Acer DAC960PG Network Card User Manual

PCI to Ultra SCSI

RAID Controllers

Installation Guide

Part Number 775012-02

08P4078

© Copyright 2000 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.

Greetings

Thank you for purchasing the Mylex DAC960PG™ or DAC960PJ™ controller. This manual describes the installation of the Mylex DAC960PG/PJ controllers. Requests for technical information about this and other Mylex Corporation products should be made to your Mylex authorized reseller or Mylex sales representative.

Please Notice

IBM, Mylex, RAID EzAssist, Global Array Manager, GAM, DAC960PG, and DAC960PJ are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. and its subsidiaries. Microsoft, MS-DOS, and Windows are registered trademarks of the

Microsoft Corporation. Novell is a registered trademark of Novell corporation. LSI and

Symbios are registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corporation. Other names that are trademarks may be used herein for the purpose of identifying the products or services of their respective owners. Unless otherwise noted, companies, names, and data used in examples herein are fictitious.

Our Policy

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.

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NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR

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About This Manual

This installation guide covers hardware set-up and configuration procedures necessary for the installation of Mylex DAC960PG and DAC960PJ PCI to

Ultra SCSI RAID controllers.

Chapter 1 describes the controllers, standard package contents, and usersupplied items necessary for installation.

Chapter 2 describes steps to be performed prior to controller installation.

Chapter 3 describes installation of the controller.

Chapter 4 describes controller start-up and BIOS options.

Appendix A describes the Battery Backup Unit option.

Appendix B provides the hardware and environmental specifications.

Appendix C describes error messages and how to identify problems.

Appendix D provides regulatory information, certifications, and warnings.

Conventions

Throughout the manual, the following conventions are used to describe user interaction with the product: prompt

This style of type indicates screen display messages

Enter

Press the key labeled “Enter” (or “Delete,” etc.)

☛

Note

A Note is supplementary information that can have an effect on system performance



Caution

A Caution is a notification that a proscribed action has the potential to adversely affect equipment operation, system performance, or data integrity



WARNING

A Warning is a notification that a proscribed action will definitely result in equipment damage, data loss, or personal injury

Contents

Chapter 1

Introduction

........................................................................................ 1-1

Product Description ........................................................................... 1-1

Controller Features and Functions ............................................. 1-2

Operating System Support ......................................................... 1-2

Standard Package Contents ............................................................. 1-3

Hardware .................................................................................... 1-3

Software ..................................................................................... 1-3

User-supplied Items .......................................................................... 1-4

Chapter 2

Preinstallation Planning

............................................................... 2-1

SCSI Termination .............................................................................. 2-2

SCSI Cabling ..................................................................................... 2-4

SCSI Drive Preparation ..................................................................... 2-5

Mixing Narrow and Wide SCSI Devices ............................................ 2-5

Chapter 3

Installation

.......................................................................................... 3-1

Before You Begin .............................................................................. 3-1

Connectors and Jumpers .................................................................. 3-2

External SCSI Connectors ......................................................... 3-3

Safety Considerations ....................................................................... 3-4

Installing the Controller ...................................................................... 3-5

Chapter 4

Controller Start-up

.......................................................................... 4-1

BIOS Options Sequence ................................................................... 4-1

Setting BIOS Options ................................................................ 4-2

BIOS Configuration Utility (RAID EzAssist) ....................................... 4-4

Operating System .............................................................................. 4-4

Operating System Device Drivers ..................................................... 4-4

Global Array Manager (GAM) Server ................................................ 4-4

Global Array Manager (GAM) Client .................................................. 4-5

In Case of Problems .......................................................................... 4-5

Manual No. 775012 v

Appendix A

Battery Backup Unit Option

........................................................A-1

Product Description ...........................................................................A-1

Features .....................................................................................A-1

Installation .........................................................................................A-2

Operation ...........................................................................................A-5

Battery Conditioning Prior to Use ...............................................A-5

Set-up – Enabling the Write-Back Cache ...................................A-5

Battery Backup Capacity ............................................................A-5

Maintenance ......................................................................................A-6

Removing the Battery Backup Module .......................................A-6

Functional Description .......................................................................A-7

General Operational Description ................................................A-7

Status Indication .........................................................................A-7

Battery and Charge Circuit .........................................................A-8

Recycling the Battery .................................................................A-8

BBU Specifications ............................................................................A-9

Onboard Battery .........................................................................A-9

Battery Charge Life ....................................................................A-9

External Battery ..........................................................................A-9

Module Dimensions ....................................................................A-9

Environmental ............................................................................A-9

Appendix B

DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Specifications

...........................B-1

General Hardware Specifications ......................................................B-1

DAC960PG .................................................................................B-1

DAC960PJ ..................................................................................B-2

Physical and Environmental Specifications ......................................B-3

Appendix C

Error Messages

................................................................................ C-1

Start-up Error Messages ................................................................... C-1

Drive Check Error Messages ............................................................ C-1

Installation Abort ............................................................................... C-2

NVRAM Error ............................................................................ C-3

System Reboot or Power Down Messages ...................................... C-3

Appendix D

Enclosure Management

............................................................... D-1

Introduction ....................................................................................... D-1

SAF-TE ............................................................................................. D-1

vi DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Appendix E

Regulatory Information

.................................................................E-1

Class B Compliance ..........................................................................E-1

Declaration of Conformity ..................................................................E-2

Declaration of Conformity ..................................................................E-3

Community of Europe ........................................................................E-4

Underwriters Laboratories Listing and Warning ................................E-5

Glossary

.............................................................................................. G-1

Manual No. 775012 vii

viii DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

This chapter covers:

• Product description

• Standard package contents

• User supplied items

Chapter 1

Introduction

Figure 1-1. DAC960PG or DAC960PJ Disk Array Controller

Product Description

The Mylex DAC960PG™ and DAC960PJ™ controllers are 32-bit PCI to

Ultra SCSI RAID controllers designed for high performance file servers.

With up to 3 Ultra SCSI drive channels, and support for a cache memory battery backup (full-length card models only), these controllers provide the speed and functionality required by high demand server platforms.

Manual No. 775012 1-1

Product Description

Controller Features and Functions

Features of the DAC960PG and DAC960PJ controllers include:

• Ultra SCSI drive channels that support RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 0+1, 10,

30, and 50

• Single-Ended Wide Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) drive support

• High performance RISC processor and EDO ECC DRAM cache (4MB to 128MB) for high speed, fault tolerant I/O transfers

• 512KB, 8-bit flash EEPROM for BIOS and code supports future enhancements through firmware upgrades

• Built-in configuration utilities in BIOS (with firmware 4.06 and above)

• A Battery Backup (BBU) option to protect data in cache during power loss is available for full-length card models

Operating System Support

MS-DOS 5.x, 6.x and above are supported using drivers that reside in the

DAC960PG or DAC960PJ BIOS. Many other popular operating systems are supported using software drivers in the Disk Array Controller Software Kit that is included with the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ controller (see the

PCI Disk Array Controller Drivers Installation Guide and User Manual).

1-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Introduction

Standard Package Contents

The following items are supplied with the standard shipping package:

Hardware

• DAC960PG or DAC960PJ Disk Array Controller with documentation

• Battery Backup (BBU) port loopback terminator plug, or...

• Optional Battery Backup Unit (BBU)

☛

Note

A loopback terminator plug must be installed on the

DAC960PG or DAC960PJ controller’s BBU connector if the optional BBU is not present.

Software

• RAID EzAssist disk array controller configuration utility with documentation on CD-ROM and a printed Quick Configuration Guide.

• Software Kit driver diskettes with documentation on CD-ROM and a printed PCI Drivers Installation Guide.

• Optional Global Array Manager (GAM) Client and Server software and documentation on CD-ROM

Manual No. 775012

Figure 1-2. Standard Package Contents

1-3

User-supplied Items

User-supplied Items

The following user-supplied items are required to perform this installation:

• IBM-PC™ compatible host system with an available PCI slot (PCI 2.1 compliant)

• Network operating system software (as required)

• SCSI cables to connect the controller and disk drives

• Static grounding strap or electrostatic discharge (ESD) safe work area

• Disk array enclosure (or equivalent) and SCSI disk drives


Chapter 2

Preinstallation Planning


• SCSI termination

• SCSI cabling

• SCSI drive preparation

• Limitations on mixing Narrow and Wide SCSI drives

Mylex Disk Array Controllers are designed to work in a variety of SCSI

RAID application environments. Certain configuration steps need to be performed prior to installing the controller into a RAID environment.

Manual No. 775012 2-1

SCSI Termination

SCSI Termination

The DAC960PG and DAC960PJ are equipped with automatic SCSI termination circuitry. If the controller is at the end of a SCSI bus, it automatically enables on-board termination.

If all the SCSI devices on a channel are connected either to an internal connector of a channel, or to an external connector of a channel, the end of the SCSI bus farthest from the controller must have a terminator installed. In this case, the controller automatically enables on-board termination. See

Figure 2-1 for examples of internal or external drive configurations.

If some SCSI devices are connected to the internal connector of a channel, and some are connected to the external connector of the same channel, the two ends of the SCSI bus farthest from the controller must each be terminated. In this case, the controller automatically disables on-board

termination. See Figure 2-1 for an example of an internal/external drive

configuration.


