PROMISE ARRAY MANAGEMENT ( PAM) FOR FastTrak S150 TX2plus, S150 TX4 and TX4000 User Manual Version 1.
Promise Array Management Copyright © 2003 Promise Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (Promise Technology). No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise Technology. Trademarks Promise, and the Promise logo are registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Contents Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................ 1 PAM Components ........................................................................................ 1 How They Work Together ............................................................................ 2 PAM Installation Options .............................................................................. 3 Chapter 2: Installation ...................................................
Promise Array Management User Management...................................................................................... 50 Create a User...................................................................................... 50 Change Password............................................................................... 52 Change User Rights............................................................................ 53 Delete a User ....................................................................
Chapter 1: Introduction Promise Array Management (PAM) is a utility application designed specifically for monitoring and managing Promise Technology RAID products, such as the FastTrak TX4000, S150 TX2 plus and TX4 RAID Controller cards. Promise includes BIOS-based RAID management utilities with each of its products. PAM, however, runs over a local area network and makes possible RAID monitoring and management from any computer on the network and even over Internet.
Promise Array Management How They Work Together The Promise Array Management (PAM) utility provides and easy way to set up, monitor, modify and repair your RAID. PAM works with the Promise FastTrak TX4000, S150 TX2plus and TX4 RAID Controller cards. PAM watches the RAID and when significant events happen, or it discovers a problem, the Message Agent sends a warning to the Message Server. The Message Server passes the warning along to all PCs running the Monitoring Utility.
Chapter 1: Introduction PAM Installation Options 1. Following are some examples of ways you can incorporate PAM into your network and RAID systems. Modem Internet Home-based PC + Monitoring Utility Laptop computer + Monitoring Utility Router & Firewall Network File Server + Message Server A networked PC + Monitoring Utility Company LAN PC + FastTrak TX4000 + Message Agent Figure 1.
Promise Array Management A networked PC + Monitoring Utility A networked PC + Monitoring Utility + Message Server Company LAN PC + FastTrak S150 TX2plus + Message Agent Figure 2. PC + FastTrak TX4000 + Internal RAID array + Message Agent PC + FastTrak S150 TX4 + Message Agent Company LAN without a File Server In the above example, there are three PCs with FastTrak cards connected to the company’s LAN, the same as before.
Chapter 1: Introduction PC + FastTrak TX4000 + Monitoring Utility + Message Agent Figure 3. PC + FastTrak S150 TX4 + Internal RAID array + Monitoring Utility + Message Agent PCs with Internal RAID. Promise’s FastTrak card is designed to setup and control a RAID within the PC’s enclosure. They have the same need of monitoring and management as an external RAID subsystem. All three PAM components run on the PC itself.
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Chapter 2: Installation To install Promise Array Management (PAM) is an uncomplicated procedure, once you understand your systems and how you want to use PAM. The purpose of this Chapter is to help you plan and carry out your installation of PAM. By way of review, PAM consists of three components: • Monitoring Utility • Message Server • Message Agent These were described in the previous chapter. Before proceeding with the installation, you must know which component goes where.
Promise Array Management Modem Internet Home-based PC + Monitoring Utility Laptop computer + Monitoring Utility Router & Firewall Network File Server + Message Server A networked PC + Monitoring Utility Company LAN PC + FastTrak TX4000 + Message Agent Figure 4. PC + FastTrak S150 TX4 + Internal RAID array + Message Agent PC + FastTrak S150 TX2plus + Message Agent Networked RAID has many installation options.
Chapter 2: Installation Message Server The Message Server is required if your RAID PC connects to a network. If you want run PAM over a network, install the Message Server on one of your networked computers including a file server, a networked PC or the RAID PC. Only one installation of the Message Server is required for PAM to work over a network.
Promise Array Management Network Requirements If you plan to install PAM on a network be sure all the hosts and servers are connected and running. That is, each of the PCs, RAIDs and Servers must have a working network connection before you install PAM. In order for PAM to be configured over a network, you must know the IP (network) address of the RAID PC(s) in your system.
