Netstor NR760A User manual

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Netstor
NR760A / NR340A / NR330A
iSCSI GbE to SATA II RAID Storage
User Manual
Version 2.0 (Jan, 2010)

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Preface
About this manual
This manual is the introduction of Netstor’s NR760A / NR340A / NR330A
iSCSI GbE Raid Storage Solution and it aims to help users know the
operations of the disk array system easily. Information contained in this
manual has been reviewed for accuracy, but not for product warranty because
of the various environments/OS/settings, Information and specification will be
changed without further notice. For any update information, please visit
www.netstor.com.tw and your contact windows.
Copyright@2008, Netstor Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thank you for using Netstor Technology, Inc. products; if you have any
question, please e-mail to “[email protected]”. We will answer your
question as soon as possible.
Product Description
Panel layout
1. Power LED
2. Mute Button
Reset for Buzzer Beeping
3. Temperature LED
Normal – Green; Over
50°C – Red

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4. Fan Status LED
Normal – Green;
Fail – Red (too slow rpm or
stop)
5. LCM
6. Back (Control button)
7. Up (Control button)
8. Enter (Control button)
9. Down (Control button)
10. HDD Power LED
11. HDD Status LED
12. Power Cord Receptacle
*CH 0, CH 1
Gigabit Ethernet ports
*RJ 45
Ethernet port for management
*RS 232
For Connection UPS
Disk Installation
Install each Hard Drive into the Drive Trays and fasten using the supplied HDD screws.
System Connection

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1. Connect CH0, CH1 to GbE switching ports for data transmission.
2.. Connect RJ45 to Ethernet port for management.

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Table of Contents
1.1 Features........................................................................... 7
1.2 Terminology ..................................................................... 8
1.3 RAID levels .................................................................... 10
1.4 Volume relationship diagram.......................................... 12
Chapter 2 Getting started.............................................13
2.1 Before starting................................................................ 13
2.2 iSCSI introduction .......................................................... 13
2.3 Management methods ................................................... 15
2.3.1 Web GUI......................................................................................... 16
2.3.2 Remote control – secure shell ........................................................16
2.4 Enclosure ....................................................................... 17
2.4.1 LCM................................................................................................17
2.4.2 System buzzer................................................................................ 20
2.4.3 LED ................................................................................................20
Chapter 3 Web GUI guideline.......................................22
3.1 Web GUI hierarchy ........................................................ 22
3.2 Login .............................................................................. 23
3.3 Quick install.................................................................... 25
3.4 System configuration ..................................................... 26
3.4.1 System name .................................................................................27
3.4.2 IP address ......................................................................................27
3.4.3 Language .......................................................................................28
3.4.4 Login config .................................................................................... 28
3.4.5 Password........................................................................................ 29
3.4.6 Date................................................................................................29
3.4.7 Mail.................................................................................................30
3.4.8 SNMP ............................................................................................. 31
3.4.9 Messenger...................................................................................... 32
3.4.10 System log server........................................................................... 32
3.4.11 Event log ........................................................................................ 33
3.5 iSCSI config ................................................................... 34
3.5.1 Entity property ................................................................................35
3.5.2 NIC .................................................................................................35
3.5.3 Node...............................................................................................36
3.5.4 Session........................................................................................... 38
3.5.5 CHAP account................................................................................39