Preinstallation Planning

Figure 2-1. DAC960 Controller Termination Examples

☛

Note

For this discussion, assume that the illustrated internal and external connectors are both on the same channel.

It is better to terminate the ends of the SCSI bus itself than it is to terminate the end devices on the bus. This allows hot swap devices to be added or removed from the SCSI bus without affecting termination.

Manual No. 775012 2-3

SCSI Cabling

SCSI Cabling

Each Ultra SCSI channel supports up to 15 drives.

The total allowable SCSI bus lengths will be limited to the single-ended bus

lengths shown in Table 2-1.

Table 2-1. Supported SCSI Formats and Bus Lengths

SCSI Drive Type*

Bus Speed,

Max.(MB/Sec)

Bus Width,

(Bits)

Bus Length,

Max.(Meters)

Drives** per

Channel, Max.

SCSI-1

Fast SCSI

Fast Wide SCSI

Ultra SCSI

Ultra SCSI

Wide Ultra SCSI

Wide Ultra SCSI

Wide Ultra SCSI

20

40

40

40

5

10

20

20

8

16

16

16

8

8

16

8

3

—

1.5

3

6

3

3

1.5

3

15†

7

3

7

7

15

7

*

SCSI Trade Association terms.

**

The SCSI ID reserved for the RAID controller is not included in this total.

†

The maximum number of devices allowed on a Wide Ultra SCSI channel is 8 including the controller, unless bus extender technology is used.


Preinstallation Planning

SCSI Drive Preparation

Prepare the drives for installation as follows:

• Remove any terminators attached to the drive or set any drive termination jumpers to the disabled position.

• Set the SCSI addresses on the drives.

☛

Note

Each drive on a channel must have a unique ID chosen from 0 through 6 or 8 through 15. ID 7 cannot be used as a drive ID because it is reserved for the controller.

• Enable term power on the drives.

Refer to the drive manual for specific information about drive configuration settings.

To get best performance from the controller, the SCSI drives should be equally distributed across the SCSI channels, and the controller’s data transfer rate should be set to the optimum rate for the drives being used.

Mixing Narrow and Wide SCSI Devices

Narrow and Wide SCSI devices must not be mixed on a single channel. If mixing Narrow and Wide SCSI devices is desired, at least one channel must be dedicated to Narrow SCSI, and at least one channel must be dedicated to

Wide SCSI.

Manual No. 775012 2-5

Mixing Narrow and Wide SCSI Devices


Chapter 3

Installation


• Preparation

• Connectors and Jumpers

• Safety Considerations

• Controller Installation Procedures

Before You Begin

Installing a Mylex DAC960 PCI to Ultra SCSI RAID controller is no more difficult than installing any PCI adapter. Follow these steps and then follow the installation procedures in this chapter.



WARNING

Disconnect the system from the electrical wall outlet before opening the system cabinet. Working with the system covers off and power applied to the system can result in shock and serious injury.

1. Read all of the instructions in this chapter completely before proceeding. Follow the Notes, Cautions, and Warnings described in this manual and marked on the equipment.

2. Power off the system and disconnect the power cables before starting the installation.

3. Follow electrostatic discharge (ESD) safety procedures. Use grounded wrist straps or ESD-safe footwear, and work in an ESD-safe area.

4. Perform a safety check on the installation before powering on the system.

• Make sure that all of the cabling Pin 1 locations are correct and that all cables are firmly seated in the connectors.

• Make sure all SCSI conventions (cable type, cable length, termination, SCSI IDs, etc.) are followed.

Manual No. 775012 3-1

Connectors and Jumpers

Connectors and Jumpers

Up to three Ultra SCSI channels are supported on the DAC960PG and

DAC960PJ. The SCSI connector locations are shown in Figure 3-1.

Be sure that the Jumper JP6 has a jumper installed (see Figure 3-1 and

Table 3-1).

Figure 3-1. Full-length Controller Component Layout

Table 3-1. Full-length Controller Jumper and Connector Descriptions

Component Description

JP4

JP5

Connector for optional front panel LED harness

Serial Port Connector

JP6

J5

Reserved

Battery Backup connector – If a BBU is not installed, a loopback plug must be installed in this socket.

Default Setting

–

–

Installed

Installed at factory


Installation

External SCSI Connectors

The external connectors on the controller are female, Very High Density

Cable Interconnect (VHDCI) connectors. Figure 3-2 shows the

configurations that are available on both the DAC960PG and the

DAC960PJ.

A

DAC960PG

1-Channel

B

DAC960PG

2-, 3-Channel

DAC960PJ

2-, 3-Channel

Figure 3-2. Configurations of 1, 2, and 3 External SCSI Connectors

Manual No. 775012 3-3

Safety Considerations

Safety Considerations

Be sure to observe the following precautions before beginning the controller installation procedure:



Caution

Anti-static handling procedures are required. Leave the controller in its anti-static bag until it is time to plug the controller into the PCI slot. The use of a grounded wrist strap and other ESD protective measures are highly recommended.



WARNING



Installation

Installing the Controller

☛

Note

If a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) is to be installed, it should be done before the controller is installed into

the host system. Refer to Appendix A for information

on installing the BBU.

Follow these steps:

1. Power-off all enclosures and the system components and disconnect their power cords.

2. Remove the covers or the cabinet as necessary to access the I/O slots on the system board.

3. Choose a vacant PCI slot and remove the metal cover plate from the slot’s access port (usually at the back of the cabinet). Save the retaining screw.

4. Plug the controller firmly into the PCI slot so that the controller’s external connectors can be accessed through the access port. Use the retaining screw to secure the controller by its mounting bracket.

5. Connect the cables from the disk array(s) to the drive channel port(s) on the controller.

6. Look to confirm that all drive channels in use are properly terminated.

7. Safety check the installation.

8. Reconnect the power but DO NOT POWER ON the system at this time.

9. Proceed to the next chapter.

Manual No. 775012 3-5

Installing the Controller


Chapter 4

Controller Start-up

This chapter describes:

• BIOS Options

• BIOS Configuration Utility (RAID EzAssist)

• Operating System, Device Drivers, GAM

• What to Check in Case of Problems

This chapter describes the DAC960PG and DAC960PJ controller start-up procedures and messages produced by the BIOS during start-up or re-boot.

This chapter also explains three BIOS options that are available for configuring controller operation.

BIOS Options Sequence

After physically installing the controller and connecting the cabling, do the

following if you need to set or modify the BIOS options (see “Setting BIOS

Options” on page 4-2 for details).

1. Power on the any drive enclosures connected to the controller.

2. Power on the computer.

3. Watch the messages on the screen for the following prompt to be displayed:

Press <ALT-M> for BIOS options

4. Press Alt–M to get into the BIOS Options menu.

5. The BIOS Options menu provides the following items to choose from:

6. To select any of the items in the menu, highlight the selection with the

Up Arrow or Down Arrow. Press Enter to toggle any of the 3 items.

☛

Note

BIOS must be enabled to toggle the CD-ROM boot and the Drive geometry parameters.

Manual No. 775012 4-1

BIOS Options Sequence

Setting BIOS Options

The available BIOS options are:

• BIOS disabled/enabled

• CD-ROM boot disabled/disabled

• 2GB/8GB drive geometry

BIOS Disable or Enable

This option must be enabled in order to toggle the CDROM boot and the drive geometry parameters shown in the BIOS Options menu. The BIOS must also be enabled in order to boot from any device (e.g., CD-ROM) or system drive configured on the controller, or to access any DOS partition on any drive configured on the controller.

When BIOS Disable or Enable is selected, the following message will be displayed. Pressing any key will restart the system.

CD-ROM Boot Disable or Enable

The default for this option is for the CD-ROM boot to be disabled (e.g., the system will boot from a hard drive, even if there is a bootable CD installed).

If the CD-ROM boot option is enabled, and if a bootable CD is installed in the CD-ROM drive, the system can boot from the CD.

If the CD-ROM boot option is enabled, the CD-ROM will take priority over the disk drives. For example, under MS-DOS, the disk drive that is normally

Drive C will become Drive D. All subsequent drive IDs will similarly be moved down.


Controller Start-up

Enable 8GByte or 2GByte Drives

This setting affects how the BIOS reads the disk drives for the boot partition.

Drive geometries can be toggled between 8 GB and 2 GB. The default is 2

GB. When the drive geometry is changed, the drive should be formatted at the operating system level.



Caution

Changing this setting after data has been stored will make the data unreadable. If you have already configured your array and have stored data, you should not change this setting.

The default BIOS geometry of the controller is set to 2 GB. This means that the BIOS can only access the first 2 GB of any drive that has been configured on the controller. This is adequate in most applications, since BIOS is only used to boot the operating system. However, it does mean the operating system must be installed in the first 2 GB of the capacity of the configured drive. If this is not adequate, the BIOS geometry can be changed to 8 GB, allowing the BIOS to access the first 8 GB of capacity.

As a rule of thumb, select 8 GB geometry if the following two cases apply:

1. You have a system (RAID) drive that is greater than 2.145 GB in capacity.

2. The DOS/Windows compatible partitions could be located in an area above the first 2.145 GB.

Otherwise the 2 GB option is fine.

Manual No. 775012 4-3

BIOS Configuration Utility (RAID EzAssist)

☛

Note

In the event that the RAID controller needs to be replaced, the current drive geometry will be restored from the configuration on disk (COD).

