User guide

About This Guide vii
Appendix C
RA4000 (Tower).......................................................................................................C-1
RA4000 (Rack-mountable).......................................................................................C-2
Appendix D
Fibre Channel Standards...........................................................................................D-1
Advantages of Fibre Channel ...................................................................................D-1
Fibre Channel and External Storage Systems...........................................................D-2
Point-to-Point Connection.................................................................................D-3
Arbitrated Loop .................................................................................................D-4
Structured Format for Data Transmission ................................................................D-8
Protocol Layers..................................................................................................D-9
Appendix E
The Drive Array........................................................................................................ E-1
Drive Arrays ...................................................................................................... E-4
Logical Drives ...................................................................................................E-4
Drive Array Benefits.................................................................................................E-5
Data Protection .................................................................................................. E-5
Performance Enhancement .....................................................................................E-10
Distributing Data and Data Striping................................................................ E-10
Array Accelerator ............................................................................................ E-12
Concurrent I/O Request Servicing...................................................................E-13
Optimized Request Management ....................................................................E-13
Expanding Storage Capacity................................................................................... E-14
Online Capacity Expansion .............................................................................E-16
Hard Drive Upgrades.......................................................................................E-16
Other Fault Management Features..........................................................................E-17
Auto Reliability Monitoring............................................................................E-17
Dynamic Sector Repairing ..............................................................................E-17
Drive Parameter Tracking ...............................................................................E-17
Drive Failure Alert Features............................................................................E-18
Interim Data Recovery.....................................................................................E-18
Automatic Data Recovery ...............................................................................E-18