Promise Technology 66 Pro - Manual (Page 12)

SuperTrak66™ User's Manual Chapter 1
- 1 -
Introduction
1.1 Promise Technology, Inc.
Promise Technology, Inc. was founded in San Jose in 1989 and established a
proven track record for leading edge storage controller products. With an innovative
product line, the company has pioneered the ATA RAID storage concept, allowing
users to configure RAID arrays using low-cost Ultra ATA and EIDE drives. Promise
Technology was the first to introduce caching controllers to MFM, and then IDE
drives, first to fully support Ultra ATA/33 and Ultra ATA/66 drives, and the first to
develop a RAID 0,1 card for Ultra ATA drives.
1.2 What is SuperTrak66?
SuperTrak66 is a hardware-based RAID controller and a Windows NT 4.0 software
management suite that provides an enterprise-wide ATA RAID solution. The
SuperTrak66 controller card uses the I
2
O architecture and employs Intel’s i960RD
RISC processor. When used with its companion software management suite,
SuperTrak66 offers a feature-rich, secure, versatile, and expandable RAID
environment that allows users and administrators to configure, manage, and
monitor everything from single arrays on local systems to array networks residing
in offsite locations.
At its core, SuperTrak66 provides advanced RAID management functions: creating
arrays, monitoring them, keeping them online and operating at optimum efficiency.
SuperTrak66 can also perform many other tasks, such as:
•
create arrays at various RAID levels (0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5), depending on the
application being used;
•
set up a network of SuperTrak66 RAID servers (all running under different RAID
levels) and monitor those servers from any workstation on the network;
•
create a series of SuperTrak66 RAID networks at any number of offsite
locations;
•
monitor and/or repair SuperTrak66 RAID arrays using the Internet from an
offsite location -- all without compromising the integrity of secure servers.
The SuperTrak66 controller card features Intel’s i960RD microprocessor and works
in tandem with I
2
O, a new firmware/software layer that moves much of the I/O
workload off the main CPU and transfers it to the controller card’s processor,
boosting the performance of the entire system. Each SuperTrak66 card can
support up to four (4) Ultra ATA/66 hard drives configured as RAID levels (0, 1, 0+1,
3, or 5). Attached drives can be “hot swapped,” when used with an optional
FastSwap66 or SuperSwap66 drive housings.