Adaptec AAR-2020SA Instruction sheet

--------------------------------------------------------------------
README.TXT
Adaptec RAID Controllers: ASR-2020ZCR/2025ZCR/2120S/2130S/
2200S/2230S
AAR-2020SA/2025SA/2410SA/2810SA/21610SA
as of April 11th, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please review this file for important information about issues
and erratas that were discovered after completion of the standard
product documentation. In the case of conflict between various
parts of the documentation set, this file contains the most
current information.
NOTE: The latest firmware and documentation will be available
for download at www.adaptec.com.
The following information is available in this file:
1. Software and Documentation
1.1 Controller & Utility Software
1.2 Documentation
2. Installation Instructions
3. General Cautions and Notes
3.1 General Cautions
3.2 General Notes
4. Array Level-Specific Notes
4.1 RAID 10 Notes
4.2 RAID 50 Notes
4.3 Simple and Spanned Volume Notes
5. Controller-Specific Compatibility Issues
5.1 SATA Controllers
5.2 SCSI Controllers
6. Adaptec Bootable CD
6.1 Intel SATA chipset compatibility
6.2 Intel 875 chipset and DVD ROM drive compatibility
6.3 Usability Issue
7. RAID Utility-Specific Issues and Notes
7.1 ACU (Adaptec Configuration Utility)
7.2 AFU (Adaptec Flash Utility)
7.3 CLI (Command Line Interface)
8. Operating System-Specific Issues and Notes
8.1 Windows - All
8.2 Windows 2000
8.3 Windows Server 2003 x64
8.4 Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems
8.5 Linux
8.6 SCO OpenServer 5.06 and 5.07
8.7 NetWare
9. Motherboard and System-Specific Compatibility Issues
9.1 BBS (BIOS Boot Specification)
9.2 ASUS P3C-2000 and P2B
9.3 ASUS P4PE
9.4 IBM E-Server XSeries 220
9.5 IBM Netfinity 5000
9.6 Intel Xenon
9.7 Microstar MS-6321

9.8 SOYO KT333 Dragon Ultra
9.9 SuperMicro P3T-DDE
9.10 SuperMicro P40C6+/P4DCE
9.11 Tyan Trinity 400
9.12 Tyan S2460
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Software and Documentation
1.1. Controller & Utility Software
Note: The latest versions of firmware and driver software
can be downloaded from www.adaptec.com.
- Firmware
- ACU
- Windows Drivers
o Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, and Professional
o Windows 2003 Server, Standard and Advanced
o Windows XP, Home Edition and Professional
o Windows Server 2003 x64
o Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems
- Linux Drivers
o Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1
o Red Hat Advanced Server 3.0
o SuSE 9.0 and 9.1
o SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
- Other Drivers
o UnixWare 7.1.x and OpenUNIX 8, Base and Business Editions
o SCO OpenServer 5.06 and 5.07
o Novell NetWare 6.x
1.2. Documentation on this CD
- SATA and SCSI RAID Controllers Quick Installation Guide
(printed)
- SATA and SCSI RAID Controllers Installation and
User's Guide
- Command Line Interface Reference Guide
- Adaptec RAID Controllers README.TXT file
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation Instructions

