American Megatrends MegaRAID Express 500 Installation instructions

MegaRAID®Express 500
Hardware Guide
Preliminary Draft
MAN-475
4/14/2000

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
ii
© Copyright 2000 American Megatrends, Inc.
All rights reserved.
American Megatrends, Inc.
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Revision History
4/14/00 Initial release.

Preface iii
Table of Contents
1 Overview...................................................1
Single Ended and Differential SCSI Buses .......................2
Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards....................2
Documentation..................................................................3
MegaRAID Express 500 Block Diagram..........................4
2 Introduction to RAID................................5
RAID Benefits...................................................................5
In This Chapter..................................................................6
MegaRAID Express 500 – Host-Based RAID Solution....7
RAID Overview................................................................8
Consistency Check............................................................8
Fault Tolerance .................................................................8
Disk Striping.....................................................................9
Disk Spanning.................................................................10
Disk Mirroring ................................................................11
Parity...............................................................................12
Hot Spares.......................................................................13
Disk Rebuild ...................................................................14
Logical Drive ..................................................................15
Hot Swap.........................................................................15
SCSI Drive States............................................................15
Logical Drive States........................................................15
Disk Array Types............................................................16
Enclosure Management...................................................16
3 RAID Levels............................................17
Selecting a RAID Level ..................................................18
RAID 0............................................................................19
RAID 1............................................................................20
RAID 3............................................................................21
RAID 5............................................................................23
RAID 10..........................................................................24
RAID 30..........................................................................25
RAID 50..........................................................................26

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
iv
Table of Contents, Continued
4 Features..................................................27
Hardware Requirements..................................................28
Configuration Features....................................................28
Hardware Architecture Features......................................29
Array Performance Features............................................29
RAID Management Features...........................................30
Fault Tolerance Features.................................................30
Software Utilities ............................................................31
Operating System Software Drivers................................31
MegaRAID Express 500 Specifications..........................32
PCI Bridge/CPU..............................................................33
Cache Memory................................................................33
MegaRAID BIOS............................................................34
Onboard Speaker.............................................................34
Serial Port .......................................................................34
SCSI Bus.........................................................................34
SCSI Connectors.............................................................35
SCSI Termination............................................................35
SCSI Firmware................................................................35
RAID Management.........................................................36
Fault-Tolerance Features.................................................37
Compatibility...................................................................38
Summary.........................................................................38
5 Configuring MegaRAID Express 500....39
Configuring SCSI Physical Drives..................................39
Current Configuration.....................................................40
Logical Drive Configuration...........................................40
Physical Device Layout...................................................42
Configuring Arrays..........................................................44
Configuration Strategies..................................................45
Assigning RAID Levels ..................................................47
Configuring Logical Drives.............................................47
Optimizing Data Storage.................................................48
Planning the Array Configuration ...................................49
Array Configuration Planner...........................................50

Preface v
Table of Contents, Continued
6 Hardware Installation ............................51
Installation Steps.............................................................52
Step 1 Unpack.................................................................53
Step 2 Power Down.........................................................53
Step 3 Configure Motherboard........................................53
Step 4 Install Cache Memory..........................................54
Step 5 Set Jumpers..........................................................56
MegaRAID Express 500 Card Layout ............................56
Step 6 Set Termination....................................................59
SCSI Termination............................................................60
Step 7 Install MegaRAID Express 500 ...........................63
Step 8 Connect SCSI Cables...........................................64
Step 9 Set Target IDs......................................................65
Device Identification on MegaRAID Express 500..........66
Step 10 Power Up ...........................................................67
Step 11 Run MegaRAID BIOS Setup.............................67
Step 12 Install the Operating System Driver...................68
7 Troubleshooting ....................................71
BIOS Boot Error Messages.............................................73
Other BIOS Error Messages............................................75
DOS ASPI Driver Error Messages..................................76
Other Potential Problems ................................................77
A SCSI Cables and Connectors ...............79
SCSI Connectors.............................................................79
68-Pin High Density SCSI Internal Connector................79
High-Density 68-Pin SCSI Connector Pinout.................85
68-Pin Connector Pinout for LVD SCSI.........................87
B Audible Warnings .........................................89
Glossary............................................................91
Index................................................................101

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
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Preface
The MegaRAID Express 500 PCI RAID Controller supports all single ended and low-
voltage differential (LVD) SCSI devices on a 160M Ultra and Wide SCSI channel with
data transfer rates up to 160 MB/s (Megabytes per second). This manual describes
MegaRAID Express 500.
Limited Warranty The buyer agrees if this product proves to be defective, that American Megatrends is only
obligated to repair or replace this product at American Megatrends’ discretion according
to the terms and conditions of the warranty registration card that accompanies this
product. American Megatrends shall not be liable in tort or contract for any loss or
damage, direct, incidental or consequential resulting from the use of this product. Please
see the Warranty Registration Card shipped with this product for full warranty details.
Limitations of Liability American Megatrends, Inc. shall in no event be held liable for any loss, expenses, or
damages of any kind whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential
(whether arising from the design or use of this product or the support materials provided
with the product). No action or proceeding against American Megatrends may be
commenced more than two years after the delivery of product to Licensee of Licensed
Software.
Licensee agrees to defend and indemnify American Megatrends from any and all claims,
suits, and liabilities (including attorney’s fees) arising out of or resulting from any actual
or alleged act or omission on the part of Licensee, its authorized third parties, employees,
or agents, in connection with the distribution of Licensed Software to end-users,
including, without limitation, claims, suits, and liability for bodily or other injuries to
end-users resulting from use of Licensee’s product not caused solely by faults in
Licensed Software as provided by American Megatrends to Licensee. Cont’d