Chapter 2: Installation Figure 5. 7. Click Next or press Enter to continue. Figure 6. 8. PAM Setup Opening Screen. The License Agreement. When the License Agreement appears, click the Yes button to agree to the terms and continue the installation. If you click No, PAM Setup will exit.
Promise Array Management Figure 7. The Setup Type dialog box. 9. In the Setup Type dialog box, make your choice between Complete (Recommended) and Custom installation. Use the Custom installation to change install locations or to deselect individual components. 10. Click Next or press Enter to continue. Figure 8. Ready to Install dialog box. 11. In the Ready to Install dialog box, click Install or press Enter to continue.
Chapter 2: Installation Figure 9. Add User Account dialog box. 12. When the Add User Account dialog box appears, you may accept the default name or enter a new one in the Name field. 13. Enter your password in the Password and Confirm Password fields. When you are done, click Next or press Enter to continue. Note If you are only installing the Message Server, this dialog box does not appear.
Promise Array Management Figure 10. Installation Complete. 14. When the Install Complete dialog box appears, you have the option to • Create PAM shortcuts on your Desktop • Register PAM online Both of these options are recommended. 15. Click Finish or press Enter when you are done. This completes the PAM installation. Go on to Chapter 3: Initial Setup.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup After you have completed installation, you must setup your PAM Monitoring Utility to work with your RAID. Launch PAM Figure 11. PAM on the Desktop and in the Start Menu.
Promise Array Management Figure 12. The PAM Monitor window. The Monitor window is the user interface for PAM. It has three views: Tree View ― Displays the elements of your RAID system. It works like Windows Explorer with hierarchical menus. You can expand individual items to see their components. Object View ― Displays icons representing the devices below the highlighted device in the Tree View. Information View ― Displays information on the item highlighted in the Tree View.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup Local Agent Log-in Launch Local PAM. When the PAM user interface appears: Figure 13. 1. in Tree View. Select Login from Right click on the RAID Machine icon the popup menu. The Login dialog box appears. Figure 14. 2. Log in to Local PAM. Login dialog box. In the Login dialog box, type your Username and Password, and click OK. Initially, administrator is the only user. Use the administrator’s password selected during installation.
Promise Array Management Remote PAM Log-in Remote PAM works over your network. Therefore it requires additional steps the first time you log on. Launch Remote PAM. When the PAM user interface appears: Figure 15. 1. Make a new RAID Server. icon and: Right-click on the My Console • Select New > Server from the popup menu. • Click the New Server icon in the Toolbar. A RAID Server icon appears. Figure 16. 2. RAID System Configuration box. Click on the RAID Server icon.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup Figure 17. 4. Right-click on the RAID Machine icon in Tree View. Select Login from the popup menu. The Login dialog box appears. Figure 18. 5. List of networked RAID PCs. Login dialog box. In the Login dialog box, type your Username and Password, and click OK. Initially, administrator is the only user. Use the administrator’s password selected during installation.
Promise Array Management Create a New User The administrator is created by default. You must create additional users manually. 1. Do one of the following: • Right click on the User Management from the popup menu. A new User • Or select the User Management button on the Toolbar. Figure 19. 2. icon and select New > User icon appears. icon and click the Add User User Configuration box. Right-click on the User icon to display the User Information View.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup Rights Definition Creation Allows you to create and delete arrays, rebuild and synchronize arrays, and make general settings Maintenance Allows you to rebuild and synchronize arrays, and make general settings User Account Allows you to add and delete user accounts and change your password Every User has at least one of these three Rights and can change his/her own password. The Administrator can assign more or fewer rights to other Users but cannot change their passwords.
Promise Array Management Create an Array The available RAID selection depends on the number of disk drives available. The table below lists the RAID Levels available with FastTrak TX Series and the number of drives required. See Appendix A: RAID Concepts for a more detailed description. RAID Level Name Minimum drives Maximum drives 0 Striping 1 4 1 Mirroring 2 2 0+1 Striping + Mirroring 4 4 Table 2. 1. RAID Levels available on FastTrak TX Series.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup 4. In the Array Creation Settings box: • Type in a name for your array • Select the RAID Mode (Level) from the dropdown menu • Set the Stripe Block Size (see below) • Highlight the disk drives to add to the array • Check to enable Gigabyte Boundary, as desired (see below) Stripe Block Size – For RAID 0 and RAID 1+0 arrays, you can manually select the stripe block size. The size selected affects how FastTrak send and receives data blocks to and from the drives.