- The Adaptec SATA and SCSI RAID Controllers Installation and
User's Guide contains complete installation information for the
controllers and drivers, as well as complete instructions for
all utilities and Adaptec Storage Manager software.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
3. General Cautions and Notes
3.1 General Cautions
- While an array is being built or cleared, DO NOT remove and
reinsert any drive from that array. Doing so may cause
unpredictable results for any of the controller's arrays.
- While a drive is being cleared, DO NOT try to include it in a
new array. Doing so may cause unpredictable results.
- DO NOT move drives containing an array or volume from one
controller to another while the power is on. Doing so could
cause the loss of the array configuration or data, or both.
Instead, power off both affected controllers, move the drives,
and then restart.
3.2 General Notes
- When displaying information on a physical device, the device,
vendor and model information may be displayed incorrectly.
- During array migration from a RAID 1 or RAID 5 to a RAID 0, if
the original array had a spare drive attached, the resulting
RAID 0 retains the spare drive.
- After building or verifying a leg of a second-level array, the
status of the second-level array is displayed as a "Quick
Initialized" array.
- The Adaptec controller supports only new drives or drives
that have been initialized or low-level formatted.
Attaching used drives could cause problems, including:
o Existing/rebuilding arrays may go off line
o Interrupted rebuilds may continue on the wrong drive
- On motherboard BIOSes supporting BBS, BBS support is usually
enabled on the Adaptec controller. This can cause problems
during restart. WORKAROUND: Disable BBS.
- After using a hot spare to successfully rebuild a redundant
array, information about the hot spare drive may not display
as expected. CLI may continue to display it as a global
spare, but the array will not have a spare attached.
ARC (the BIOS utility) displays the spare attached to the
array as expected.
- Arrays created with stripe sizes greater than 64k cannot be
imported back to earlier firmware releases.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Array Level-Specific Notes
4.1 RAID 10 Notes
- If a RAID-10 is degraded, the BIOS reports a degraded RAID-0
and a degraded RAID-1 instead of degraded RAID-10.
- You cannot change the priority of a RAID-10 verify. Setting
the priority at the start of a verify has no effect. The
priority is still shown as high. Changing the priority of
a running verify on a raid-10 changes the displayed priority
until a rescan is done, then the priority shows as high again.
- A RAID 10 created using the ACU using the CLEAR method shows as
"IMPACTED" until the CLEAR operation is complete. Also, the
drives' statuses are reported as Not Busy, even though the drives
are clearing.
- Performing a Verify and Verify/Fix on an RAID 10 displays the
same message text in the event log, "Build/Verify started on
second level array of array 'Array_0.'" You may see the message
three times for a Verify, but only once for a Verify/Fix.
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2120S/2200S only -- RAID 10 arrays with greater
than 20 drives support the Build/Verify command, but not the
Clear command.
- Do not reboot a system when a degraded RAID 10 has an Online
Capacity Expansion (OCE) in progress. Allow the OCE to complete
before rebooting the system.
4.2 RAID 50 Notes
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2120S/2200S only -- RAID 50 arrays with greater
than 18 drives support the Build/Verify command, but not the
Clear command.
4.3 Simple and Spanned Volume Notes
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2025ZCR/2020SA/2025SA only -- For a redundancy
array (R5, R1, etc.), an alarm will normally sound for a few
seconds when a member of an array goes off line. However, for
a non-redundancy array, one very short beep will sound if a
member of an array goes off line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Controller-Specific Compatibility Issues
5.1 SATA Controllers
- A Clear operation on an array causes a severe performance impact
to other processes, such as Build/Verify processes, involving the
same array members. Therefore, Adaptec recommends that you NOT

attempt any other operations while performing a Clear operation
on a SATA array.
- SATA events are displayed with SCSI nomenclature.
- Adaptec 2810SA/21610SA only -- ACU is not supported on these
controllers when installed in the following motherboards:
o SuperMicro P40C6+/P4DCE Server Board, 512 MB DDR RAM
o Intel Xeon x 2 System BIOS rev: 1.26
WORKAROUND: Use Adaptec Storage Manager on the bootable CD to
create arrays.
5.2 SCSI Controllers
- In Linux, the controller does not support attached CD drives
during OS installation.
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2120S/2200S only -- RAID 10 arrays with greater
than 20 drives and RAID 50 arrays with greater than 18 drives
support the Build/Verify command, but not the Clear command.
- Adaptec 2120S only -- When you flash this controller, the
confirmation message says "Writing 2200S firmware (4MB) to the
Controller..." The model number and size are incorrect. (The
message should say "Writing 2120S firmware (2MB) to the
Controller...") However, the flash process is successful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Adaptec Bootable CD
6.1 Intel SATA chipset compatibility
- The Adaptec bootable CD will not boot when connected to motherboards
equipped with the Intel ICH5 SATA I/O device.
6.2 Intel 875 chipset and DVD ROM drive compatibility
- The Adaptec bootable CD will not boot when it is inserted in a DVD
ROM drive connected to a motherboard equipped with the Intel 875 chipset.
6.3 Usability Issue
- If you experience problems with your video display or mouse when
you boot from the Adaptec CD, specify your hardware by typing the
following at the command prompt:
bootcd [options] <Enter> or lowres [options] <Enter>
lowres -Forces the Adaptec CD to use a generic framebuffer of
640x480.
fbdev -Forces the Adaptec CD to use a generic framebuffer of
800x600.
options:

ø m=<mouse type>
ø s=<video server type>
ø mon=<monitor value>
ø p=<port> fbdev
ø <mouse type>
man: for manual configuration
serial: for generic, thinking, logitech, logitechcc, msnew,
msintelli, mousesystems, mmseries, mmhittab
non-serial: for alpsps/2, atibm, geniusnmps/2, geniusnsps/2,
thinkingps/2, logibm, logimman+ps/2, msintellips/2,
msbm, usb
ø <video server type>
man: for manual configuration
or one of these types:
vga16, svga, s3, mach32, mach8, 8514, p9000, agx,
w32, mach64, i128, s3V, 3dlabs
ø <monitor value> can be a number from 0 to 11:
0 - 640x480 @ 60 Hz
1 - 800x600 @ 56 Hz
2 - 1024x768 @ 87 Hz interlaced (not 800x600)
3 - 1024x768 @ 87 Hz int, 800x600 @ 56 Hz
4 - 800x600 @ 60 Hz, 640x480 @ 72 Hz
5 - 1024x768 @ 60 Hz, 800x600 @ 72 Hz
6 - 1024x768 @ 70 Hz
7 - 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz
8 - 1280x1024 @ 74 Hz
9 - 1280x1024 @ 76 Hz
10 - 1600x1200 @ 70 Hz
11 - 1600x1200 @ 76 Hz
ø <port> is a number from 1 to 4 representing com1..com4
for serial mice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
7. RAID Utility-Specific Compatibility Issues
7.1 ACU (Adaptec Configuration Utility)
- A RAID 10 created using the ACU using the CLEAR method shows as
"IMPACTED" until the CLEAR operation is complete. Also, the
drives' statuses are reported as Not Busy, even though the drives
are clearing.
7.2 AFU (Adaptec Flash Utility)
- Caution: If the disk does not have enough space to save the flash
image, an error message informs you that an error occurred while
saving the image, and AFU saves an unusable image file.
- When you use the Save command, you are prompted to insert
the disk labeled AA2161 firmware. Insert a blank, formatted disk
and label it "AA2161 Firmware Disk 1." If the disk is not

formatted, you will receive an error message telling you that
the disk cannot be opened.
7.3 CLI (Command Line Interface)
- DO NOT run concurrently with Adaptec Storage Manager. Doing so
may cause unpredictable results.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Operating System-Specific Compatibility Issues
8.1 Windows - All
- Formatting a logical volume using the My Computer function
may result in an incomplete format which would necessitate
a reformat. WORKAROUND: Use Windows Disk Management/Manager.
- PCI hotplug is not supported.
8.2 Windows 2000
- Verify that you have installed the most recent service pack.
You should use Service Pack 4 or later.
- More event notifications are generated than arrays degraded.
For example, in a configuration with four RAID 5s sharing
three drives, one failed drive causes six notifications--one for
each of the arrays affected, plus two extra for the second array.
8.3 Windows Server 2003 x64
- Check www.adaptec.com for the latest drivers.
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2025ZCR/2020SA/2025SA only --
With Windows Server 2003 (SP1 RC2), when restoring backed up
data to a local drive from a tape drive, you will get an
inconsistency error.
8.4 Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems
- The Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems drivers
on the CD are not final versions. They are supplied only for
evaluation with beta versions of the operating system and should
not be deployed in a production environment.
- Check www.adaptec.com for the latest drivers.
8.5 Linux
- When you delete an array, the operating system can
no longer see the last array either. WORKAROUND: To allow
Linux to see the last array, restart your system.
- The controller does not support attached CD drives
during OS installation.

