Digi-Data Introduces New RAID Features: LUN Scrubbing, NETMONITOR, and More.JESSUP, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1999-- Digi-Data Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high performance RAID systems, announced today the immediate availability of several new features for its family of RAID controllers, used in Storage Area Networks (SANs), digital video, and other demanding computer storage applications. These firmware features provide superior data availability Refers to the degree to which data can be instantly accessed. The term is mostly associated with service levels that are set up either by the internal IT organization or that may be guaranteed by a third party datacenter or storage provider. , access, and control of RAID systems powered by Digi-Data's Fibre Channel RAID controllers, Ultra2 SCSI See Ultra SCSI. RAID controllers, and Ultra SCSI The designation for various high-speed SCSI interfaces. The original specification was Ultra SCSI, followed by Ultra2, Ultra3, etc. For details, see SCSI. RAID controllers. LUN Scrubbing is a RAID feature that periodically performs an automatic background verification of a logical unit (LUN). LUN scrubbing proactively searches for media problems on disks, and handles them before the host computer encounters these bad disk sections in the normal course of operation. This improves data availability, and it improves performance by making error handling a scheduled background operation rather than a problem that occurs when the host computer first encounters bad sections of media during normal I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output activity. NETMONITOR (NETwork and MOdem MaNagement of Input, Throughput, and Output for RAID) is a Digi-Data RAID controller feature that provides remote users the capability to log into a RAID system in two ways - through the Internet and through a modem. In these configurations, the Digi-Data RAID controller has its own IP address. Remote system administrators can log into a Digi-Data RAID system and issue commands to the RAID controller, just as if they were directly connected to the RAID controller. Thus, remote users have the capability to monitor and control the operation of the RAID system. NETMONITOR's email notification capabilities enable the RAID controller to send messages to systems administrators when unexpected events, such as disk failures, occur. Each email recipient can specify the priority levels of messages they want to receive. NETMONITOR's email notification facility can be integrated with other communication techniques, such as paging, voice mail, and fax. SAF-TE SAF-TE SCSI Access Fault-Tolerant Enclosure (SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures) is a standard for monitoring RAID systems enclosures. SAF-TE provides facilities for monitoring the temperature, the power supplies, and the fans, in a disk array enclosure. Digi-Data RAID controllers poll the SAF-TE board in the enclosure(s) in the RAID system to set parameters and determine status. Used in conjunction with Digi-Data's facilities for monitoring disks, SAF-TE provides robust RAID system operation, handling problems caused by disk failures, power supply failures, and fan failures. Dynamic Online LUN Expansion is a RAID firmware feature that allows users to add more disks to a RAID system and furthermore to expand the size of a preexisting pre·ex·ist or pre-ex·ist v. pre·ex·ist·ed, pre·ex·ist·ing, pre·ex·ists v.tr. To exist before (something); precede: Dinosaurs preexisted humans. v.intr. LUN when the new disks are added. With many older operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. and RAID storage systems, it was a lengthy process to create a larger LUN: backing up the data on the disks, adding more disks to the system, redefining the LUNs to use the new disks, and restoring the data into the new LUN. However, many contemporary operating systems, such as Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. and some versions of UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). , can take advantage of Digi-Data's Dynamic Online LUN Expansion simply by adding the disks and redefining the size of LUNs. These new firmware features complement the unique set of Digi-Data RAID capabilities such as: Full-Speed Active-Active(TM) RAID - Digi-Data's unique patented dual controller RAID configuration that doubles the performance of a single controller while maintaining active-active failover capability, automatic reconfiguration, and cache coherence Uninterruptible Video Streaming See streaming video and video stream. (TM) - Firmware/hardware option that minimizes interruptions to a RAID data stream when a disk fails during a data transfer operation SCATS(TM) (Self Calibrating Automatic Tier Striping Interleaving or multiplexing data to increase speed. See disk striping. striping - data striping ) - Performance enhancing firmware option that stripes data in two dimensions across 10 or more disks with automatic optimization of stripe size "The new set of features we are adding to our RAID controllers provides advanced capabilities desired by the sophisticated RAID users with whom we have been working," said Kent Morris, Digi-Data Sales Manager sales manager n → gerente m/f de ventas sales manager n → directeur commercial sales manager sale n → . "Our unique capabilities enhance our controllers' reputation for high performance, high data availability, and ease of use, especially in Fibre Channel Storage Area Network applications." Digi-Data's new features are available for its Z-9500 Fibre Channel RAID family, Z-9200 Ultra 2 SCSI RAID family, and Z-9100 Ultra SCSI RAID family of products. About Digi-Data Digi-Data Corporation is a privately owned manufacturer with headquarters at its 75 acre site in Jessup, Maryland. Established in 1960, the company has been providing mass storage solutions to the market for more than 35 years. Since establishing itself as a leader in disk array technology in 1992, Digi-Data has delivered thousands of RAID systems to customers worldwide. |
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