Windows 2000

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Windows 2000 New OS Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller drivers while installing Windows 2000. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows 2000 installation diskettes.

  • Page 39: Existing System

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers Existing System After installing the FastTrak TX Series RAID Controller card and rebooting your system, Windows 2000 setup will show a “New Hardware Found” dialog box. Under Windows 2000, “PCI Mass Storage Controller” will be displayed. Choose Add New Hardware Wizard from the list, and then press Enter.

  • Page 40: Red Hat Linux Enterprise 5.0

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Red Hat Linux Enterprise 5.0 New OS Installation Start the RedHat Linux Installation by booting from the install CD. At the “Welcome to Red Hat Linux...” installation screen, a prompt labeled boot: will appear at the bottom of the screen.

  • Page 41: Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10.0

    Chapter 3: Installing Drivers SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0 New OS Installation Start the SuSE Linux Installation by booting from the install CD. As the system boots, press F5 for the Driver Disk. Move the cursor to the Installation – ACPI Disabled option, and press Enter. When the installer displays, “Please insert the Driver Update floppy/ CDROM,”...
  • Page 42 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual...

  • Page 43: Chapter 4: Fastbuild™ Utility

    Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility • Using the FastTrak BIOS (below) • Creating Two Logical Drives (page 43) • Navigating the Main Menu (page 38) • Deleting a Logical Drive (page 49) • Viewing Drive Assignments • Viewing the Controller (page 39) Configuration (page 51) •...

  • Page 44: Navigating The Main Menu

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Functional – The logical drive is fully operational, and no problems are present. Critical – The logical drive is operational, but has lost its fault tolerance. For RAID 1, 5, or 10, the logical drive contains a failed drive. You must identify and replace the failed physical (disk) drive.

  • Page 45: Viewing Drive Assignments

    Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility Viewing Drive Assignments From the Main Menu screen, press 1 to see the View Drive Assignments screen. The View Drive Assignments screen reports physical (disk) drive assignments and provides the following information: Channel: ID – Shows the FastTrak Controller channel (port) ID number to which each physical drive is attached.

  • Page 46: Creating A Logical Drive

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Creating a Logical Drive The following action will create one logical drive on a set of physical drives. You can also create two logical drives on the same set of physical drives. See “Creating Two Logical Drives” on page 43.
  • Page 47 RAID 10 (Stripe/Mirror) • JBOD (Single Drive) Only the FastTrak TX4650 supports RAID 5 and RAID 10. See “Introduction to RAID” on page 109 for more information. Press the down arrow key to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected.
  • Page 48 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Assign the appropriate number of physical drives to your logical drive. Press Ctrl-Y to save your logical drive configuration. If you set Fast Init to ON, the following message displays: Press Ctrl-Y again to create the logical drive and perform the Fast Initialization.

  • Page 49: Creating Two Logical Drives

    Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility Creating Two Logical Drives The following action will create two logical drive on the same set of physical drives. You can also create one logical drive on a set of physical drives. See “Creating a Logical Drive” on page 40 To create a logical drive: From the Main Menu screen, press 2 to display the Define LD Menu.
  • Page 50 You can create your two logical drives with different RAID levels. But you cannot combine a logical drive and JBOD. Only the FastTrak TX4650 supports RAID 5 and RAID 10. See “Introduction to RAID” on page 109 for more information.
  • Page 51 Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility Assign the appropriate number of physical drives to your logical drive. Press Ctrl-Y to save your logical drive configuration. If you set Fast Init to ON, the following message displays: Press Ctrl-Y again to create the logical drive and perform the Fast Initialization.
  • Page 52 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Press the arrow keys to highlight a logical drive number you want to define and press Enter to select it. The Define LD Menu appears for the logical drive number you selected. Note the reduced capacity of the physical drives used for the first logical drive.
  • Page 53 You can create your two logical drives with different RAID levels. But you cannot combine a logical drive and JBOD. Only the FastTrak TX4650 supports RAID 5 and RAID 10. See “Introduction to RAID” on page 109 for more information.
  • Page 54 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual 14. Press Esc to exit to the Main Menu. Press Esc again to exit the Utility. 15. Press Y to restart your computer. You have successfully created a new RAID logical drives. You must be partition and format your new logical drive before you can use...

