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1 T8 Direct-attached SAS Storage Setup Guide
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TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LOCAL LAW, NEITHER FACILIS TECHNOLOGY NOR ITS THIRD PARTYSUPPLIERS
MAKE ANY OTHER WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO
THE FACILIS TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Limitations of Liability
To the extent allowed by local law, the remedies provided in this Warranty Statement are the customer's sole and exclusive remedies.
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LOCAL LAW, EXCEPT FOR THE OBLIGATIONS SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH IN THIS WARRANTY STATEMENT, IN NO EVENT SHALL FACILIS TECHNOLOGY OR ITS THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY AND WHETHER ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Local Law
This Warranty Statement gives the customer specific legal rights. The customer may also have other rights that vary from state to state in the United States, from province to province in Canada, and from country to country elsewhere in the world.
To the extent that this Warranty Statement is inconsistent with local law, this Warranty Statement shall be deemed modified to be consistent with such local law. Under such local law, certain disclaimers and limitations of this Warranty Statement may not apply to the customer. For example, some states in the United States, as well as some governments outside the United States (including provinces in Canada), may:
Preclude the disclaimers and limitations in this Warranty Statement from limiting the statutory rights of a consumer (e.g., the United Kingdom);
Otherwise restrict the ability of a manufacturer to enforce such disclaimers or limitations; or Grant the customer additional warranty rights, specify the duration of implied warranties which the manufacturer cannot disclaim, or not allow limitations on the duration of implied warranties.
FOR CONSUMER TRANSACTIONS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, THE TERMS IN THIS WARRANTY STATEMENT, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT LAWFULLY PERMITTED, DO NOT EXCLUDE, RESTRICT, OR MODIFY, AND ARE IN ADDITION TO, THE MANDATORY STATUTORY RIGHTS APPLICABLE TO THE SALE OF FACILIS TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS TO SUCH CUSTOMERS.
Facilis Technology Inc. T8 Direct-attached SAS Storage Setup Guide Rev 1.0, November 2010
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Table of Contents Page Number Chapter 1 Using This Guide 04
Who Should Use This Guide
What This Guide Contains
Symbols and Conventions
Documentation Comments
How to Download this Manual
Chapter 2 Overview & Hardware 05
Overview
Features
Hardware Kit
Performance
Tools and Utilities
Chapter 3 Installation & Setup 07
Before You Begin
Environmental Considerations Electrical Specifications System Setup
RAID Adaptor Installation
Cabling
Power cord Bringing Raid Set Online Client Configuration
Chapter 4 T8 to TerraBlock Server Attachment 10
Server RAID Adaptor Installation Cabling Power Cord
Bringing the RAID Set Online
Taking the RAID Set Offline
Adding the T8 Volume for Multi-user Write
Appendix A Recreating disk set 13
Recreate Disk set
Appendix B Upgrading R380 or R680 Firmware 17
Firmware Settings During Upgrade
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Chapter 1 - Using This Guide
What This Guide Contains This guide is intended for any user or administrator of the T8 SAS Storage
system.
What This Guide Contains
This guide covers the information you will need to:
Understand the concept behind the T8
Administer the volumes and user access
Use the volume mounting and refresh tool
Understand the workflow of the T8
Symbols and Conventions
Important Caution or Instruction
Related Information or Tip
Checklist
Description or Definition
Documentation Comments If you have comments relating to the documentation, please Email
[email protected], and specify the page and error or omission in the guide.
How to Download This Manual We offer a download location on our main web site. Go to www.facilis.com and click
on Downloads on the top of the home page - follow instructions.
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Chapter 2 Overview & Hardware
Overview
The Facilis T8 is a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage enclosure featuring a high-
performance SAS interface supporting up to 16 Terabyte (TB) of disk storage
designed for Post Production and Content Creation applications. The T8 product is
supported on Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems out of the box.
Features
The Facilis T8 SAS storage enclosure is an eight-drive array supporting RAID Level 5
SATA drives. The T8 ships with 2 Terabyte (TB) capacity drives and provides a
scaling capacity up to 16 Terabytes (TB) raw storage in a single enclosure.
The System comes turn-key pre-configured. The RAID set has already been built
with factory presets. Some client configuration is required.
The ATTO Configuration Tool allows both easy configuration and access to detailed
operational information about the Facilis T8 SAS.
