Intel SRCU32 - RAID Controller User manual

Intel®RAID Controller SRCU32
User’s Guide
Order Number: A77949-004

Disclaimer
Information in this document is provided in connection with Intel®products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or
otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document. Except as provided in Intel’s Terms and
Conditions of Sale for such products, Intel assumes no liability whatsoever, and Intel disclaims any express or implied
warranty, relating to sale and/or use of Intel products including liability or warranties relating to fitness for a particular
purpose, merchantability, or infringement of any patent, copyright or other intellectual property right. Intel products are not
designed, intended or authorized for use in any medical, life saving, or life sustaining applications or for any other application
in which the failure of the Intel®product could create a situation where personal injury or death may occur. Intel may make
changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice.
Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined."
Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising
from future changes to them.
The SRCU32 may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published
specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request
Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be
obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725, or by visiting Intel's website at <http://www.intel.com>.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
† Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Copyright © 2002, Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

iii
Contents
1Introduction and General Information........................................................13
Intended Audience.............................................................................................................. 13
RAID Levels ....................................................................................................................... 13
RAID 0 - Data Striping ............................................................................................... 13
RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring/Disk Duplexing ..................................................................... 14
RAID 4 - Data Striping with a Dedicated Parity Drive................................................. 15
RAID 5 - Data Striping with Striped Parity.................................................................. 15
RAID 10 - Combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0 .......................................................... 16
Chaining............................................................................................................................. 17
Configuring a Chaining Set Using StorCon................................................................ 17
Configuring a Chaining Set Using StorCon+.............................................................. 17
Levels of Drive Hierarchy Within the Intel®RAID Controller SRCU32 Firmware................ 18
Level 1....................................................................................................................... 18
Level 2....................................................................................................................... 18
Level 3....................................................................................................................... 18
Level 4....................................................................................................................... 19
Transparency of Host Drives .............................................................................................. 19
Using CD-ROMs, DATs, Tapes, etc........................................................................... 20
2Getting Started.............................................................................................. 21
What is the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Firmware?........................................................ 21
Standard Firmware.................................................................................................... 21
RAID Hardware Installation and Setup ............................................................................... 22
Minimum Hardware Requirements............................................................................. 22
Installing and Removing the SDRAM......................................................................... 22
Installing the SDRAM........................................................................................ 22
Removing the SDRAM...................................................................................... 23
Install the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 in the Intel® Server Board ........................ 23
Programming the FLASH Memory............................................................................. 24
SCSI Termination ...................................................................................................... 24
Termination....................................................................................................... 24
Setting the Termination Mode of the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 ................. 25
Configurable SCSI Parameters.................................................................................. 25
Choosing a Configuration .......................................................................................... 26
How Many Hard Drives Should Be Integrated Into the Disk Array? ................... 26
What Level of Redundancy is Needed?............................................................. 26
Are Hot Fix Drives Needed?.............................................................................. 27
Intel RAID Controller Hardware Features................................................................... 27
Architecture Features (HW)............................................................................... 27
Environmental Characteristics........................................................................... 28
Hard Drive Connectivity (SCSI Specifics)........................................................................... 28
Supported Hard Drive Technology............................................................................. 28
Support for Non-Hard-Disk-Drive SCSI Devices (Non-Direct-Access Devices).......... 29
Array Roaming Compatibility...................................................................................... 30
Number of Supported Devices .......................................................................... 30