  • Page 55: Deleting A Logical Drive

    Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility Deleting a Logical Drive Caution 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 56 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Press Ctrl-Y to confirm deletion of the logical drive. The screen returns to the Delete LD Menu. The deleted logical drive no longer appears in the Menu. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu.

  • Page 57: Viewing The Controller Configuration

    Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility Viewing the Controller Configuration From the Main Menu screen, press 4 to display the Controller Configuration Options screen (below). The information in the System Resources section might be helpful for troubleshooting purposes: • The system IRQ used by the FastTrak card •...

  • Page 58: Responding To Logical Drive Problems

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Responding to Logical Drive Problems When you boot your system, the FastTrak BIOS screen informs you if there is a critical or offline logical drive. RAID 1, 5, or 10 logical drives go Critical when one physical drive fails.

  • Page 59: Chapter 5: Webpam

    Chapter 5: WebPAM • Logging into WebPAM (page 53) • Managing the Controller (page 68) • Logging out of WebPAM (page 55) • Managing Physical Drives (page 73) • Managing Users (page 56) • Managing Logical Drives (page 80) • Viewing Host Management (page 65) •...
  • Page 60 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual • Add to launch WebPAM ....../promise Together, your entry looks like this: https://127.0.0.1:8443/promise or https://localhost:8443/promise...

  • Page 61: Logging Out Of Webpam

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Type admin in the Password field. Click the Sign in button. The Login ID and Password are case sensitive. Logging out of WebPAM There are two ways to log out of WebPAM: • Close your browser window •...

  • Page 62: Managing Users

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Managing Users • Adding a User (below) • Changing a User’s Password (page 61) • Setting Event Notification (page 57) • Changing a User’s Email Address • Setting a Net Send IP Address (page 63) (page 60) •...

  • Page 63: Setting Event Notification

    Chapter 5: WebPAM If you plan to set up Event Notification, type the user’s email address in the Email field. Under Host User Rights, check the boxes to select rights for this user. Right Meaning Creation Permission to create a logical drive and a spare drive Deletion Permission to delete a logical drive and a spare drive Maintenance...
  • Page 64 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual The image above was shortened to fit into the available space. Check the boxes of the notification events that you want to have reported to you via email and popup messages. To select events by their severity, check one of the four Select Events boxes at the top of the window.
  • Page 65 Chapter 5: WebPAM Warning Events Warning Events, continued Disk Unplugged Enclosure Voltage 5 Out Of Range Disk Timeout Enclosure Voltage 12 Out Of Range Task Error Enclosure Temperature Above Disk Media Patrol Aborted with Error Threshold Bad Block Remapped Battery Temperature Out Of Range Disk Pre Fail Battery Temperature Unstable Array Critical...

  • Page 66: Setting A Net Send Ip Address

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Setting a Net Send IP Address In WebPAM, each user can set his/her own Net Send IP address or the Administrator can do it. Important Windows Vista and Server 2008 do not support Messenger Service. To receive messages on those platforms, you must install a third-party tool.

  • Page 67: Deleting A User

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Type a Net Send IP address in the NETSEND IP field. Click the Submit button. Deleting a User Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the User Management icon. Click the Delete tab. Check the box to the left of the user you want to delete. Click the Delete button.
  • Page 68 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the User Management icon. Click your User ID link. Click the Settings tab. Type a new password in the New Password field. Retype the new password in the Retype Password field.

  • Page 69: Changing A User's Email Address

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Changing a User’s Email Address In WebPAM, each user can change his/her own email address or the Administrator can do it. To change a user’s email address: Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the User Management icon.
  • Page 70 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Log in as the Administrator. Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the User Management icon. Click the User ID link for the user whose access rights will change. Click the Settings tab. Under Host User Rights, check the boxes to assign rights for this user.

  • Page 71: Viewing Host Management

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Viewing Host Management This function provides information only. There are no user settings. To access Host Management: Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the Host Management icon. Under Host List, click the IP Address link to the host you want to see. The Host IP address is always 127.0.0.1.

  • Page 72: Making Utility Configuration Settings

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Making Utility Configuration Settings To make utility configuration settings: Under Administrative Tools in Tree View, click the Utility Configuration icon. Enter the Sender’s address in the Email Sender field. Be sure the sender has an account in your email system. See your IT administrator.