Preface vii
Preface, Continued
Package Contents You should have received:
•a MegaRAID Express 500 PCI RAID Controller
•a CD with drivers, utilities, and documentation
•aMegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide (on CD)
•aMegaRAID Configuration Software Guide (on CD)
•aMegaRAID Operating System Drivers Guide (on CD)
•software license agreement (on CD)
•a warranty registration card (on CD)
Technical Support If you need help installing, configuring, or running the MegaRAID Express
500 PCI RAID Controller, call your American Megatrends OEM Technical
Support representative. Before you call, please complete the MegaRAID
Problem Report form on the next page.
Web Site We invite you to access the American Megatrends world wide web site at:
http://www.ami.com.
FTP Site The address of the American Megatrends FTP site is:
ftp://ftp.megatrends.com

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
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MegaRAID Problem Report Form
Customer Information MegaRAID Information
Name Today’s Date
Company Date of Purchase
Address Invoice Number
City/State Serial Number
Country
email address Cache Memory
Phone Firmware Version
Fax BIOS Version
System Information
Motherboard: BIOS manufacturer:
Operating System: BIOS Date:
Op. Sys. Ver.: Video Adapter:
MegaRAID
Driver Ver.: CPU Type/Speed:
Network Card: System Memory:
Other disk controllers
installed: Other adapter cards installed:
Description of problem:
Steps necessary to re-create problem:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Logical Drive Configuration
Logical
Drive RAID Level Stripe Size Logical Drive
Size Cache
Policy Read Policy Write Policy #ofPhysical
Drives
LD1
LD2
LD3
LD4
LD5
LD6
LD7
LD8
LD9
LD10
LD11
LD12
LD13
LD14
LD15
LD16
LD17
LD18
LD19
LD20

Preface ix
Logical
Drive RAID Level Stripe Size Logical Drive
Size Cache
Policy Read Policy Write Policy #ofPhysical
Drives
LD21
LD22
LD23
LD24
LD25
LD26
LD27
LD28
LD29
LD30
LD31
LD32
LD33
LD34
LD35
LD36
LD37
LD38
LD39
LD40

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
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Physical Device Layout
Channel 1
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type

Preface xi
Channel 1
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level
Target ID
Device Type
Logical Drive Number/ Drive Number
Manufacturer/Model Number
Firmware level

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
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Preface, Continued
Disclaimer This manual describes the operation of the American Megatrends MegaRAID Express
500 Disk Array Controller. Although efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the
information contained here, American Megatrends expressly disclaims liability for any
error in this information, and for damages, whether direct, indirect, special, exemplary,
consequential or otherwise, that may result from such error, including but not limited to
the loss of profits resulting from the use or misuse of the manual or information
contained therein (even if American Megatrends has been advised of the possibility of
such damages). Any questions or comments regarding this document or its contents
should be addressed to American Megatrends at the address shown on the cover.
American Megatrends provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose.
Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties or the limitation or
exclusion of liability for indirect, special, exemplary, incidental or consequential
damages in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may not apply to you. Also, you
may have other rights which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes
are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in
new editions of the publication. American Megatrends may make improvements and/or
revisions in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any
time.
Requests for technical information about American Megatrends products should be made
to your American Megatrends authorized reseller or marketing representative.

Preface xiii
FCC Regulatory Statement
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device
may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
Warning: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance
could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15
of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential
installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee
that interference will not occur in a specific installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, try to correct the interference by one or
more of the following measures:
1) Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
2) Increase the separation between the equipment and
the receiver.
3) Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from
that to which the receiver is connected.
4) Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician
for help.
Shielded interface cables must be used with this product to ensure compliance with the Class B
FCC limits.
American Megatrends MegaRAID Express 500 PCI RAID Controller
Model Number: Series 475
FCCIDNumber: IUESER475
Disclaimer
AMI certifies only that this product will work correctly when this
product is used with the same jumper settings, the same system
configuration, the same memory module parts, and the same
peripherals that were tested by AMI with this product. The complete
list of tested jumper settings, system configurations, peripheral
devices, and memory modules are documented in the AMI
Compatibility Report for this product. Call your AMI sales
representative for a copy of the Compatibility Report for this product.

