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| ExaSAN PCIe1.1 Storage ( A08S-PS, A12S-PA, A16S-PA, A16D-PA, A24S-PA, A24D-PA ) |
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| 1. |
When turning on the Windows host, “Find no RAID card” appears, how can this be handled? |
| 2. |
When turning on the Mac host, after entering the GUI and adding a controller, there is no device listed.
How can this be dealt with? |
| 3. |
Why is it that my RAID system has an actual capacity of more than 2 TB, but in windows XP and
windows 2000, it will only do a full format of less than 2 TB of capacity? How can this be resolved? |
| 4. |
In the Vista & Windows 7 Environment, after having confirmed that the files on the installation CD
have been completely installed, why does it still show “Find no RAID card”? |
| 5. |
Why doesn't performance reach the levels it should while testing the A08S-PS? Why isn’t performance
steady enough? |
| 6. |
Why is it that after my A08S-PS is more than half full, efficiency is lowered significantly? |
| 7. |
When inserting the HDD into my A08S-PS, why does RAIDGuard X show the HDD mode as Lock? |
| 8. |
How can a spare HDD be set-up? |
| ExaSAN Compact Switch - SW04/08 : |
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| ExaSAN PCIe1.1 Storage ( A08S-PS, A12S-PA, A16S-PA, A16D-PA A24S-PA, A24D-PA ) |
| Q1: When turning on the Windows host, “Find no RAID card” appears, how can this be handled? |
A: Please make sure the PCIe cable is properly connected to the back of the host server and RAID
system. In Windows, check “Device Manager” to confirm that the correct driver has been installed
for the Re-drive card. |
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Q2: When turning on the Mac host, after entering the GUI and adding a controller, there is no device
listed. How can this be dealt with? |
A: Please first confirm whether the hardware environment of the RAID system is functional, and also
make certain that the system drivers have been correctly installed.
Next, go to "Utilities > System Profiler > Software > Extensions" and check whether the Accusys6xxxx
is listed. In order to confirm whether GUI Server Service is running on the system,
go to "Utilities > Activity Monitor" and check whether the program name DTRGuiSrv01 is under the
program column. If the situation persists after doing the above, please again double check that the
hardware environment is not the source of the problem, and reinstall using Mac Installer. |
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Q3: Why is it that my RAID system has an actual capacity of more than 2 TB, but in windows XP and
windows
2000, it will only do a full format of less than 2 TB of capacity? How can this be resolved? |
A: Since Windows XP 32 bit & Windows 2000 don’t support GPT, so they can only continue to use MBR
(Master Boot Record), and MBR only supports up to 2 TB on one volume. To see more than 2 TB on
a single volume in Windows XP or 2000, go to RAIDGuard X, select “Create Array” and set the sector
size to 4096 bytes. By doing this, Windows XP will be able to format an MBR volume to greater than
2TB. However, if sector size is set to 4096 bytes, it can lower the performance a bit. |
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Q4: In the Vista & Windows 7 Environment, after having confirmed that the files on the installation CD
have been completely installed, why does it still show “Find no RAID card”? |
A: Windows Vista has the built-in ability to automatically reduce the potential of security breaches in the
system. It does that by automatically enabling a feature called User Account Control (or UAC for
short). When UAC function is enabled, the RAIDGuardX Server can not detect the controller and thus
displays the message “Find no RAID card”. To resolve this, you have to disable UAC or run the
RAIDGuardX Server “as administrator”. |
| Vista: |
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a. |
Control Panel User accounts Change security settings Deselect “Use User Account Control
(UAC) to help protect your computer”. |
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b. |
Restart the Computer to turn off the UAC. |
| Windows 7: |
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a. |
Type “MsConfig” in Start Search to start System Configuration, then go to Tools tab, select
Change UAC Settings, then click on Launch button. |
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b. |
Slide the slider bar to the lowest value (towards Never Notify), with description showing Never
notify me. |
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c. |
Restart the computer to turn off the UAC. |
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Q5: Why doesn't performance reach the levels it should while testing the A08S-PS? Why isn’t
performance steady enough? |
| A: |
If performance is unsteady or not good enough, in many cases the HDD is the cause. Since the
A08S-PS is a high efficiency product, there is extreme demand placed on each HDD. As a result,
if one of the HDDs has a small performance problem, it could still impact the entire system’s output
efficiency. |
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| Q6: Why is it that after my A08S-PS is more than half full, efficiency is lowered significantly? |
| A: |
When capacity surpasses one half, efficiency lowers. This is caused by the HDD itself. As a result of
the HDD’s engineering, the more occupied disk space, the lower the read/write efficiency. Since our
A08S-PS is a high-efficiency product, when all HDDs are reading/writing and reach full capacity,
causing a drop in HDD efficiency, the efficiency decline can also carry over to our A08S-PS. |
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| Q7: When inserting the HDD into my A08S-PS, why does RAIDGuard X show the HDD mode as Lock? |
| A: |
When a HDD can be locked, it shows that this hard drive contains metadata created by the
A08S-PS, and shows that it was previously used. To erase the data on the HDD, simply unlock