  • Page 73: Viewing The Fasttrak Card

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Viewing the FastTrak Card The FastTrak–Information tab displays a photograph of the FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 card installed in your system. To display this screen in Management View, click the FastTrak icon in Tree View. If you have multiple FastTrak controller cards in the same system, they will...

  • Page 74: Managing The Controller

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Managing the Controller • Viewing Controller Information (below) • Making Controller Settings (page 68) • Viewing Scheduled Actions (page 70) • Deleting a Scheduled Action (page 70) • Locking the Controller (page 71) Viewing Controller Information The term Controller refers to the device that controls your RAID.
  • Page 75 Chapter 5: WebPAM The controller settings display. Click the Settings tab to access controller settings. • Rates – Allocates system resources between the background process (such as Rebuild, Expansion/Migration, Initialization, and Synchronization) and the data read/write activity. A High setting assigns most of the system resources to background processes.

  • Page 76: Viewing Scheduled Actions

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual • S.M.A.R.T. Status – SMART, an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a feature of the physical drive software. When enabled, the FastTrak controller polls the physical drives for SMART information and reports it to you.

  • Page 77: Locking The Controller

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the Delete button. In the Confirmation box, click the OK button. Alternative method to delete a scheduled process: Go to its function tab under the Physical Drive icon or Logical Drive icon. Under Schedule, click the Disable option. Locking the Controller The Lock tab displays lock status and enables you to lock or unlock a subsystem controller.

  • Page 78: Restoring Default Settings

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual To release the lock before the scheduled time, click the Unlock button. Restoring Default Settings The Restore tab enables you to restore all of the controller’s settings to their default values. Use this function for diagnosis and to clear any erroneous user settings.

  • Page 79: Managing Physical Drives

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Managing Physical Drives • Viewing Physical Drives (below) • Running Media Patrol (page 75) • Viewing Physical Drive Information • Checking the Bad Sector Log (page 74) (page 77) • Making Physical Drive Settings • Locating a Physical Drive (page 75) (page 78) Viewing Physical Drives...

  • Page 80: Viewing Physical Drive Information

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Viewing Physical Drive Information To view information about a physical drive: Click the Physical Drive View icon in Tree View. Click the Physical Drive icon. The information tab displays the following information: • Drive Model – The physical (disk) drive manufacturer’s model name or number.

  • Page 81: Making Physical Drive Settings

    Chapter 5: WebPAM • Interface – Identifies whether the physical drive is SATA 1 1.5 Gb/s, SATA II 3.0 Gb/s or SAS. • S.M.A.R.T. Status – SMART, an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a feature of the physical drive’s software. When this feature is supported, the drive will pass SMART information to the FastTrak controller when it polls the physical drives.
  • Page 82 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Unlike Synchronization and Redundancy Check (see page 97), Media Patrol is concerned with the condition of the media itself, not the data recorded on the media. If Media Patrol encounters a suspect sector, it will attempt to regenerate the data and write to the suspect sector.

  • Page 83: Checking The Bad Sector Log

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the Enable option. Click the by Day, by Week or by Month option. From the dropdown menus, select a start time and a day of the Week or Month, if applicable. Start time is based on a 24-hour clock. Click the Schedule button.

  • Page 84: Locating A Physical Drive

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual If any bad sectors are found, they are listed here. WebPAM informs you by popup and email messages when a bad sector error is logged. See page 57. After 10 bad sectors have been discovered on a physical drive, WebPAM issues a warning to replace the drive.
  • Page 85 Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the Locate Drive button. The Management Window will display the message “Identified started” and the Status LED for this physical drive will flash rapidly on the SuperSwap enclosure. If you remove the physical drive, the Status LED stops blinking, the Activity LED goes dark and WebPAM will report that the physical drive was unplugged.