iv Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
SCSI Connectors....................................................................................................... 30
LED Indicators.................................................................................................................... 31
Function Check.......................................................................................................... 31
Channel Mode ........................................................................................................... 31
PCI Bus Clock ........................................................................................................... 31
Jumpers ............................................................................................................................. 31
External LED Connectors .......................................................................................... 32
Terminator Power...................................................................................................... 32
Acoustical Alarm................................................................................................................. 32
Silencing the Acoustical Alarm in StorCon................................................................. 32
Silencing the Acoustical Alarm in StorCon+............................................................... 32
Compatible Intel RAID Controllers...................................................................................... 33
Optional RAID Features Implemented in the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 ...................... 33
Adapter Device Limitation Support............................................................................. 33
PCI Hot Plug.............................................................................................................. 33
Operational States of an Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Firmware Disk Array.................... 34
Operational States for RAID 4/5................................................................................. 34
Methods for Hard Drive Replacement................................................................................. 36
Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Quick Start ......................................................................... 37
Make an OS Installation Diskette............................................................................... 37
Install the SDRAM ..................................................................................................... 38
Install the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 in the Intel Server Board............................ 38
Use StorCon to Create a RAID Volume..................................................................... 38
Set the BIOS Boot Order ........................................................................................... 41
Install the Operating System (choose from Windows 2000 or Red Hat Linux 7.1)...... 42
Installing Windows 2000.................................................................................... 42
Installing Red Hat Linux 7.1............................................................................... 43
Alternative Method to Creating an Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Installation Diskette....... 44
Windows NT†............................................................................................................ 44
Windows 2000........................................................................................................... 44
SCO UnixWare†........................................................................................................ 44
How to Use Auto Hot Plug with SAF-TE............................................................................. 45
Setting Up Auto Hot Plug........................................................................................... 45
3Installing Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000.................................. 47
Operating System Installation Procedures.......................................................................... 47
Pre-Installation Requirements Checklist .................................................................... 47
Minimum Hardware Requirements.................................................................... 47
Minimum Software Requirements...................................................................... 48
Installing an Operating System onto a RAID Volume or Single Disk ......................... 48
Windows 2000 / NT 4.0 Installation Procedures................................................ 49
Installing the OS................................................................................................ 49
Installing an OS onto an IDE or SCSI Hard Drive Not Attached to the Intel RAID
Controller SRCU32..................................................................................... 50
Windows 2000 / NT 4.0 Installation Procedures................................................ 50
Upgrading an OS (Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000) that is Currently Installed
on a RAID Volume or Single Disk............................................................... 52
Installation to an Existing OS............................................................................. 53
Installing Drivers for the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32...................................................... 54

Contents v
4Installing Linux ............................................................................................. 55
Before you Begin................................................................................................................55
Available Drivers and Tools on the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Software Suite CD-
ROM.................................................................................................................... 55
Assumptions About Path Names ............................................................................... 55
General Installation Notes .................................................................................................. 56
Minimum Hardware Requirements............................................................................. 56
Minimum Software Requirements.............................................................................. 56
Installing Red Hat Linux 7.x on a RAID Volume (Host Drive)............................................. 56
Installing an Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 onto an Existing Linux Server......................... 57
Installation of Driver Sources from the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 CD-ROM........ 57
GDT Driver Parameters...................................................................................................... 58
Reservation of SCSI Devices..................................................................................... 58
Further Driver Parameters......................................................................................... 59
Installation of Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 StorCon Monitoring Utility............................. 60
Installation of StorCon from the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 CD-ROM.................. 60
Using StorCon Monitoring Utility................................................................................ 60
Remote Monitoring with the Intel®SRCD Remote Access Service .................................... 61
SRCD Installation Instructions from the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 CD-ROM...... 61
5Installing Novell Netware............................................................................. 63
Pre-Installation Requirements Checklist............................................................................. 63
Minimum Hardware Requirements.................................................................... 63
Minimum Software Requirements...................................................................... 63
New Installation of NetWare 4.2 and 5.1............................................................................. 64
New Installation of NetWare 4.2 with the SRCRX.HAM Driver................................... 64
New Installation of NetWare 5.xx with the SRCRX.HAM Driver ................................. 64
Adding Intel RAID SRCU32 Controller(s), Drivers, and/or StorCon to an Existing NetWare
Installation....................................................................................................................65
Installing the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Driver Package..................................... 65
Installing the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Tools Kit Package................................. 66
Configuring Tools for Remote Access............................................................... 66
ASPI Support for NetWare 4.2 and 5.1............................................................................... 66
Tips and Tricks................................................................................................................... 67
Optimize Data Throughput......................................................................................... 67
“Cache Memory Allocator Out of Available Memory” in PCI-ISA Systems.................. 68
Installing NetWare 4.1 - Wrong Drive Name .............................................................. 68
NetWare-Server Not Stable When Under High Utilization.......................................... 68
Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 and Non-ASPI Compatible Controllers....................... 69
Last Status Information.............................................................................................. 69
Adding Additional Capacity After an Online Capacity Expansion ............................... 69
Notes on ARCserve†.......................................................................................................... 70
6Installing UnixWare ...................................................................................... 71
General Installation Notes .................................................................................................. 71
Minimum Hardware Requirements............................................................................. 71
Minimum Software Requirements.............................................................................. 71
Installing the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 as an Additional Controller............................. 72
No Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Has Yet Been Configured for UnixWare............... 72