the HDD. |
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| Q8: How can a spare HDD be set-up? |
| A: |
The A08S-PS and ExaRAID HD RAID systems automatically treats an unused HDD as Globe Spare
HDD. If you want to set a particular HDD as a spare HDD, just make sure you don’t set it as part of an array or JBOD. |
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| ExaSAN Compact Switch - SW04/08: |
Q1: Why is it that I have turned on my host system(s), the ExaSAN SW04/08 switch, and the ExaSAN RAID
system(s), but I cannot see any of the newly created Volume on disk? |
| A: There are two likely probable causes: |
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a. |
You did not follow the proper procedures when you turned on your system components. Please
first follow the instructions in Section 3.2.2, “Powering Off,” to turn off all your system
components. Then follow the instructions in Section 3.2.1, “Powering On,” to turn on all
components again. |
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b. |
You do not have the latest version of switch firmware installed. Please refer to Section 4.2.3,
“Updating SW04/08 Switch Firmware,” for instructions on how to download and install the most
up-to-date firmware. |
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| Q2: Why is it that my system performance does not seem to reach the expected level? |
| A: There are two probable causes: |
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a. |
If only one or more, but not all, of your host systems seem to be suffering from lower-than-
expected performance; this host system might not meet the recommended PCIe 2.0 x4 interface
specification. Please verify that the host system PCIe slot where the HBA card is installed is PCIe
x4 or better. With the PCIe 1.0 standard, each data lane has a maximum transmission rate of 250MB/sec. That means a theoretic 1000MB/sec (250MB/sec times 4) for a x4 slot. However, due
to the fact that the PCIe transmission can only utilize 80% of this bandwidth, the actual maximum
throughput is only 800MB/sec (1000MB/sec times 80%). By the same reasoning, a PCIe 2.0 x4
slot, which is at 500MB/sec per lane, can reach a maximum throughput of 1600MB/sec. Refer to
Section 3.1.2, “Installing the HBA Cards,” for additional information.
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b. |
If the PCIe slot in question meets the recommended hardware specification, you might be having
trouble with your hard drive in the RAID system(s). Please refer to the appropriate user
documentation for your particular RAID storage system, for information on how to use the
“RAIDGuard X” user interface to produce a hard drive log for analysis. |
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| Q3: How do I verify that the PCIe slot on my host system supports the PCIe2.0 x4 standard or better? |
| A: There are two possibilities: |
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a. |
The host system in question is a Mac Pro. All Mac Pro systems that were manufactured after year
2008 have at least two PCIe 2.0 slots. There was only PCIe 1.0 support prior to 2008.
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b. |
The host system in question is a PC. Check the PC manufacturer’s website for hardware
specifications. Alternatively, you may obtain a Hardware Compatibility List from Accusys for
verification. |
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| Q4: Why is it that my system is generating warning beeps? |
| A: There are two possible scenarios: |
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a. |
Beeping is generated from the switch. Please check the LED indicators on your switch front
panel, against Section 1.4.1.1, “Switch SW04/08 Front Panel,” for error conditions. Follow the
instructions in Section A.2 below to obtain the Event Log information for further analysis. |
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b. |
Beeping is generated from the RAID storage system. Please check the LED indicators on your
RAID system front panel, against the appropriate user documentation for your particular storage
system. Follow the instructions there to launch the “RAID GUARD X” user interface to obtain
Event Log information for further analysis. |
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| Q5: Besides Apple Xsan, what other SAN management software options do I have? |
| A: |
In addition to Apple Xsan, the ExaSAN SW04/08 supports all other SAN management that are
available on the market; such as MetaSAN, StorNext, BWFS, FibreJEt, and SANmp, etc. |
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| Q6: Does the ExaSAN switch support “hot-plug” with either the RAID storage or the host system? |
| A: |
The ExaSAN switch does not support “hot-plug” with either. Should you need to alter your existing
storage or host system configuration, you would have to follow the instructions in Section 3.2.2,
“Powering Off,” to completely shut down your system first. |
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| Q7: What is “RAIDGuard X” and how do I use it? |
| A: |
RAIDGurad X is the configuration utility for Accusys’ PCIe series of RAID storage systems. It is a
Java-based application. It can be used to perform all of the RAID configuration tasks. The ExaSAN
Compact SW04/08 includes a “Quick Setup” feature (see Section 4.2.2.1) for the basic
configuration of RAID. Therefore, if all you need is this basic RAID configuration through the switch
GUI, you do not need to use RAIDGuard X. However, if you have any RAID configuration
consideration that is beyond the scope of switch Quick Setup, or you want to examine the current
status of your RAID systems and corresponding event logs; RAIDGuard X would be the tool to use.
If you want to use RAIDGuard X but have not installed it on any of your host systems, you will need
to download and install it. Go to the link below: |
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