  • Page 86: Managing Logical Drives

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Managing Logical Drives • Viewing All Logical Drives (below) • Rebuilding a Logical Drive (page 93) • Creating a Logical Drive (page 80) • Synchronizing a Logical Drive • Creating a JBOD (page 84) (page 97) •...
  • Page 87 Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the option button beside the RAID level you want for your logical drive. WebPAM displays the RAID levels you can use with the available physical drives. See “Choosing a RAID Level” on page 116 for more information. Click the Next button to continue.
  • Page 88 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual If you want to create a logical drive with unused capacity, enter the assigned (used) capacity in the Logical Drive Size field. To use the maximum capacity, check the Use Maximum Capacity box. Click the physical drives to select them.
  • Page 89 Chapter 5: WebPAM The Final Settings screen appears. These features have only the default setting: • Stripe Block Size – Set to 16 KB with no options. • Write Cache – Set to Write Through with no options. 10. Choose Gigabyte Boundary or None from the Gigabyte Boundary dropdown menu.

  • Page 90: Creating A Jbod

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Before you can use your new logical drive, you must partition and format the logical drive using your PC’s operating system. See “Appendix A: Partition and Format” on page 137 for more information. Creating a JBOD With FastTrak, a JBOD is one or more physical drives that function independently.
  • Page 91 Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the option button beside JBOD, then click the Next button. The Select Drive Group screen appears. Click the Next button to continue. The Select Drives screen appears.
  • Page 92 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Click the physical drives to select them. Available drives have a black frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Click the Next button. The Assign a Name screen appears. Click the Next button to continue.
  • Page 93 Chapter 5: WebPAM Choose an Initialization method from the Initialization dropdown menu: • Fast Initialization – Erases the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the physical drives being added to the logical drive. • None – No initialization. This choice is not recommended. Click the Finish button.

  • Page 94: Deleting A Logical Drive Or Jbod

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Deleting a Logical Drive or JBOD Warning When you delete a logical drive, you delete all data on the logical drive. Be sure to backup any important data before you delete a logical drive! To delete a logical drive or JBOD: Click the Logical Drive View icon.

  • Page 95: Making Logical Drive Settings

    Chapter 5: WebPAM From this screen, you can click the links to access the Settings, Migration, Rebuild, Synchronization, Initialization and Activation features. The features that apply to this logical drive have blue tabs. Features that do not apply have grayed tabs.

  • Page 96: Migrating A Logical Drive

    When migration is complete, your logical drive will have a different RAID level, a larger capacity, or both.For more information, see “Logical Drive Migration” on page 119. The FastTrak TX4650 supports the following logical drive migration: From Result RAID 0: 1 drive...
  • Page 97 Chapter 5: WebPAM The FastTrak TX2650 supports the following logical drive migration: From Result RAID 0: 1 drive RAID 1: 2 drives Add redundancy RAID 0: 2 drives Add capacity You can set up a Migration to: • Begin immediately (on demand). •...
  • Page 98 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual You can monitor Migration progress on the Logical Drive Migration tab. Click the respective buttons to pause and resume the Migration. Scheduled Scheduling allows you to perform the Migration at a time when there is less demand on the RAID system.

  • Page 99: Rebuilding A Logical Drive

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Available drives have a black frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Click the Enable option. From the dropdown menus, select a start time. Start time is based on a 24-hour clock. Click the Start At field to display a popup calendar. Click the start date in the calendar or enter a date manually.
  • Page 100 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Select the physical drive to use in the rebuild. Available drives have a black frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Click the Start Now button. You can monitor Rebuild progress on the Logical Drive Rebuild tab.
  • Page 101 Chapter 5: WebPAM Select the physical drive you want to rebuild. Available drives have a black frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Click the Enable option. From the dropdown menus, select a start time. Start time is based on a 24-hour clock. Click the Start At field to display a popup calendar.
  • Page 102 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Automatically After Drive Replacement Automatic rebuilding after you replace the failed drive is possible under the following conditions: • The logical drive is a RAID 1, 5, or 10. See “Creating a Logical Drive” on page 80.

  • Page 103: Synchronizing A Logical Drive

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Synchronizing a Logical Drive Synchronization refers to an automated process of checking and correcting data and parity. Unlike a Rebuild, Synchronization is a maintenance operation. Redundancy Check is an automated process of checking data and parity but it only reports and does not correct, any inconsistencies that it finds.
  • Page 104 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Click the respective buttons to pause, resume, or abort the Synchronization or Redundancy Check. Scheduled Scheduling allows you to perform the Synchronization or Redundancy Check at a time when there is less demand on the RAID system.

