C-Worthy (R) Help Librarian Data File Version 2.0
COPYRIGHT (C) 1985 - 1989. All Rights Reserved.
Custom Design Systems, Inc. Orem, Utah USA.
#· L
J/ _000_MAIN_MENU_HELP └N _001_NULL_HELP└ _002_STATUS_MENU_BAR_ITEM_HELP└$ _003_PHY_DRV_PREP_MBI└S _004_LOG_DRV_PREP_MBI└& _005_REBUILD_MENU_BAR_ITEM_HELP└ _006_HELP_MENU_BAR_ITEM_HELP└ñ _007_OPTIONS_MENU_BAR_ITEM_HELP└Ç _008_EXIT_MENU_BAR_ITEM_HELP└ _009_PHY_CONN_DB └Φ _010_LOG_DRV_STATUS_DB
└ß _011_ADAPTER_STATUS_DB └≥ _012_DRV_STATUS_DB └┤ _013_RETRY_CONN_MI
└╓ _014_RETRY_DEF_MI└G _015_USING_THE_UTILITY_MI└j _016_FIRST_TIME_MI└?# _017_PHY_DRV_MI└% _018_LOG_DRV_MI└+ _019_LOG_DRV_TYPE_MI└ú _020_BETTER_PERF_MI└% _021_REBUILD_DATA_MI└% _022_ABOUT_UTILITY_DB└% _023_CREDITS_DB└% _024_STREAM_VIEWER_DB└∙ _025_OK_STRM_CHANGE_BU└é _026_DEFRAG_FREE_BLK_BU└π _027_UNDO_STRM_CHANGE_BU└& _028_STRM_VIEWER_WIN └ü _029_STRM_EDITOR_WIN └c _030_SPLIT_FREE_BLK_DB └╠ _031_LOW_LEVEL_FORMAT_MI └ _032_SCAN_SURFACE_MI └% _033_VERIFY_SURFACE_MI!└% _034_COPY_DISK_MI"└% _035_FORMAT_ALL_MI#└%
_036_BENCH_MI$└Ç _037_BENCH_PAR_MI%└ _038_SELECT_PHY_DRV_DB&└å _039_SELECT_LOG_DRV_DB'└Ä _040_SELECT_CARD_DB(└q _041_INIT_LOG_DRV_HELP)└
EZ01_MAINMENU*└ EZ02_CONFIGMENU+└═ EZ03_ADD,└╘ EZ04_DELETE-└± EZ05_CONTROLSEL.└ NUsing the Utility - Main Menu Bar - General Help
This is the main menu bar of the utility.
Use <F1> to get to this help message
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> key to pull down menu bar item
Use <LEFT> and <RIGHT> keys to move to previous and next menu bar item
The quick help bar at the bottom of the screen will usually show a brief description of the highlighted menu bar item.
To find out how to use this utility, use Help.Using_the_Utility menu item. Remember that pressing <F1> anywhere in the program will bring up context sensitive help.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.$Using the Utility - Status Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you find out detailed information and status about controllers and drives.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.SUsing the Utility - Physical Drive Preperation Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you perform low level preperation commands on physical drives like formatting, scanning, and copying.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.&Using the Utility - Logical Drive Preperation Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you create, modify, and delete logical drive definitions.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.Using the Utility - Rebuild Logical Drive Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you perform rebuild commands on logical drives.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.ñUsing the Utility - Help Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu provides general help about:
how to use this utility,
how to prepare physical drives for use,
how to prepare logical drives for use, and
some general concepts about RAID and performance issues.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.ÇUsing the Utility - Options Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you perform miscellaneous task like:
find out amount of free memory,
several toggles to turn on/off special features, and
debugging tools for engineers.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.Using the Utility - Exit Menu Bar Item - General Help
This menu lets you save any unsaved logical drive definition and exit the utility.
Use <F1> to get to this help text
Use <DOWN> or <ENTER> to pull down this menu and view the selections
Use <LEFT> or <RIGHT> to go to previous or next menu bar item
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!).