MegaRAID Express500 Hardware Guide
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Chapter 1 Overview 1
1Overview
The MegaRAID® Express 500 PCI RAID controller is a high performance
intelligent PCI-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. The
MegaRAID Express 500 provides reliability, high performance, and fault-
tolerant disk subsystem management. The MegaRAID Express 500 is part of the
American Megatrends Intel i960RM/RS-based MegaRAID controller family.
The MegaRAID Express 500 is an entry level-to mid-range RAID controller
solution. MegaRAID Express 500 offers a cost-effective way to implement
RAID in a server. The MegaRAID Express 500 has a 160 M Ultra and Wide
SCSI channel supporting data transfer rates up to 160 Megabytes per second
(MB/s) per channel. The SCSI channel supports up to fifteen non-Ultra SCSI
devices. MegaRAID Express 500 includes MegaRAID features and
performance.
Features MegaRAID Express 500 features include:
•provides a high performance I/O migration path while preserving existing PCI-SCSI
software
•Performs SCSI data transfers up to 160 MB/s
•performs synchronous operation on a wide LVD SCSI bus
•allows up to 15 LVD SCSI devices on the wide bus
•includes an Intel® i960RM that performs RAID calculations and routing
•supports 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 MB of SDRAM cache memory in a DIMM socket
used for read and write-back caching and RAID 5 parity generation
SCSI Channel The MegaRAID Express 500 upgrade card includes one Ultra3 SCSI channel.
The channel is powered by a Q-Logic ISP10160A 160M SCSI processor.
NVRAM and Flash ROM A 32 KB x 8 NVRAM stores RAID system configuration information.
The MegaRAID Express 500 firmware is stored in flash ROM for easy upgrade.
SCSI Connectors MegaRAID Express 500 has one ultra high density 68-pin external connector
for external storage subsystem and one high density 68-pin internal connector.

MegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide
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Single Ended and Differential SCSI Buses
The SCSI standard defines two electrical buses:
•a single ended bus
•low-voltage differential bus
Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards
Standard Single ended LVD Maximum Number of
Drives
SCSI I 6 m 12 m 7
Fast SCSI 6 m 12 m 7
Fast Wide SCSI 6 m 12 m 15
Ultra SCSI 1.5 m 12 m 7
Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3
Wide Ultra SCSI 12 m 15
Wide Ultra SCSI 1.5 m 12 m 7
Wide Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3
Ultra 2 SCSI 25 m 1
Ultra 2 SCSI 12 m 7
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 25 m 1
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 12 m 15
Ultra3 SCSI 25m 1
Ultra3 SCSI 12m 7
Wide Ultra3 SCSI 25m 1
Wide Ultra3 SCSI 12m 15
SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput
SCSI Standard SCSI Bus Width SCSI Throughput
SCSI I 8 bits 5 MB/s
Fast SCSI 8 bits 10 MB/s
Fast Wide SCSI 16 bits 20 MB/s
Ultra SCSI 8 bits 20 MB/s
Wide Ultra SCSI 16 bits 40 MB/s
Ultra 2 SCSI 8 bits 40 MB/s
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 16 bits 80 MB/s
Ultra3 SCSI 8 bits 80 MB/s
Wide Ultra3 SCSI 16 bits 160 MB/s

Chapter 1 Overview 3
Documentation
The MegaRAID Express 500 documentation set includes:
MegaRAID Configuration Hardware Guide This manual contains the RAID overview, RAID
planning, and RAID system configuration information you will need first. Read
the MegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide first.
MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide This manual describes the software configuration
utilities that configure and modify RAID systems.
MegaRAID Operating System Drivers Guide This manual provides detailed information about
installing the MegaRAID Express 500 operating system drivers.

MegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide
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MegaRAID Express 500 Block Diagram

Chapter 2 Introduction to RAID 5
2 Introduction to RAID
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is an array of multiple
independent hard disk drives that provide high performance and fault tolerance.
A RAID disk subsystem improves I/O performance over a computer using only a
single drive. The RAID array appears to the host computer as a single storage
unit or as multiple logical units. I/O is expedited because several disks can be
accessed simultaneously. RAID systems improve data storage reliability and
fault tolerance compared to single-drive computers. Data loss because of a disk
drive failure can be recovered by reconstructing missing data from the remaining
data and parity drives.
RAID Benefits
RAID has gained popularity because it improves I/O performance and increases
storage subsystem reliability. RAID provides data security through fault
tolerance and redundant data storage. The MegaRAID Express 500 management
software configures and monitors RAID disk arrays.
Improved I/O Although disk drive capabilities have improved drastically, actual performance
has been improved only three to four times in the last decade. Computing
performance has been improved over 50 times during the same time period.
Increased Reliability The electromechanical components of a disk subsystem operate more
slowly, require more power, and generate more noise and vibration than
electronic devices. These factors reduce the reliability of data stored on disks.

MegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide
6
In This Chapter
The following topics are discussed:
Major Topic Subtopic turn to
Host-based solution page 7
RAID overview page 8
Consistency check page 8
Fault tolerance page 8
Disk striping page 9
Disk spanning page 10
Disk mirroring page 11
Parity page 12
Hot spares page 13
Disk rebuilds page 14
Logical drive page 15
Hot swap page 15
SCSI drive states page 15
Logical drive states page 15
Disk array types page 16
Enclosure management page 16