vi Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
An Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Has Already Been Configured for UnixWare......... 72
Installing an Operating System onto a Host Drive or Single Disk........................................ 72
Installation of the RAID Software Suite for UnixWare ......................................................... 73
Coordinates of SCSI Devices ............................................................................................. 73
Host Adapter Number (HA)........................................................................................ 73
UnixWare Bus Number, Target ID and LUN............................................................... 74
Configuration Example...................................................................................... 74
Additional Information......................................................................................................... 75
7Storage Console........................................................................................... 77
StorCon Features............................................................................................................... 77
StorCon Is .......................................................................................................................... 77
Loading StorCon.................................................................................................................78
Loading the StorCon Program Under NetWare.......................................................... 78
Loading StorCon on a Fileserver ............................................................................... 78
Loading StorCon on a Workstation............................................................................ 78
Loading the StorCon Program Under Windows NT/2000........................................... 79
Uninstalling the RAID Software Suite......................................................................... 81
Loading the StorCon Program Under Windows 95/98................................................ 82
Loading StorCon Under Linux.................................................................................... 82
Loading StorCon Under SCO UnixWare.................................................................... 83
The StorCon Program ........................................................................................................ 83
Select Interface.......................................................................................................... 84
Select Controller........................................................................................................ 85
Monitor and Express / Advanced Setup..................................................................... 86
Monitor Menu.................................................................................................... 86
Express Setup / Advanced Setup Menus .......................................................... 86
Monitor Menu ..................................................................................................................... 87
View Statistics ........................................................................................................... 87
View Events............................................................................................................... 88
View Hard Drive Info.................................................................................................. 89
The Retries Counter.......................................................................................... 89
The Reassigns Counter..................................................................................... 89
The Grown Defects Counter.............................................................................. 90
Last Status........................................................................................................ 90
Save Information........................................................................................................ 91
Express Setup.................................................................................................................... 92
Configure Host Drives................................................................................................ 92
Host Drive States.............................................................................................. 92
Configure New Host Drive................................................................................. 94
Host Drive Options............................................................................................ 96
Repair Array Drives ................................................................................................... 98
Advanced Setup............................................................................................................... 100
Configure Controller................................................................................................. 100
Controller Settings........................................................................................... 100
Firmware Update............................................................................................. 101
Intelligent Fault Bus......................................................................................... 101
Non-Intelligent Enclosures............................................................................... 102
Advanced Settings.......................................................................................... 103

Contents vii
Clear Log Buffer.............................................................................................. 104
Configure Physical Devices ..................................................................................... 104
Keyboard Commands...................................................................................... 104
SCSI Parameter / Initialize .............................................................................. 105
Check Surface................................................................................................. 106
View Status/Defects........................................................................................ 107
De-Initialize Disk ............................................................................................. 107
Lock/Unlock Disk............................................................................................. 107
Enclosure Status............................................................................................. 107
Configure Logical Drives................................................................................. 110
Keyboard Commands...................................................................................... 110
Configure Array Drives............................................................................................. 112
Keyboard Commands...................................................................................... 112
Change Drive Name........................................................................................ 113
Expand Array Drive......................................................................................... 113
Add RAID 1 Component.................................................................................. 114
Replace Array Component.............................................................................. 114
Remove RAID 1 Component........................................................................... 114
Remove Array Drive........................................................................................ 114
Add Hot Fix Drive............................................................................................ 115
In the Event of a Drive Failure.................................................................................. 115
Remove Hot Fix Drive..................................................................................... 116
Hot Fix Pool Access........................................................................................ 116
Parity Verify..................................................................................................... 116
Periodic Parity Verify....................................................................................... 116
Build/Rebuild Progress.................................................................................... 117
Create New Array Drive........................................................................................... 117
Notes on the Configuration of RAID 0, 1, 4, 5 and 10 Arrays Drives................ 119
Configure Host Drives.............................................................................................. 120
Change Drive Name........................................................................................ 120
Swap Host Drives............................................................................................ 120
Remove Host Drives ....................................................................................... 121
Split Host Drive ............................................................................................... 121
Merge Host Drives .......................................................................................... 121
Partition Host Drives........................................................................................ 121
Overwrite Master Boot Code........................................................................... 121
8Storage Console Plus ................................................................................ 123
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 123
Monitoring of the Whole Subsystem......................................................................... 123
Remote Configuration and Maintenance.................................................................. 123
The StorCon+ Controls..................................................................................................... 124
The Toolbar............................................................................................................. 124
The Status Bar......................................................................................................... 125
Window Menu Commands....................................................................................... 125
Help Menu Commands............................................................................................ 125
File Menu Commands.............................................................................................. 126
View Menu Commands............................................................................................ 126
The Chart Menu....................................................................................................... 126