Please also note the quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.ΦStatus - Physical Connection Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box displays a list of hardware devices connected to the controllers. If the list does not match actual connections, either retry Status.Retry_Connection menu item or exit the utility and restart to avoid any possible data loss.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> to quit this dialog box
Use <ENTER> (in list) to see detailed info about the highlighted drive
Use <TAB> to move to next field
The following explains the information in each field:
Brd:Ch:ID - device's adddress (board#(0-3):channel#(0-4):SCSI ID(0-7))
Type - Disk - direct access device
Tape - sequential access device
PRN - printer device
WORM - write-kdsonce-read-many-times device
CD - CD-ROM device
SCAN - scanner device
OPTI - optical memory device
CHGR - medium changer device
COMM - communications device
Host - host adapter card
?! - unknown device type
Vendor - maker of the device
Model# - model # and revision # (last 4 characters) of device
Capacity - size of device
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.ßStatus - Logical Drive Status Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box displays information about logical drives such as capacity, configuration, and status.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> to quit this dialog box
Use <ENTER> (in list) to see detailed info about the highlighted drive
Use <TAB> to move to next field
The following explains the information in each field:
Brd:Drv - logical drive's address (board#(0-3):drive#(0-7))
Capacity - drive's size as seen by the OS (or usable size)
Configuration - logical drive type (see Help.Logical_Drive_Type)
Strp - logical drive's stripe block size
Drive Status - Ready - ready to accept command
Critical - an associated physical drive is DOWN
causing loss of redundancy. Drive is
still usable, but another failure will
cause the drive to DOWN. Rebuild
required.
Down - encountered fatal error and NONE of the
sectors are accessable.
Rebuilding - reconstructing lost data from backup
Bad Definition - invalid logical drive definition caused
by downed physical drive or errors in
definition data.
Initialize - initializing backup sectors.
Busy - not ready to accept commands yet.
For more information on logical drive definition, use the menu item Help.Logical_Drive and Help.Logical_Drive_Type.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.≥Status - Adapter Status Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog displays some vital information and statistics about the disk controllers:
Use <F1> to get to this help message.
Use <ESC> to quit this dialog box.
Use <TAB> to move to next field.
The following explains the information in each line:
Line 1: Model of disk controller
Line 2: Location of the controller.
Line 3: Data Transport mechanism.
Line 4-x: Other specific information.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.┤Status - Drive Status Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box displays all physical drives' status such as ERROR, FORMATTING, SCANNING, etc.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> to quit this dialog box
Use <ENTER> (in list) to see detailed info about the highlighted drive
Use <TAB> to move to next field
The following explains the information in each field:
Brd:Ch:ID - device's adddress (board#(0-3):channel#(0-4):SCSI ID(0-7))
Vendor - maker of the device
Model# - model # (first 10 characters)
Drive Status - Unit Ready - ready to accept command (it may not be idle)
Formatting - low-level formatting (destructive)
Scanning - scanning disk surface (destructive)
Verifying - verifying disk surface
Inquery - SCSI INQUERY and READ_CAPACITY commands
Exercising - benchmark procedure is running on drive
Copy - Src - source drive for COPY_DISK operation
Copy - Dst - destination drive for COPY_DISK operation
Unit Busy - not ready to accept any command yet
Error - an error has been detected on the drive.
Retry the connection one more time or low-level format the drive to correct the
condition.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.╓Status - Retry Connection Menu Item - General Help
This option allows you to force execution of "READ_PHYSICAL_CONNECTION" command. This can be useful if you think the utility is not reading all the connected devices correctly. Note that this command will also force
the execution of "READ_LOGICAL_DEFINITION" command. Therefore, any unsaved logical drive definition will be lost! There is no undo capability for this option.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.GStatus - Re-read Definition Menu Item - General Help
This option allows you to force execution of "READ_LOGICAL_DEFINITION" command. This can be used to revert the current logical drive definitions back to the copy in the controller's NVM. There is no undo capability for this option.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.jUsing the Utility - Help.Using_the_Utility Menu Item - General Concept
Please note that pressing <F1> will give you help anywhere in the program (menu bar items and menu items included!). There is also a quick help bar at the bottom of the screen.
To exit the utility, use Exit.Exit_to_DOS menu item.
Menu bar items are selections that appear in the main menu bar like 'Status' and 'Help.' Menu items are selections in a menu (that you pull down by pressing <DOWN> when you are at a menu bar item). Menu items are also denoted in all help text as Menu_Bar_Item.Menu_Item.
<KEYS> are keyboard keys that you can press to start an action.
[BUTTONS] are buttons in dialog boxes that you 'press' with <ENTER> to start an action.
The following keys and buttons are used through out the utility:
<F1> - context sensitive help
<ESC> - undo, cancel, or quit
<TAB> - accept modification and move to next field
<ENTER> - select, toggle, or edit
<ARROWS> - move cursor or highlight bar left, right, up, and down
[Help] - general help about the current dialog box.
[OK] - accept changes you make in the dialog box and quit.
[Cancel] - undo any changes you make in the dialog box and quit.
To find out about installing and setting up your controller, please see the menu item Help.First_Time_Guide.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.?#Installation - Help.First_Time_Guide Menu Item - Quick Start Guide
This quick start guide is designed to quickly configure a logical drive with a Disk Array Controller, by installing and using the Array Utility program. The following steps will be covered in the Quick Start Guide:
* Hardware installation of the controller
* Installing the EISA configuration file so the system sees the
controller.
