Grass Valley K2 Level 3 RAID Dec.09 2005 - Manual (Page 16)

16 Level 3 RAID Instruction Manual November 23, 2005
Chapter 1 About the K2 Level 3 RAID storage
Four FC host ports are available, so that the L3 RAID chassis can be connected
directly to up to four media servers without Fibre Channel switches. The L3 RAID
chassis utilizes dual FC-AL technology, allowing four loop configurations within a
single chassis. Port-BypassCircuits have been added to maintain loop integrity during
failures without user intervention. Each loop and associated Port Bypass Circuits
along with all other active components are on redundant, separate hot swappable
modules. With two RAID Controllers, the two loops within a single standard chassis
are configured as a single loop with a backup loop in standby mode.
High-performance RAID processors that enable inter-controller communication at
2Gb/s are installed to implement the shared memory system. This feature not only
enhances the performance, but also helps dynamic load balancing of the host
interfaces.
The Switch based disk enclosures permits high-speed access to the disk drives being
used.
The L3 RAID chassis contains from fifteen low profile 3.5" Fibre Channel Arbitrated
Loop (FC-AL) disk drives. The chassis also supports one or two hardware RAID
Controllers in one 3U high rack-mountable chassis.
The L3 RAID Expansion Chassis provides additional storage capacity. The
Expansion Chassis has one or two Expansion Adapters installed. Up to seven L3
RAID Expansion Chassis can be connected to a single L3 RAID chassis comprising
a single disk-array storage system with up to 120 drives.
NOTE: Grass Valley does not support mixing disk drives of differing capacities in
a file system stripe group.
K2 Level 3 features
The K2 Level 3 provides 350 MB/s maximum data rate. Optical cables connect to
hosts, such as to a K2 Media Server or to a Fibre Channel switch.
The Level 3 RAID supports up to seven K2 Level 3 RAID Expansion Chassis. It does
not support connection to PFC500E, PFR 500E, PFR 600E, or PFR700E RAID
Expansion Chassis.
Capacity and redundancy
The level 3 RAID contains five, ten, or fifteen low profile 3.5" Fibre Channel
Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) disk drives. The chassis also supports one or two hardware
RAID controllers in one 3U high rack-mountable chassis. The Level 3 RAID
currently uses 73GB, 146GB or 300GB drive capacities. With 15 drives, one chassis
holds up to 876GB, 1.7TB, or 3.6TB depending on the disk drive option.
The Level 3 Expansion Chassis provides additional storage capacity. Up to seven
Level 3 Expansion Chassis can be connected to a single K2 RAID Storage Chassis
comprising a single disk-array storage system with a total of 120 drives and
approximately 1.7TB, 3.4TB, 7.2TB of storage depending on the disk drive option.
This provides for cost effective storage expansion as requirements grow.