Promise Array Management Setup Alert Notification PAM alerts you to the problems and processes happening to your RAID through email and popup messages. These steps describe how to setup the email function. 1. Click on the RAID Machine Information View. 2. 3. Be sure the Enable NT system event log checkbox is checked. To reduce the volume of repeated messages, check the Anti-SPAM checkbox and set an acceptable time interval in hours. 4. 5. 6.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup 9. Scroll down to the Email Sender and Recipients box. 10. In the Email ID of Alert Sender field, type in the email address of this computer. 11. This address will appear in the From field of the email alerts. Recipients may reply to this address, if it is valid. 12. Click the Change button to update your configuration.
Promise Array Management Add User to Recipient List After you have setup email alert notification, you must specify who shall receive the alerts. icon to which you wish to add an email alert 1. Click on the RAID Machine message recipient. 2. In the Alert Recipients Email Address field, type in the email address of the user who you wish to receive alerts. Click the Add button when you are done. The names appear in the Current Recipients window. 3. 4. Repeat Step 2 until all addresses have been added.
Chapter 3: Initial Setup Specify Alert Notification Events PAM can be configured to report a variety of alerts, by email, popup message or both. This section describes how to tell PAM what to report and which method to use. 1. icon whose alert notification events you wish Click on the RAID System to modify. The Event Alert Setting box appears in Information View. 2. The Event Alert Setting box has dropdown menus to help you select Alert Events quickly.
Promise Array Management Following is a list of Events and their Severity: Information Events Warning Events Disk Plug In Disk Time Out Disk Access Retry Disk S.M.A.R.T.
Chapter 4: PAM User Interface This chapter describes PAM’s Graphic User Interface (GUI). You should understand that PAM is software running on top of the Promise RAID BIOS and other applications that came with your Promise RAID product. PAM adds a graphic user interface to make RAID management functions easier to understand and perform. Figure 21. The PAM Monitor window has three views.
Promise Array Management Tree View Local PAM The Tree View displays all of the elements of your RAID system. Use it to navigate to specific components. Figure 22. An example of a Local PAM RAID system in Tree View.
Chapter 4: User Interface Remote PAM Remote PAM adds a RAID Server icon to connect with the Message Server PC in order to monitor arrays over a network. Figure 23. An example of a Remote PAM RAID system in Tree View. Normally, the Tree View is present. To close it, right-click on any object and select Hide Pane from the popup menu. To open it again, go to View menu and select Outline.
Promise Array Management Tree View and Component Specific Menus In PAM, like most Windows applications, you can access the various commands and functions by opening dropdown menus and clicking on icons. Each time you click on a component in Tree View, PAM’s menu bar also displays that component’s dropdown menu. Below are some examples. Figure 24. Each item in Tree View has its own dropdown menu in the menu bar.
Chapter 4: User Interface Object View Object View is visible whenever the Tree View is visible. The items appearing in Object View are determined by which component you select in Tree View. In the example below, we selected a Controller Figure 25. icon in Tree View. Object View of a Controller’s components. As a result, you see the components of that Controller, in this case, six channels, an enclosure and an array.
Promise Array Management Information View Information View, like Object View, changes its content depending on which item you select in Tree View. The difference is that you use Information View to obtain data, input settings and information. Figure 26. Information View showing part of the setup for an Array. Status Bar The PAM Status Bar is the same as other Windows applications. It indicates such things as the selected RAID is rebuilding, and the current user is the Administrator (shown below).
Chapter 4: User Interface Pulldown Menus The left-most Pulldown Menu changes according to which component is selected in the Tree View. This menu can be the Main, My Console, Server, RAID Machine, RAID System or Maintenance. The functions of each menu are described below. Main Menu When no item in Tree View is selected, the left-most menu item is Main. Its only function is Exit, which quits the PAM application.