  • Page 105: Viewing Logical Drive Initialization

    Chapter 5: WebPAM From the Policy dropdown menu, choose: • Fix if you want Synchronization • Redundancy Check if you do not want to correct inconsistencies Click the Enable option. Click the by Day, by Week or by Month option. From the dropdown menus, select a start time and a day of the Week or Month, if applicable.

  • Page 106: Activating A Logical Drive

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Click the respective buttons to pause and resume the Initialization. To abort an Initialization, you must delete the logical drive. See “Deleting a Logical Drive or JBOD” on page 88. Activating a Logical Drive This feature enables you to convert a RAID 1 logical drive from offline to critical status, so you can rebuild the logical drive and access your data.

  • Page 107: Responding To A Critical Or Offline Logical Drive

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Click the Logical Drive icon of the offline logical drive. Click the Activation tab in Management View. Click the Activation button. The logical drive converts to Critical status. You can now rebuild the logical drive. See “Rebuilding a Logical Drive” on page 93. Responding to a Critical or Offline Logical Drive When a Physical Drive Fails in a RAID 0 Logical Drive A non-fault tolerant logical drive—RAID 0—goes offline when a physical (disk)
  • Page 108 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual • WebPAM displays a popup message. • WebPAM sends you an email message (if Event Notification is enabled). • WebPAM reports the condition in Tree View and Management View. In the example above, amber! icons appear over the FastTrak, Controller, Logical Drive View, and Logical Drive icons.
  • Page 109 Chapter 5: WebPAM No drive on Port 2 In this example, there were four physical drives connected to the FastTrak Controller. Notice that there is no drive reported on Port 2. The failed drive is connected to Port 2. Replace the Failed Physical Drive Replace the failed physical drive with a new one of equal or greater capacity.
  • Page 110 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Select the physical drive you just replaced. Click the Start Now button. You can monitor Rebuild progress on the Logical Drive Rebuild tab. When the Rebuild is finished, your logical drive will be Functional again.

  • Page 111: Managing Enclosures

    Chapter 5: WebPAM Managing Enclosures • Viewing Enclosures (page 105) • Viewing Enclosure Information (page 105) Viewing Enclosures Enclosure View provides a list of all enclosures currently installed in the Host PC. To view a list of your enclosures, click the Enclosure View icon in Tree View.
  • Page 112 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual The information tab displays the following information: • Enclosure Type – The manufacturer’s model name or number. • Fan Speed – The RPM of the enclosure’s cooling fans. • Temperature – The internal temperature of the enclosure. Each reading reflects a separate measurement.

  • Page 113: Managing Spare Drives

    A spare drive is a physical drive designated to function as a hot spare drive. A hot spare drive replaces a failed physical drive automatically. See “Rebuilding a Logical Drive” on page 93 for more information. Only the FastTrak TX4650 supports a sufficient number of physical drives to configure a spare drive. Viewing Spare Drives Logical Drive View provides a list of all logical drives currently on the Host PC.

  • Page 114: Deleting A Spare Drive

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Spare Drive Type has only the default Global Spare setting. Click a physical drive to select it. Available drives have a black frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Click the Create button. The Spare Drive is created. Click on the Information tab to see it.

  • Page 115: Chapter 6: Technology

    Chapter 6: Technology • About FastTrak, below • Introduction to RAID, below • Choosing a RAID Level (page 116) • Other Logical Drive Features (page 118) About FastTrak FastTrak TX Series SATA/SAS RAID controller cards 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 116: Raid 0 - Stripe

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual RAID 0 – Stripe When a logical drive is striped, the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sectors of multiple physical drives. Performance is increased, since the workload is balanced between drives or “members” that form the logical drive.

  • Page 117: Raid 1 - Mirror

    Chapter 6: Technology RAID 1 – Mirror When a logical drive is mirrored, identical data is written to a pair of physical 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 118: Raid 5 - Block Striping With Distributed Parity

    120 GB physical drives and one 100 GB physical drive will have a capacity of 200 GB. RAID 5 logical drives on the FastTrak TX4650 consist of three or four physical drives. The FastTrak TX2650 does not support enough physical drives to create a...