BIOS Configuration Utility (RAID EzAssist)

RAID EzAssist is the on-board BIOS Configuration Utility used to build several types of RAID configurations. Refer to the RAID EzAssist

Configuration Utility User Reference Guide or RAID EzAssist Configuration

Utility Quick Configuration Guide for instructions on starting and using this utility.

Operating System

If an operating system is not already installed on the system, it can be installed on a system disk on the controller. The operating system is installed along with the operating system device drivers.

Operating System Device Drivers

Device drivers that are compatible with the controller can be found in the

Software Kit. For details on how to install and load drivers, refer to the

PCI Disk Array Controller Drivers Installation Guide and User Manual.

Global Array Manager (GAM) Server

The Global Array Manager Server software supports a variety of operating systems. For details on how to install GAM Server, refer to the appropriate

Global Array Manager Server Software Installation Guide and User

Manual.


Controller Start-up

Global Array Manager (GAM) Client

The controller can be configured using Global Array Manager Client. GAM

Client can also be used from the server or a system client to monitor status and verify data integrity of disks connected to the controller while the system and disks are running.

For details on how to install and run GAM Client, refer to the Global Array

Manager Client Software Installation Guide and User Manual.

In Case of Problems

If problems are encountered during start-up, check the following:

• Check SCSI cabling for loose connections, pin mismatches (make sure pin 1 on the cable matches pin 1 on the connector), bent pins, and damaged or crossed cables.

• Check cable length. This includes internal bus lengths in enclosures.

• Check termination.

• Check SCSI IDs on all drives.

Manual No. 775012 4-5

In Case of Problems


Appendix A

Battery Backup Unit Option

Product Description

The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) option is an add-on module that protects the data in the RAID controller’s cache memory in the event of a power failure.

The battery backup module monitors the write back cache on the

DAC960PG and DAC960PJ and provides power to the cache if it contains data not yet written to the drives when power is lost. The controller, with the

BBU installed, occupies only one PCI slot on the host backplane.

Features

Some of the new features of the BBU include:

• Gas gauge circuit for battery charge monitoring

• Quick charge to replenish a drained battery

• Support for low-power EDO ECC RAM modules

Manual No. 775012

Figure A-1. BBU Components

A-1

Installation

Installation

Tools Needed

The only tool needed for the installation is a small, flat-blade screwdriver.

Procedure

1. If the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ is not already removed from the system, power down the system and then remove the DAC960PG or

DAC960PJ.



WARNING


2. Remove the loopback plug from J5 on the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ.

Keep the loopback plug in a safe place, in case the BBU needs to be removed at a later time.

A-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation Guide

Battery Backup Unit Option

Figure A-2. Removing the Loopback Plug

3. Remove the protective pin cover and peel-off label from J1 on the

BBU.

4. Leaving the 4 standoffs attached to the BBU, remove a nylon screw from the free end of each nylon standoff.

Manual No. 775012 A-3

Installation

Figure A-3. Installing the BBU

5. Install the BBU so that J1 on the BBU connects to J5 on the

DAC960PG or DAC960PJ. Pin 1 on the BBU’s J1 must connect to hole

1 on the DAC960PG and DAC960PJ’s J5. The mounting holes on the

BBU will line up with the mounting holes on the DAC960PG or

DAC960PJ if the connectors are plugged in correctly.

6. Be sure the four standoffs line up with the four holes in the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ. Place a nylon screw through a hole from the back of the

DAC960PG or DAC960PJ into a standoff, and turn the screw to the right until it is snug (not too tight). Repeat this step with the remaining three standoff screws.



Operation

Battery Conditioning Prior to Use

Battery conditioning is automatic. There are no manual procedures for battery conditioning or preconditioning to be performed by the user.

Set-up – Enabling the Write-Back Cache

The write-back cache is enabled by toggling the write-back/write-through mode switch. The write-back/write-through mode switch is accessed in the

Onboard Configuration Utility, RAID EzAssist, or in GAM. Refer to the

RAID EzAssist Configuration Utility User Reference Guide or the Global

Array Manager Client Software Installation Guide and User Manual for instructions on how to examine and change the mode switch.

Battery Backup Capacity

Battery backup capacity is defined as the maximum duration of a power failure for which data in the cache can be maintained by the battery. The

BBU’s backup capacity varies with the memory configuration installed on the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ. Battery backup capacity can be reasonably

expected according to Table A-1

Table A-1. BBU Capacity vs. Cache Memory Configuration

Capacity

4 MB

8 MB

16 MB

32 MB

64 MB

128 MB

Mem Type

EDO ECC RAM

EDO ECC RAM

EDO ECC RAM

EDO ECC RAM

EDO ECC RAM

EDO ECC RAM

Battery Backup Duration

Typical Minimum

72 hours

40 hours

40 hours

20 hours

68 hours

30 hours

35 hours

20 hours

28 hours

14 hours

23 hours

12 hours


Maintenance

Maintenance

No end user maintenance is required on the BBU. It is recommended, however, that the battery charge level be periodically checked using the Gas

Gauge function in GAM (see the Global Array Manager Client Software

Installation Guide and User Manual).

Removing the Battery Backup Module

The battery backup module will need to be removed for one of the following reasons:

1. The NiCd battery will no longer accept a charge properly (NiCd battery life expectancy is approximately 5 years).

2. The cache memory needs to be removed from the DAC960PG or

DAC960PJ for replacement or upgrade.

When one of these conditions occur, observe the following precautions:



WARNING

Replace the battery only with the same or equivalent type of battery recommended by the battery manufacturer. Dispose of used batteries according to the manufacturer’s instructions.



WARNING

Do not attempt to install, remove, or change a cache SIMM on the DAC960PG or DAC960PJ with the BBU installed. Serious damage to the

SIMM and/or the battery backup unit will occur if this precaution is not followed.



Caution

If you plan to operate your DAC960PG or DAC960PJ without the BBU, be sure to reinstall the loopback plug (see the “Mechanical Installation Procedure”

section and Figure A-2).



Functional Description

General Operational Description

Whenever the system is running, the BBU is standing by, monitoring the voltage level of VCC. In the event of a power failure, the VCC voltage level will begin to drop. When the BBU detects this voltage drop, it checks the status of the disk cache. If the cache is empty, the BBU does nothing.

If the cache contains data during a power failure, the BBU will maintain cache data integrity until the power is restored. When power is restored and the system finishes the bootstrap process, the cache contents will be written to the disk array. The cache contents will then be flushed from the cache.

Status Indication

The status of the battery can be checked with the gas gauge feature that can be accessed in GAM (version 2.1x or greater). The gas gauge appears on the screen as two meters, a battery power meter and a charge level meter, each calibrated from 0 to 100.

The battery power meter indicates the battery capacity in hours. It will indicate a charge duration of up to 100 hours. The firmware will detect the

Mylex supplied SIMM and assign a value based upon the charge level of the battery and the power consumption rate of the SIMM.



Caution

Do not use SIMMs which are not supplied by Mylex.

The charge level meter displays the charge state of the battery expressed in percent (100% indicates a fully charged battery).

When the meter on the right indicates the battery is fully charged, the meter on the left will indicate the maximum time in hours that the battery can be expected to maintain cache data integrity. This value will vary depending

upon which Mylex supplied SIMM is being used (see Table A-1).

☛

Note

When the charge level is 100%, the current number of

hours and maximum number of hours (printed out below the left dial) will be equal.


Functional Description

Battery and Charge Circuit

Onboard Battery

The onboard battery is rated at 3.6 v with a capacity of 650 mAH. The BBU has a DC-DC converter that converts the 3.6 v from the battery to 5 v, which is the nominal voltage needed to replace V

CC

if a power failure should occur.

Battery Charger

Battery charging and conditioning are automatically handled by the BBU.

No manual preconditioning needs to be performed by the user. If the battery capacity falls below a predetermined level (which is likely to happen during a power failure), the battery charger goes into a quick charge mode. If the battery is fully charged, the charger goes into a trickle charge mode.

Recycling the Battery

The on-board battery that comes with the BBU has the logo of the

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) stamped on it. The logo means that recycling fees have been prepaid on this battery pack.



Caution

Do not dispose of a rechargeable battery with regular trash in a landfill. Rechargeable batteries contain toxic chemicals and metals that are harmful to the environment. Improperly disposing of rechargeable batteries is illegal.

Figure A-4. RBRC Logo

The RBRC is a non-profit corporation that promotes the recycling of rechargeable batteries, including nickel-cadmium batteries.

Information on the RBRC program and the locations of participating recycling centers can be obtained by telephoning 1–800–8–BATTERY (in the U.S.A.), and following the recorded instructions. The information obtained from this telephone number is updated frequently, since the RBRC program is growing, and new recycling locations are being added regularly.



