Mylex DAC960PG User manual

PCI RAID Controller
Installation Guide
DAC960PG
PCI to Ultra-SCSI
P/N: 771971-D01

DAC960PG
PCI to Ultra-SCSI
RAID Controller
Installation Guide
Part Number 771971-D01
© Copyright 1997 Mylex Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
All contents of this manual are copyrighted by Mylex
Corporation. The information contained herein is the
exclusive property of Mylex Corporation and shall not be
copied, transferred, photocopied, translated on paper, film,
electronic media, or computer-readable form; or otherwise
reproduced in any way, without the express written
permission of Mylex Corporation.

Notice
This Manual describes the Mylex DAC960PG.
Although reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information
contained herein, this publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical
errors. Mylex Corporation 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 loss of profits resulting from
the use or misuse of the manual or information contained therein (even if Mylex
Corporation has been advised of the possibility of such damages). Any questions or
comments regarding this document or its contents should be addressed to Mylex
Corporation at the address shown on the cover.
The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any country where
such provisions are inconsistent with local law:
MYLEX CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION “AS IS” WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 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.
Information in this publication is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Mylex Corporation. Changes may be made periodically to the
information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication.
Mylex Corporation reserves the right to make improvements and/or changes at any time in
the product(s) and/or program(s) described in this publication.
It is possible that this publication may contain reference to, or information about, Mylex
Corporation products (machines and programs), programming or services that are not
announced in your country. Such references or information must not be construed to mean
that Mylex Corporation intends to announce, provide, or make available such Mylex
products, programming, or services in your jurisdiction.
Requests for technical information about Mylex Corporation products should be made to
your Mylex authorized reseller or Mylex marketing representative.
Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation. DAC960 is a trademark of Mylex
Corporation.
Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Windows,
Windows 95, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
SCO and UnixWare are registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Ltd.
Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.
OS/2 and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Intel and i960 are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Unless otherwise noted, companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious.

Class B Compliance
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.
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 residential installations.
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not
installed andused in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference
to radio communications. However, there is not guarantee that interference will not
occur in a particular installation.
If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception,
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged
to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
1. Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
2. Move the equipment away from the receiver
3. Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the
receiver is powered.
If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television
technician for additional suggestions.
All external connections should be made using shielded cables.
mCaution
Only equipment certified to comply with Class B
(computer input/output devices, terminals, printers,
etc.) should be attached to this equipment.
Finally, any changes or modifications to the
equipment by the user not expressly approved by the
grantee or manufacturer could void the user’s
authority to operate such equipment.

Declaration of Conformity
Manufacturer’s Name: Mylex Corporation
Manufacturer’s Address: 34551 Ardenwood Blvd.
Fremont, CA94555-3607
USA
Declares that the product:
Product Name: 1, 2, and 3 Channel RAID Controller
Model Number(s): DAC960PG, Fab. 550107 Rev. A
Year of Manufacture: 1997
Conforms to the following Product Specification(s):
EMC: EN 50081-1:1992/EN 55022:1992 Class B
EN 50082-1:1992 - Generic Immunity
EN 61000-4-2:1995,4kV CD, 8kV AD
EN 50140:1995, 3 V/m, 80 - 1000 MHz, 80%
EN 61000-4-4:1995, 0.5kV I/O, 1kV Power
Supplementary Information:
The product herewith complies with the requirements to the EMC Directive
89/336/EEC
Declaration that the equipment specified above conforms to the above
directive(s) and standard(s) is on file and available for inspection at the
manufacturer’s address cited above.

Community of Europe
CE mark is rated for the DAC960PG as follows:
CISPR 22 Radiated Emission
EN55022, EN5082-1 Generic immunity standard for the following:
IEC 801-2 ESD, IEC 801-3 Radiated, and IEC 801-4 EFT/Burst
Warning!
This is a Class B product. In a residential environment this product may cause radio
interference, in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures.
Achtung!
Dieses ist ein Gerät der Funkstörgrenzwertklasse B. In Wohnbereichen können bei
Betrieb dieses Gerätes Rundfunkstörungen aufreten, in welchen Fällen der Benutzer
für entsprechende Gegenmaßnahmen verantwortlich ist.
Avertissement!
Cet appareil est un appareil de Classe B. Dans un environnement résidentiel cet
appareil peut provoquer des brouillages radioélectriques. Dans ce cas, il peut être
demandé à l’utilisateur de prendre des mésures appropriées.