Promise Array Management RAID Machine Menu When the RAID Machine functions include: • • • • is selected, the RAID Machine menu appears. Its Login Logout Screen refresh Exit PAM RAID System Menu The RAID System menu appears with the RAID System functions include: • • icon is selected.
Chapter 4: User Interface View Menu The View menu is always the same. It displays or hides three items: • Toolbar • Status Bar • Tree View (Outline) Check to display or uncheck to hide each one as you prefer. Connection Menu The Connection menu is always the same. It deals with server connections. Use it to: • • • Create a new Message Server Connect to a RAID Server Disconnect from a RAID server Preference Menu The Preference menu is always the same.
Promise Array Management Toolbar The Toolbar is a series of buttons that are shortcuts to performing specific tasks. You will never see all buttons active as in the example below. Figure 28. The Toolbar. They become active when you click on specific system components in Tree View. Only the tool buttons pertaining to that component are active. Most of these functions require User Account Rights. These are specified when a User is added or modified.
Chapter 4: User Interface Popup Menus In addition to the commands in the dropdown menus, there is a corresponding set of commands you can access via popup menus. In a popup menu, you can use any of the commands that are in black. You will notice that some functions are grayed out, meaning that you cannot use them. Many functions require that you have User Account Rights to perform them.
Promise Array Management RAID System Icon The RAID System icon represents the FastTrak TX Family of RAID Controller cards (right). There are two commands for this item: • Screen refresh Controller Icon Right-click on the Controller • • • • icon to access the following commands: Read Events in the Event Viewer Clear Events from the Event Viewer Toggle the Beeper on and off Refresh the screen Disk View Icon The Disk View icon Controller card.
Chapter 4: User Interface Array Icon Right-click on the Array • • • • • • icon to access the following commands: Synchronize this array Delete this array Pause synchronization/rebuild Continue synchronization/rebuild Refresh the screen Rename the Array User Management Icon Right-click on the User Management commands: • • icon to access the following Create a New User Refresh the screen User Icon Right-click the User icon • • to access the following commands: Delete this User Refresh the screen 41
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Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance with PAM This chapter describes using PAM to monitor and manage your RAID system. The chapter is divided into sections for as follows: • • • • • • Remote PAM Local PAM User Management Alert Notification Controller Arrays Remote PAM Create a RAID Server Remote PAM works over your network. Therefore it requires additional steps the first time you log on. Launch Remote PAM. When the PAM user interface appears: Figure 29. 1. Make a new RAID Server.
Promise Array Management Figure 30. 2. RAID System Configuration box. icon. In Information View, type in the IP Click on the RAID Server address of the computer where the Message Server Software is installed. If the Message Server software in installed on the monitoring PC (the PC you are now working on), you can use the default 127.0.0.1 IP address. 3. Click Commit. A list of networked RAID PCs appears as shown below. Figure 31. List of networked RAID PCs.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Log-in to RAID PC 1. Right-click on a RAID Machine icon in Tree View. Select Login from the popup menu. The Login dialog box appears. Figure 32. 2. Login dialog box. In the Login dialog box, type your Username and Password, and click OK. Initially, administrator is the only user. Use the administrator’s password selected during installation. 3. If you want to log in to another user’s RAID PC, obtain the User name and Password, if necessary.
Promise Array Management Future Connections to RAID Server The RAID Server remains under the MyConsole icon until deleted. It continues to work as long as the IP address is correct. To make a connection with an existing RAID Server: • Right-click on a RAID Server menu. icon and select Connect from the popup Or right-click on the RAID Server icon and click the Connect Toolbar. The Login list of networked RAID PCs appears as before. • Figure 33. List of networked RAID PCs.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Message Server IP Address Change If the IP address changes for the computer where the Message Server software is installed, an existing RAID Server with the old address will no longer work. 1. 2. Right-click on a RAID Server icon and select Delete from the popup menu. Click OK in the confirmation dialog box. 3. Right-click on the My Console icon and: • Select New > Server from the popup menu. • Click the New Server icon in the Toolbar.