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3.6 Volume configuration ..................................................... 39
3.6.1 Physical disk................................................................................... 40
3.6.2 Volume group .................................................................................43
3.6.3 User data volume ...........................................................................45
3.6.4 Cache volume ................................................................................47
3.6.5 Logical unit number ........................................................................48
3.6.6 Example .........................................................................................50
3.7 Enclosure management ................................................. 60
3.7.1 SES configuration...........................................................................61
3.7.2 Hardware monitor...........................................................................62
3.7.3 Hard drive S.M.A.R.T. support .......................................................63
3.7.4 UPS ................................................................................................ 64
3.8 System maintenance ..................................................... 65
3.8.1 Upgrade.......................................................................................... 66
3.8.2 Info .................................................................................................67
3.8.3 Reset to default .............................................................................. 67
3.8.4 Config import & export....................................................................67
3.8.5 Shutdown .......................................................................................68
3.9 Logout ............................................................................ 68
Chapter 4 Advanced operation....................................69
4.1 Rebuild........................................................................... 69
4.2 VG migration and expansion.......................................... 71
4.3 UDV Extension............................................................... 74
4.4 Disk roaming .................................................................. 75
4.5 Support Microsoft MPIO and MC/S................................ 75
Appendix............................................................................77
A. Certification list............................................................... 77
B. Event notifications.......................................................... 79
C. Known issues................................................................. 85
D. Microsoft iSCSI Initiator.................................................. 85
E. Installation steps for large volume (TB).......................... 87
F. MPIO and MC/S setup instructions ................................ 92

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Chapter 1 RAID introduction
1.1 Features
Netstor iSCSI series is a high-performance RAID solution including the
following Models
oNR760A: Desktop 8 bay iSCSI(Host) to SATA II(Disk) Raid
Storage
oNR340A: 2U-8 bay iSCSI(Host) to SATA II(Disk) Raid Storage
oNR330A: 3U-16 bay iSCSI(Host) to SATA II(Disk) Raid Storage
Netstor iSCSI storage solution features:
•Front-end 2 ports GbE NIC ports with load-balancing & fail-over for
high availability.
•iSCSI jumbo frame support.
•RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 6, 50, 60, & JBOD ready.
•SATA II drive backward-compatible.
•One logic volume can be shared by as many as 32 hosts.
•Host access control.
•Configurable N-way mirror for high data protection.
•On-line volume migration with no system down-time.
•HDD S.M.A.R.T. enabled for SATA drives.
•Global/dedicated cache configurable by volume.
With proper configuration, Netstor product can provide non-stop service with
a high degree of fault tolerance by using RAID technology and advanced
array management features. Should you have any question, please feel free
to contact your local sales representative or directly send email to
“[email protected]
iSCSI GbE enclosure connects to the host system via iSCSI interface. It can
be configured to any RAID level. The controller provides reliable data
protection for servers and RAID 6. RAID 6 allows two HDD failures without
producing any impact on the existing data. Data can be recovered from the
existing data and parity drives. (Data can be recovered from the rest
disks/drives.)

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Netstor’s iSCSI solution is the most cost-effective disk array controller with
completely integrated high-performance and data-protection capabilities which
meet or exceed the highest industry standards, and the best data solution
for small/medium business (SMB) users.
1.2 Terminology
The document uses the following terms:
RAID RAID is the abbreviation of “Redundant Array of Independent
Disks”. There are different RAID levels with different degree
of the data protection, data availability, and performance to
host environment.
PD The Physical Disk belongs to the member disk of one specific
volume group.
VG Volume Group. A collection of removable media. One VG
consists of a set of UDVs and owns one RAID level attribute.
UDV
User Data Volume. Each VG could be divided into several
UDVs. The UDVs from one VG share the same RAID level,
but may have different volume capacity.
CV
Cache Volume. Controller uses onboard memory as cache.
All RAM (except for the part which is occupied by the
controller) can be used as cache.
LUN Logical Unit Number. A logical unit number (LUN) is a unique
identifier which enables it to differentiate among separate
devices (each one is a logical unit).
GUI Graphic User Interface.
RAID width,
RAID copy,
RAID width, copy and row are used to describe one VG.
E.g.:

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RAID row
(RAID cell in
one row)
1. One 4-disk RAID 0 volume: RAID width= 4; RAID
copy=1; RAID row=1.
2. One 3-way mirroring volume: RAID width=1; RAID
copy=3; RAID row=1.
3. One RAID 10 volume over 3 4-disk RAID 1 volume:
RAID width=1; RAID copy=4; RAID row=3.
WT Write-Through cache-write policy. A caching technique in
which the completion of a write request is not signaled until
data is safely stored in non-volatile media. Each data is
synchronized in both data cache and accessed physical
disks.
WB Write-Back cache-write policy. A caching technique in which
the completion of a write request is signaled as soon as the
data is in cache and actual writing to non-volatile media
occurs at a later time. It speeds up system write performance
but needs to bear the risk where data may be inconsistent
between data cache and the physical disks in one short time
interval.
RO Set the volume to be Read-Only.
DS Dedicated Spare disks. The spare disks are only used by one
specific VG. Others could not use these dedicated spare
disks for any rebuilding purpose.
GS
Global Spare disks. GS is shared for rebuilding purpose. If
some VGs need to use the global spare disks for rebuilding,
they could get the spare disks out from the common spare
disks pool for such requirement.
DC Dedicated Cache.
GC Global Cache.
DG DeGraded mode. Not all of the array’s member disks are
functioning, but the array is able to respond to application

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read and write requests to its virtual disks.
SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface.
iSCSI Internet Small Computer Systems Interface.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology.
WWN World Wide Name.
HBA Host Bus Adapter.
SAF-TE SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures.
NIC Network Interface Card.
LACP Link Aggregation Control Protocol.
MPIO Multi-Path Input/Output.
MC/S Multiple Connections per Session
MTU Maximum Transmission Unit.
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. An optional
security mechanism to control access to an iSCSI storage
system over the iSCSI data ports.
iSNS Internet Storage Name Service.
1.3 RAID levels
RAID 0 Disk striping. RAID 0 needs at least one hard drive.

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RAID 1 Disk mirroring over two disks. RAID 1 needs at least two hard
drives.
N-way
mirror
Extension to RAID 1 level. It has N copies of the disk.
RAID 3 Striping with parity on the dedicated disk. RAID 3 needs at
least three hard drives.
RAID 5 Striping with interspersed parity over the member disks. RAID
3 needs at least three hard drives.
RAID 6 2-dimensional parity protection over the member disks. RAID
6 needs at least four hard drives.
RAID 0+1 Mirroring of the member RAID 0 volumes. RAID 0+1 needs at
least four hard drives.
RAID 10 Striping over the member RAID 1 volumes. RAID 10 needs at
least four hard drives.
RAID 30 Striping over the member RAID 3 volumes. RAID 30 needs at
least six hard drives.
RAID 50 Striping over the member RAID 5 volumes. RAID 50 needs at
least six hard drives.
RAID 60 Striping over the member RAID 6 volumes. RAID 60 needs at
least eight hard drives.
JBOD The abbreviation of “Just a Bunch Of Disks”. JBOD needs at
least one hard drive.

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1.4 Volume relationship diagram
Figure 1.4.1
This is the volume structure of Netstor designed. It describes the relationship
of RAID components. One VG (Volume Group) consists of a set of UDVs
(User Data Volume) and owns one RAID level attribute. Each VG can be
divided into several UDVs. The UDVs in one VG share the same RAID level,
but may have different volume capacity. Each UDV will be associated with
one specific CV (Cache Volume) to execute the data transaction. Each CV
can have different cache memory size by user’s modification/setting. LUN
(Logical Unit Number) is a unique identifier, in which users can access
through SCSI commands.
V
G
PD 2 PD 3 DSPD 1
UDV 1 UDV 2 Snap
UDV
RAM
Global CV Dedicated
CV
+
LUN 1 LUN 2 LUN 3
+
+

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Chapter 2Getting started
2.1 Before starting
Before starting, prepare the following items.
1. Check “Certification list” in Appendix A to confirm the hardware
setting is fully supported.
2. Read the latest release note before upgrading. Release note
accompany with release firmware.
3. A server with a NIC or iSCSI HBA.
4. CAT 5e, or CAT 6 network cables for management port and iSCSI
data ports. Recommend CAT 6 cables for best performance.
5. Prepare storage system configuration plan.
6. Management and iSCSI data ports network information. When using
static IP, please prepare static IP addresses, subnet mask, and
default gateway.
7. Gigabit LAN switches. (recommended) Or Gigabit LAN switches
with VLAN/LCAP/Trunking functions. (optional)
8. CHAP security information, including CHAP username and
password. (optional)
9. Setup the hardware connection before power on servers and
Netstor iSCSI storage. Connect console cable, management port
cable, and iSCSI data port cables in advance.
2.2 iSCSI introduction
iSCSI (Internet SCSI) is a protocol which encapsulates SCSI (Small Computer
System Interface) commands and data in TCP/IP packets for linking storage
devices with servers over common IP infrastructures. iSCSI provides high
performance SANs over standard IP networks like LAN, WAN or the Internet.
IP SANs(Storage Area Networks) allow few servers to attach to an infinite

