🚀 go-pugleaf

StorageWorks RAID Array 230 Subsystem for PC Networks

Highlights

*  Hardware RAID subsystem for Intel systems with PCI bus running Novell
   NetWare or Microsoft Windows NT
*  PCI backplane RAID controller provides RAID levels 0 (striping), 1
   (mirroring), 0+1 (striped mirroring), 5 (striping with parity), and JBOD
*  Supports both 8 bit (narrow) and 16 bit (wide) drives
*  Higher performance than the EISA based StorageWorks RAID Array 210
   subsystem

Product description

The StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem is the newest member of the
StorageWorks RAID Array 200 family. It is functionally identical to the
StorageWorks RAID Array 210 subsystem, but utilizes a PCI backplane RAID
controller instead of the EISA backplane RAID controller. The RAID utilities
and the documentation are common to both products, providing great
flexibility in implementing RAID systems across the enterprise.

A StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem is comprised of a PCI backplane RAID
controller, operating system specific RAID drivers and utilities (software),
documentation, and disk drives with appropriate cables and enclosures.

Benefits

*  Provides a cost-effective, high-availability, and high performance RAID
   solution for Intel system platforms using an industry-standard PCI bus
*  User-selectable RAID levels plus the ability to mix RAID levels within a
   given drive group
*  Allows users to tailor the StorageWorks 230 RAID subsystem to specific
   performance, fault tolerance, or availability needs

Product positioning

*  The RAID Array 230 offers significant improvement in performance (27
   percent higher transfer rate and 34 percent higher I/O rate) at a
   higher price point.
*  The RAID Array 230 supports both narrow and wide drives.
*  The RAID Array 230 uses the same graphical user interface and offers the
   same features as the RAID Array 210.

Availability and ordering

The StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem is available pre-configured with
three disk drives, or can be configured by a sum of the pieces scheme that
vastly reduces the number of orderable parts, and provides growth and
configuration flexibility.

A StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem consists of the following key
components:

*  A SWIKX PCI backplane RAID controller, which includes the Novell NetWare
   and Windows NT drivers and configuration utilities, cables (both narrow
   wide), and documentation
*  StorageWorks disk drives
*  StorageWorks enclosure(s)
*  Additional StorageWorks components (redundant power supplies)

The SWIKX backplane RAID controller is available in two models: a single
SCSI channel variant that supports up to 7 disk drives, and a three channel
model that supports up to 21 drives.

Order No.   Description

SWIKX-CA    StorageWorks RAID 231 Controller: One Channel PCI Backplane
            Controller, includes 4 MB cache,RAID configuration and
            management utilities, operating system drivers for Novell
            NetWare 3.12/4.1 and Microsoft Windows NT (Intel) 3.5,
            documentation, and cables

SWIKX-CB    StorageWorks RAID 233 Controller: Three Channel PCI Backplane
            Controller, includes 4 MB cache,RAID configuration and
            management utilities, operating system drivers for Novell
            NetWare 3.12/4.1, and Microsoft Windows NT (Intel) 3.5,
            documentation, and cables

SWIRA-CD    StorageWorks RAID Array 230-3150W Subsystem: RAID Array 231 One
            Channel PCI Backplane Controller,includes 4 MB cache, RAID
            configuration and management utilities,  operating system
            drivers, three 1.05 GB 16 bit wide disk drives, 16 bit
            StorageWorks pedestal enclosure, second power supply, cables,
            and documentation

SWIRA-CE    StorageWorks RAID Array 230-6300W Subsystem: RAID Array 231 One
            Channel PCI Backplane Controller, includes 4 MB cache, RAID
            configuration and management utilities, operating system
            drivers, three 2.1 GB 16 bit wide disk drives, 16 bit
            StorageWorks pedestal enclosure, second power supply, cables,
            and documentation

Technical data

Number of drives supported

RAID      Physical drives  Usable     Data        Maximum      Maximum
level     per logical      storage    redundancy  number of    number of
          drive                                   drives for   drives for
                                                  one channel  three channel
                                                  subsystem    subsystem
0         2-8              All        No          7            21
1         2                50 percent Yes         6            16
0+1       3-8              50 percent Yes         7            21
5         3-8              66-87      Yes         7            21
                           percent
JBOD      1                All        No          7            8

Performance

The performance of a RAID subsystem is dependent on a large number of
parameters, including RAID level, RAID subsystem specific attributes (type
and size of cache), number of RAID controllers on the system, number and
type of disks used, application parameters (read/write ratio, file size, and
block size, etc.), type of system, overall system activity, operating
system, and many other features.

Performance testing in a user environment indicates that the performance of
an EISA based  StorageWorks RAID Array 210 subsystem ranges from 150 to 350
I/Os per second for an application using a balanced mix of read and writes
in a RAID 5 configuration. Preliminary tests indicate that in the same
environment, the PCI based StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem provides
performance in the range of 300 to 700 I/Os per second (doubling the
performance of the RAID Array 210 subsystem).

Specifications

*  Supported systems--The StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem is supported
   on Intel-based server systems.
*  Supported operating systems--The StorageWorks RAID Array 230 subsystem is
   supported on Novell Netware 3.12/4.1 and Windows NT V3.5.
*  Disk drives supported
     - SWXD3-SC, 1.05 GB (Rev D04 or later)
     - SWXD3-WC, 1.05 GB 16-Bit (Rev A01 or later)
     - SWXD3-SB, 2.1 GB (Rev F04 or later)
     - SWXD3-WB, 2.1 GB 16-bit (Rev A01 or later)
     - SWXD3-SE, 4.3 GB (Rev B01 or later)

System bus interface    Industry standard PCI

Supported RAID levels   0, 1, 0+1, 5, and JBOD

SCSI channels           SCSI-2, 16 bit, single-ended, fast (20 MB per
                        second), supports 8 and 16 bit drives

Non-RAID device support Yes, disk drives (JBOD)

Non-disk device support Yes, tape drives and CD drives (Intel systems only)

Drive reconstruction    Automatic

Disk hot swap           Yes

Disk hot spare          Yes

Redundant power         Yes
 supplies

Redundant controllers   No

Redundant fans          Yes

Mixed drive types       Yes

Mixed RAID levels       Yes
 within drive group

Configurable            Yes
 reconstruct time

Stripe size             Variable 8 KB-64 KB

Write-through cache     Yes, user selectable (default)

Write-back cache        Yes, user selectable (optional)

Battery backup for      Yes
 cache

Boot capability         Bootable from RAID set (system dependent)

Number of controllers   4 (can use on same system with SWXCR-Ex)

Cache support           Yes, 4 MB standard

---------
MYLEX is a registered trademark of MYLEX Corporation.
DPT is a registered trademark of Distributed Processing Technology, Inc.
Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.