Promise Array Management 4. Click on the RAID Server icon. In Information View, type in the IP address of the computer where the Message Server Software is installed. If the Message Server software in installed on the monitoring PC (the PC you are now working on), you can use the default 127.0.0.1 IP address. 5. Click Commit. A list of networked RAID PCs appears as shown below. Figure 35. List of networked RAID PCs.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Local PAM Log-in Launch Local PAM. When the PAM user interface appears: Figure 36. 1. in Tree View. Select Login from Right click on the RAID Machine icon the popup menu. The Login dialog box appears. Figure 37. 2. Log in to Local PAM. Login dialog box. In the Login dialog box, type your Username and Password, and click OK. Initially, administrator is the only user. Use the administrator’s password selected during installation.
Promise Array Management User Management Create a User The administrator is created by default. You must create additional users manually. 1. Do one of the following: • Right click on the User Management from the popup menu. A new User • Or select the User Management button on the Toolbar. Figure 38. 2. icon and select New > User icon appears. icon and click the Add User User Configuration box. Right-click on the User icon to display the User Information View.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Rights Definition Creation Allows you to create and delete arrays, rebuild and synchronize arrays, and make general settings Maintenance Allows you to rebuild and synchronize arrays, and make general settings User Account Allows you to add and delete user accounts and change your password Every User has at least one of these three Rights and can change his/her own password.
Promise Array Management Change Password Every User can change his/her own password. The Administrator cannot change other Users' passwords. 1. Log-in to PAM under the User Name whose Password you want to change. 2. Click on the 3. 4. In Information View, type in a new Password in the two Password fields. Click the Submit button when you are done. icon of the User whose Password you want to change.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Change User Rights The Administrator can change any User’s Rights. Other Users cannot change their Rights. 1. Log into PAM as the Administrator. 2. Click on the icon 3. 4. In Information View, check or uncheck Rights options as desired (above). Click the Submit button when you are done. of the User whose Rights you want to change. Delete a User 1. 2. In the Tree View, right-click on the icon and select Delete from the popup menu.
Promise Array Management Alert Notification Setup Alert Notification PAM alerts you to the problems and processes happening to your RAID through email and popup messages. These steps describe how to setup the email function. 1. Click on the RAID Machine Information View. 2. 3. Be sure the Enable NT system event log checkbox is checked. To reduce the volume of repeated messages, check the Anti-SPAM checkbox and set an acceptable time interval in hours. 4. 5. 6.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance 9. Scroll down to the Email Sender and Recipients box. 10. In the Email ID of Alert Sender field, type in the email address of this computer. 11. This address will appear in the From field of the email alerts. Recipients may reply to this address, if it is valid. 12. Click the Change button to update your configuration.
Promise Array Management Add User to Recipient List After you have setup email alert notification, you must specify who shall receive the alerts. icon to which you wish to add an email alert 1. Click on the RAID Machine message recipient. 2. In the Alert Recipients Email Address field, type in the email address of the user who you wish to receive alerts. Click the Add button when you are done. The names appear in the Current Recipients window. 3. 4. Repeat Step 2 until all addresses have been added.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Delete User from Recipient List To remove a recipient from the Email Address List, do the following: 1. Click on the RAID Machine alert message recipient. icon from which you wish to delete an email The Current Recipients window appears in the Information View. 2. 3. Select the recipient you wish to delete Click the Remove button or press the Delete key to remove the address from the list.
Promise Array Management Specify Alert Notification Events PAM can be configured to report a variety of alerts, by email, popup message or both. This section describes how to tell PAM what to report and which method to use. 1. Click on the RAID System icon whose alert notification events you wish to modify. The Event Alert Setting box appears in Information View. 2. The Event Alert Setting box has dropdown menus to help you select Alert Events quickly.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Following is a list of Events and their Severity: Information Events Warning Events Disk Plug In Disk Time Out Disk Access Retry Disk S.M.A.R.T.
