1  Getting Started

This chapter provides an overview of the Marvell RAID Utility and describes the installation procedure.

It includes the following topics:

Product Overview

Installation

1.1  Product Overview

The Marvell RAID Utility (MRU) is a browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) tool for the Marvell RAID adapter. It supports IO Controllers (IOC) and RAID-On-Chip (ROC) Controllers. RAID technology allows you to create arrays and virtual disks using one or more physical disk drives in combination in order to achieve increased disk fault tolerance and improved performance.

Note: RAID technology is not meant to replace your critical data backup strategies. It is rather meant to supplement those strategies and provide a complete data storage solution. For more information about RAID technology and how to determine a RAID level for your virtual disk, see section A, Selecting a RAID Level.

1.1.1  System Requirements

System requirements for the MRU are as follows:

Operating System: Windows (XP/Vista/Server 2003) or Linux

Note: For the latest information on supported OS, visit the Marvell Extranet.

Local/remote RAID Adapter (with installed drivers and software)

Network connection

1.1.2  Software Components

The MRU software includes the following items:

Web server: The Apache server is automatically installed on your system during MRU installation.

Marvell RAID Command Line Interface (CLI): The CLI can be used to control local adapters.

MRU Windows System Tray Application: The tray application appears as an icon in your Windows system tray and has right-click menu options for controlling the MRU.

MRU Browser Software: The MRU browser-based GUI presents a rich and interactive user interface (UI) that allows you to control both local and remote adapters.

Note: The Marvell BIOS Configuration Utility (a built-in component of the Marvell RAID adapter) can create, initialize, and delete arrays and virtual disks.

During a full installation, all software components are automatically installed. You may customize your installation by selecting individual components.

1.1.3  Supported RAID Levels

The Marvell RAID adapter supports the following RAID levels:

RAID 0 (striping). Multiple drives can read and write data in parallel to increase performance.

RAID 1 (disk mirroring). Two disks mirrored to each other.

RAID 1E (data mirroring and striping). Data is mirrored across two disks.

RAID 5 (striping with parity). Block-level data is striped with rotating parity data distributed across all member disks.

RAID 6 (striping with more than one parity). Data writes require more than one parity updates (on different drives) to survive two disk failures. Data can be read from each disk independently.

RAID 10 (mirroring and striping). In this spanned RAID level, combining mirroring with striping offers both high read/write performance and fault-tolerance.

RAID 50 (striping RAID 5 arrays). In this spanned RAID level, two independent RAID 5 arrays are spanned together to provide additional striping across the array.

RAID 60 (striping RAID 6 arrays). Data and parity are striped across all RAID 6 arrays. Reads can occur simultaneously on every drive in an array.

Note: The Marvell RAID adapter supports different RAID levels depending on its hardware model and OEM software package. Some software packages, depending on OEM selections, support limited RAID levels by design. Check with your OEM vendor for specific information on the levels supported by the adapter.

1.2  Installation

This section describes the procedure for installing the necessary hardware and software. It comprises of the following topics:

Installing the Physical Disks

Installing MRU on Windows OS

Installing MRU on Linux OS

1.2.1  Installing the Physical Disks

This section describes the process for installing the physical disks.

To install the physical disks

1.  Select the RAID level that is best suited for your application.

Each RAID level has features that are more suitable for some applications than they are for others. So consider carefully which RAID level is best suited for your application. See section Comparing RAID Levels for an overview of the features for each RAID level.

2.  Determine the minimum number of physical disks required for the selected RAID level and adapter type.

Table 1-1 lists the minimum number of physical disks.

Table 1-1  RAID Level Physical Disk Requirement

RAID Level

Minimum Number of Physical Disks Required

 

IOC

ROC

RAID 0

2

2

RAID 1

2

2

RAID 1E

n/a

3

RAID 5

3

3

RAID 6

n/a

4

RAID 10

4

4

RAID 50

n/a

6

RAID 60

n/a

8

3.  Connect the required number of physical disks to the available ports on the adapter either directly or through a backplane/enclosure using data cables. We recommend installing physical disks of similar capacity, as this enhances performance.

4.  Power-up the physical disks.

Note: To create the virtual disks, use only drives connected to a single adapter.

1.2.2  Installing MRU on Windows OS

This section describes the procedure to install the MRU software on Windows OS.

1.2.2.1  Verifying RAID Adapter Driver Installation

Before installing the MRU software, verify that your adapter driver is already installed. If the driver was installed properly, it is listed under SCSI and RAID Controllers in the Windows System Device Manager. You can access the Device Manager in different ways. Table 1-2 shows a common path for accessing the Device Manager when using different Windows operating systems.

Table 1-2  WIndows System Device Manager

 

OS

Location

Windows XP/Vista

My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager

Windows Server 2003/2008

My Computer > Manage > System Tools > Device Manager

Figure 1-1 shows the Device Manager on Windows XP.

Figure 1-1  Windows XP: Device Manager

1.2.2.2 Installing the MRU Software

The recommended screen resolution for the MRU browser is 1024x768 pixels. See section 1.2.2.1, Verifying RAID Adapter Driver Installation before installing the MRU software.

To install the MRU software

1.  Run the MRUSetup.exe installation program.

The MRU Setup Wizard launches, as shown in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2  MRU Setup Wizard: Main Window

2.  Click Next.

The End User License Agreement (EULA) window appears, as shown in Figure 1-3

Figure 1-3  End User License Agreement (EULA)

 

3.  Read the EULA. Select I accept and click Next to continue with the installation.

The Choose Components window appears, as shown in Figure 1-4, with the Full install option pre-selected.

Figure 1-4  Choose Components

4.  Select the options you want for custom installation.

The Apache HTTP Server, MRU, and Marvell Tray application are checked for both Full and Custom installation.

The Command Line Interface (CLI) can be used to control local adapters.

Unchecked components are not installed. If you want to use these components later, you must reinstall the MRU software.

5.  Click Next.

The Choose Install Location window appears, as shown in Figure 1-5, with the default location displayed in the Destination Folder field.

Note: For an alternative location, click Browse, and then select your desired location.

Figure 1-5  Choose Install Location

6.  Click Install.

7.  When the installation is complete, the wizard confirms the completion as shown in Figure 1-6.

Click Finish. The MRU software is now installed.

Figure 1-6  Installation Successful

1.2.3  Installing MRU on Linux OS

This section describes the procedure to install the MRU software on Linux OS. While the procedure described below is specific to installation on 32-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5, the procedure is similar for other Linux distributions.

1.2.3.1  Installing the MRU Software

The recommended screen resolution for the MRU browser is 1024x768 pixels. Before installing the MRU, verify that the adapter drivers are installed.

To install the MRU software

1.  Run the RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) installation file that is appropriate for your Linux distribution and OS architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

The MRU Setup Wizard launches, as shown in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7  MRU Setup Wizard: Main Window

2.  Click Apply.

A warning appears indicating that the software has not been verified, as shown in Figure 1-8

Figure 1-8  Warning

3.  Click Install Anyway.

The wizard indicates status as it installs the MRU software, as shown in Figure 1-9.

Figure 1-9  Installation Status

4.  When the installation is complete, the wizard confirms the completion, as shown in Figure 1-10.

Click OK. The MRU software is now installed

Figure 1-10  Installation Successful