About This Manual
This installation guide covers hardware set-up and configuration procedures
necessary for the installation of a DAC960PG PCI to Ultra-SCSI Raid
controller.
Chapter 1 is an introduction to the DAC960PG, providing an overview of
what the product is, operating system platforms that are supported, and the
prerequisites for product installation.
Chapter 2 is a functional description of the DAC960PG. This section also
provides detailed configuration information, and discusses options.
Chapter 3 explains installation procedures in detail, and includes an
installation checklist.
Chapter 4 gives information regarding firmware, BIOS start-sequences,
BIOS set-up options, and error messages.
Appendix A discusses enclosure management capability.
Appendix B (not included in the Beta version of this document) Describes
the Intelligent Battery Backup Unit (IBBU) and provides information on
how to install it.
The glossary defines the RAID terminology used in this manual.

Conventions
Throughout the manual, the following conventions are used to describe user
interaction with the product:
bold The user must enter the bold text exactly as shown
↵Press the Enter key
Enter Press the key labeled “Enter” (or “Delete”, etc.)
File, Run Select the Run option from the pull-down menu
activated when the File menu pad is selected
☛Note
Supplementary information that can have an effect on
system performance
mCaution
Notification that a proscribed action has the potential
to adversely affect equipment operation, system
performance, or data integrity
,WARNING
Notification that a proscribed action will definitely
result in equipment damage, data loss, or personal
injury

Manual No. 771971 ix
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction
Product Description ...........................................................................1-1
Standard Package Contents .............................................................1-4
Options .......................................................................................1-4
User-Supplied Items ...................................................................1-4
Controller Functions and Features ....................................................1-5
Key Features ..............................................................................1-5
DAC960PG Specifications ................................................................1-8
Specifications (continued) ..........................................................1-9
Chapter 2
Functional Description
Overview ...........................................................................................2-1
Controller Components .....................................................................2-1
SCSI Functions .................................................................................2-6
Multiple SCSI Format Support ...................................................2-6
SCSI Cabling and Termination Conventions ..............................2-6
SCSI Address (Target ID) Selection ...........................................2-7
Drive Organization .............................................................................2-8
Physical Drives (Drive Groups or Packs) ...................................2-8
Logical Drives (System Drives) ..................................................2-8
Configuration on Disk .................................................................2-9
RAID Management ..........................................................................2-12
RAID Techniques and Terms ...................................................2-13
Striping Terminology ................................................................2-17
Drive Management ..........................................................................2-18
Controlling Physical Drive States .............................................2-18
Controlling Logical Unit States .................................................2-19
Controlling Standby Replacement Drives (Hot Spares) ...........2-20
Hot-Swap Drive Replacement ..................................................2-21
Disk Failure Detection ..............................................................2-21
Disk Media Error Management .................................................2-21
Checking Disk Consistency ......................................................2-22
Cache Management ........................................................................2-23
Read Cache .............................................................................2-23
Write-Back Cache ....................................................................2-23
Write-Through Cache ...............................................................2-23
Cache Battery Backup .............................................................2-23

x DAC960PG Installation Guide
Chapter 3
Installation
Installation Overview .........................................................................3-1
Requirements ....................................................................................3-1
Optional Requirements ...............................................................3-1
Before You Begin . . . ........................................................................3-2
DAC960PG Installation Checklist ...............................................3-6
Connectors and Jumpers ..................................................................3-7
External LED Connector .............................................................3-8
SCSI Termination ..............................................................................3-9
Terminating Internal Disk Arrays ................................................3-9
Terminating External Disk Arrays .............................................3-11
Terminating Combined Internal and External Disk Arrays ........3-12
Selecting the Correct Terminator ..............................................3-12
Configuring the SCSI Devices .........................................................3-13
Setting Device Termination Power ...........................................3-13
Setting Drive Spin-up & Parity Jumpers ...................................3-13
SCSI Cabling ...................................................................................3-14
Cable Lengths ..........................................................................3-15
Connecting Non-Disk Devices ..................................................3-16
Using a UPS ....................................................................................3-17
Cache Battery Backup Option .........................................................3-18
Battery Backup Module Connector ...........................................3-18
Chapter 4
Start-up Sequences
Introduction ........................................................................................4-1
System Power-Up Sequence .............................................................4-1
BIOS Start-up Sequence ............................................................4-1
Setting BIOS Options ........................................................................4-2
Invoking the BIOS Options Menu ...............................................4-2
BIOS Enable or Disable .............................................................4-5
CD-ROM Boot Disable or Enable ...............................................4-5
Enable 8 GByte or 2 GByte Drives .............................................4-6
Error Messages .................................................................................4-6
Start-up Error Messages ............................................................4-6
Drive Check Error Messages ......................................................4-7
Aborted Installation ............................................................................4-9
NVRAM Error .............................................................................4-9
System Reboot or Power Down .........................................................4-9

