1

TTXX1166 EExxppaannssiioonn && DDiirreecctt AAttttaacchheedd SSAASS

SSttoorraaggee SSeettuupp GGuuiiddee

Prior to installing your new hardware, please contact Facilis Support for further installation instructions. To reach support please call 1 978 562 7022 option

2 or email support@facilis.com

2

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. TX16 Direct-attached SAS Storage Setup Guide Rev 1.0, November 2010

3

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

Tools and Utilities

Chapter 3 Installation for TerraBlock Expanded Storage 09

Server RAID Adaptor Installation

Cabling Power Cord

Bringing the RAID Set Online

Taking the RAID Set Offline

Adding the TX16 Volume for Multi-user Write

Chapter 4 Installation for Direct Attached Storage 12

Before You Begin

Environmental Considerations Electrical Specifications System Setup

RAID Adaptor Installation

Cabling

Power cord Bringing Raid Set Online Client Configuration

Appendix A Recreating disk set 15

Recreate Disk set

Appendix B Upgrading R680 Firmware 19

Firmware Settings During Upgrade

4

Chapter 1 - Using This Guide

Who Should Use This Guide This guide is intended for any user or administrator of the TX16 SAS Storage

system.

What This Guide Contains

This guide covers the information you will need to:

Understand the concept behind the TX16

Hardware components and connections

Adding the TX16 to a TerraBlock server

Direct connect instructions

Understand the workflow of the TX16

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

Support@facilis.com, 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.

5

Chapter 2 Overview & Hardware

Overview

The Facilis TX16 is a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage enclosure featuring

expansion capabilities for a TerraBlock 24D or fully populated TerraBlock 24EX. The

TX16 SAS interface supports up to 32 Terabytes (TB) of disk storage designed for

Post Production and Content Creation applications. The TX16 product is supported as

direct attached server on Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems out of

the box. TerraBlock expansion is supported with Windows 7 64Bit version.

Features

The Facilis TX16 SAS storage enclosure is a sixteen-drive array supporting RAID

Level 5 SATA drives. The TX16 ships with 2 Terabyte (TB) capacity drives and

provides capacity up to 32 Terabytes (TB) of expandable or raw storage in a single

enclosure.

TerraBlock Expansion Storage

The TX16 is also designed to be expansion or add-on storage to an existing

TerraBlock 24D or fully populated TerraBlock 24EX.

The Facilis TX16 SAS chassis is connected via the ATTO SAS H680 Host Bus Adapter

(HBA) controller board. Once installed, the TerraBlock server active drive set is

expanded to include the TX16.

Once attached to the TerraBlock server, the TX16 will be seen as usable storage via

the TerraBlock Managers user interface. Virtual volumes can be created with raid

protection using the TerraBlock servers DynaRaid functionality (see TerraBlock User

Guide for creating and managing virtual volumes).

Direct Attached

The TX16 can also be used as direct attached client storage. It comes turn-key

pre-configured for direct attached use. 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 TX16 SAS.

The Facilis TX16 SAS is powered by the ATTO SAS RAID 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 TX16 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 TX16 SAS storage 16-drive system, if a drive fails, the TX16 storage

can automatically begin the rebuild process once a new drive is installed into the

enclosure.

6

Hardware Components Kit

Depending on the TX16 SAS enclosure application (direct attached or expansion)

hardware components will slightly differ. Each Facilis TX16 enclosure kit contains:

TX16 enclosure with eight (16) SATA Disk drives

1 Spare drive

ATTO R680 ExpressSAS RAID PCIe HBA (direct attached)

ATTO H680 HBA (expansion)

1 MiniSAS cable (three meter length)

2 Power cords

USB Key with Drivers, Documentation, and Utilities such as the ATTO

Configuration Tool for easy configuration.

Hardware

The TX16 SAS chassis contains available slots for 16 hard drives. The drives are

delivered pre-configured in drive sled carriers for easy installation. The chassis

functionality as well as status indicators are detailed below:

Front Panel

1 2 3 4

1. Power on/off Use to power the enclosure

on/off. Toggle the switch to the left to power on the

unit.