viii Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
The Configuration Menu Commands ....................................................................... 127
Select Controller............................................................................................................... 128
Physical Configuration Window................................................................................ 130
Controller Configuration Settings............................................................................. 132
Change Settings.............................................................................................. 132
Save Information............................................................................................. 132
Firmware Update..................................................................................................... 133
I/O Processors......................................................................................................... 134
Channel Settings............................................................................................. 136
Rescan ID(s)................................................................................................... 136
Hot Plug: Add Disk......................................................................................... 136
Direct Access Devices............................................................................................. 137
The SCSI Parameter/Initialize ......................................................................... 139
Synchronous Transfer..................................................................................... 139
Disconnect...................................................................................................... 140
Tagged Queues .............................................................................................. 140
SCSI Read Cache / SCSI Write Cache........................................................... 140
De-Initialize a Physical Disk ............................................................................ 140
Lock / Unlock a Removable Disk..................................................................... 140
Non Direct Access Devices (Raw Devices).............................................................. 141
Logical Configuration Window .......................................................................................... 142
Host Drives.............................................................................................................. 142
Normal Host Drive........................................................................................... 142
Array Drives............................................................................................................. 142
Logical Drives.......................................................................................................... 144
Physical Drives........................................................................................................ 144
The Host Drive Information Window......................................................................... 145
The Array Drive Information Window ....................................................................... 146
The Logical Drive Information Window..................................................................... 148
Change the Name of a Drive.................................................................................... 149
Remove a Host Drive............................................................................................... 149
Create a New Host Drive......................................................................................... 150
Parity Verify............................................................................................................. 151
Parity Recalculate.................................................................................................... 152
Progress Information ............................................................................................... 152
Expansion of an Array.............................................................................................. 153
Add a Hot Fix Drive.................................................................................................. 155
Remove a Hot Fix Drive........................................................................................... 156
Hot Fix Pool Access................................................................................................. 156
Add a RAID 1 Component (Mirror a Drive)............................................................... 156
Remove a RAID 1 Component (Remove a Mirror Drive).......................................... 157
Replace a Logical Drive........................................................................................... 158
The Different States of an Array Drive ..................................................................... 158
The Ready State............................................................................................. 158
The Idle State.................................................................................................. 159
The Build / Rebuild State................................................................................. 159
The Fail State.................................................................................................. 160
The Error State................................................................................................ 160
The Statistics Window...................................................................................................... 161

Contents ix
The Controller Events Window ......................................................................................... 162
StorCon+ Help.................................................................................................................. 163
Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Service and Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 Mail............... 165
9Getting Help ................................................................................................ 171
World Wide Web............................................................................................................... 171
Telephone........................................................................................................................ 171
In U.S. and Canada:................................................................................................ 171
In Europe:................................................................................................................ 171
In Asia-Pacific Region:............................................................................................. 172
In Japan:.................................................................................................................. 172
In Latin America:...................................................................................................... 172
10 Regulatory and Certification Information................................................. 173
Product Regulatory Compliance....................................................................................... 173
Product Safety Compliance ..................................................................................... 173
Product EMC Compliance........................................................................................ 173
Product Regulatory Compliance Markings............................................................... 174
Electromagnetic Compatibility Notices.............................................................................. 175
FCC Verification Statement (USA)........................................................................... 175
ICES-003 (Canada)................................................................................................. 176
CE Declaration of Conformity (Europe).................................................................... 176
BSMI (Taiwan)......................................................................................................... 176
Warnings and Cautions .................................................................................................... 176
Warnings ................................................................................................................. 176
Cautions .................................................................................................................. 176
11 Appendix ..................................................................................................... 177
BIOS Information.............................................................................................................. 177
Background I/O’s..................................................................................................... 177
BIOS Boot Messages............................................................................................... 177
FLASH Memory Programming.......................................................................................... 179
Firmware Update Procedure via XROM StorCon..................................................... 179
Firmware Recovery .......................................................................................................... 180
PCI Hot Plug Overview..................................................................................................... 181
Hot Insertion............................................................................................................ 181
Hot Removal............................................................................................................ 181

x Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
Figures
Figure 1. RAID 0 – Data Striping ....................................................................................... 13
Figure 2. RAID 1 – Disk Mirroring...................................................................................... 14
Figure 3. RAID 1 – Disk Duplexing.................................................................................... 14
Figure 4. RAID 4................................................................................................................ 15
Figure 5. RAID 5................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 6. RAID 10..............................................................................................................16
Figure 7. Installing the SDRAM.......................................................................................... 23
Figure 8. External LED Connectors ................................................................................... 32
Figure 9. Operational State Diagram for RAID 4/5............................................................. 35
Figure 10. Controller Settings............................................................................................ 49
Figure 11. Component Selection (Windows NT)................................................................ 80
Figure 12. Component Selection (Windows 2000)............................................................. 80
Figure 13. Add/Remove Programs (Windows 2000 Example) ........................................... 81
Figure 14. Select Interface................................................................................................. 84
Figure 15. Remote Machine............................................................................................... 85
Figure 16. Select Controller............................................................................................... 85
Figure 17. Monitor and Express Setup / Advanced Setup Menu........................................ 86
Figure 18. View Statistics Menu......................................................................................... 87
Figure 19. Physical Drive Statistics.................................................................................... 88
Figure 20. Logfile Name .................................................................................................... 88
Figure 21. Controller Events.............................................................................................. 89
Figure 22. Hard Drive Information...................................................................................... 89
Figure 23. Hard Drive Last Status...................................................................................... 90
Figure 24. Save Information .............................................................................................. 91
Figure 25. Screen Service Messages and Async. Events.................................................. 92
Figure 26. Select Host Drive.............................................................................................. 93
Figure 27. Choose Type.................................................................................................... 95
Figure 28. Create Host Drive Confirmation........................................................................ 95
Figure 29. Hard Drive Capacity.......................................................................................... 95
Figure 30. Drive Status...................................................................................................... 96
Figure 31. Host Drive Options............................................................................................ 96
Figure 32. Array Drive Summary ....................................................................................... 98
Figure 33. Failed Hard Drive.............................................................................................. 98
Figure 34. Select Drive to Repair....................................................................................... 98
Figure 35. Replace Hard Drive Prompt.............................................................................. 99
Figure 36. Add Disk to Array Confirmation......................................................................... 99
Figure 37. Array Drive Summary ....................................................................................... 99
Figure 38. Array Drive Error State Dialog........................................................................... 99
Figure 39. Controller Settings Dialog............................................................................... 100
Figure 40. Select Enclosure............................................................................................. 102
Figure 41. Enclosure Slots............................................................................................... 103
Figure 42. Advanced Settings Dialog............................................................................... 103
Figure 43. Select Physical Drive...................................................................................... 104
Figure 44. Initialize Disk................................................................................................... 105
Figure 45. Disk Initialization Confirmation........................................................................ 106
Figure 46. View Status/Defects........................................................................................ 107
Figure 47. Enclosure Status............................................................................................. 108
Figure 48. Enclosure Slots............................................................................................... 108