  • Page 119: Raid 10 - Mirror / Stripe

    RAID 10 logical drives on the FastTrak TX4650 consist of four physical drives. The FastTrak TX2650 does not support enough physical drives to create a...

  • Page 120: About Dual Data Redundancy

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual 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 TX 4650 protects your data array in four of those cases.

  • Page 121: Jbod - Single Drive

    Chapter 6: Technology JBOD – Single Drive An alternative to RAID, JBOD capacity is equal to the size of the physical 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 122: Choosing A Raid Level

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Choosing a RAID Level There are several issues to consider when choosing the RAID Level for your FastTrak logical drive. The following discussion summarizes some advantages, disadvantages and applications for each choice. RAID 0 Advantages...

  • Page 123: Raid 5

    Chapter 6: Technology RAID 5 Advantages Disadvantages High Read data transaction rate Disk failure has a medium impact on throughput Medium Write data transaction rate Good aggregate transfer rate Recommended Applications for RAID 5: • File and Application servers • Intranet servers •...

  • Page 124: Other Logical Drive Features

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Other Logical Drive Features Stripe Block Size Stripe Block size is set to 16 KB for the FastTrak TX Series RAID controller card. Initialization Fast Initialization erases the Master Boot Record in all of the physical drives that make up the logical drive.

  • Page 125: Cache Setting

    Chapter 6: Technology Spare Drives are automatically added to an array once a disk member of the array has been detected as failed. To restore fault tolerance as quickly as possible, the FastTrak Controller performs an automatic data rebuild on the spare drive in the background without the need to restart the system.
  • Page 126 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual The FastTrak TX4650 supports the following logical drive migration: From Result RAID 0: 1 drive RAID 0: 2, 3, or 4 drives Increased performance and capacity RAID 1: 2 drives Adds redundancy RAID 5: 3 or 4 drives...
  • Page 127 Chapter 6: Technology Important • The Target logical drive may require more physical drives than the Source logical drive • If the Target logical drive requires an EVEN number of physical drives but the Source logical drive has an ODD number, ADD a physical drive as part of the migration process •...
  • Page 128 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual...

  • Page 129: Chapter 7: Support

    Chapter 7: Support • Frequently Asked Questions • Pre-Installation, below • Motherboard Issues (page 124) • System CMOS Issues (page 124) • Drive Issues (page 125) • Operating System-Related Issues (page 127) • Installation Issues (page 128) • Post-Installation (page 129) •...

  • Page 130: Motherboard Issues

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual concerned devices support the feature. If your motherboard allows you to control the assignment of these resources, you may be able to remedy the problem by: • Changing the IRQ assignments to the PCI slots in the motherboard BIOS during boot up.

  • Page 131: Drive Issues

    Chapter 7: Support Drive Issues Can I add a drive to a FastTrak logical drive via hot-swap and dynamically adjust the logical drive size? Yes. The FastTrak TX Series supports dynamically adjustable RAID size and RAID level. See “Migrating a Logical Drive” on page 90. Do the physical drives on the FastTrak have to be the same size? The physical drives connected to the FastTrak TX Series do not have to be the same size.
  • Page 132 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual What system BIOS setup settings do I use for the drives on the FastTrak? None. The drives on the FastTrak TX Series are supported by the FastTrak BIOS and/or OS drivers, not by your system BIOS.
  • Page 133 Chapter 7: Support The logical drive constantly goes critical or offline during reboot. This condition may occur when the Master Boot Record (MBR) of one of the drives has become corrupt or bad. Removing (erasing) the MBR will remedy any issue related directly to a bad MBR. Warning Before removing the MBR of the drive(s), backup any existing data.

  • Page 134: Installation Issues

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Controllers. Look under Other Devices to see if it lists a PCI Card or RAID Controller. If so, highlight this listing and click the Properties button then click the Driver tab. Depending on your version of Windows, choose either Change Driver or Update Driver.

  • Page 135: Performance Tips

    Chapter 7: Support Post-Installation Why can't I see the physical drives on the FastTrak Controller card under FDISK? You have not created a logical drive or JBOD yet. If no logical drive or JBOD has been created, the OS will not recognize physical drive(s) attached to the FastTrak card.