* Running the Array Utility program, which configures logical drives
* Selecting and configuring the different types of logical drives
* Saving the logical drives created
* Exiting the utility
Hardware Installation
1. Turn off the computer and remove the cover.
2. Carefully insert the controller into an available EISA slot.
3. Attach the first SCSI cable to CHANNEL 0 on the controller and attach
a hard drive to a connector on the cable. Select a SCSI ID for the
hard drive (refer to the hard disk manual for proper setting of the
ID). SCSI ID 7 is reserved for the controller.
4. If additional hard drives are used, connect the second hard drive to
CHANNEL 1, with another SCSI cable. Repeat for a third hard drive to
CHANNEL 2.
5. If adding even more hard drives, add them one at a time to the cable on CHANNEL 0, then CHANNEL 1, then CHANNEL2. Be sure to remove the terminator on all drives except the last drive on each cable.
NOTE: Verify the SCSI ID's for the drives do not conflict with each other, on the same channel. The hard drives on the same channels
cannot have the same SCSI ID (i.e. two hard drives cannot be SCSI ID 2). SCSI ID 7 is reserved by the controller and cannot be used.
6. Boot the computer under DOS and copy the EISA configuration file
(.CFG) from the distrubution disk, to the EISA configuration utility
disk, or into the subdirectory containing the
EISA configuration utility.
7. Run the EISA configuration utility and follow the steps to "ADD" a
board (refer to the manual included with the system for further detail).
NOTE: The board may be automatically added when running the utility. If so, the steps to "ADD" are not required.
8. Save the new configuration and re-boot the system under DOS.
Running the Array Utility
1. Once the system is booted under DOS, insert the Array Utility
disk in the floppy drive and run the .EXE file.
2. After a few moments of loading, the screen will display the physical
drive connections. Verify all the drives connections are recognized by the controller. Press "ESC" to continue.
NOTE: If not all the drives are recognized, turn off the system and
check the cable connections, power connections and SCSI ID's to all
the drives, and return to step 1 of RUNNING THE ARRAY UTILITY.
3. From the main menu, use the cursor keys to move to the "LogDrvPrep"
menu. Press <ENTER> to select "Create..." This is to create a logical drive.
4. If you only have one controller installed, please continue from step 6. The next window will display a list of array controllers to select from. The first one will be highlighted. Press <ENTER> to select the first controller. (Notice it will be marked by a check mark).
5. Press the <TAB> key to move to [OK], and press the <ENTER> key.
6. The "Create Logical Drive" window will appear. This is where a logical drive is created.
7. Select Logical Drive Type
The following are the steps to setup different types of logical drives.
Select the type of logical drive desired and follow the steps for the
specific type of drive. Then continue to follow the directions from
step 8.
Span - No RAID defined. Data is written to one stream only.
Min # of SCSI drives : 1
Min # of streams : 1, Can be 1 stream only.
Stripe block size : Not Applicable.
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Span" and press <ENTER>.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
Stripe - RAID 0 - Data written across two or more streams.
Min # of SCSI drives : 2
Min # of streams : 2
Stripe block size : 32 sectors (default)
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Stripe" and press <ENTER>.
Enter the "Drive Width", which is the number of streams in the logical
drive. The number of streams should be equal to the # of SCSI drives,
up to a maximum of 5 streams.
The "Stripe Block Size" should be left at 32 sectors, the default value.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
Span & Mirror - RAID 0 - One stream that is mirrored.
Min # of SCSI drives : 2
Min # of streams : 1, can be 1 stream only.
Stripe block size : Not Applicable.
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Span & Mirror" and press <ENTER>.
The "Drive Width", which is the number of streams in the logical
drive, can only be 1 stream.
The "Stripe Block Size" is not applicable with a spanned drive.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
Stripe & Mirror - RAID 1 - Data written across two or more streams, and is mirrored.
Min # of SCSI drives : 4
Min # of streams : 2
Stripe block size : 32 sectors (default)
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Stripe & Mirror" and press <ENTER>.
The "Drive Width", which is the number of streams in the logical
drive can only be 2 streams.
The "Stripe Block Size" should be left at 32 sectors, the default value.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
Stripe & Parity - RAID 4 - Data written across 2 or more streams with
parity written to a dedicated stream.
Min # of SCSI drives : 3
Min # of streams : 2
Stripe block size : 64 sectors (default)
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Stripe & Parity RAID 4" and press
<ENTER>.
Enter the "Drive Width", which is the number of streams in the logical
drive. The number of streams should be equal to the # of SCSI drives,
up to a maximum of 4 streams.
The "Stripe Block Size" should be left at 64 sectors, the default value.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
Stripe & Parity - RAID 5RA - Data written across 2 or more streams with parity written to different streams.
Min # of SCSI drives : 3
Min # of streams : 2
Stripe block size : 64 sectors (default)
Using the cursor keys, highlight "Stripe & Parity RAID 5" and press
<ENTER>.
