Silicon Graphics InfiniteStorage 3000 User manual

SGI®InfiniteStorage Server 3000 (ISS3000)
User’s Guide
007-5721-001

COPYRIGHT
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TRADEMARKS AND ATTRIBUTIONS
Silicon Graphics, SGI, the SGI logo, Roamer, Supportfolio, and XFS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics International Corp. or its
subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries worldwide.
3ware is a registered trademark of 3ware, Inc.
AMD Opteron is a trademark or registered trademark of Advanced Micro Devices Corporation.
Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
LSI is a registered trademark of LSI Corporation.
PCIe and PCI-X are registered trademarks of PCI SIG.
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All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Adaptec, HostRAID, and the Adaptec logo are registered trademarks of Adaptec Inc.

007-5721-001 iii
Record of Revision
Version Description
001 March 2011
Original printing.

007-5721-001 v
Contents
About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Audience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Related Publications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Reader Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The ISS3000 3U Server Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
General Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Configurable Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Support Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Key Components of ISS3000 3U Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Power Supply Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
AC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 Pre-Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Server and Rack Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Electrical Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Operating Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Rack Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Getting Ready to Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Determine Server Positioning in the Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Installing into a Rack or Cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Installing into a Telco Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

vi 007-5721-001
Contents
Cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4 Installing Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Drive Insertion Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Installing a Hard Drive into the Hard Drive Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5 Using the Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Powering the Server On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Powering the Server Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Working with Roamer Remote Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6 RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Configuring Hardware RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
LSI Hardware RAID (SAS or SATA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3ware-Based Hardware RAID (SATA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Configuring Software RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7 Software Installation and Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Linux Server Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Operating System Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Filesystem Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Data Drive Configuration (Hardware RAID) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Exporting Filesystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tuning Linux NFS Server Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tuning Linux Client Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Using Smartmontools Software to Improve Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Windows Server Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
A Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
B Safety Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Electrical Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
General Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Handling Your Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
C RAID Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
RAID Implementations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Contents
007-5721-001 vii
JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
RAID 6 (Dual Parity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

007-5721-001 ix
.About This Guide
This guide provides an overview of the SGI®InfiniteStorage Server 3000 (ISS3000) along with
instructions for system installation and general operation. The appendices include technical
specifications, safety practices, and an overview of RAID.
Audience
This guide is written for owners, installers, system administrators, and users of ISS3000 servers.
It is written with the assumption that the reader has a good working knowledge of computers and
computer systems.

x007-5721-001
About This Guide
Related Publications
Depending on your choice of system components and operating system, the following SGI
documents may be relevant to your ISS3000 server:
•SGI InfiniteStorage Server 3500 (ISS3500) User’s Guide (007-5653-00x)
• SGI InfiniteStorage series documentation
• Man pages (online)
You can obtain SGI documentation, release notes, or man pages in the following ways:
• Refer to the SGI Technical Publications Library at http://docs.sgi.com. Various formats are
available. This library contains the most recent and most comprehensive set of online books,
release notes, man pages, and other information.
• Refer to the SGI Supportfolio webpage for documents whose access require a support
contract. See “Product Support” on page xi.
• You can also view man pages by typing man <title> on a command line.

About This Guide
007-5721-001 xi
Product Support
SGI provides a comprehensive product support and maintenance program for its products. SGI
also offers services to implement and integrate Linux® applications in your environment.
• Refer to http://www.sgi.com/support/
• If you are in North America, contact the Technical Assistance Center at
[phone]SGI or contact your authorized service provider.
• If you are outside North America, contact the SGI subsidiary or authorized distributor in
your country.
Be sure to have the following information before you call Technical Support:
• Product serial number
• Product model name and number
• Applicable error messages
• Add-on boards or hardware
• Third-party hardware or software
• Operating system type and revision level
• Motherboard BIOS revision

xii 007-5721-001
About This Guide
Reader Comments
If you have comments about the technical accuracy, content, or organization of this document,
contact SGI. Be sure to include the title and document number of the manual with your comments.
(Online, the document number is located in the front matter of the manual. In printed manuals, the
document number is located at the bottom of each page.)
You can contact SGI in any of the following ways:
• Send e-mail to the following address: t[email protected]
• Contact your customer service representative and ask that an incident be filed in the SGI
incident tracking system.
• Send mail to the following address:
SGI
Technical Publications
46600 Landing Parkway
Fremont, CA 94538
SGI values your comments and will respond to them promptly.

007-5721-001 1
Chapter 1
1. Overview
The ISS3000 3U server series is one of the best and most reliable servers on the market today. It
is designed with some of the most state-of-the-art features available, using non-proprietary
components to provide the most scalable and cost-effective server solution possible.
This chapter describes the ISS3000 3U server series, its hardware and service features, as well as
key components of the server.
The ISS3000 3U Server Series
The ISS3000 3U server series consists of the following models:
Model Description
3006 A maximum of 6 hard drives
3009 A maximum of 9 hard drives
3012 A maximum of 12 hard drives
3118 A maximum of 18 hard drives
If your server was ordered from SGI and was not constructed in one of the standard 3U form
factors that are detailed in this manual, then this manual will provide a general guideline to your
product. Details that are specific to your design can be found in the datasheet or custom
documentation that came with your product. For example, standard-depth models like the
ISS3500 server have separate user’s guides.