The Facilis T8 SAS is powered by the ATTO SAS RAID R380 or R680 Host Bus
Adapter (HBA) controller board. Once installed in your Windows, Macintosh, or Linux
workstation in a PCI Express (PCIe) slot, the RAID controller board provides SAS connectivity and RAID functionality.
The Facilis T8 SAS storage is pre-configured RAID level 5 out of the box. RAID level
6 is supported as well, but will require recreating the RAID set (see Appendix A). In
a Facilis T8 SAS storage 8-drive system, if a drive fails, the T8 storage can
automatically begin the rebuild process once a new drive is installed into the
enclosure.
Hardware Kit
Each Facilis T8 SAS enclosure is a desktop storage unit. Each Facilis T8 enclosure kit
contains:
T8 enclosure with eight (8) SATA Disk drives
1 Spare drive
ATTO R380 or R680 ExpressSAS RAID PCIe HBA
2 MiniSAS cable (three meter length)
Power cord
USB Key with Drivers, Documentation, and Utilities such at the ATTO
Configuration Tool for easy configuration.
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Performance
The Facilis T8 SAS storage utilizes Host-level Hardware Raid processing and recovery
is self-contained; this does not affect the host computer CPU Performance.
The Facilis T8 SAS storage has throughput upwards of 700 MB per second reads and
writes; The T8 supports multi-stream HD and 2K DI workflows.
Performance Specifications:
RAID5
Normal Reads: 700MB/sec
Normal Writes: 500 MB/sec
Drive Failure Reads: 700 MB/sec
Drive Failure Writes: 500 MB/sec
RAID6
Normal Reads: 600MB/sec
Normal Writes: 530 MB/sec
Drive Failure Reads: 550 MB/sec
Drive Failure Writes: 550 MB/sec
Two Drive Failure Reads: 550 MB/sec
Two Drive Failure Writes: 450 MB/sec
Qualified Stream Count:*
Avid Nitris DX / Final Cut Studio
3 Streams of 1080i 29.97 10-bit
2 Streams of 1080i 29.97 4:4:4
Assimilate SCRATCH
1 Stream of 2K DPX 24fps
2 Streams of HD 10-bit DPX
*Based on 60% full capacity; higher average performance can be achieved when the
storage is less full.
Tools and Utilities
There are several tools and utilities available which can help you monitor the status
of your Facilis T8 SAS Storage system. SNMP Monitoring is supported as well.
Please refer to the ATTO Utilities Manual that comes with your enclosure.
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Chapter 3 - Installation
This chapter describes how to install and configure your T8 SAS Storage system.
Before You Begin Make sure you have all the components that shipped with the system available at the
time of installation. If you are missing any of the components listed above (see page
5 - Hardware Kit), do not attempt installation until contacting your dealer.
Unpack the T8 storage unit. Check the contents of the kit against the following list to
be sure you have received all the components.
Environmental Considerations
The T8 storage unit should be placed in a location that meets the following
environmental requirements:
Unobstructed airflow
No significant temperature or humidity changes.
Sturdy, level surface not subject to vibration.
Placed away from radio frequency emissions, high-traffic, or high-noise areas.
Keep in mind the following electrical requirements:
Make sure your enclosure is placed away from major electrical equipment such as
motors, HVAC equipment, elevators/escalators, etc.
Areas free from Electrostatic discharge (ESD) or buildup.
Electrical Specifications
Avoid using extension cords. Make sure you do not overload circuits. Facilis
recommends the use of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) appropriately sized for
your system configuration. The UPS provides system protection against sudden
power surges or losses that could cause you to lose your work.
Equipment T8 SAS Storage
Voltage 100 240 VAC
Auto Sensing
Frequency 47 ~ 63 Hz
System Setup
The system is very easy to setup. The disk set was created prior to shipping so the
RAID set is ready for use out of the box (see Appendix A for instructions should you
need to re-create the disk set).
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RAID Adapter Installation
Install the ATTO R380 or R680 HBA into the client to be used (see the ATTO
installation guide on the USB key supplied).
Boot the client and install the appropriate drivers for your Operating System (OS)
found on the supplied Facilis USB Key (Drivers directory on USB Key).
Install the ATTO Configuration tool for your OS found on the supplied USB key onto
the client (Utilities directory on USB Key).