Manual No. 771971 xi
Appendix A
Enclosure Management
Introduction ........................................................................................A-1
SAF-TE ..............................................................................................A-1
Appendix B
Intelligent Battery Backup Unit
Product Description ...........................................................................B-1
Features .....................................................................................B-1
IBBU Components .....................................................................B-1
IBBU Specifications ...........................................................................B-2
Electrical .....................................................................................B-2
On-board Battery ........................................................................B-2
Battery Charge Life ....................................................................B-2
External Battery ..........................................................................B-2
Module Dimensions ....................................................................B-2
Environmental ............................................................................B-2
Functional Description .......................................................................B-3
General Operational Description ................................................B-3
Status Indication .........................................................................B-3
Battery and Charge Circuit .........................................................B-4
Installation .........................................................................................B-5
Mechanical Installation Procedure .............................................B-5
Operation ...........................................................................................B-7
Battery Conditioning Prior to Use ...............................................B-7
Set-up – Enabling the Write-Back Cache ...................................B-7
Maintenance ...............................................................................B-7
Battery Backup Capacity ...................................................................B-8
Calculations for Battery Duration ...............................................B-8
Removing the Battery Backup Module .......................................B-9
Recycling the Battery ...............................................................B-10
Glossary
Battery Backup Unit .............................................................................. 1
Cache ................................................................................................... 1
Cache Flush ......................................................................................... 1
Cache Line Size ................................................................................... 1
Channel ................................................................................................ 1
Consistency Check ............................................................................... 1
Disk Failure Detection .......................................................................... 2
Disk Media Error Management ............................................................. 2
Drive Groups (or Drive Packs) .............................................................. 2

xii DAC960PG Installation Guide
Hot Replacement of Disks (“Hot Swap”) ...............................................3
IBBU .....................................................................................................3
Intelligent Battery Backup Unit .............................................................3
Logical Drive States ..............................................................................3
Logical Drives .......................................................................................4
Mirroring ...............................................................................................4
Pack ......................................................................................................4
Parity ....................................................................................................4
RAID .....................................................................................................5
Replacement Table ..............................................................................6
Rotated XOR Redundancy ...................................................................6
SCSI Drive ............................................................................................6
SCSI Drive States .................................................................................6
Segment Size .......................................................................................7
Session .................................................................................................8
Standard Disk Drive ..............................................................................8
Standby Replacement of Disks (“Hot Spare”) .......................................8
Stripe Order ..........................................................................................9
Stripe Size ............................................................................................9
Stripe Width ........................................................................................10
Striping ...............................................................................................10
System Drives ....................................................................................10
Target ID .............................................................................................10
Write Back Cache ...............................................................................11
Write Through Cache .........................................................................11

Manual No. 771971 1-1
Chapter 1
Introduction
Product Description
Figure 1-1. DAC960PG Three-channel RAID Controller
The DAC960PG is a 1, 2, or 3-channel, high performance, PCI to Ultra-
SCSI RAID controller. Some of the features which are supported by the
DAC960PG controller include:
• The ability to add capacity on-line while maintaining continuous
access to data
• Automatic error recovery
• Intelligent cache battery backup option to monitor and maintain
optimum battery condition
• Mixed SCSI implementations per channel (8 and 16 bit, fast and
Ultra-SCSI)
• Disconnect/reconnect to optimize SCSI efficiency
• Tagged command queuing for improved multitasking I/O
performance

Product Description
1-2 DAC960PG Installation Guide
• Scatter/gather for additional command efficiency
• Hot standby disk support— a drive is ready to take over if a drive in
the array should fail
• Automatic sector remapping for recovery of and protection against
defective media
• User definable rebuild priority
• SMART capable drive support for predictive failure analysis
• SAF-TE fault/status management support
• Support for tape and CDROM devices
This controller supports 1, 2, or 3 wide Ultra-SCSI channels and uses a
Mylex BA-81C15 SCSI interface chip on each channel. A 33Mhz Intel
80960 RP processor is used to off-load on-board CPU functions from the
host computer’s main CPU. The RP version of the i960 contains a bridge
between the host (primary) PCI bus and a secondary PCI bus, which
interfaces with up to 3 SCSI buses via the BA-81C15 chip(s).
The DAC960PG firmware resides in flash EEPROM. When the system is
started, the firmware is copied into RAM and executed from there. The
firmware supports RAID levels 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, and JBOD (Mylex RAID 7).
The DAC960PG supports disk caching with up to 128 MB of Extended Data
Out (EDO) RAM. The cache is controlled by a MYL-86138 RAID
Coprocessor ASIC, which handles ECC (Error Correction Code).
mCaution
The only cachememory supported on the DAC960PG
is EDO ECC RAM. The EDO ECC RAM module
used must be from a Mylex qualified vendor list. Non-
Mylex supplied RAM modules are not supported.