BBU Specifications

Onboard Battery

Electrical Properties

3 NiCd 1.2 V, 650 mAH cells, connected in series for a total of 3.6V at

650mAH

Physical Description

Nominal pack size (in inches): 1.89(L) X 2.01(W) X 0.33 (H)

Battery Charge Life

Depends upon memory in use

External Battery

Not supported

Module Dimensions

Length:

Width:

3.75 inches

2.875 inches

Environmental

Temperature Operating:

Storage:

Humidity

Non-operating:

Operating:

0ºC to +40ºC

(+32ºF to 104ºF)

-40ºC to +60ºC

(-40ºF to +140ºF)

45% to 85% relative humidity

45% to 85% relative humidity


BBU Specifications


Appendix B

DAC960PG and

DAC960PJ Specifications

General Hardware Specifications

DAC960PG

Controller

CPU

DAC960PG

Intel i960 RP® RISC 32-bit microprocessor, 33MHz

Memory

Cache

Firmware

PCI

SCSI

EDO ECC RAM, 60ns, 72-pin SIMM, n x 40

(Use only Mylex supplied SIMMS)

Minimum: 4 MB

Optional: 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 MB

Write: Selectable – Write/Through or Write/Back

Error Protection: Error Correction Code (ECC)

ROM Type, Flash EEPROM, 512K x 8

I/O Processor: Embedded Intel i960 RP

32-bit bus

Transfer Rate: Up to 133MB/second

Mylex BA-81C15, one per channel

Data Rate: Up to 40MB/second, when using

Fast/Wide 16-bit mode

Manual No. 775012 B-1

General Hardware Specifications

DAC960PJ

Controller

CPU

Memory

Cache

Firmware

PCI

SCSI

DAC960PJ

Intel i960 RD® RISC 32-bit microprocessor, 66MHz

EDO ECC RAM, 60ns, 72-pin SIMM, n x 40

(Use only Mylex supplied SIMMS)

Minimum: 4 MB

Optional: 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 MB

Write: Selectable – Write/Through or Write/Back

Error Protection: Error Correction Code (ECC)

ROM Type, Flash EEPROM, 512K x 8

I/O Processor: Embedded Intel i960 RD

32-bit bus

Transfer Rate: Up to 133MB/second

Mylex BA-81C15, one per channel

Data Rate: Up to 40 MB/second when using

Fast/Wide 16-bit mode

B-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Specifications

Physical and Environmental Specifications

Controller

Form Factor:

DAC960PG/PJ

Full-length card Length

Width

12.283 inches

4.2 inches

Component

Height (max.)

0.105 inches – solder side

0.590 inches – component side

Board Width

(with BBU)

Not to exceed the width of one PCI slot

Temperature Operating 0°C to +55°C (+32°F to +131°F)

Storage -20°C to +70°C (-4°F to +158°F)

Humidity Operating

Storage

10% to 90% relative humidity (non-condensing)

10% to 90% relative humidity (non-condensing)

Altitude Operating

Storage

Up to 3,048m (10,000 ft )

Up to 15,240m (50,000 ft)

Manual No. 775012 B-3

Physical and Environmental Specifications

B-4 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Appendix C

Error Messages

Start-up Error Messages

The BIOS looks for any initialization message posted by the firmware during the start-up sequence. If a message is found, one of the following errors displays on-screen and the installation process aborts.

DAC960Pn fatal error--memory test failed

DAC960Pn fatal error--command interface test failed

DAC960Pn hardware error--run diagnostics to pinpoint error

DAC960Pn firmware checksum error--reload firmware

Drive Check Error Messages

If the firmware finds a valid controller configuration, but it doesn't match the

SCSI drives currently installed, one or more of the following messages display:

Unidentified device found at channel x....

Device identified for chn x, tgt y found at chn x', tgt y'

SCSI device at chn x, tgt y not responding

If any of the above messages are displayed, the firmware will not proceed any further in the initialization process, except to find other mismatches.

Then, the BIOS prints out the following:

DAC960Pn Configuration Checksum error--run configuration utility

If the firmware detects that during the last power cycle the system was turned off abruptly leaving some incomplete write operations, the following message appears:

Recovery from mirror race in progress

The following messages may also appear:

Adapter cannot recover from mirror race!

Some system drives are inconsistent!

Manual No. 775012 C-1

Installation Abort

During the initialization, if the firmware fails to respond to the BIOS inquiry within two minutes, the following message displays:

DAC960P

n

not responding--no drives installed.

The BIOS then inquires the firmware for its version number and other information, and prints out the following message:

DAC960P

n

firmware version x.xx

One or more of the following messages will be displayed if the firmware reports the following conditions:

Warning: X system drives are offline

Warning: X system drives are critical

Warning: The following SCSI devices are dead--chn

x, tgt y...

No system drives found: None installed

X system drives installed

The BIOS repeats the same process for additional RAID controllers present in the system. Then it proceeds to boot, if possible, from the first system drive on the first controller.

Installation Abort

With Firmware 4.x, the installation aborted message is displayed when the

BIOS finds that the configuration of the disk drives, as stored in the

NVRAM and configuration on disk, is different from what it senses at boot time. When this happens (and a brand new installation is not being attempted), the cause is often a faulty cable or drive, or a loose connection.

Check all of the connectors, cables, drives, and try to boot. If the error persists, it most likely indicates a genuine failure and needs to be corrected.

To correct it, boot and run the on-board Mylex Disk Array Configuration

Utility (see Chapter 4). For more information, refer to the RAID EzAssist

Configuration Utility User Reference Guide, available on CD-ROM, or

RAID EzAssist Configuration Utility Quick Configuration Guide.

C-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Error Messages

NVRAM Error

With Firmware 4.x, if the BIOS displays a mismatch between the NVRAM and the COD, no drives will be installed. Normally this error will not be displayed. If it is, boot and run the on-board Mylex Disk Array

Configuration Utility (see Chapter 4) to recover from the error. For more

information, refer to the RAID EzAssist Configuration Utility User Reference

Guide, available on CD-ROM, or RAID EzAssist Configuration Utility Quick

Configuration Guide.

System Reboot or Power Down Messages

Status messages may also be available from LED indicators connected to the

DAC960PG/PJ. The Write Pending indicator is especially important when preparing to power-down the system.

The DAC960PG/PJ is a caching controller with up to 128 MB of cache memory, data may still be in the cache waiting to be written to the disk drives, when the system reports that a write command was completed. It is

very important to make sure that all data is written to the disk before rebooting or powering down the system, or you may lose data. It is always a good idea to wait for 15 seconds before resetting or rebooting the system.

If using the 'Write Pending' LED indicator, wait three seconds after the LED has gone off before resetting or rebooting the system (the optional cache battery backup may also be used to prevent data loss).

Manual No. 775012 C-3

System Reboot or Power Down Messages

C-4 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Appendix D

Enclosure Management

Introduction

Mylex’s DAC960PG/PJ Disk Array Controllers support the industry standard enclosure management protocol SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant

Enclosures (SAF-TE). This feature allows the host to monitor drive enclosures and detect certain faults or operating environment conditions.

The host can make a decision to shut down the system or issue a warning based on the type of fault detected.

SAF-TE

The SAF-TE protocol follows a specification jointly worked out by nStor

Corporation and Intel Corporation. Enclosures that are compliant with this protocol are known as SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE).

The protocol is compatible with standard SCSI buses and cabling.

The SAF-TE interface standard’s objective is to provide a non-proprietary means of allowing third-party disks and controllers to be automatically integrated with peripheral enclosures that support:

• Status Signals (LEDs, audible alarms, LCDs, etc.)

• Hot swapping of drives

• Monitoring of fans, power supplies, and enclosure temperature

SCSI is the underlying transport mechanism for communicating enclosure information. All standard SCSI host adapters will work. There is no need to consider reserved signals or special cabling.

The SAF-TE interface can be implemented as a SCSI target that uses a SCSI port and an 8-bit microcontroller.

All communication is initiated by the host. The SAF-TE processor acts only in target mode. The SAF-TE processor should be periodically polled by the host approximately every 2 to 10 seconds.

Manual No. 775012 D-1

SAF-TE

D-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Appendix E

Regulatory Information

Class B Compliance

THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION

IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS:

3. THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE,

AND

4. 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 and used 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.



Caution

Only equipment certified to comply with Class B

(computer input/output devices, terminals, printers, etc.) should be attached to this equipment.

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.

Manual No. 775012 E-1

Declaration of Conformity

Declaration of Conformity

Manufacturer’s Name:

Mylex Corporation

Manufacturer’s Address:

34551 Ardenwood Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94555-3607

USA

Declares that the product:

Product Name:

1, 2, and 3-Channel Ultra SCSI RAID

Controller

Model Numbers:

DAC960PG, DAC960PJ

Year of Manufacture:

1998

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.

E-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation

Regulatory Information

Declaration of Conformity

Per 89\336\EEC

Responsible Party

Name:

Address:

Mylex Corporation

34551 Ardenwood Boulevard

Fremont, CA 94555-3607 USA hereby declares that the product

Trade Name:

High Performance Caching RAID Controller

Model Number:

DAC960PG/PJ conforms to the following specifications

Standards:

EN 50081-1:1992, EMI

EN 55022 Class B (Radiated), Class B (Conducted)

EN 50082-1:1992, Immunity

EN 61000-4-2:1995 Electrostatic Discharge

EN 61000-4-3:1996 Radiated Susceptibility

EN 61000-4-4:1995 Electrical Fast Transients/Burst


Community of Europe

Community of Europe

CE mark is rated for the DAC960PG™ and DAC960PJ™ 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.


Regulatory Information

Underwriters Laboratories Listing and Warning



WARNING

This controller is furnished with a nonvolatile

RAM (NVRAM) chip that uses a sealed lithium battery/crystal module. Replace the module only with the same or equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer. Dispose of the used battery/ crystal module according to the manufacturer's instructions. Never incinerate a battery as it could explode and cause serious injury.