Cabling Connect the two (2) external SAS cables (supplied) from the T8 to the client (upper
port to upper port and lower port to lower port).
Note: It is necessary and required to cable both cables to the SAS
HBA for all drives to be recognized. Ensure cabling is correct from
enclosure to HBA or the drives may not appear in the correct order.
Power cord Connect the power cord (supplied) into the AC port on the rear of the enclosure.
Before turning on the T8, make sure that you have all the drive carriers installed in
the enclosure. You can now turn on the T8. The Power button is located on the front
of the enclosure (enclosure door open). Turn it to the on position.
Bringing the RAID set online
Using the ATTO configuration tool, verify that the RAID is online.
1. Open the ATTO configuration tool on your Mac or Windows client.
2. Highlight the ATTO R380/R680 HBA on the left pane. Then select the RAID
tab at the top right.
3. The RAID set should be seen and the drives, provided the enclosure is cabled
properly, should list in order. Verify the RAID set is error free, without any
warnings. In the lower window, highlight the Groups tab.
4. T8RAID should be seen as the RAID set. Right click or from the RAID
Management menu at the top, choose AutoMap. This will bring the RAID set
online for the client workstation. This action will persist after the client
workstation is rebooted.
5. Format the RAID set volume on your Mac or Windows client accordingly.
For Windows, use Disk Management to format the drive NTFS as needed. On Mac,
use Disk Utility to format the drive HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) as needed.
On Linux, use Disk Partitioner or LVM to format the drive.
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Client Configuration
The Mac or Windows client workstation utilizing the T8 storage array will need to set
the correct transfer size for the R380/R680 HBA to provide optimal performance.
1. Open the ATTO configuration tool on your Mac or Windows client.
2. Highlight the ATTO R380/R680 HBA on the left pane. Then select the
Advanced tab at the top right.
3. Under Driver Parameters, change the Maximum Transfer Size to 1MB.
4. Select the Commit button at the bottom of the window. A reboot is required
for changes to take effect.
5. Reboot the client workstation.
You can now utilize the Facilis T8 storage array with your content creation
applications.
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Chapter 4 T8 to TerraBlock Server attachment
This chapter describes how to attach the T8 storage array to a TerraBlock server.
The attached array will then be functional as a Multi-user Write volume (see the
TerraBlock User Guide) for your facility. Support for attaching the T8 to a
TerraBlock server requires:
1. Version 5.x release of the TerraBlock.
2. The TerraBlock server must be a Windows 7 64Bit server (See the TerraBlock
Release Notes for server upgrade options, or contact Facilis Sales).
3. The ATTO R380/R680 SAS HBA installed in the TerraBlock server.
4. A valid license. The license must contain the Facilis Shared File System
(SFS) option, as well as the T8 attached storage option. If your server
contains the SFS option, a new license for attaching the T8 must be
obtained. Consult your dealer or contact Facilis Sales.
Server RAID Adapter Installation
Install the ATTO R380/R680 HBA into the TerraBlock Server (see the ATTO
installation guide on the USB key supplied).
Boot the server and install the appropriate drivers for the Windows 7 64 Bit
Operating System (OS) found on the supplied Facilis USB Key (Drivers directory on
USB Key).
Install the ATTO Configuration tool for Windows found on the supplied USB key onto
the TerraBlock (Utilities directory on USB Key).
Cabling Connect the two (2) external SAS cables (supplied) from the T8 to the TerraBlock
server (upper port to upper port and lower port to lower port).
Note: It is necessary and required to cable both cables to the SAS
HBA for all drives to be recognized. Ensure cabling is correct from
enclosure to HBA or the drives may not appear in the correct order.
Power cord Connect the power cord (supplied) into the AC port on the rear of the enclosure.
Before turning on the T8, make sure that you have all the drive carriers installed in
the enclosure. You can now turn on the T8. The Power button is located on the front
of the enclosure (enclosure door open). Turn it to the on position.
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Bringing the RAID set online
Using the ATTO configuration tool, verify that the RAID is online.
1. Open the ATTO configuration tool on the TerraBlock server.
2. Highlight the ATTO R380/R680 HBA on the left pane. Then select the RAID tab
at the top right.
3. The RAID set should be seen and the drives, provided the enclosure is cabled
properly, should list in order. Verify the RAID set is error free, without any
warnings. In the lower window, highlight the Groups tab.