Enter the "Drive Width", which is the number of streams in the logical
drive. The number of streams should be equal to the # of SCSI drives,
up to a maximum of 4 streams.
The "Stripe Block Size" should be left at 64 sectors, the default value.
Proceed with the installation from step 8.
8. After the necessary information has been entered, the highlight bar will move over "AUTODEFINE." Press <ENTER>.
9. A message will appear indicating the drive has been created with the
largest size possible. Press any key to continue.
Below "AUTODEFINE," the size of the logical drive just created will
appear as the "USABLE SIZE." This will be the total amount of space
available on the drive just created.
10. If the drive size is acceptable, press the <TAB> key to highlight [OK], and press <ENTER>.
11. If the drive size is not the desired size, it may be reduced to any size by highlighting the "USABLE SIZE" field and entering the correct size.
NOTE: The "USABLE SIZE" for the logical drive can only be reduced. It
cannot be increased. Once the correct size has been entered, press <ENTER>. [OK] will become highlighted, press <ENTER> to accept the drive size.
12. From the "LogDrvPrep" menu, select "Save All Drives..." and press
<ENTER>. The logical drive configuration just created has been
saved in the controller.
If additional logical drives are to be created, repeat the previous
steps from step 3.
13. Once all the logical drives have been created, use the cursor keys to
highlight and display the "EXIT" menu. Move the cursor over "Exit to
DOS" and press <ENTER> to exit the utility and re-boot the system.
A re-boot warning message will appear. Open the floppy drive and
highlight "Re-boot" and press <ENTER>.
The logical drive(s) have been created by the Disk Array
Controller. At this point, the desired operating system may be installed and the logical drives can be formatted and used. Proceed with installation of the operating system following the manual included with the operating system.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
+Logical Drive - Help.Logical_Drive Menu Item - General Concept
Here are essential terms for the following explaination of logical drive:
1. Physical drive - a SCSI direct access device (any size, any make)
2. Block (of a physical drive) - a contiguous section of a device's usable space. A block can be as small as one sector or as big as the entire drive.
A logical drive is a "virtual" drive that is made up of one or more blocks. It is a drive image that the controller "projects" to the operating system. Hence there are many different ways to make up a logical drive from blocks of space depending on the controller in use and user's needs. A logical drive has the following general structure:
______________________________Logical Drive______________________________
| ___Stream_0___ ___Stream_1___ ___Stream_x___ |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | Block 1 of y | | | | | |
| |______________| | | | | |
| | | | | | Block 1 of 2 | |
| | Block 2 of y | | | | | |
| |______________| | Block 1 of 1 | .................... | | |
| | . | | | |______________| |
| | . | | | | | |
| |______________| | | | | |
| | | | | | Block 2 of 2 | |
| | Block y of y | | | | | |
| |______________| |______________| |______________| | |_________________________________________________________________________|
As shown above, a logical drive is made up of one or more streams of EQUAL SIZE. Each stream is then made up of one or more blocks (Size of individual block does not matter here, as long as the total size of every stream is the same. The blocks can be from any physical drive.) In more detail, the first stream in the picture above (Stream_0) would looks like this:
___Stream_0___
| StrpBlk 0 | <------------ A "StrpBlk" (Stripe Block) is a cluster
| StrpBlk 1 | first block of 'i' sectors. The value of 'i' MUST
| . | of length be the same for all blocks in a logical
| . | 'a' StrpBlks drive. In this respect, we say that a
| StrpBlk a-1 | <------------ logical drive has a stripe block size
| StrpBlk a | <------------ of 'i' sectors per stripe block. There
| StrpBlk a+1 | second block will be more explanations about stripe
| . | of length block later.
| . | 'b' StrpBlks
|StrpBlk b+a-1 | <------------
| StrpBlk b+a | .
| . | .
| . | .
| . | .
Laying all the streams side by side, the logical drive looks like the following (to the operating system):
____________________________Drive_Image_to_OS____________________________
| | | | |
| StrpBlk 0 | StrpBlk 1 |............................| StrpBlk x-1 |
|______________|______________|____________________________|______________|
| | | | |
| StrpBlk x | StrpBlk x+1 |............................| StrpBlk 2x |
|______________|______________|____________________________|______________|
| . | . | | . |
| . | . | | . |
| . | . | | . |
|______________|______________|____________________________|______________|
Note that a column of stripe blocks is a stream. And a row of stripe blocks makes up what we call a "STRIPE". If the streams are of different sizes, the logical drive would not be even at the bottom. Also, if the stripe block size are not the same throughout the logical drive, horizontal alignment (stripe) would not be possible (This also implies that blocks must end on a stripe block boundary!) Below is a brief sumary of terms and variables we have used so far:
Sector : most basic unit in a physical device, usually 512 bytes
Stripe Block : a cluster of sectors
Block : a cluster of stripe blocks
Physical Drive: a SCSI direct access type device
Stripe : a row of stripe blocks
Stream : a column of stripe blocks
Logical Drive : a cluster of streams as seen by the O/S
a,b: Number of stripe blocks in a block in Stream_0
i : Number of sectors to make up a stripe block (sectors/stripe_block)
x+1: Number of streams (or columns) in a logical drive
y : Number of blocks that make up Stream_0
The above terms and variables will be used through out all discussions to establish a common vocabulary.