Introduction
Manual No. 771971 1-3
Figure 1-2. DAC960PG Controller Component Layout
1, 2, or 3 connectors on the top edge of the DAC960PG provide the interface
for internal SCSI devices. SCSI Channel 0 (and Channel 1 if installed) is
also available on the end of the card for connecting to external disk array
enclosures or other SCSI devices.
The DAC960PG controller uses a 32-bit RISC-based microprocessor, ASIC
logic arrays, and dedicated read/write cache memory to reduce the host
system’s CPU load and to increase disk I/O throughput (up to a 50 MB/
second sustained PCI transfer rate).
On-board memory required for operation is an EDO ECC (72 pin, 40 bit)
SIMM module. DAC960PG controllers equipped with EDO ECC RAM
deliver enhanced performance through zero wait-state CPU/SIOP burst-
cycle transfers between the DAC960PG cache and the host system. The
memory configuration on DAC960PG controllers may be 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or
128 MB (60 ns, 0 wait states).

Standard Package Contents
1-4 DAC960PG Installation Guide
Standard Package Contents
• DAC960PG PCI to Ultra-SCSI RAID controller with cache memory
and Installation Guide manual
☛Note
A minimum of 4MB of memory is required for
operation of the DAC960PG.
• Configuration and Utilities software (DACCF 4.70 or greater)
diskette and manual for controllers using firmware 4.x.
• DAC Software Kit (NOS driver software version 1.06 or greater)
diskettes and manual
• Global Array Manager (GUI software v2.10 or greater) diskettes and
manual
Options
• Intelligent Battery Backup Unit (IBBU)
Figure 1-3. Intelligent Battery Backup Unit (IBBU)
User-Supplied Items
• SCSI cables (internal), one per channel
• SCSI cables (external) as required
• 68-pin to 50-pin SCSI adapters as required
• Terminators (internal and/or external), as required

Introduction
Manual No. 771971 1-5
Controller Functions and Features
Key Features
The key features of the DAC960PG include:
• Configuration on Disk (COD)
• Add Capacity
• RAID/SCSI Disk Array Management
• Automatic RAID Functions
• Automatic On-board SCSI Termination
• Enhanced System Performance
• Increased System Availability
• Multiple Operating System Support
Configuration On Disk
Disks and controllers will automatically reconfigure if the system is powered
off and any of the following changes are made, and the system is
subsequently restarted. Operator intervention is not needed, unless a major
change such as RAID level, stripe size, or array size is made.
Any combination of the following changes can be performed.
1. Drives in an array can be removed and reinstalled in any order (target
IDs can be switched within an array).
2. The drives’ SCSI channel assignments can be changed.
3. A DAC960PG controller can be exchanged with another DAC960
controller as long as both controllers have 4.x or higher firmware.
Add Capacity
Add Capacity allows the user to add one or more drives to an existing array
to expand the capacity of the array. This will not increase the size of a
logical drive, but will create additional space in which to add a new logical
drive. The user is not required to take the array off-line or reformat the array.
Performing a backup as a normal operation is always recommended prior to
adding capacity.

Controller Functions and Features
1-6 DAC960PG Installation Guide
RAID/SCSI Disk Array Management
• Supports multiple RAID levels (0, 1, 3, 5, and 0 + 1) allowing the
user to select the desired combination of storage capacity, data
availability (redundancy) and I/O transfer performance for any data
application
• Connects up to 45 SCSI drives that can be grouped and managed as
a single, large-capacity logical drive (up to 2 TeraBytes), as multiple
large-capacity drive groups, or as individual drives (with a
maximum of 32 system drives)
• Up to eight DAC960PG controllers per host connect up to 180 SCSI
devices
• Industry-standard Fast/Wide Ultra-SCSI interface supports most
SCSI drives
Automatic RAID Functions
• Automatic failed drive detection
• Automatic rebuild of the array using stand-by (hot spare) disk after a
drive failure
• Transparent drive rebuild permits automatic rebuild of failed drives
during normal operation without having to take the array off-line
• Automatic error detection/correction of parity errors, bad blocks,
etc.
• Automatic sector remapping recovers defective media and corrects
data errors
Automatic On-board SCSI Termination
• No jumpers to set
• Automatic internal and external bus detection on each channel
• On-board termination automatically enabled or disabled
• Improved ease of hardware configuration allows reconfiguration of
channels without removing DAC960PG from host