Underwriters Laboratories Listing and Warning


Glossary

AcceleRAID™

The AcceleRAID family features high performance, cost effective Ultra

SCSI/Ultra2 SCSI LVD and Ultra 160 SCSI to PCI RAID controllers and adapters for high-end desktops, workstations, and entry level and mid range servers. AcceleRAID controllers support PCI-based motherboards with embedded SCSI chips and systems that have a PCI expansion slot designated for add-in RAID controllers. The AcceleRAID family consists of the 150,

200, 250, 352, 160, 170, and 170LP controllers. The 150, 200, and 250 products can utilize the on-board SCSI chips of servers and use SCSI

interrupt steering logic (SISL). In addition, the 150 and 250 products can

work in any PC or server with a PCI slot whether or not they have SCSI interrupt steering logic. The 150 and 250 have one Ultra2 SCSI LVD channel.

Active Termination

A type of terminator used in current SCSI channel setups, which utilizes an active voltage regulator, thus closely matching cable impedance.

Application Server

A centralized computer that holds and distributes application programs to users.

ASIC

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, a chip created for a specific application.

Array

Multiple disk drives configured to behave as a single, independent disk drive. See also Disk Array.

Asynchronous Data Transfer

Data transfer not synchronized to a set timing interval. Asynchronous devices must wait for a signal from the receiving device after each byte of data.

Manual No. 775012 G-1

Automatic Rebuild

Mylex controllers provide automatic rebuild capabilities in the event of a physical disk drive failure. The controller performs a rebuild operation automatically when a disk drive fails and both of the following conditions are true:

A standby or hot spare disk drive of identical or larger size is found attached to the same controller;

All system drives that are dependent on the failed disk drive are configured as a redundant array: RAID 1, RAID 3, RAID 5, or RAID 0+1.

During the automatic rebuild process, system activity continues; however, system performance may degrade slightly.

BBU

Battery Backup Unit, provides a battery backup for data currently stored in the on-board cache memory during intermittent power loss to the controller.

In the event of a power failure, the BBU can hold data in the cache for a certain amount of time. Once power is restored the data can be saved to a disk.

BIOS

Basic Input/Output System, software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs. The BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, screen, drives, serial communications, and other functions. Usually the BIOS is built into a ROM chip installed on the motherboard so that the BIOS will always be available and not affected by disk failure. Sometimes the BIOS is recorded on a flash memory chip.

BIOS Configuration Utility

BIOS-based Configuration Utility, a utility program sequence used, upon powerup, for configuring various hardware elements in a system.

Booting (or Bootstrapping)

Loading operating system code and other basic software from a disk or other storage device to help a computer start.

Burst Data Rate

The speed at which a specific amount of data is sent or received in intermittent operations.

G-2 DAC960PG and DAC960PJ Installation Guide

Glossary

Bus

A set of conductors that connect the functional units in a computer and are the channels through which data is transferred. There are several types of bus

channels, including serial, parallel, PCI, ISA, EISA, and MCA. See also I/O

Bus.

Cables

The physical wires (copper or fibre optic) over which electrical signals are transmitted. Cables are used to connect peripherals (such as disk arrays) to computers and servers or to connect peripherals or components to each other.

Cache

A temporary storage area for frequently accessed or recently accessed data.

Cache is used to speed up data transfer to and from a disk. See also Caching.

Cache Flush

Refers to an operation where all unwritten blocks in a Write-Back Cache are written to the target disk. This operation is necessary before powering down the system.

Cache Line Size

Represents the size of the data “chunk” that will be read or written at one time, and is set in conjunction with stripe size. Under RAID EzAssist

TM

, the cache line size (also known as Segment Size) should be based on the stripe size you selected. The default segment size for Mylex RAID controllers is

8K.

Caching

Allows data to be stored in a pre-designated area of a disk or RAM. Caching speeds up the operation of RAID systems, disk drives, computers and servers, or other peripheral devices.

CD-ROM

Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, a removable read-only storage device, similar to an audio compact laser disk, holding up to 640MB of data.

Channel

Any path used for the transfer of data and control of information between storage devices and a storage controller or I/O adapter. Also refers to one


SCSI bus on a disk array controller. Each disk array controller provides at least one channel.

Conservative Cache

An operating mode in which system drives configured with the write-back caching policy are treated as though they were configured for write-through operation and the cache is flushed.

Consistency Check

A process that verifies the integrity of redundant data. A consistency check on a RAID 1 or RAID 0+1 configuration (mirroring) checks if the data on drives and their mirrored pair are exactly the same. For RAID Level 3 or

RAID Level 5, a consistency check calculates the parity from the data written on the disk and compares it to the written parity. A consistency check from Mylex utilities such as Global Array Manager

TM

(GAM) or RAID

EzAssist

TM

give the user the ability to have a discrepancy reported and

corrected. See also Parity Check.

Data Transfer Rate

The amount of data per unit of time moved through a channel or I/O Bus in

the course of execution of an I/O load, usually expressed in MBps.

DB-9

A type of connector used for serial interfaces.

Device Driver

A software program that controls a particular type of device attached to a computer, such as a RAID subsystem, printer, display, CD-ROM, disk drive, etc.

DIMM

Dual In-line Memory Module, a circuit board that has memory chips. Instead of installing two SIMMs for the 64-bit memory path on a Pentium processor, one DIMM can be installed. See also SIMM.

Disk

A non-volatile, randomly addressable, re-writable data storage device, including rotating magnetic and optical disks as well as solid-state disks or other electronic storage elements.


Glossary

Disk Array

A collection of disks from one or more commonly accessible disk systems.

Disk arrays, also known as RAID, allow disk drives to be used together to improve fault tolerance, performance, or both. Disk arrays are commonly used on servers and are becoming more popular on desktops and

workstations. See also Array.

Disk Drive

A device for the electronic digital storage of information.

Disk System

A storage system capable of supporting only disks.

Drive Groups, Drive Packs

A group of individual disk drives (preferably identical) that are logically tied to each other and are addressed as a single unit. In some cases this may be called a drive “pack” when referring to just the physical devices.

All the physical devices in a drive group should have the same size; otherwise, each of the disks in the group will effectively have the capacity of the smallest member. The total size of the drive group will be the size of the smallest disk in the group multiplied by the number of disks in the group.

For example, if you have 4 disks of 400MB each and 1 disk of 200MB in a pack, the effective capacity available for use is only 1000MB (5x200), not

1800MB.

Drivers

A software routine that receives I/O requests from higher levels within the operating system and converts those requests to the protocol required by a specific hardware device.

Dual Active

A pair of components, such as storage controllers in a failure tolerant storage system, that share a task or set of tasks when both are functioning normally.

When one component of the pair fails, the other takes the entire load. Dual active controllers (also called Active/Active controllers) are connected to the same set of devices and provide a combination of higher I/O performance and greater failure tolerance than a single controller.


ECC

Error Correcting Code, a method of generating redundant information which can be used to detect and correct errors in stored or transmitted data.

EDO

Extended Data Output, a type of random access memory (RAM) chip designed to improve the time to read from memory on faster microprocessors such as the Intel

®

Pentium.

EEPROM

Electrically Erasable PROM, see EPROM.

EISA

Extended Industry Standard Architecture, a bus standard for PCs extending the ISA architecture to 32 bits and allowing more than one CPU to share the bus.

Embedded Storage Controller

An intelligent storage controller that mounts in a host computer’s housing and attaches directly to a host’s memory bus with no intervening I/O adapter or I/O bus.

EPROM

Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, memory which can be erased and re-used.

eXtremeRAID

A family of Mylex RAID controllers which offer uncompromising fault tolerance, data availability, superior configuration, and management flexibility. The eXtremeRAID family incorporates the latest performance technology by using the fastest processor on a PCI based RAID solution, a

233 MHz RISC processor, up to four 160MB/sec Ultra 160 SCSI (Ultra3

SCSI) channels, and a 64-bit PCI interface to provide eXtreme performance for servers. The eXtremeRAID controllers use driver technology with which

Mylex has won tpm-C benchmarks worldwide. With this technology, the eXtremeRAID 1100, 2000, and 3000 provide the highest performance and most flexible RAID solution available today.


Glossary

Failback

Restoring a failed system component’s share of a load to a replacement component.

Failover

A mode of operation for failure tolerant systems in which a component has failed and a redundant component has assumed its functions.

Failover Port

A fibre channel port capable of assuming I/O requests for another, failed port on the loop. During normal operation, a failover port may be active or inactive. Failover ports assume the same loop ID and, optionally, the same node from the failed port.

Failure

A detectable physical change in hardware, requiring replacement of the component.

Fast SCSI

Devices that increases the speed at which data is transferred as opposed to the volume of data. These devices use data rates up to 10 MHz.

Fast/Wide SCSI

SCSI devices using data rates up to 20 MHz.

Flash ROM

Memory on an adapter containing software that can be reprogrammed without removing it from the board.

Format

A pre-established layout for data. Programs accept data as input in a certain format, process it, and provide it as output in the same or another format. All data is stored in some format with the expectation that it will be processed by a program that knows how to handle that format.

Gigabit

10

9

(1,000,000,000) bits. Abbreviated as Gb.


Gigabyte

2

30

(1,073,741,824) bytes. Abbreviated as G or GB.