Variations of the above general structure (for example, stripping) and pros and cons of each structure are discussed in the next section, Help.Logical_Types.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.úLogical Drive Types - Help.Logical_Type Menu Item - General Concept
Please see the last section, Help.Logical_Drive, for definition of some terms used here.
Five basic types of logical drives may exist on the controller:
1. Span
2. Span with Mirror
3. Stripe
4. Stripe with Mirror
5. Stripe with Parity
Span has only one stream. Therefore, the logical 0
drive reduces to concantenation of individual blocks 1
to form a larger drive. This is approach is 2
identical to conventional spanning. All associated 3
blocks are used for user data. This logical drive .
type can not recover from physical drive failure. .
Span with mirror has two identical streams, 0 M0
primary and mirror. All write requests write the 1 M1
same data to both stream. Read request may use 2 M2
either stream depending on which one of two is idle. 3 M3
Notice, however, that the mirror stream is operated . .
independently by the controller and it is invisible . .
to the OS. 50% of the space is not usable by OS
since you are keeping a two copies. Rebuilding
(after a physical drive failure) of the primary
stream is possible as long as either stripe block in
a stripe is undamaged.
Stripe has the structure that was shown in the 0 1 2 3 4
last section, Help.Logical_Drive. It has multiple 5 6 7 8 9
streams which has multiple blocks. All blocks are 10 11 12 13 14
used for user data. Rebuilding of data is not . . . . .
possible with this type. . . . . .
Stripe with mirror is similar to span with mirror. 0 1 2 M0 M1 M2
It has a primary stripe drive and a mirror stripe 3 4 5 M3 M4 M5
drive. Again, 50% of the space cannot be used by the 5 6 7 M5 M6 M7
OS and data rebuild is possible as long as either . . . . . .
drive's stripe is not damaged. . . . . . .
Stripe with parity is a regular stripe drive with one stripe block taken from every stripe to store parity of the remaining stripe blocks of the stripe. There are quite a few ways to arrange the parity stripe block as shown below. Notice that a column is a stream, a row is a stripe, and the sequence of the number is the order in which the OS sees the logical drive. The parity block, denoted by a 'P', is not seen by the OS. Percentage of space not usable by OS is 100/(x+1) %. Rebuilding of user data is possible as long as only one stripe block in a stripe is damaged.
0 1 2 3 P0 0 1 2 3 P0 P0 0 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 P1 4 5 6 P1 7 4 P1 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 P2 8 9 P2 10 11 8 9 P2 10 11
12 13 14 15 P3 12 P3 13 14 15 12 13 14 P3 15
16 17 18 19 P4 P4 16 17 18 19 16 17 18 19 P4
20 21 22 23 P5 20 21 22 23 P5 P5 20 21 22 23
RAID 4 RAID 5 Left Asymmetric RAID 5 Right Asymmetric
_____________________________________________________________________
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 P0 P0 0 1 2 3
5 6 7 8 9 5 6 7 P1 4 7 P1 4 5 6
10 11 12 13 14 10 11 P2 8 9 10 11 P2 8 9
15 16 17 18 19 15 P3 12 13 14 13 14 15 P3 12
P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P4 16 17 18 19 16 17 18 19 P4
20 21 22 23 24 20 21 22 23 P5 P5 20 21 22 23
RAID 5 Flat-Left RAID 5 Left Symmetric RAID 5 Right Symmetric
Symmetric
Varying the number of streams(x+1), sectors per stripe block(i), and number of blocks in a stream(y) can dramatically influence overall disk I/O performance. In addition, the type of parity arrangement can affect performance depending on OS and application I/O behavior.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
∙Advance Definition - Stream Viewer Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box gives detailed information (stream by stream) about a logical drive's definition. It also provides a button ([Defrag] to consolidate fragmented free blocks and a way to edit current definition.
Use <F1> to get specific help about current button or field.
Use <ESC> to undo any change in definition and exit this dialog box.
Use <TAB> or <ARROW KEYS> to move between fields.
This dialog box is simply a logical drive definition "viewer." The window in the right half of this dialog box shows which stream (the highlighted one) you are looking at. The dialog box to the right of this dialog box lists all blocks that made up the stream. Move into the stream window (use <TAB>) and move the highlight bar up or down (use <ARROW KEYS>) to view different streams.