7

2. Drive LED Indicators There are 16 total LED indicators, one for each hard

drive. The LED will be solid green when the unit and hard drive is powered on.

The LEDs are dual sensing and will blink with an amber color when activity

(reads and writes) take place on the drive(s).

3. Temp and Fan LED Indicators The temp and fan LEDs will be illuminated

solid red when the box is powered and operating properly. If the box is to

overheat or a fan should fail, the red

illuminated LED will begin flashing

accompanied with an audible alarm that

will BEEP approx. once a second.

4. Temp and Fan Alarm Silencer In the case where the temp or fan alarms

are activated and the red LEDs are blinking, the audible BEEPING alarm can be

silenced by toggle this switch. The switch is spring loaded and will return to its

original position.

Rear Panel

1 2 3

1. Power Supplies

There are two power

supplies in the

center of the rear

panel of the TX16.

Toggle the on/off

switches upward

before fully powering the unit from the front panel. The unit may run with

one power supply if a failure should occur. It is recommended to run with

both at all times. In the event of a failure, and audible alarm with BEEP

approx. 3 times a second. The alarm can be silenced by depressing the

black button directly below where the power cord inserts on the bottom

power supply.

8

SAS Interconnect - The top center of the rear panel is the SAS

interconnect for a direct attached client or TerraBlock server expansion

add-on. The LED lights will not illuminate when the unit is connected and

functioning properly.

2. Fans There are two fans on the rear panel. In the event of a failure an

audible alarm will BEEP and be indicated on the front panel. The rear

fan units are field replaceable units.

Tools and Utilities

There are several tools and utilities available which can help you monitor the status

of your Facilis TX16 SAS Storage system. SNMP Monitoring is supported as well for

direct attached clients. Please refer to the ATTO Utilities Manual that comes with your

enclosure. For TX16s configured as expansion storage, please refer to the

TerraBlock Users Guide.

9

Chapter 3 Installation for Expansion Storage

to a TerraBlock Server

This chapter describes how to install and configure your TX16 SAS Storage system

to a TerraBlock server for use as expanded storage.

Before You Begin Unpack the TX16 storage unit and 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 6 - Hardware Components Kit), do not

attempt installation until contacting your dealer.

Environmental Considerations

The TX16 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 or rack unit 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 TX16 SAS

Storage

Voltage 100 240 VAC Auto Sensing

Frequency 47 ~ 63 Hz

10

System Setup

The attached TX16 chassis will function as an additional Group within the Facilis

TerraBlock Manager to create and manage additional virtual volumes (see the

TerraBlock User Guide for creating virtual volumes). Support for attaching the TX16

to a TerraBlock server requires:

1. Version 5.5.x release of the TerraBlock server.

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 H680 SAS HBA installed in the TerraBlock server.

4. A valid license. A new license from Facilis is required if running any version

prior to 5.5.x. Consult your dealer or contact Facilis Sales.

Server RAID Adapter Installation

Installation of the ATTO H680 HBA into the TerraBlock Server requires the server to

be shutdown. All clients should save their work and then shutdown prior to the

installation and power down of the TerraBlock Server.

Install the ATTO H680 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 external

SAS cable (supplied)

from the TX16 (left

port) to the TerraBlock

server ATTO SAS HBA

(not port specific). Refer

to the section Bringing

the Expansion Chassis

Online before physically

connecting the cable.

Power cords Connect the power cord (supplied) into the AC port on the rear of the enclosure.

Before turning on the TX16, make sure that you have all the drive carriers installed

in the enclosure. Proceed to the next section before powering on the TX16. The

Power button is located on the front of the enclosure (enclosure door open).

11

Bringing the Expansion Chassis online

The TerraBlock 24D or fully populated 24EX model will contain 24 drives. The TX16

chassis will expand the working drive set to include an additional 16 drives. Before

the expansion upgrade is started, be sure there are no drive errors or volumes in

recovery on the system. When connecting the expansion chassis, the server must be

shut down.