Promise Array Management Controller Options The Controller has system information and settings several important features. Click on the Controller View. icon in Tree View to see the Options in Information To return to the previous settings, click Reset. To Apply the changes you have made, click Submit. System Information This describes the Controller type, in this case a FastTrak S150 TX4, and the FastTrak driver version.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Disable Hard Disk Write Cache – Disables the Write Cache on the hard disk drives. This action will reduce performance unless you enable the Driver (FastTrak) Write Cache. Enable Driver Write Cache – Speeds hard disk performance by writing data to the cache on the FastTrak Controller card. When you are done setting controller options, click on the Array icon choose between Write Back and Write Though cache settings (see below).
Promise Array Management View Event Log The Controller’s Memory Buffer records all the events that happen on the RAID, classified as Errors, Warnings and Information. These are very useful for diagnosing and solving problems on your system. To see the Event Log, right-click on the Controller icon select Read Events from the popup menu. in Tree View and In the Event Viewer, you can view the events, make a permanent record by saving them to a file, and clear the events from the Viewer.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Arrays Create an Array The available RAID selection depends on the number of disk drives available. The table below lists the RAID Levels available with FastTrak TX Series and the number of drives required. See Appendix A: RAID Concepts for a more detailed description. Name Minimum drives Maximum drives 0 Striping 1 4 1 Mirroring 2 2 0+1 Striping + Mirroring 4 4 RAID Level Table 3. 1. RAID Levels available on FastTrak TX Series.
Promise Array Management 4. In the Array Creation Settings box: • Type in a name for your array • Select the RAID Mode (Level) from the dropdown menu • Set the Stripe Block Size (see below) • Highlight the disk drives to add to the array • Check to enable Gigabyte Boundary, as desired (see below) Stripe Block Size – For RAID 0 and RAID 1+0 arrays, you can manually select the stripe block size. The size selected affects how FastTrak send and receives data blocks to and from the drives.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Hot Spare Drive Using a Hot Spare Drive is an option for RAID 1 (Mirroring) arrays. In order to function, a Hot Spare Drive has two requirements: • • Attach a third disk drive to the FastTrak Controller card without assigning it to an array Do not Disable Hot Spare/Auto Rebuild in the Controller Options Install a Third Drive If necessary, see the FastTrak TX Series User Manual for instructions how to install disk drives with FastTrak. Controller Settings 1.
Promise Array Management Array Functional When your array is first created, it will display Functional status. If you have enabled Scheduled Synchronization, you will occasionally notice that your array is Synchronizing. Then it returns again to Functional. If your array encounters a problem with a disk drive, it will display Critical status. This indicates that your array requires your attention in order to return to Functional.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Array Critical When a disk drive fails on a fault-tolerant array (RAID 1 and 0+1) for any reason, the Array goes Critical. The array can still read and write data but fault tolerance has been lost. An Array Critical icon displays in Tree View and the alarm (if enabled) beeps quickly to call your attention to the condition. Your first action is to identify which disk drive has failed. 1. Click on the Controller icon to expand it. 2. 3.
Promise Array Management Array Offline When a disk drive fails on a non-fault-tolerant array (RAID 0) for any reason, the Array goes Offline. The array cannot read or write data. All of the data on the array will be lost unless the failed drive is restored to operation. A fault-tolerant array (RAID 1 or 0+1) will go Offline if two disk drives fail. An Array Offline icon displays in Tree View and the alarm (if enabled) beeps quickly to call your attention to the condition.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Rebuild an Array To Rebuild is to restore redundancy to a RAID 1 or 0+1 after one of its drives has failed. Unlike Synchronization, a Rebuild is a repair operation. When a drive fails for any reason, the Array goes Critical. An Array Critical icon displays in Tree View and the RAID alarm beeps quickly to call your attention to the condition. Automatic Rebuild Normally, the rebuild process begins automatically when you replace the faulty disk drive.
Promise Array Management Manual Rebuild After you replace a failed disk drive, the replacement drive must be rebuilt in order to restore the Array. To initiate an array Rebuild manually: icon of the array you want to rebuild. 1. In Tree View, select the Array 2. In Information View, click on the Start button inside the Rebuild Wizard box. 3. In the Rebuild Wizard, select the drive to be rebuilt (the replacement drive) and click Next.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance To confirm the rebuild choice, click Finish. Tree View and Information View display the progress (below). During the Rebuild process, the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower. If the beeper is enabled, it will beep slowly during this process. If the popup messages are enabled, one will notify you when the Rebuild is successfully completed. The array will return to Functional status.
