LSI Ultra320 SCSI Network Card User Manual


 
Setting Up Integrated RAID (IR) Solution 2-15
Version 2.2 Copyright © 2002–2004 by LSI Logic Corporation. All rights reserved.
2.7 Setting Up Integrated RAID (IR) Solution
The ‘‘R’’ at the end of a host adapter name indicates the board supports
the Integrated RAID solution. The Integrated RAID solution provides cost
benefits for the server or workstation market where the extra performance,
storage capacity, and/or redundancy of a RAID configuration are required.
The two components of the Integrated RAID solution are:
Integrated Mirroring™ (IM) solution, which provides features of
RAID 1 and RAID 1E
Integrated Striping™ (IS) solution, which provides features of RAID 0
By simplifying the IM and IS options and by providing firmware support
in its host adapters, LSI Logic can offer the Integrated RAID solution at
a lower cost than a dedicated processor based RAID implementation.
The Fusion-MPT Common Information Model (CIM) interface software
continuously monitors IM volumes and IS volumes, and reports status
and error conditions as they arise.
IM and IS are supported by different versions of the Fusion-MPT
firmware. Therefore, either IM or IS can be implemented on a system
with a Fusion-MPT based host adapter, but IM and IS cannot be used
concurrently on the same system.
The Fusion-MPT BIOS Configuration Utility (CU) configures the IM or IS
volume, which can use from two to six disk drives. The BIOS and drivers
support SCSI Domain Validation. Host-based CIM software monitors the
state of the physical disks and reports error conditions as they arise.
2.7.1 Integrated Mirroring (IM) Solution
As a result of the shift toward Network Attached Storage (NAS), ISPs
need a cost effective, fault-tolerant solution to protect the operating
systems on small form factor, high-density, rack-mountable servers. The
Integrated Mirroring (IM) solution provides data protection for the system
boot volume to safeguard critical information such as the OS on servers
and high performance workstations. This new Integrated Mirroring
solution gives customers a robust, high-performance, fault-tolerant
solution that is less expensive than a dedicated RAID controller.