Note: The ATTO SAS HBA should be installed in the TerraBlock server and

appropriate drivers installed before proceeding. Confirm the cabling of the TX16

expansion chassis is correct (See previous section).

Shut down procedure

1. Confirm all clients are powered down.

2. On the server, go to Computer Management (Right click Computer and

choose Manage) Services and Applications Services

3. Find the SMDrive Service, right click and select Properties.

4. Select Manual for the service Startup Type, click OK.

5. Shut down the TerraBlock server.

Start the TerraBlock server.

Starting the Service for Expansion

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Facilis\TerraBlock\Utilities. Find the Facilis

Drive Checker utility. Run this to verify all disks are present (40 Disks with a

single TX16, 56 Disks with two TX16s). Close the utility after confirmation.

2. Next go to the Start menu, select Run.

3. Type CMD (hit enter).

4. In the command prompt, type cd C:\Program Files\Facilis\TerraBlock

5. The command prompt path should change to C:\Program

Files\Facilis\TerraBlock

6. Type SMDrive c a

7. After the expansion is complete, the service will stop within 30 seconds

8. Close the CMD window

9. Go to Computer Management (Right click Computer and choose Manage)

Services and Applications Services

10. Find the SMDrive Service, right click and select Properties.

11. Select Automatic for the service Startup Type, click OK.

12. Restart the TerraBlock Server.

All volumes and data created on the 24D/EX prior to the expansion will remain

intact. New volumes can be created utilizing the new group (Group 3) as Raid5 or

unprotected if no Raid is required. Raid50 Tandem volumes can be created from the

TerraBlock server utilizing existing groups from the 24D/EX in combination with the

new group (Groups 2 and 3 together for example). Raid50 Tandem volumes would

be for Multi-user volume use and workflow. Please refer to the TerraBlock User

Guide for creating and managing volumes.

12

Chapter 4 Installation for Direct Attached

Storage

This chapter describes how to install and configure your TX16 SAS Storage system

as direct attached storage for single client system.

Before You Begin Unpack the TX16 storage unit and 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 6 - Hardware Components Kit), do not

attempt installation until contacting your dealer.

Environmental Considerations

The TX16 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 or rack unit 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 TX16 SAS

Storage

Voltage 100 240 VAC Auto Sensing

Frequency 47 ~ 63 Hz

13

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).

RAID Adapter Installation

Install the ATTO 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 external SAS

cable (supplied) from the

TX16 (left port) to the

client ATTO SAS HBA (not

port specific).

Power cords Connect the power cords (supplied) into the AC ports on the rear of the enclosure.

Before turning on the TX16, make sure that you have all the drive carriers installed

in the enclosure in order. You can now turn on the TX16. The Power button is

located on the front of the enclosure (enclosure door open) in the upper left corner.

Turn it to the on position.

Bringing the RAID set online

Using the ATTO configuration tool, verify that the RAID is online.

Version of 3.38 of the ATTO Configuration is required for use with the

TX16 as Direct Attached SAS Storage

1. Open the ATTO configuration tool on your Mac or Windows client.

2. Highlight the ATTO 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. TX16RAID 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.

14

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, XFS is

preffered.

Client Configuration

The Mac or Windows client workstation utilizing the TX16 storage array will need to

set the correct transfer size for the R680 HBA to provide optimal performance.

1. Open the ATTO configuration tool on your Mac or Windows client.

2. Highlight the ATTO 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 TX16 storage array with your content creation

applications.

15

Appendix A Recreating the disk set (Direct

Attached use only)

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.

16

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.

17

Make sure you have selected Single for Option.

Check all your parameters; Click Yes.

18

Right click on the RAID set and set Prefetch to 2 and click Accept.

19

Appendix B Upgrading R680/H680 Firmware

This Appendix describes how update the firmware of the R680/H680 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 R680/H680 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.