Contents xi
Figure 49. Block Diagram of a SAF-TE Subsystem ......................................................... 109
Figure 50. Select Logical Drive........................................................................................ 110
Figure 51. Select Physical Drive...................................................................................... 110
Figure 52. Create Single Drive......................................................................................... 111
Figure 53. Drive Size....................................................................................................... 111
Figure 54. Select Array Drive........................................................................................... 112
Figure 55. Array Drive Menu............................................................................................ 112
Figure 56. Expand Array Dialog....................................................................................... 113
Figure 57. Remove Drive Confirmation............................................................................ 114
Figure 58. Progress Information ...................................................................................... 116
Figure 59. Create New Array Drive.................................................................................. 117
Figure 60. Choose Type.................................................................................................. 118
Figure 61. Strip Size........................................................................................................ 118
Figure 62. Choose Build Type ......................................................................................... 118
Figure 63. Create Array Drive Confirmation..................................................................... 118
Figure 64. Drive Size Dialog............................................................................................ 119
Figure 65. Array Drive Status........................................................................................... 119
Figure 66. Host Drive Configuration................................................................................. 120
Figure 67. StorCon+ Plus Toolbar ................................................................................... 124
Figure 68. Status Bar....................................................................................................... 125
Figure 69. Window Menu................................................................................................. 125
Figure 70. Help Menu...................................................................................................... 125
Figure 71. File Menu........................................................................................................ 126
Figure 72. View Menu...................................................................................................... 126
Figure 73. Chart Menu..................................................................................................... 126
Figure 74. Physical Configuration Menu.......................................................................... 127
Figure 75. Logical Configuration Menu............................................................................ 127
Figure 76. Refresh Rate Settings Dialog.......................................................................... 127
Figure 77. Logical Configuration Menu............................................................................ 128
Figure 78. Select Controller............................................................................................. 129
Figure 79. Sockets........................................................................................................... 129
Figure 80. Physical Configuration Icon ............................................................................ 130
Figure 81. Example of a Physical Configuration and the Controller Settings.................... 130
Figure 82. Controller Icon................................................................................................ 131
Figure 83. Controller Settings Dialogs ............................................................................. 131
Figure 84. Processor Information..................................................................................... 135
Figure 85. Physical Drive Information.............................................................................. 138
Figure 86. Logical Configuration...................................................................................... 142
Figure 87. Host Drive Information Window....................................................................... 145
Figure 88. Array Drive Information Window ..................................................................... 146
Figure 89. Logical Drive Information Window................................................................... 148
Figure 90. Create a New Host Drive................................................................................ 150
Figure 91. Array Build Information Dialog........................................................................ 151
Figure 92. Parity Verify.................................................................................................... 151
Figure 93. Parity Verify Progress Information .................................................................. 152
Figure 94. Logical Configuration...................................................................................... 154
Figure 95. Add Hot Fix Drive............................................................................................ 155
Figure 96. Add RAID 1 Component................................................................................. 157
Figure 97. The Ready State............................................................................................. 158

xii Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
Figure 98. The Idle State................................................................................................. 159
Figure 99. The Build / Rebuild State................................................................................ 159
Figure 100. The Fail State............................................................................................... 160
Figure 101. The Error State............................................................................................. 160
Figure 102. Statistics Window Icon.................................................................................. 161
Figure 103. Statistics Window.......................................................................................... 161
Figure 104. Controller Events Window Icon..................................................................... 162
Figure 105. Controller Events.......................................................................................... 163
Figure 106. StorCon+ Help.............................................................................................. 164
Figure 107. Services........................................................................................................ 165
Figure 108. RAID Configuration Services ........................................................................ 166
Figure 109. RAID Configuration Service Add/Remove Users........................................... 167
Figure 110. RAIDMail ...................................................................................................... 168
Figure 111. Log File Name.............................................................................................. 168
Figure 112. Workstation Names ...................................................................................... 169
Figure 113. RAID Mail Utility............................................................................................ 169
Figure 114. BIOS Boot Message..................................................................................... 177
Tables
Table 1. Hard Drive SCSI Parameters............................................................................... 25
Table 2. RAID Level, Array Type, and Hard Drive Requirements....................................... 26
Table 3. RAID Level, Hard Drives, and Usable Storage Capacity...................................... 27
Table 4. Hardware Architecture......................................................................................... 27
Table 5. Environmental Specifications............................................................................... 28
Table 6. SCSI Drive Standards.......................................................................................... 29
Table 7. Function Check.................................................................................................... 31
Table 8. Disk, Volume, and Array Limitations .................................................................... 33
Table 9. Operational States for RAID 4/5........................................................................... 34
Table 10. Additional Operational States............................................................................. 36
Table 11. Hard Drive Replacement Options....................................................................... 36
Table 12. Linux Path Names.............................................................................................. 55
Table 13. UnixWare Bus Number, Target ID, and LUN...................................................... 74
Table 14. Host Drive Types............................................................................................... 84
Table 15. Controller Settings ........................................................................................... 100
Table 16. Advanced Settings........................................................................................... 103
Table 17. View Status/Defects......................................................................................... 107
Table 18. Toolbar Icons................................................................................................... 124
Table 19. Configuration Menu Refresh Settings............................................................... 128
Table 20. Controller Settings ........................................................................................... 132
Table 21. I/O Processor Icons ......................................................................................... 134
Table 22. Direct Access Device Icons.............................................................................. 137
Table 23. Data Transfer Rates......................................................................................... 139
Table 24. Non Direct Access Devices.............................................................................. 141
Table 25. Host Drive Icons .............................................................................................. 142
Table 26. Array Drive Icons ............................................................................................. 143
Table 27. Logical Drive Icons........................................................................................... 144
Table 28. Physical Drive Icon .......................................................................................... 144
Table 29. Event Window Icons ........................................................................................ 162