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1: Overview
General Features
Among the distinctive features of the ISS3000 3U servers are the following:
• Open architecture
• Front-facing I/O for easiest serviceability
(The ISS3118 has two hard disk drives accessible from the rear.)
• Leading thermal management & power efficiency
• Ideal for multi-server deployments
• Best-in-breed software options
• Chassis mountable as half-depth back-to-back for double density, two-post front or center
mount
• Auto-switching 100–240VAC or –48VDC (–36 to –73VDC) power supply options
• Three rack units (3RU) high
Configurable Options
• Supports up to two Intel®, Xeon®, or AMD Opteron™ processors
• Configurable number of hard drives:
– Up to 6 removable hard drives (ISS3006 model)
– Up to 9 removable hard drives (ISS3009 model)
– Up to 12 removable hard drives (ISS3012 model)
– Up to 18 removable hard drives (ISS3118 model)
• Supports SAS and SATA hard drives
• CD/CW-RW and DVD/DVD-RW
• Rackable Roamer™ remote management with LCD display option
•PCIe
®expansion card slots available

Support Services
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Support Services
Among the support services included with the ISS3000 servers are the following:
• World-class customer support and services
• Availability of our professional services team to help with solutions outside
traditional support packages
• Flexibility of server configurations to accommodate customer-specific
operating system solutions
• Warranty options with full telephone and online support

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1: Overview
Key Components of ISS3000 3U Servers
The configurations of the various ISS3000 servers are quite similar. Figure 1-1 shows the
components of the front and rear panels of the ISS3012 server.
Figure 1-1 Front and Rear Panel Components
CD or
D
VD drive
Power
button
Front
panel I/O
LCD
display
LED
indicator
lights
RJ-45
manageme
nt
port
PCI
expansion
slot
Hard drive carriers (12)
Power
supply
Rear fans

Key Components of ISS3000 3U Servers
007-5721-001 5
Table 1-1 describes the various components illustrated in Figure 1-1.
Table 1-1 Front Panel Components
Component Description
Disk drives These removable harddrives can beplacedindrive carriers
andcan be hot-swappable. The drive carriers are connected
to the system internally via a custom backplane that
interfaceswith aRAIDstoragecard. Specificsof the RAID
card used depend on the system specifications of your
order.
DVD/CD drive Depending on the configuration of your server, a
DVD/DVD-RW or CD/CD-RW may be present. Also, in
this area is space for an LCD display that is used with a
Roamer remote management module if one was purchased
with the server.
Front panel I/O The I/O interface to the motherboard. The configuration of
the various I/O ports is dependent on the motherboard used
in your configuration. For detailed I/O specifications, refer
to the motherboard manual included with the
documentation and accessory kit. Typical I/O includes the
following:
– serial port (RS-232, 9600 baud)
– USB ports
– PS-2 connector for mouse and keyboard
– VGA port
– Ethernet ports (RJ-45, eth0/eth1, 10/100/1000Mb)
LCD (Optional)
The LCD screen is used to display messages from the
Roamer remote management solution. The Roamer
modulehas the ability to display informationrelatingto the
system that can be customized according to your need.

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1: Overview
LED indicator lights These LEDs provide you with critical information related
to different parts of the system.
Green (PWR): The LED farthest to the left indicates that
power is applied to the server and the system is on. When
the LED is off, the system is off, even if the AC power cord
is plugged into the server.
Blue (HDD): The LED in the middle indicates that the hard
drive(s) are currently being accessed and activity is
occurring.
Red/Tri-color (ID2): The LED to the far right may have
several functions depending on the configuration of your
server. If your server was purchased with the Roamer
remote management module, then this LED can be turned
on or set to blink via Roamer so that a technician can easily
identify a unit that may need service.
PCI expansion slot This slot is to accommodate add-on PCIe cards.
Power button This single-push, push button is a power on/off button.
When the system is in an off state, pushing the button once
powers the system on. When the system is in an on state,
pushingandreleasingthebuttonpowerthesystemoff.This
button does not have a reset function.
Power supply connector AC:Connectonly 100-240 VoltAC,5.5Amaximum,50-60
Hz. Use a standard AC connector to connect power to the
server. An AC power cord is included in your
documentation and accessory kit.
DC:Connect only.
Power switch This power switch turns the server on and off. It controls
the power supply that is inside the chassis.
Table 1-1 Front Panel Components (continued)
Component Description

Key Components of ISS3000 3U Servers
007-5721-001 7
Table 1-2 describes the pinouts for the serial connector when Roamer is not installed.
Rear fans Keep the area behind the fans clear and unobstructed. This
will ensure proper airflow to the components inside the
server chassis.
Serial connector
(RJ-45 management
port)
This port is accessed with an RJ-45 connector. When the
Roamer remote management module is installed, this port
functions as an interface to the module. When the Roamer
remote management module is not installed, the pinout for
the serial connector is as shown in Table 1-2.
Table 1-2 Pinouts for the Serial Connector J3
Pin Name Description
1 RTS Request To Send (JP1 “A”)
CTS Clear To Send (JP1 “B”)
2 DSR Data Set Ready
3RxD ReceiveData
4 GND Ground Return
5 GND Ground Return
6 TxD Transmit Data
7 DTR Data Terminal Ready
8 CTS Clear To Send (JP1 “B”)
RTS Request To Send (JP1 “B”)
Table 1-1 Front Panel Components (continued)
Component Description

8007-5721-001
1: Overview
Power Supply Options
SGI offers both DC and AC options for its servers. The make and model of the power supply that
is present in your system can vary depending on what was ordered. SGI does have a standard
power supply for both AC and DC configurations. In addition to single AC or DC power supplies,
SGI offers a Redundant Power Supply (RPS) configuration option for some configurations.
AC
For AC powered servers, SGI typically uses a 250W or 450W power supply (or a redundant
supply for RPS systems). The power supply provides a small footprint and can handle a peak of
450W DC output. The input is 100-240VAC, 43-63Hz.
DC
For DC powered servers, SGI uses a 250W or 450W power supply. The power supply provides a
small footprint and can handle a peak of 450W DC output. The DC input threshold is +/-38 –
+/-75VDC.