To edit the current stream while inside the stream window, press <ENTER> and you will be transferred to the stream editor window (the dialog box to the right). Press <F1> while you are in stream editor window to get help on how to use the editor.
To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.éAdvance Definition - Accept Stream Change Button - Detailed Help
Pressing this button will accept whatever change you made to the logical drive (it's address is shown in the header of the dialog box to the right of this dialog box) and quits advanced definition.
Use <ESC> to undo any change in definition and exit this dialog box.
Use <TAB> to move between fields.
To find out how to change a logical drive's definition, use the [Help] button in this dialog box. To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.πAdvance Definition - Consilidate Fragmented Free Blocks - Detailed Help
Pressing this button will invoke a small procedure that combine fragmented block. Fragmented blocks are sometimes introduced into the free pool, list of unused blocks, whenever the user deletes a block from a stream in the stream editor (the dialog box to the right of this dialog box).
Use <ESC> to undo any change in definition and exit this dialog box.
Use <TAB> to move between fields.
To find out how to change a logical drive's definition, use the [Help] button in this dialog box. To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.&Advance Definition - Undo Stream Change Button - Detailed Help
This button will undo any changes you made to the logical drive's definition and return you to logical drive definition's dialog box. This button is equivalent to the <ESC> key.
Use <TAB> to move between fields.
To find out how to change a logical drive's definition, use the [Help] button in this dialog box. To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.üAdvance Definition - Stream Viewer Window - Detailed Help
This windows lets you choose which stream's definition to display in the dialog box to the right of this dialog box. The highlighted stream's definition is shown in that dialog box. The stream names has the following meaning:
'0' - denotes the stream number
'M' - a mirror stream
'S' - a stripe stream
'P' - a parity stream
Use <ESC> to undo any change in definition and exit this dialog box.
Use <UP_ARROW,DOWN_ARROW> to view different stream assignments.
Use <ENTER> to edit the highlighted stream's definition.
Use <TAB> to move between fields.
To find out how to change a logical drive's definition, use the [Help] button in this dialog box. To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.c Advance Definition - Stream Editor Window - Detailed Help
This is the main window of stream editor. You can delete and insert blocks for current stream. You can also rearrange the order of these blocks. There are a few modes the editor can be in:
View Mode : The editor is in this mode only when you are in the viewer
window (the dialog box to the left). The editor window
shows the blocks assigned to the current stream.
Edit Mode : The editor is waiting for you to give a editing command like
<INS>, <DEL>, or <ENTER>. The editor shows the blocks
assigned to the current stream.
Press <DEL> to delete the current block (un-assign block).
Press <INS> to put editor in insert mode (assign block).
Press <ENTER> to put editor in move down (re-order block).
Press <TAB> to accept change and exit the editor.
Press <ESC> to undo change and exit the editor.
Move Mode : You have pressed <ENTER>. You can now move the highlighted
block up by <UP_ARROW> or down by <DOWN_ARROW>.
Press <ENTER> to accept the order and return to edit mode.
Press <TAB> to accept the oder and quit editor.
Press <ESC> to undo move and return to edit mode.
Insert Mode: You have pressed the <INS> key. The editor display changes
from assigned blocks to free blocks. Mark and unmark the
blocks to insert by pressing <ENTER>. A marked block will
have a 'triangle mark' character in front of its address.
You can insert as many blocks as you want by marking
multiple blocks.
Press <DEL> will combine the current (highlighted) block and its adjacent (above and below) blocks if they are
contiguous.
Press <INS> will pop up a new dialog box to allow you to
split the current block (highlighted) into smaller ones.
Press <TAB> to insert the marked blocks and return to edit
mode.
Press <ESC> to cancel insert mode and return to edit mode.
To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.╠Advance Definition - Split Free Block Dialog Box - Detailed Help
You have pressed <INS> inside the insert mode to split the current block (highlighted) into two or three blocks. The number shown in fields are physical drive's SCSI LBA (logical block address) number. For example, in order to do the following split (into three block), put '20000' and '30000' into the 'First Break' and 'Second Break' field respectively. Note the number you enter is the beginning LBA value of the smaller blocks.
_10000_ _10000_
| | | |
| | => | |
|_______| |_19999_|
| | _20000_
| | | |
| | => | |
|_______| |_29999_|
| | _30000_
| | | |
| | => | |
|_39999_| |_39999_|
To split current block into two blocks of 10000 to 19999 and 20000 to 39999, enter '20000' into 'First Break' and leave 'Second Break' unchanged. Leaving 'First Break' unchanged and enter '20000' into 'Second Break' will do the same thing.
Use <ESC> or [CANCEL] to cancel dialog box and return to insert mode.