Global Array Manager (GAM)

A Mylex RAID management utility that allows a system administrator to configure, monitor, and manage network RAID storage from anywhere in the world. GAM can communicate critical notification via e-mail, fax, pager,

SNMP or the launching of an application. GAM is everything needed to manage Mylex PCI RAID Controllers, SCSI Host Adapters, and External

RAID Controllers.

HDM

Hardware Driver Module, a driver set required for SCSI adapters for use in an I

2

O environment.

Host

Any computer system to which disks are attached and accessible for data storage and I/O.

Host Bus Adapter (HBA)

An I/O adapter that connects a host I/O bus to the host’s storage memory system.

Host I/O Bus

An I/O bus used to connect a host computer to storage systems or storage devices.

Hot Plug

The process of adding or removing a device from a bus while transactions involving other devices are occurring over the bus. See also PCI Hot Plug.

Hot Replacement of Disks

The design of all Mylex controllers allows for the replacement of failed hard disk drives without interruption of system service. In the event of a SCSI drive failure on a properly configured system (where the data redundancy features of the controller are used), the system generates a message to alert the system operator.

When a replacement drive becomes available, the system operator can remove the failed disk drive, install a new disk drive, and instruct the


Glossary controller to “rebuild” the data on the new drive, all without interrupting system operations. Once the rebuild is complete, the controller will be brought back into a fault tolerant state. See also Hot Swap.

Hot Spare

A physical disk drive not part of a system drive that the controller can use to automatically rebuild a critical system drive. The hot spare drive must have at least as much capacity as the largest disk drive in the array or the rebuild may not start. See also Hot Standby.

Hot Standby

A redundant component in a fault tolerant storage system that has power applied and is ready to operate, but which does not perform its task as long as the primary component for which it is standing by is functioning properly.

See also Hot Replacement of Disk and Hot Spare.

Hot Swap

The exchange of a replacement unit in a storage system for a defective unit.

The exchange requires human intervention, but the system can continue to perform its normal functions (compare with Auto Swap, Cold Swap, and

Warm Swap). See also Hot Replacement of Disk.

In-Line Terminator

A plug attached to the end of a SCSI cable in order to initiate active termination. Used when SCSI devices on the cable do not have built-in termination. See also Active Termination.

Interface

A hardware or software protocol that manages the exchange of data between the hard disk drive and the computer. The most common interfaces for small computer systems are ATA (also known as IDE) and SCSI.

Internal RAID Controller

A controller circuit board that resides inside a computer or server. An internal RAID controller resides on a bus, such as the PCI bus. Examples of internal RAID controllers include the Mylex AcceleRAID and eXtremeRAID families.


I/O

Input/Output, the transmission of information between an external source and the computer.

I/O Bus

Any path used for the transfer of data and control information between I/O adapters and storage controllers or storage devices. See also Bus.

I

2

O

Intelligent Input/Output, a driver that uses special I/O processes to eliminate

I/O bottlenecks. The processes deal with interrupt handling, buffering, and data transfer. An I

2

O driver also includes an OS-specific module (OSM), which handles higher-level OS details, and a hardware device module

(HDM), which knows how to communicate with certain devices.

ISA

Industry Standard Architecture, a standard bus (computer interconnection) architecture associated with the IBM AT motherboard. It allows 16 bits at a time to flow between the motherboard circuitry and an expansion slot card and its associated device(s).

JBOD

Just A Bunch of Disks (Drives), a number of disk drives, usually in an enclosure. JBOD implies that the disks do not use RAID technology and function independently. All Mylex RAID controllers support JBOD mode.

Jumper

A short piece of electrical conductor encased in plastic used to connect pins on a device to provide settings that the user can change. The settings remain constant during operation. For example, jumpers often set SCSI ID, termination, and IDE master/slave settings.

Kilobyte

2

10

(1,024). Abbreviated as K or KB.

Logical Drive

The logical devices presented to the operating system. System drives are presented as available disk drives, each with a capacity specified by the

Mylex RAID controller.


Glossary

Logical Drive States

A logical (system) drive can be Online, Critical, or Offline. Notice that the term “online” is used for both physical and logical drives.

LVD

Low Voltage Differential, a form of SCSI signaling introduced with Ultra2

SCSI (Fast40 SCSI) uses data high and data low signal lines to increase transmission distances over those of single-ended (conventional SCSI signaling) lines. LVD allows for cable lengths of up to 12 meters

(approximately 39 feet) with up to 15 devices. LVD also lowers noise, power usage, and amplitude.

LVD differs from conventional differential signaling in that only positive and negative values are distinguished, not voltage levels. Other advantages are that LVD devices consume less power and can sense single-ended devices on the bus and revert to single-ended signaling. Devices need to be

Ultra2 SCSI LVD devices in order to take advantage of the LVD signaling.

Mylex AcceleRAID, eXtremeRAID, and DAC FL controllers are LVD controllers.

Megabit

A million bits; used as a common unit of measure, relative to time in seconds, as an expression of a transmission technology's bandwidth or data transfer rates. Megabits per second (Mbps) is a frequent measure of bandwidth on a transmission medium.

Megabyte

2

20

(1,048,576) bytes. One megabyte can store more that one million characters. Abbreviated as M or MB.

Mirrored Cache

A cache memory that has duplicate data from another controller. In the event of failure of the original controller, the second controller can take the cached data and place it on the disk array.

Mirrored Hard Drive

Two hard drives the computer sees as one unit. Information is stored simultaneously on each drive. If one hard disk drive fails, the other contains all of the cached data and the system can continue operating.


Mirroring

Refers to the complete duplication of data on one disk drive to another disk drive, this duplication occurs simultaneously with each write operation: each disk will be the mirror image of the other (also known as RAID Level 1, see

RAID levels). All Mylex RAID controllers support mirroring.

M.O.R.E.

Mylex Online RAID Expansion, an advanced configuration mode that allows expansion of any unconfigured or hot spare drive into the expandable drive group while the controller is online with the host. For example, a system using a five-disk-drive RAID set can add another disk drive to create a six-disk-drive RAID set. The M.O.R.E. operation can be performed on all

RAID levels except JBOD.

Mylex’s Global Array Manager (GAM) supports two M.O.R.E. features:

Expand Capacity allows logical drive expansion for FFx external controllers only.

Expand Array allows array expansion for both PCI and FFx external controllers.

During the RAID set expansion process, which includes re-striping data from the old (smaller) RAID set to the new (expanded) RAID set, the controller continues to service host I/O requests.

MTBF

Mean Time Between Failures, the average time from start of use to failure in a large population of identical systems, computers, or devices.

Narrow SCSI

8-bit wide standard SCSI. Compare with Fast SCSI, Fast/Wide SCSI, Ultra

SCSI, Ultra Wide SCSI, Ultra Fast SCSI, Ultra 160 SCSI, and WideSCSI.

NVRAM

Non-Volatile Random Access Memory, a memory unit equipped with a battery so that the data stays intact even after the main power had been switched off.


Glossary

Offline

A Logical Drive is in an “offline” state if no data can be read from it or written to it. Offline does not apply to physical disk drives. System commands issued to offline logical drives are returned with an error status; no operations can be performed on offline logical drives. See also Logical

Drive States, Online, and Critical.

Online

A Logical Drive is in an “online” state if all of its participating SCSI drives have power and are operational. See also Logical Drive States, Critical, and

Offline.

Parity

A method of providing complete data redundancy while requiring only a fraction of the storage capacity of mirroring. The data and parity blocks are divided between the disk drives in such a way that if any single disk drive is removed or fails, the data on it can be reconstructed using the data on the remaining disk drives. The parity data may exist on only one disk drive or be distributed between all disk drives in a RAID group.

Parity Check

A function used to verify the integrity of data on a system drive. It verifies that mirror or parity information matches the stored data on the redundant arrays. If the parity block information is inconsistent with the data blocks, the controller corrects the inconsistencies. See also Consistency Check.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect, a standardized architecture that provides a high-speed data path between peripherals and the CPU. PCI is a high-performance, backplane interface, expansion slot architecture found on

PCs, Macintoshes, and UNIX workstations. PCI cards are portable across hardware platforms with the help of various software drivers.

PCI Hot Plug

A feature that allows for the printed circuit board (PCB) to be replaced without powering down the entire system—an essential feature in newer

PCI-based PCs. Mylex DAC960PG, DAC960PJ, AcceleRAID, and eXtremeRAID products are all PCI Hot Plug compatible. See also Hot Plug.


Physical Device

Any device connected to some kind of hardware. For example, SCSI disk, fibre disk, network disk, RAM disk, etc.

Physical Disk Drive

A single hard disk drive. Each physical disk drive is assigned a unique identification address.

PROM

Programmable Read-Only Memory, memory that users with appropriate instructions can reprogram.

Protocol

A special set of rules for transmitting data between two devices in a telecommunication connection.

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a collection of two or more disks working together in an array. DAC960 controllers implement this technology to connect up to 15 SCSI devices per channel. The different forms of RAID implementation are known as “RAID levels.”

The system manager or integrator selects the appropriate RAID level for a system. This decision will be based on which of the following are to be emphasized:

Disk Capacity

Data Availability (redundancy or fault tolerance)

Disk Performance

RAID Adapters

See RAID Controller.

