VELOCITOR Enhanced IPI-2 Desktop Storage Subsystem User's Guide

This document is the VELOCITOR Enhanced IPI-2 Desktop Storage Subsystem User's Guide, published in September/December 1993.

Purpose & Audience: The guide provides information on installing, operating, and maintaining the VELOCITOR storage subsystem. It is intended for engineers and system managers with basic knowledge of hardware configurations and system management training in ULTRIX and OSF/1 operating systems.

System Overview: The VELOCITOR is a high-performance Enhanced Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI-2) disk subsystem. It consists of:

• A low-profile desktop enclosure capable of holding up to two 5.25-inch, three-gigabyte (Gb) Seagate IPI-2 disk drives.
• A TURBOchannel or Futurebus+ IPI-2 disk controller (GENROCO TURBOstor IPI-242T/F).
• Multiple enclosures (up to four, supporting a maximum of eight drives) can be daisy-chained to a single controller.

Key Features & Specifications:

• IPI-2 Interface: A dedicated, high-speed interface designed to improve system I/O capabilities, emulating RA-series devices using Mass Storage Control Protocol (MSCP).
• Dual Porting: Each disk drive has two independent ports, allowing it to be shared between two separate controllers for robust configurations and redundant data paths.
• RAID Support (TURBOraid): Supports controller-based RAID 0 (disk striping for improved I/O performance) and RAID 1 (disk shadowing for data duplication and availability).
• Operating System Compatibility: Requires ULTRIX Version 4.2 or OSF/1 Version 1.2 minimum.
• Physical Specs: Desktop enclosure weighs 10.7 kg (one drive) to 14.8 kg (two drives), with dimensions of 10.9 cm (H) x 48.3 cm (W) x 38.35 cm (D).
• Electrical Specs: Auto-ranging 100-240 V ac input, 47-63 Hz.
• Heat Dissipation: Approximately 1000 BTUs for a two-drive enclosure.

Document Content: The guide covers:

• Introduction & Technical Description: General overview, components (controller, drives, enclosure), external connections, dual-porting capabilities, and detailed specifications.
• Set Up & Installation: Prerequisites, connecting power, setting IPI-2 disk IDs, connecting single and dual-ported enclosures, power-on/off procedures, software setup (including modifying configuration files, building kernels, partitioning disks, and creating file systems), and configuring TURBOraid striping and shadowing.
• Maintenance & Problem Solving: Using the TURBOstor Offline Maintenance Utility (OMU) for drive formatting, diagnostics, general troubleshooting steps, and preventive maintenance (cleaning).
• Appendices: Detailed instructions for upgrading the subsystem from a single to a dual-drive configuration and comprehensive Seagate disk drive jumper information.