4. T8RAID should be seen as the RAID set. Right click or from the RAID
Management menu at the top, choose AutoMap. This will bring the RAID set
online for the client workstation. This action will persist after the client
workstation is rebooted.
5. If needed, format the RAID set volume on the TerraBlock server accordingly.
From the TerraBlock server, use Disk Management to format the drive NTFS as needed.
The volume can be formatted as one large volume, it is not necessary to partition the T8
storage array for use while attached to the TerraBlock server.
If the T8 storage array has been used in the field and contains data, formatting is not necessary. AutoMap within the ATTO configuration tool will complete the setup
and the formatted volume should be visible in My Computer or Windows Disk
Management. If the T8 was previously connected direct to a Mac client workstation
and the array was formatted HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled), MacDrive will
need to be installed on the TerraBlock server.
If the ATTO R380 or R680 is already installed in the TerraBlock server, the T8 storage
array can be hot connected without powering down the server. Follow the SAS cabling
instructions above and proceed to AutoMap in the ATTO configuration tool if necessary. If
the array was previously connected at one time, the T8 volume may appear directly after
the T8 is powered on.
Taking the RAID set offline
The T8 storage array can be hot disconnected from the TerraBlock server. This will help
avoid downtime for other clients utilizing the server.
1. Rick click My Computer and choose Manage.
2. In Computer Management, select Device Manager in the left pane.
3. Select Disk drives from the devices list on the right. Turn down the +.
4. At the top, select the device called ATTO T8RAID00 SCSI Disk Device.
5. Right click the device and choose Uninstall.
The device will uninstall and should disappear from the list. It is now safe to power down
and disconnect the T8 enclosure from the TerraBlock server.
Uninstalling the device properly saves and flushes data. This is required
to ensure the T8 volume is not damaged.
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Adding the T8 volume for Multi-user Write
After the T8 storage array has been properly connected, AutoMap and format (if
necessary) completed, the volume should be visible. Verify the volume appears in My
Computer or Windows Disk Management before proceeding.
From the TerraBlock server, launch the Windows TerraBlock Manager. To the right of the
main window is an Add Attached Volumes button. Click this button to add the T8
volumes as a usable Multi-user Write volume (see working with Multi-user Write volume in
the TerraBlock 5.x User Guide).
After the T8 volume is added, it will appear in under Volumes tab with the name
T8RAID00. This name will appear regardless of what name was given to the volume
when it was formatted. The volume will automatically list as a Multi-user Write volume
type. It will also display a 0 for the size.
Initially after the volume is added, it will not show a status of mounted on the TerraBlock
server. When a Mac or Windows client workstation successfully mounts the T8RAID00
Multi-user Write (MUW) volume, the status at the server will display as mounted,
consistent with other MUW volumes.
You can now utilize the attached Facilis T8 storage array in a shared workflow
environment with your content creation applications.
Performance numbers with the attached T8 storage array are less than the
specifications in Chapter 2. Contact Facilis Support for details.
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Appendix A Recreating the disk set
This Appendix describes how to recreate the disk set should that be necessary. This will
destroy any data present on the drives. This process takes approximately 8 hours.
Launch the ATTO Configuration Tool. Go to the RAID tab and select Custom RAID;
Click OK.
Input the Options shown below (Name, Level, Interleave and Initialize) and click Next.
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Create a new RAID group by highlighting all of the drives in the upper window and
dragging to lower window. Click Next.
Select options to configure the new RAID Group (Sector size, SpeedRead, Rebuild Priority,
and make sure Autobuild button is checked. Click Finish.
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Make sure you have selected Single for Option.
Check all your parameters; Click Yes.
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Right click on the RAID set and set Prefetch to 2 and click Accept.
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Appendix B Upgrading R380 or R680 Firmware
This Appendix describes how update the firmware of the R380/R680 HBA should that be
necessary. The latest firmware can be found in the Firmware directory of the supplied
USB Key or at http://www.attotech.com/.
Launch the ATTO Configuration Tool. Select the R380/R680 HBA in the left pane. Next
select the Flash tab to the right. Browse to the current flash. Choose Update.
Before rebooting, select the HBA on the left and turndown the +. Select Channel 1.
Next select the NVRAM tab on the right. Verify the settings are as follows. If not, adjust
accordingly before rebooting.