RAID Advisory Board (RAB)

An association of companies whose primary intention is to standardize

RAID storage systems. Mylex is a member of RAB.

RAID Controller

Low cost RAID controllers that use SCSI channels on the motherboard.


Glossary

RAID Levels

Mylex disk array controllers support four RAID Advisory Board approved

(RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 3, and RAID 5), two special (RAID 0+1, and

JBOD), and three spanned (RAID 10, 30, and 50) RAID levels. All

DAC960, AcceleRAID, and eXtremeRAID series controllers support these

RAID levels.

Level 0: Provides block “striping” across multiple drives, yielding higher performance than is possible with individual drives. This level does not provide any redundancy.

Level 1: Drives are paired and mirrored. All data is 100 percent duplicated on a drive of equivalent size.

Level 3: Data is “striped” across several physical drives. Maintains parity information, which can be used for data recovery.

Level 5: Data is “striped” across several physical drives. For data redundancy, drives are encoded with rotated XOR redundancy.

Level 0+1: Combines RAID 0 striping and RAID 1 mirroring. This level provides redundancy through mirroring.

JBOD: Sometimes referred to as “Just a Bunch of Drives.” Each drive is operated independently like a normal disk controller, or drives may be spanned and seen as a single drive. This level does not provide data redundancy.

Level 10: Combines RAID 0 striping and RAID 1 mirroring spanned across multiple drive groups (super drive group). This level provides redundancy through mirroring and better performance than Level 1 alone.

Level 30: Data is “striped” across multiple drive groups (super drive group).

Maintains parity information, which can be used for data recovery.

Level 50: Data is “striped” across multiple drive groups (super drive group).

For data redundancy, drives are encoded with rotated XOR redundancy.

Note: The host operating system drivers and software utilities remain unchanged regardless of the level of RAID installed. The controller makes the physical configuration and RAID level implementation.


RAID Migration

A feature in RAID subsystems that allows for changing a RAID level to another level without powering down the system.

RAM

Random Access Memory, the "built-in" readable and writable data storage that comes with (or can be added to) a computer.

RISC

Reduced Instruction Set Computing, architecture for an application-specific processor.

RJ-11, RJ-45

Registered Jacks (sometimes described as RJ-XX), a series of telephone connection interfaces (receptacle and plug) that are registered with the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The most common telephone jack is the RJ-11 jack, which can have six conductors but is usually implemented with four. The RJ-11 jack is likely to be the jack that your household or office phones are plugged into from the ordinary "untwisted" wire (sometimes called "gray satin" or "flat wire") that people are most familiar with. The RJ-45 is a single-line jack for digital transmission over ordinary phone wire, either untwisted or twisted; the interface has eight pins or positions.

ROM

Read-Only Memory, built-in computer memory containing data that normally can only be read, not written to. ROM contains the programming that allows a computer to be "booted up" each time you turn it on. Unlike a computer's random access memory (RAM), the data in ROM is not lost when the computer power is turned off; a small long-life battery in your computer sustains the ROM.

SAF-TE

SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosure, an “open” specification designed to provide a comprehensive standardized method to monitor and report status information on the condition of disk drives, power supplies, and cooling systems used in high availability LAN servers and storage subsystems. The specification is independent of hardware I/O cabling, operating systems, server platforms, and RAID implementation because the


Glossary enclosure itself is treated as simply another device on the SCSI bus. Many other leading server, storage, and RAID controller manufacturers worldwide have endorsed the SAF-TE specification. Products compliant with the

SAF-TE specification will reduce the cost of managing storage enclosures, making it easier for a LAN administrator to obtain base-level fault-tolerant alert notification and status information. All Mylex RAID controllers feature

SAF-TE.

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface, a technological standard that defines connections between computers and peripheral devices.

SCSI Adapters

Storage controllers for managing SCSI devices.

SCSI Drive

A disk drive equipped with a SCSI interface (sometimes referred to as a

SCSI Disk). Each disk drive will be assigned a SCSI address (or SCSI ID), which is a number from 0 to 7 (0 to 15 under wide or Ultra SCSI). The SCSI address uniquely identifies the drive on the SCSI bus or channel.

SCSI Drive States

Refers to a SCSI drive’s current operational status. At any given time, a

SCSI drive can be in one of five states: Ready, Online, Standby, Dead, or

Rebuild.

The controller stores the state of the attached SCSI drives in its non-volatile memory. This information is retained even after power-off. Hence, if a SCSI disk is labeled “dead” in one session, it will stay in the “dead” state until a change is made either by using a system level utility or after a rebuild. Each state is described below:

Ready: A SCSI disk drive is in a “ready” state if it is powered on and is available to be configured during the current session but remains unconfigured.

Online: A SCSI disk drive is in an “online” state if is powered on, has been defined as a member of a drive group, and is operating properly.

Standby: A SCSI disk drive is in a “standby” state if it is powered on, is able to operate properly, and was

NOT

defined as part of any drive group.


Offline: A SCSI disk drive is in a “offline” state if it is not present, if it is present but not powered on, or if it failed to operate properly and was

“offline” by the controller. When the controller detects a failure on a disk, it

“kills” that disk by changing its state to “offline.” An “offline” SCSI drive can also be present and powered on, but a SCSI drive in a “offline” state does not participate in any I/O activity; no commands are issued to dead drives.

Rebuild: A SCSI disk drive is in a “rebuild” state while it is in the process of being rebuilt. During this process, data is regenerated and written to the disk drive. This state is also referred to as “Write-Only” (WRO).

SCSI Interrupt Steering Logic (SISL)

Architecture that allows a RAID controller, such as AcceleRAID 150, 200 or

250, to implement RAID on a system board-embedded SCSI bus or a set of

SCSI busses.

SDRAM

Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, a form of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) that can be coordinated or synchronized to the clock speed of the computer.

Segment Size

See Cache Line Size.

Sequential I/O

A type of read and write operation where entire blocks of data are accessed one after another in sequence, as opposed to randomly.

Server

A computer program that provides and manages services to other computer programs on the same or other computers. The computer that a server program runs in is also frequently referred to as a server.

SES

SCSI Enclosure Services, a standard for SCSI access to services within an enclosure containing one or more SCSI devices. For disk drives, power supplies, cooling elements, and temperature sensors, the actions performed are the same as for SAF-TE monitoring. If a UPS is connected to any

SES-monitored enclosures, and an AC failure or two minute warning is


Glossary reported, conservative cache is enabled and all system drives are switched to write-through cache. Primarily used in fibre enclosures.

SIMM

Single In-line Memory Module, RAM packed on a small circuit board with a defined edge connector. Two SIMMs are required for a 64-bit memory path on a Pentium processor. See also DIMM.

SISL

See SCSI Interrupt Steering Logic (SISL).

SMART

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, the industry standard reliability prediction indicator for both the ATA/IDE and SCSI hard disk drives. Hard disk drives with SMART offer early warning of some hard disk failures so critical data can be protected.

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol, the protocol governing network management: for monitoring network devices and their functions.

Standard Disk Drive

This term refers to a hard disk drive with SCSI, IDE, or other interface, attached to the host system through a standard disk controller.

Standby Replacement of Disks

See also Hot Spare. One of the most important features the RAID controller provides to achieve automatic, non-stop service with a high degree of faulttolerance. The controller automatically carries out the rebuild operation when a SCSI disk drive fails and both of the following conditions are true:

A “standby” SCSI disk drive of identical size is found attached to the same controller;

All of the system drives that are dependent on the failed disk are redundant system drives, e.g., RAID 1, RAID 3, RAID 5, and RAID 0+1.

Note: The standby rebuild will only happen on the

SAME

DAC960 controller, never across DAC960 controllers.

During the automatic rebuild process, system activity continues as normal.

System performance may degrade slightly during the rebuild process.


To use the standby rebuild feature, you should always maintain a standby

SCSI disk in your system. When a disk fails, the standby disk will automatically replace the failed drive and the data will be rebuilt. The system administrator can disconnect and remove the bad disk and replace it with a new disk. The administrator can then make this new disk a standby.

The standby replacement table has a limit of 8 automatic replacements in any session (from power-on/reset to the next power-off/reset). When the limit of 8 is reached and a disk failure occurs, the standby replacement will occur but will not be recorded in the replacement table.

To clear the “standby replacement” table, reboot the system from a DOS bootable floppy, run the configuration utility and select the option ‘view/ update configuration’ from the main menu. A red box labeled ‘Drive Remap

List’ will be displayed. Selecting the box will allow you to continue. You should save the configuration without making any changes, and exit the configuration utility. This will clear the replacement table. You may now proceed to boot your system and continue normal operations.

In normal use, the replacement table limit of 8 should not cause any problems. Assuming that a disk fails about once a year (drives we support generally come with a 5-year warranty), the system would run continuously for a minimum of eight years before the table would need to be cleared.

Stripe Order

The order in which SCSI disk drives appear within a drive group. This order must be maintained, and is critical to the controller’s ability to “rebuild” failed drives.

Stripe Size

The size, in kilobytes (1024 bytes) of a single I/O operation. A stripe of data

(data residing in actual physical disk sectors, which are logically ordered first to last) is divided over all disks in the drive group.

Stripe Width

The number of striped SCSI drives within a drive group.