13
1 Introduction and General Information
Intended Audience
To use this product you should have experience in configuring computer equipment. You should
be able to install and configure the operating system (OS) to recognize peripherals and you should
be able to use software utilities to configure and troubleshoot those installed components. Be sure
that you are familiar with the installation and setup of the OS that you are installing. For detailed
OS installation procedures, consult the documentation that came with the OS.
Read and adhere to all warnings, cautions, and notices in this guide and the other documents in the
user documentation set supplied with this product. Read and adhere to the computer system safety
installation instructions.
RAID Levels
RAID 0 - Data Striping
Data blocks are split into stripes based on the adjusted stripe size (for example, 128 KB) and the
number of hard drives. Each stripe is stored on a separate hard drive. Significant improvement of
the data throughput is achieved using this RAID level, especially with sequential read and write.
RAID 0 (Figure 1) includes no redundancy. When one hard drive fails, all data is lost. RAID 0
requires a minimum of two disks.
Figure 1. RAID 0 – Data Striping

14 Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring/Disk Duplexing
All data is stored twice on two identical hard drives. When one hard drive fails, all data is
immediately available on the other without any impact on performance and data integrity.
With Disk Mirroring (Figure 2) two hard drives are mirrored on one I/O channel. If each hard drive
is connected to a separate I/O channel, it is called Disk Duplexing (Figure 3).
RAID 1 represents an easy and highly efficient solution for data security and system availability. It
is especially suitable for installations that are not too large (the available capacity is only half of the
installed capacity). RAID 1 requires a minimum of two disks.
Figure 2. RAID 1 – Disk Mirroring
Figure 3. RAID 1 – Disk Duplexing

Introduction and General Information 15
RAID 4 - Data Striping with a Dedicated Parity Drive
RAID 4 (Figure 4) works in the same way as RAID 0. The data is striped across the hard drives
and the controller calculates redundancy data (parity information) that is stored on a separate hard
drive (P1, P2). Should one hard drive fail, all data remains fully available. Missing data is
recalculated from existing data and parity information.
Unlike in RAID 1 only the capacity of one hard drive is needed for redundancy. For example, in a
RAID 4 disk array with five hard drives, 80% of the installed hard drive capacity is available as
user capacity, only 20% is used for redundancy. In systems with many small data blocks, the parity
hard drive becomes a throughput bottleneck. With large data blocks, RAID 4 shows significantly
improved performance. RAID 4 requires a minimum of three disks.
Figure 4. RAID 4
RAID 5 - Data Striping with Striped Parity
Unlike RAID 4, the parity data in a RAID 5 disk array are striped across all hard drives (Figure 5).
The RAID 5 disk array delivers a balanced throughput. Even with small data blocks, which are
very likely in a multi-tasking and multi-user environment, the response time is very good. RAID 5
offers the same level of security as RAID 4. When one hard drive fails, all data is still fully
available. Missing data is recalculated from the existing data and parity information. RAID 4 and
RAID 5 are particularly suitable for systems with medium to large capacity requirements, due to
their efficient ratio of installed and available capacity. RAID 5 requires a minimum of three disks.

16 Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
Figure 5. RAID 5
RAID 10 - Combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0
RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 0 (Performance) and RAID 1 (Data Security). Unlike RAID 4
and RAID 5, there is no need to calculate parity information. RAID 10 disk arrays offer good
performance and data security (Figure 6). As in RAID 0, optimum performance is achieved in
highly sequential load situations. Identical to RAID 1, 50% of the installed capacity is lost through
redundancy. RAID 10 requires a minimum of four disks.
Figure 6. RAID 10

Introduction and General Information 17
Chaining
The Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 firmware supports Drive Chaining (also referred to as Disk
Spanning). Drive Chaining is the process of linking several individual drives to form a large single
drive. Chaining is only available after having selected two or more drives in the Storage Console
(StorCon) or Storage Console Plus (StorCon+). Chaining is an inexpensive method to obtain a
large logical unit from many smaller hard drives.
WARNING
Disk Chaining does not offer any form of data protection and can result in loss of data. It is
therefore recommended not to use logical drives of the type chain as components of array drives.
Configuring a Chaining Set Using StorCon
1. Select “Create New Host Drive.”
2. Select two or more drives.
3. Select “Chaining.”
Configuring a Chaining Set Using StorCon+
1. Click the “New host drive” icon.
2. Select “Configuration,” “Host Drive,” and “Create New.” A new host drive window appears.
3. Select a drive(s) using <Shift> and arrow keys. Chaining is grayed out before selecting two
drives and is available after selecting two drives.
4. Select “Chaining” and press <Enter>.
The System will configure the chain set that is now a logical drive.