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number of storage volumes by using iSCSI over TCP/IP networks. IP SANs
can scale the storage capacity with any type and brand of storage system. In
addition, it can be used by any type of network (Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and
Gigabit Ethernet) and combination of operating systems (Microsoft Windows,
Linux, Solaris, etc.) within the SAN network. IP-SANs also include
mechanisms for security, data replication, multi-path and high availability.
Storage protocol, such as iSCSI, has “two ends” in the connection. These
ends are initiator and target. In iSCSI, we call them iSCSI initiator and iSCSI
target. The iSCSI initiator requests or initiates any iSCSI communication. It
requests all SCSI operations like read or write. An initiator is usually located
on the host/server side (either an iSCSI HBA or iSCSI SW initiator).
The target is the storage device itself or an appliance which controls and
serves volumes or virtual volumes. The target is the device which executes
SCSI commands or plays a role as the bridge to an attached storage device.
Figure 2.2.1
The host side needs an iSCSI initiator. The initiator is a driver which handles
the SCSI traffic over iSCSI. The initiator can be software or hardware (HBA).
iSCSI device 1
(target)
Host 1
(initiator)
NIC
IP SAN
Host 2
(initiator)
iSCSI
HBA
iSCSI device 2
(target)

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Please refer to the certification list of iSCSI HBA(s) in Appendix A. OS native
initiators or other software initiators use standard TCP/IP stack and Ethernet
hardware, while iSCSI HBA(s) use their own iSCSI and TCP/IP stacks on
board.
Hardware iSCSI HBA(s) provide its own initiator tool. Please refer to the
vendors’ HBA user manual. Microsoft, Linux and Mac provide iSCSI initiator
driver. Below are the available links:
1. Link to download the Microsoft iSCSI software initiator:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=12cb3c
1a-15d6-4585-b385-befd1319f825&DisplayLang=en
Please refer to Appendix D for Microsoft iSCSI initiator installation
procedure.
2. Linux iSCSI initiator is also available. For different kernels, there are
different iSCSI drivers. Please check Appendix A for iSCSI initiator
certification list. If user needs the latest Linux iSCSI initiator, please
visit Open-iSCSI project for most update information. Linux-iSCSI
(sfnet) and Open-iSCSI projects merged in April 11, 2005.
Open-iSCSI website: http://www.open-iscsi.org/
Open-iSCSI README: http://www.open-iscsi.org/docs/README
Google groups:
http://groups.google.com/group/open-iscsi/threads?gvc=2
http://groups.google.com/group/open-iscsi/topics
3. ATTO iSCSI initiator is available for Mac.
Website: http://www.attotech.com/xtend.html
2.3 Management methods
There are three management methods to manage Netstor iSCSI storage,
described in the following:

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2.3.1 Web GUI
Netstor iSCSI storage support graphic user interface(GUI) to manage the
system. Be sure to connect LAN cable. The default setting of management
port IP is DHCP and DHCP address displays on LCM; user can inspect LCM
for IP first, then open the browser and type the DHCP address: (The DHCP
address is dynamic and user may need to check every time after reboot.)
When DHCP service is not available, controllers use zero configuration
(Zeroconf) to get an IP address.
Take an example on LCM:
192.168.1.1
GbE iSCSI Storage
http://192.168.1.1
Click any function at the first time; it will pop up a dialog to authenticate
current user.
Login name: admin
Default password: 1234
Or login with read-only account which only allows to read the configuration but
cannot change setting.
Login name: user
Default password: 1234
2.3.2 Remote control – secure shell
SSH (secure shell) is required for administrators to login from a remote
location. The SSH client software is available at the following web site:
SSHWinClient WWW: http://www.ssh.com/
Putty WWW: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
Host name: 192.168.1.1 (Please check your DHCP address for this field.)