Promise Array Management Rebuild Settings Beeper – Right-click on the Controller icon and select Beeper from the popup menu. A checkmark means the beeper is enabled. Disable Hot Spare/Auto Rebuild – Disables automatic rebuilding using a hot spare drive or a newly installed replacement drive. With this option checked, you must initiate rebuilding manually. See RAID 1 (Mirroring) and Hot Spare Drive.
Chapter 5: RAID Monitoring and Maintenance Synchronize an Array Promise uses the term synchronization to mean an automated process of checking and correcting data and parity. Unlike a Rebuild, Synchronization is a maintenance operation. Synchronization applies to RAIDs 1 and 0+1. It takes place when an array is first created and then, optionally, on a regularly scheduled basis to maintain content integrity.
Promise Array Management On Demand Synchronization In addition to schedule Synchronization, you can direct FastTrak to begin the Synchronization process immediately. To access this feature: 1. 2. Right-click on the Array icon and select Synchronize from the popup menu. Click OK to the confirmation message. Information View displays the progress (below). During the Synchronization, the array will be available for use but it may run noticeably slower.
Appendix A: RAID Concepts RAID RAID is an acronym that stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. It is divided into different numbered Levels. The numbers of these Levels do not mean that one Level is higher or better than another. Each Level has its own advantages and shortcomings. PAM allows you to select the RAID Level when you create an Array. The available RAID Level selection depends on which Promise product you have and the number of disk drives available.
Promise Array Management RAID 1 Data Mirror RAID 1 takes the data written on one disk and copies it to another, making a mirror or exact copy. This arrangement does not have a significant performance advantage. If one disk fails, there is no data loss. There is no rebuild, just a copy of the data to the disk.
Appendix B: Partition and Format In order for your Windows to recognize and work with your array, you must partition and format the array. These actions create a file structure within your array with which Windows can work. Note If you plan to boot your computer from this array, go to Windows and Device Driver Installation under the Installation section for instructions. The instructions here are for data arrays only. Figure 40. 1. 2. Right-click on the My Computer icon.
Promise Array Management Figure 41. 3. 4. 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 array. Figure 42. 5. The Disk Management Window and Disk Wizard. Initialized array ready for partition and format. Right-click on the Unallocated portion of Disk 1 and select New Partition... from the popup menu. The New Partition Wizard appears.
Appendix B: Partition and Format Figure 43. 6. 7. 8. The New Partition Wizard. Click the Next button to start the wizard. In the following windows, do the following actions. Click Next to move to the next window.
Promise Array Management Figure 44. The newly formatted array as it appears under Disk Management. When formatting is complete, your array will appear as a hard drive in the Disk Management window (above) and the My Computer window (below). Figure 45. The newly formatted array under My Computer.
Appendix C: Networking Issues IP Address In order for PAM to be configured over a network, you must know the IP (network) address of every component. The Message Server uses IP addresses to communicate with the Message Agent on the RAID PCs and the Monitoring Utility on the network PCs. To find the IP network address: 1. 2. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. Type ipconfig/all and press Enter. The Windows IP Configuration displays (below). Figure 46.
Promise Array Management DHCP Issues Referring to the Figure 84 above, note that it says: Dhcp enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes This means that a DHCP server gave this IP address to this PC when the PC connected to the network. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and refers to software that allows a file server to assign IP addresses to computers on the network. DHCP is very helpful in reducing the number of IP address a company or organization requires.
Appendix D: 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.
Promise Array Management Pacific Rim Sales Office E-mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support: China Office E-mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support: support@promise.com.tw +886 3 578 23 90 Attention: Technical Support +886 3 578 23 95 (ext. 8870) 9:00-6:00pm Taiwan Time Promise Technology, Inc. Attn: Technical Support 2F, No. 30, Industry E. Rd.