18 Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
Levels of Drive Hierarchy Within the Intel®RAID
Controller SRCU32 Firmware
The Intel®RAID Controller SRCU32 firmware is based on four fundamental levels of hierarchy.
Each level has its own drives (components). The basic rule is to build up a drive on a given level of
hierarchy. The drives of the next lower level of hierarchy are used as components.
Level 1
Physical drives are hard drives and removable hard drives. Some Magneto Optical (MO) drives are
located on the lowest level. Physical drives are the basic components of all “drive constructions.”
However, before they can be used by the firmware, these hard drives must be “prepared” through a
procedure called initialization. During this initialization each hard drive receives information,
which allows an univocal identification even if the SCSI ID or the controller is changed. For
reasons of data coherency, this information is extremely important for any drive construction
consisting of more than one physical drive.
Level 2
On the next higher level are the logical drives. Logical drives are introduced to obtain full
independence of the physical coordinates of a physical device. This is necessary to easily change
the Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 and the channels, IDs, without loosing the data and the
information on a specific disk array.
Level 3
On this level of hierarchy, the firmware forms the array drives. Depending on the firmware
installed an array drive can be:
• Single Disks: one disk or a JBOD (just a bunch of drives)
• Chaining sets (concatenation of several hard drives)
• RAID 0 array drives
• RAID 1 array drives, RAID 1 array drives plus a hot fix drive
• RAID 4 array drives, RAID 4 array drives plus a hot fix drive
• RAID 5 array drives, RAID 5 array drives plus a hot fix drive
• RAID 10 array drives, RAID 10 array drives plus a hot fix drive

Introduction and General Information 19
Level 4
On level 4, the firmware forms the host drives. Only these drives can be accessed by the host
operating system of the computer. The firmware automatically transforms each newly installed
logical drive and array drive into a host drive. This host drive is then assigned a host drive number
which is identical to its logical drive or array drive number.
The firmware is capable of running several kinds of host drives at the same time. For example, in
Windows†2000, drive C is a RAID 5 type host drive (consisting of five SCSI hard drives), drive D
is a single hard drive. On this level the user may split an existing array drive into several host
drives.
After a capacity expansion of a given array drive the added capacity appears as a new host drive on
this level. It can be either used as a separate host drive, or merged with the first host drive of the
array drive. Within StorCon, each level of hierarchy has its own menu:
Level 1 - Configure Physical Devices
Level 2 - Configure Logical Drives
Level 3 - Configure Array Drives
Level 4 - Configure Host Drives
Generally, each installation procedure passes through these four menus, starting with level 1.
Installation includes the initializing the physical drives, configuring the logical drives, configuring
the array drives (for example, RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, and 10) and configuring the host drives.
Transparency of Host Drives
The structure of the host drives installed with StorCon (see Chapter 7, Storage Console) is not
known to the operating system. For example, the operating system does not recognize that a given
host drive consists of a number of hard drives forming a disk array.
To the operating system this host drive simply appears as one single hard drive with the capacity of
the disk array. This complete transparency represents the easiest way to operate disk arrays under
the operating system. Neither operating system nor the PCI computer need to be involved in the
administration of these complex disk array configurations.

20 Intel RAID Controller SRCU32 User’s Guide
Using CD-ROMs, DATs, Tapes, etc.
A SCSI device that is not a SCSI hard drive or a removable hard drive, or that does not behave like
one, is called a Non-Direct Access Device. Such a device is not configured with StorCon and does
not become a logical drive or host drive. SCSI devices of this kind are either operated through the
Advanced SCSI programming Interface (ASPI) (MS-DOS†, Windows, Novell NetWare†or OS/2†),
or are directly accessed from the operating system (UNIX†, Windows NT†).
✏ NOTE
Hard disks and removable hard disks are called Direct Access Devices. However, there are some
Non-Direct Access Devices, for example, certain MO drive that can be operated just like removable
hard disks if they have been appropriately configured (for example, by changing their jumper
settings).