- Hot target discovery is not supported for smaller arrays.
Arrays created may not be available to the Linux OS until an
OS reboot.
- Adaptec 2020ZCR/2025ZCR/2020SA/2025SA only --
With the SLES 9.0 64-Bit operating system, you cannot format a
spanned volume of a large size without the operating system
locking up. If this happens, you can do a hard shutdown of the
machine, however,if you try to format again, the operating
system will continue to lock up. WORKAROUND: Disable Adaptec
Storage Manager during Linux format procedure.
8.6 SCO OpenServer 5.06 and 5.07
- Adaptec 2020SA/2025SA/2810SA/21610SA controllers are supported
as secondarycontrollers, but not as bootable controllers on
these operating systems.
8.7 NetWare
- NetWare supports only a single DOS partition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Motherboards and System-Specific Compatibility Issues
9.1 BBS (BIOS Boot Specification)
- On motherboard BIOSes supporting BBS, BBS support is usually
enabled on the Adaptec controller and could cause problems
during restart. WORKAROUND: Disable BBS.
9.2 ASUS P3C-2000 and P2B
- The Adaptec RAID controllers are not supported in these
motherboards.
9.3 ASUS P4PE
- The system generates many Event 15's even though the system
continues to operate normally. WORKAROUND: To avoid filling up
the event log, delete these events periodically.
9.4 IBM E-Server XSeries 220
- If you install the Adaptec controller in a 64-bit slot and the
on-board SCSI controller is enabled, the system scans the
controller, displays the controller's banner immediately
followed by BIOS NOT INSTALLED, and then freezes.
WORKAROUND: Use a 32-bit slot or disable the on-board SCSI
controller.
9.5 IBM Netfinity 5000
- The system generates many Event 9's even though the system
continues to operate normally. WORKAROUND: To avoid filling up
the event log, delete these events periodically.

9.6 Intel Xeon (x 2 System BIOS rev: 1.26)
- Adaptec 2810SA/21610SA only -- ACU is not supported on this
motherboard. WORKAROUND: Use Adaptec Storage Manager on
the bootable CD to create arrays.
9.7 Microstar MS-6321
- The Adaptec RAID controllers are not supported in Slot 5.
WORKAROUND: Use a different slot.
9.8 SOYO KT333 Dragon Ultra
- The Adaptec controller cannot coexist with the sound driver
(system's on-board C-Media 8738). The system reboots, then
locks up, when the OS is started. WORKAROUND: Either do not
install the sound driver or disable sound hardware in the
system BIOS.
9.9 SuperMicro P3T-DDE
- Mode 0 flash is not supported with the Adaptec RAID controllers.
9.10 SuperMicro P40C6+/P4DCE (512 MB DDR RAM)
- Adaptec 2810SA/21610SA only -- ACU is not supported on this
motherboard. WORKAROUND: Use Adaptec Storage Manager on
the bootable CD to create arrays.
9.11 Tyan Trinity 400
- When running Windows Server 2003 (and possibly other Windows
systems), the Adaptec RAID controllers are not supported in
Slot 5 or 6. WORKAROUND: Use a different slot.
9.12 Tyan S2460
- The Adaptec RAID controllers are not supported in 32-bit slots
in these motherboards. WORKAROUND: Use a 64-bit slot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 2003 - 2005 Adaptec, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This software contains the valuable trade secrets of Adaptec or its
licensors. The software is protected under international copyright
laws and treaties. This software may only be used in accordance
with the terms of its accompanying license agreement.
No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior
written consent of Adaptec, Inc., 691 South Milpitas Blvd.,
Milpitas, CA 95035.