  • Page 136: Contact Technical Support

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Contact Technical Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates. We encourage you to use one of our electronic services, which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support.
  • Page 137 +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 29 Attn: Technical Support Phone Technical Support +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 10 If you wish to write us for Promise Technology Germany support: Europaplatz 9 44269 Dortmund, Germany Italy...
  • Page 138 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual China E-mail Support e-Support On-Line Fax Support +86-10-8857-8015 Attn: Technical Support Phone Support +86-10-8857-8085/8095 If you wish to write us for Promise Technology China support: Room 1205, Tower C Webok Time Center, No.17 South Zhong Guan Cun Street...

  • Page 139: Limited Warranty

    Chapter 7: 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; the product will be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service.

  • Page 140: Your Responsibilities

    FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual No other document, statement or representation may be relied on to vary the terms of this limited warranty. Promise’s sole responsibility with respect to any product is to do one of the following: replace the product with a conforming unit of the same or superior product;...

  • Page 141: Return Product For Repair

    Return ONLY the specific product covered by the warranty (do not ship cables, manuals, diskettes, etc.), with a copy of your proof of purchase to: USA and Canada: Promise Technology, Inc. Customer Service Dept. Attn.: RMA # ______ 47654 Kato Road...
  • Page 142 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual You are responsible for the cost of insurance and shipment of the product to Promise. Note that damage incurred due to improper transport or packaging is not covered under the Limited Warranty. When repairing returned product(s), Promise may replace defective parts with new or reconditioned parts, or replace the entire unit with a new or reconditioned unit.

  • Page 143: Appendix A: Partition And Format

    Appendix A: Partition and Format In order for your operating system to recognize and work with the physical (disk) drives attached to your FastTrak TX Series SATA/SAS RAID controller card, your logical drive must be partitioned and formatted. • If your drives were previously partitioned and formatted they are ready to use and you can skip this procedure •...
  • Page 144 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Click the Next button to start the Wizard. In the following windows, select Disk 1 to Initialize. Do not select any disks to Convert. Click the Finish button to Initialize the logical drive. Right-click the Unallocated portion of Disk 1 and select New Partition... from...
  • Page 145 Appendix A: Partition and Format Click the Next button to start the wizard. In the following windows, do the following actions. Click Next to move to the next window. • Select Primary Partition • Specify the maximum available partition size in MB •...
  • Page 146 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual When formatting is complete, your logical drive will appear as a hard drive in the Disk Management window (above) and the My Computer window (below).

  • Page 147: Appendix B: Upgrades

    Step 2: Download BIOS File Go to the Promise website www.promise.com/support. Click Downloads. Click the Select Product popup menu and choose FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 depending on which FastTrak controller you have. Click the Select Category popup menu and choose BIOS.
  • Page 148 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Step 3: Install the BIOS Package Cautions • Before you begin, backup any important or useful data. • Do NOT skip any steps in the procedure. • Do NOT power off your PC during the procedure.

  • Page 149: Software Driver Upgrade

    Step 2: Download Driver Files Go to the Promise website www.promise.com/support. Click Downloads. Click the Select Product popup menu and choose Promise FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650 depending on which FastTrak controller you have. Click the Select Category popup menu and choose Driver.
  • Page 150 FastTrak TX4650, TX2650 User Manual Step 3: Install the Software Drivers Windows Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000 Do one of the following actions: • Insert the FastTrak Driver diskette in the A: drive. • Attach the FastTrak Driver memory stick to your USB port.
  • Page 151 Appendix B: Upgrades Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Insert FastTrak Driver diskette into the floppy drive. Log in as root. Run mount -r /dev/fd0 /media/floppy. Run cd /media/floppy. Run sh ./install. When the installer asks, “You are installing a driver on an existing OS. Is it true (y/n)?”...

  • Page 152: Webpam Upgrade

    Follow this procedure to upgrade the WebPAM Software on your PC or server. Step 1: Download the WebPAM File Go to the Promise website www.promise.com/support. Click Downloads. Click the Select Product popup menu and choose FastTrak TX4650 or TX2650. Click the Select Category popup menu and choose Utility. Click the GO button.

This manual is also suitable for:

Fasttrak tx2650

Table of Contents