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Login name: admin
Default password: 1234
2.4 Enclosure
2.4.1 LCM
There are four buttons to control Netstor LCM (LCD Control Module),
including: c(up), d(down), ESC (Escape), and ENT (Enter).
After booting up the system, the following screen shows management port IP
and model name:
192.168.XX.XX
GbE iSCSI Storage ←
Press “ENT”, the LCM functions “Alarm Mute”, “Reset/Shutdown”, “Quick
Install”, “View IP Setting”, “Change IP Config” and “Reset to Default” will
rotate by pressing c(up) and d(down).
When there is WARNING or ERROR occurred (LCM default filter), the LCM
shows the event log to give users more detail from front panel.
The following table is the function description.
Alarm Mute Mute alarm when error occurs.
Reset/Shutdown Reset or shutdown controller.
Tips
Netstor iSCSI storage only support SSH for remote control.
For using SSH, the IP address and password are required for

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Quick Install Quick steps to create a volume. Please refer to next
chapter for operation in web UI.
View IP Setting Display current IP address, subnet mask, and gateway.
Change IP
Config
Set IP address, subnet mask, and gateway. There are 2
options: DHCP (Get IP address from DHCP server) or
static IP.
Reset to Default Reset to default sets password to default: 1234, and set
IP address to default as DHCP setting.
Default IP address: 192.168.1.1 (DHCP)
Default subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.1.1

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The following is LCM menu hierarchy.
Netstor
Technology
cd
[Alarm Mute] [cYes Nod]
[Reset/Shutdown]
[Reset] [cYes
Nod]
[Shutdown] [cYes
Nod]
[Quick Install]
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 3
RAID 5
RAID 6
RAID 0+1
xxx GB
[Volume
Size]
xxx GB
Adjust
Volume
Size
[Apply The
Config]
[cYes
Nod]
[View IP Setting]
[IP Config]
[Static IP]
[IP Address]
[192.168.1.1]
[IP Subnet Mask]
[255.255.255.0]
[IP Gateway]
[192.168.010.254]
[Change IP
Config]
[DHCP] [cYes
Nod]
[Static IP]
[IP Address] Adjust IP
address
[IP Subnet
Mask]
Adjust
Submask
IP
[IP Gateway]
Adjust
Gateway
IP
[Apply IP
Setting]
[cYes
Nod]
[Reset to Default] [cYes Nod]
Caution
Before power off, it is better to execute “Shutdown” to flush
the data from cache to physical disks.

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2.4.2 System buzzer
The system buzzer features are listed below:
1. The system buzzer alarms 1 second when system boots up
successfully.
2. The system buzzer alarms continuously when there is an error
occurred. The alarm will be stopped after the error is cleared or the
alarm is muted.
3. The alarm will be muted automatically when the error is cleared.
E.g., when RAID 5 is degraded then the alarm rings immediately,
user changes/adds one physical disk for rebuilding. When the
rebuilding is done, the alarm will be muted automatically.
2.4.3 LED
The LED features are listed below:
1. Marquee / Disk Status / Disk Rebuilding LED: The Marquee /
Disk Status / Disk Rebuilding LEDs are displayed with same LEDs.
The LEDs indicates different functions in different stages.
I. Marquee LEDs: When the system successfully boots up, the
Marquee LED is on until the system boots successfully.
II. Disk status LEDs: the LEDs reflect the disk status for the tray.
Only On/Off situation.
III. Disk rebuilding LEDs: the LEDs are blinking when the disks
are under rebuilding.
2. Disk Access LED: Hardware activated LED when accessing disks
(IO).
3. Disk Power LED: Hardware activated LED when the disks are
plugged in and powered on.
4. System status LED: Used to reflect the system status, when turned
on, there is an error or a RAID malfunction occurred.