User`s guide

Introduction
1-1
Chapter 1
Introduction
The RAID subsystem is a Fibre channel-to-Serial ATA II RAID (Redundant Ar-
rays of Independent Disks) disk array subsystem. It consists of a RAID disk
array controller and twelve (12) disk trays.
The subsystem is a “Host Independent” RAID subsystem supporting RAID lev-
els 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 0+1 and JBOD. Regardless of the RAID level the subsystem
is configured for, each RAID array consists of a set of disks which to the user
appears to be a single large disk capacity.
One unique feature of these RAID levels is that data is spread across separate
disks as a result of the redundant manner in which data is stored in a RAID
array. If a disk in the RAID array fails, the subsystem continues to function
without any risk of data loss. This is because redundant information is stored
separately from the data. This redundant information will then be used to re-
construct any data that was stored on a failed disk. In other words, the sub-
system can tolerate the failure of a drive without losing data while operating
independently of each other.
The subsystem is also equipped with an environment controller which is ca-
pable of accurately monitoring the internal environment of the subsystem
such as its power supplies, fans, temperatures and voltages. The disk trays
allow you to install any type of 3.5-inch hard drive. Its modular design allows
hot-swapping of hard drives without interrupting the subsystem’s operation.