Use <TAB> move between fields.
Use [OK] to split block and return to insert mode.
To learn about logical drives, quit logical drive definition by pressing <ESC> a few times and use Help.Logical_Drive menu item.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.Physical Drive Preperation - Low-level Format Menu Item - General Help
This option allows you to perform low-level format on multiple physical
drives in background.
Selecting this option invokes the 'Select Drive' dialog box which displays a list of drives that you can perform low-level format on. Note that drives that are busy will not be listed. Mark all drives that you wish to format and press [OK]. A warning dialog box will come up next to ask for confirmation. Answer [OK] to continue or [CANCEL] or <ESC> to quit. If you choose [OK], 'Drive Status' dialog box will pop up next to show that the format operations are being carried out. Press the [OK] button or <ESC> key to return to main menu. Drives will format in the background.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
% End of help. Press <ESC> to return.
ÇPhysical Drive Preperation - Benchmark Drive Menu Item - General Help
This option allows you to run multithreaded performance test on multiple drives concurrently.
Selecting this option invokes the 'Select Drive' dialog box which displays a list of drives that you can perform benchmark on. Note that drives that are busy will not be listed. Mark all drives that you wish to benchmark and press [OK]. Benchmark will start immediately. Drives will be tested in the background. We recommand that you set the benchmark parameters (use PhyDrvPrep.Bench_Parameter) before benchmarking. To stop the benchmark, choose this option again (this is a toggle).
The result of benchmark is shown on the bottom of the screen. The left most number is number of access and the right most number is the average time taken to complete one access in miliseconds.
End of help. Press <ESC> to return. Physical Drive Preperation - Benchmark Parameters Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box enables you to change benchmark program's behavior via a few parameters. DO NOT change any of these parameters when benchmark is in progress to avoid system crash. The following explains what each parameter means:
Number of Threads (decimal): greater than 0. Note that if the number is
too big, you might get a PANIC message from utility because there isn't
enough memory. Usually the number is smaller than 256.
Burst Mode: 1 - Single - Issue one set of commands then stop.
2 - Coupled - Issue one set of commands and wait until all
commands return. Then, issue another set.
3 - Continuous - Issue one set of commands. When a command
returns, issue a new one. This will sustain the given #
of threads at all times.
Random Mode: Mode Cmd LBA TBL
1 R/W Random Random ? = user input needed
2 R/W Random Fixed? ! = reserved
3 W Random Random
4 R Random Random
5 W Random Fixed?
6 R Random Fixed?
7 W Sequen Fixed?
8 R Sequen Fixed?
+16 to initialize and compare data
9 W Fixed? Fixed?
10 ! ! !
Fixed LBA (decimal): current LBA value. You can use this field to set
the starting LBA of sequential access or which LBA to access in fixed
access. If the random mode uses random LBA, this number does not apply.
Fixed TDL (decimal): length of access in number of sectors. This number
MUST be less than 64. If the bench mode uses random TDL, this number
does not apply.
#: number of completed access. This number does not get updated
concurrently.
@: average time taken to complete one access in mili seconds. This
number also does note get updated concurrently.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> to quit this dialog box withoug changing the parameters
Use <TAB> to move to next field
Use [OK] to confirm parameter change and quit the dialog box
End of help. Press <ESC> to return.åSelecting Target - Select Physical Drive Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box lets user select physical drives to carry out commands such as formatting and scanning. The command to be performed is displayed in the header of the dialog box.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> or [Cancel] to cancel operation and return to main menu
Use <TAB> to move to next field
Use <ENTER> (in list) to mark or unmark drives. When a drive is marked, it will have a 'triangle' character at the left. If only one drive is needed for operation, the <ENTER> key will not let you mark multiple drives. It moves the 'triangle' to the highlighted drive instead.
Use <UP,DOWN> (in list) to move the highlight bar to last or next drive
When you are done marking drive(s), press [OK] to confirm and begin operation on the marked drive.
For more information about what kind of operations you can perform on physical drives and how to start such opertions, go back to main menu (use <ESC>), pull down PhyDrvPrep menu (use <DOWN>), highlight the desired operation (use <Up,Down>) and press <F1>.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.ÄSelecting Target - Select Logical Drive Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box lets user select logical drives to carry out commands such as modifying and deleting definitions. The command to be performed is displayed in the header of the dialog box.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> or [Cancel] to cancel operation and return to main menu
Use <TAB> to move to next field
Use <ENTER> (in list) to mark or unmark drives. When a drive is marked, it will have a 'triangle' character at the left. If only one drive is needed for operation, the <ENTER> key will not let you mark multiple drives. It moves the 'triangle' to the highlighted drive instead.
Use <UP,DOWN> (in list) to move the highlight bar to last or next drive
When you are done marking drive(s), press [OK] to confirm and begin operation on the marked drive.