Striping

The storing of a sequential block of incoming data across multiple SCSI drives in a group. For example, if there are 3 SCSI drives in a group, the data will be separated into blocks and block 1 of the data will be stored on SCSI


Glossary drive 1, block 2 on SCSI drive 2, block 3 on SCSI drive 3, block 4 on SCSI drive 1, block 5 on SCSI drive 2, and so on. This storage method increases the disk system throughput by ensuring a balanced load among all drives.

Sustained Data Transfer Rate

A rate of data transfer defined for continuous operation at a maximum speed level.

Synchronous Data Transfer

Data transmission synchronized to a defined time interval, and is faster than asynchronous SCSI because there is no wait for acknowledgement of each byte from the receiving device (up to 20MHz).

System Drives

A system drive is equivalent to a logical drive. System drives are presented to the operating system as available disk drives, each with a capacity specified by the eXtremeRAID controller.

Target ID

The SCSI ID of a device attached to a controller. Each SCSI channel can have up to 15 attached SCSI devices (target ID from 0 to 6 and 8 to 15).

Terminator

A part used to end a SCSI bus.

Termination

A method of matching transmission impedance of a bus to eliminate signal reflections from the physical ends of the bus.

Transfer Rate

The rate at which data moves between the host computer and storage, input, or output devices, usually expressed as a number of characters per second.

Ultra 160 SCSI (Ultra3 SCSI)

The newest in SCSI technology, Ultra 160 SCSI increases performance, reliability, and manageability. With transfer rates of 160 MBps, cyclical redundancy check, and the capability to automatically test the interface’s performance level, the Ultra 160 SCSI can keep up with fibre channel technology.


Ultra SCSI (Fast 20 SCSI)

A high performance SCSI protocol that has a bus speed of 20 Megabytes per second in the Narrow SCSI configuration and 40 MB in the Wide SCSI (Fast

20 Wide SCSI) configuration.

Ultra Wide SCSI

16-bit wide Ultra SCSI (IS devices), double the speed of narrow SCSI.

Ultra2 SCSI (Fast 40 SCSI)

A higher performance SCSI protocol than Ultra SCSI. Ultra2 SCSI has a bus speed of 40 Megabytes per second in the Narrow SCSI configuration and 80

Megabytes in the Wide SCSI (Wide Ultra2 SCSI) configuration.

Wide SCSI

A SCSI protocol and signal definition providing 16-bit wide data path.

Write-Back Cache

A caching strategy whereby write operations result in a completion signal being sent to the host operating system as soon as the cache (not the disk drive) receives the data to be written. The target disk drive will receive the data at a more appropriate time in order to increase controller performance.

An optional cache battery backup can be used to protect against data loss as a result of a power failure or system crash.

Write-Through Cache

A caching strategy whereby data is written to the SCSI drive before a completion status is returned to the host operating system. This caching strategy is considered more secure, since a power failure will be less likely to cause loss of data. However, a write through cache results in a slightly lower performance.


DAC960 Problem Report

Customer Identification

Name: ___________________________________

Company: ________________________________

Address: _________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

Country: _________________________________

Date:

DAC960 Identification

Purchase Date:

Model

Invoice Number:

Serial Number:

# Chnls: Cache:

Firmware Ver: BIOS Ver:

Phone Number:____________________________

Fax Number:______________________________

Make/Model/Size/Type of

Drives:

Disk:

Non-Disk:

Motherboard: ____________

Video Adapter: ___________

Operating Sys: ___________

System Information

CPU Speed:

Network Card:

Other Disk Ctrl:

Pack Configuration

Indicate in matrix below 1, 2... for member of pack 1, pack 2... respectively. Indicate S, T, C, or O for Standby, Tape, CDROM and other drives.

BIOS Ver:

MB Memory:

Other Cards:

System Drive Configuration

System

Drive

Size RAID

Level

Write

Back/

Thru

Channel

SCSI ID

0

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

5

6

7

3

4

1

2

Problem Description

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

This DPR form has been included with your Mylex product as a convenience to both you and our Technical

Services Department. If filled out completely, this will greatly assist Mylex personnel in quickly resolving any technical problems or questions you may have. Use the Mylex fax number (510) 745-7715 to transmit this form to the Technical Services Department, or mail to Mylex Corporation, Technical Services Department,

34551 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont, CA 94555-3607

772014-DAC960

Mylex Warranty - Customer Policy

Thank you for purchasing this Mylex product for your computer system. In addition to this high-quality product, your purchase entitles you to the warranty coverage set forth herein. In order to provide this warranty coverage, and to indicate your acceptance of this warranty, we must have the attached Warranty Registration Card completed and returned to us within 15 days of your purchase. Also, in order for us to provide you the highest level of service, we must know where you purchased your MYLEX product.

Three Year Limited Warranty

If at any time during the thirty six month period immediately following the date of original purchase of the MYLEX product enclosed herewith (the “PRODUCT”) you discover one or more defects in the material or workmanship,

MYLEX will repair, or at MYLEX’s sole option, replace the PRODUCT. If the PRODUCT fails to operate at any time within seven days after the date of its original purchase, it will be replaced by MYLEX. Such repair or replacement will be your sole remedy against MYLEX, and MYLEX’s only liability to you, for any failure or malfunction of the PRODUCT. The warranty set forth in this paragraph will be void if:

1. The PRODUCT has been installed in an improper manner or in an improper operating environment.

2. The PRODUCT has been modified or repaired by any party other than MYLEX or a MYLEX factory authorized service center.

3. The PRODUCT has been damaged.

Some MYLEX products will have a Warranty Expiration Date label affixed to the product itself. When present, the warranty period will extend through the last day of the month indicated.

This warranty will not apply to, and MYLEX provides no warranty for, any BIOS, software, ROM-based firmware, or any other PRODUCT developed or manufactured by any third party, whether included with this PRODUCT or not. Such warranty or warranties as are provided by third parties, to the extent permitted thereby, shall be made available, and are hereby assigned, by MYLEX to the purchaser of this PRODUCT.

If MYLEX issues a revision to the BIOS, firmware or software included with this PRODUCT within 30 days of your purchase, MYLEX will replace such firmware at no charge except handling fees.

Out of Warranty Service

Mylex products which are ineligible for warranty service may be serviced by MYLEX according to our standard price list, as modified from time to time. A current copy of the standard price list is available from the Technical

Support Department.

Limitation of MYLEX Liability

MYLEX’s liability arising from the sale, use and disposition of this PRODUCT shall in no event exceed the amount paid to MYLEX for this PRODUCT. MYLEX assumes no liability for damages arising from the use or failure of any MYLEX product. The WARRANY DESCRIBED ABOVE CONSTITUTES THE ONLY WARRANY MADE

BY MYLEX. MYLEX EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND

WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-

ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WHICH ARE HEREBY EXPRESSLY

EXCLUDED. IN NO EVENT WILL MYLEX BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUEN-

TIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF DATA, USE, OR INCOME), EVEN IF

ADVISED OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE. Your sole remedies shall be as provided herein.

P/N: 772058-07 3-99 Printed in U.S.A.

Returned Merchandise Procedures

If you suspect that there is a defect in the material or workmanship of this PRODUCT, you should contact the person or company from which you purchased it. That person or company may be able to solve the problem and if not, will be able to contact us for technical assistance or repair.

If it is determined that the PRODUCT must be returned to MYLEX for repair or replacement, contact MYLEX’s

Technical Support Department at 510-608-2400 before it is returned. Each returned item must have a separate

Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number, provided by MYLEX.

The following rules apply to all returned items:

1. The PRODUCT must be returned either in its original packaging or in other packaging which is appropriate for the PRODUCT and the manner of shipment, and the RMA number must be displayed prominently on the outside of each such package.

2. If a PRODUCT is determined to be ineligible for warranty service, the customer will be notified before any further action is taken with the PRODUCT.

3. MYLEX will not be responsible for any loss or damage to property shipped with the RMA PRODUCT not originally sold by MYLEX (e.g., coprocessor chips, peripheral boards, memory modules, enclosures, power supplies, or any other accessories or attached items).

4. Any item returned to MYLEX without a valid RMA number will be returned to the shipper.

Products shipped to MYLEX must be shipped or mailed at the shipper’s risk, freight prepaid, to the address below.

Mylex Corporation

34551 Ardenwood Blvd.

Fremont, California U.S.A.

94555-3607

Mylex will pay for return freight via such carrier as MYLEX shall deem appropriate.

Technical Support

Technical support, to assist you in resolving problems with MYLEX products, is available through MYLEX’s Technical Support Department. In the U.S.A., the Technical Support Department can be reached by telephone at (510)

608-2400, by FAX at (510) 745-7715, or by e-mail at [email protected]. Current hours of operation, which are subject to change, are from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Mondays through Fridays, excluding U.S.A.

national holidays. Many problems can also be solved using the Mylex Web site (http://www.mylex.com), which has a support area available 24 hours a day for interactive technical support.

Included with the shipment of most MYLEX products is a System Problem Report (SPR) form. When contacting the Technical Support Department for assistance with an installation or compatibility problem, we recommend that this form be completed and sent by facsimile or mail to MYLEX. Completion of this form will allow our Technical

Support Department to solve most technical problems expeditiously.

Mylex will make reasonable efforts to address compatibility problems which may arise with respect to third party products, but shall not be responsible for the compatibility of its products with the products of any third party. Customers are advised to verify each product’s compatibility with their installation before committing to any particular procurement plan.

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