For more information about what kind of operations you can perform on logical drives and how to start such opertions, go back to main menu (use <ESC>), pull down LogDrvPrep menu (use <DOWN>), highlight the desired operation (use <Up,Down>) and press <F1>.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.qSelecting Target - Select Adapter Card Dialog Box - General Help
This dialog box lets user select adapter cards to carry out commands such as creating definition. The command to be performed is displayed in the header of the dialog box.
Use <F1> or [Help] to get to this help message
Use <ESC> or [Cancel] to cancel operation and return to main menu
Use <TAB> to move to next field
Use <ENTER> (in list) to mark or unmark cards. When a card is marked, it will have a 'triangle' character at the left. If only one card is needed for operation, the <ENTER> key will not let you mark multiple cards. It moves the 'triangle' to the highlighted card instead.
Use <UP,DOWN> (in list) to move the highlight bar to last or next card
When you are done marking card(s), press [OK] to confirm and begin operation on the marked drive.
End of Help. Press <ESC> to return.MAIN MENU
---------
Use the UP and DOWN array keys to move the selection bar over the
desired option and press ENTER to select it.
Configure / Delete An Array:
Selects the Array Configuration Menu which allows the user to define
new array definition or delete definitions.
Recover From A Failed Drive:
Invokes a proceedure that will guide you through the process of
replacing a failed physical SCSI drive. When the failed drive is
replaced, the utility will attempt to repair any fault tolerant
array drives that were associated with the physical drive failure.
Select Array Controller:
If there is more than one disk array controller in your system,
this option allows you to select the controller with which all future
configuration changes will be made.
Advanced Menu:
Invokes the Advanced Menu. The Advanced Menu is provided for users
who are concerned with the specifics of array optimization, such as
RAID levels, redundancy methods, striping, etc.
Exit:
Normally this option simply exits to DOS. However, if there were any
configuration changes, the utility will initialize any new array
drives. If configuration changes were made, you will be required to
reboot your system.
═ARRAY CONFIGURATION MENU
------------------------
Use the arrow keys to move the selection bar to the desired option.
Press ENTER to select the option.
Define A New Array:
Invokes an Array Definition screen that allows you to create a new
array definition and, hence, a new logical drive. The new array
will take the next consecutive logical drive number. A maximum of 8
logical drive numbers are available, ranging from 0 to 7.
Note: The array's drive number, or logical drive number, is equivalent
to the drive's LUN (Logical Unit Number).
Delete An Array Definition:
Allows you to delete and array drive/logical drive.
Warning! Make sure you do not delete any arrays that are active.
You should consider backing-up the data on an array before deleting
it.
Save:
Until you select SAVE, all configuration changes you make are
temporary. The SAVE option will physically write all configuration
changes to the controller, thereby making the changes permanent.
After saving, the option returns to the Main Menu.
Cancel Changes:
This option disregards all changes that occurred after you entered
the Array Configuration Menu.
╘ARRAY DEFINITION
----------------
Optimize By:
Use the arrow keys to position the selection bar over the desired
optimization and press ENTER.
A RAID level will be selected to satisfy the desired optimization.
Optimization / RAID Level Map:
Performance + Fault Tolerance Span or Stripe + Mirror (RAID 1)
Capacity + Fault Tolerance Stripe + Parity (RAID 5)
or Span or Stripe + Mirror (RAID 1)
Performance Only Stripe (RAID 0)
Capacity Only Stripe or Span (RAID 0)
Primary Application:
Use the arrow keys to position the selection bar over the desired
option and press ENTER.
This option will further optimize an array for a specific application
by adjusting the stripe block size for a striped array.
Application / Block Size Map:
File Server 64 Sectors
Graphics / Images 16 Sectors
Database 64 Sectors
Other 32 Sectors
Desired Array Capacity:
By default the desired array capacity will be set to the maximum array
capacity. If you are satisfied with the default, simply press ENTER.
If you would like to adjust the array capacity to a smaller value,
press the BACKSPACE key to clear the value and type in a new value and
press ENTER.
Done:
When you are satisfied with the array definition, select DONE to add
the definition to the list of array drives. The option will return to
the Array Configuration Menu.
Cancel:
Selecting this option will abort the array definition and return to
the Array Configuration Menu.
±DELETE AN ARRAY
---------------
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Warning! Make sure you do not delete an active array or one that
contains important data. This function will completely destroy the
data on the selected array drive! It is advised that you back-up
your array data before deleting any array drives.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To delete an array, use the arrow keys to select the desired array
to delete and press ENTER.
Select DELETE to confirm the deletion the of the selected array drive and
return to the Array Configuration Menu.
Select CANCEL to abort the deletion process and return to the Array
Configuration Menu.
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