====================================================================== README.TXT (DISK 1) --- INTRODUCTION ====================================================================== Congratulations on purchasing your new Adaptec AHA-3985/3985W Multichannel PCI RAID Adapter. This board provides NetWare RAID solutions with an unprecedented price/performance ratio. NOTE: If you are having trouble booting your AHA-3985, please check if your system motherboard provides PCI-PCI bridge support. The AHA- 3985 will not function in systems without bridge support. If you believe your system does have bridge support, refer to the 'Troubleshooting Guide' in 3980NOTE.TXT ====================================================================== README File Map ====================================================================== The AHA-3985 diskettes contain several different README files relating to different aspects of the product. The primary README is 3980NOTE.TXT, which is copied along with the NetWare drivers to the DOS directory containing NetWare. The following guide may help you locate information not in this readme: Disk 1 - Adaptec Initial Array Configuration Utility A:\README.TXT Notes on running ARCONFIG.EXE to create arrays. (This file.) Disk 2 - AHA3980/3985 Drivers and RAID Utilities A:\README.TXT Notes on running INSTALL.EXE to copy drivers from floppy to hard disk. A:\DOS\3980DOS.TXT Notes on the included DOS ASPI and CD-ROM drivers. This file is copied to the hard disk along with the CD-ROM drivers. A:\NETWARE\3980NOTE.TXT The primary README file including the troubleshooting guide. This file is copied to the hard disk along with the NetWare drivers. A:\NETWARE\3980NW.TXT Notes on the NetWare drivers. This file is copied to the hard disk along with the NetWare drivers. ====================================================================== Adaptec Initial Array Configuration ARCONFIG.EXE (V1.51) ====================================================================== For more information on ARCONFIG, see the "Quick Reference: Array Software" Chapter 3, or the User's Guide, Chapter 6. ARCONFIG can be run from the distribution floppy after booting DOS, or you may find it easier to create a new bootable floppy from a licensed copy of DOS, and copy the contents of Disk 1 to the new floppy, along with FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM from DOS. To create an array from separate SCSI drives attached to an AHA-3985, run ARCONFIG. When the menu appears, select "Add New Array". Follow the prompts to select drives and initialize the array. After the initialize completes and you reboot the system, the drives will no longer appear as separate SCSI drives, but instead as a single device. You can then run FDISK and FORMAT on the array device as if it were a single drive. Normally, only a small DOS partition is created in order to leave room for the NetWare partition. Note that if you don't need to boot from an array, or are adding a second array, you should use the NetWare utility ARUADMIN. ====================================================================== Creating Arrays ====================================================================== Most of the functions in ARCONFIG are also in the NetWare ARUADMIN.NLM utility. In general, ARCONFIG is used during the initial installation of a system, before NetWare is installed. All subsequent maintenance and configuration changes are done with ARUADMIN. However, any changes made by one utility will be reflected in the other. WARNING: If you are installing NetWare 4.1, do not choose the automatic partition option during the installation process. This will overwrite the array information and you will have to recreate the array. ====================================================================== Determining the Boot Device ====================================================================== Normally, the DOS partition as well as all NetWare partitions will be installed on a RAID-5 array. This way, the files necessary to boot NetWare are protected by the redundancy of the array, and if a drive fails, you can still boot and run. The AHA-3985 can also be configured to boot off a single drive instead of an array drive. As in any DOS-based system, the first drive under BIOS control will become the boot drive. This could be an IDE drive if any are present. It could be a drive connected to some other host adapter in the system that is initialized before the AHA-3985. Or, it could be a single drive or array on the AHA-3985. In order to boot from the AHA-3985, all IDE drives must be disabled, and the AHA-3985 must be scanned first. If other PCI host adapters are being scanned first, you must either disable the BIOS on those adapters or rearrange the slot order so that the AHA-3985 is scanned first. Note that due to obstructions by the processor or other components, many motherboards will only allow the AHA-3985 to fit in one slot, so you might not be able to rearrange the order. When the AHA-3985 is being scanned first, the drive with the lowest SCSI ID on channel A (or on Channel B if no drives are present on channel A) will determine the boot device. If this first drive is a single drive, it will become the boot device. If the first drive is part of an array, the array will become the boot device. Of course, to successfully boot, the boot device must have an active partition and be properly formatted with system files. Setting the "Include in BIOS scan" option in the SCSISelect Device Configuration menu to "No" for a given SCSI ID can be used to override the normal scan order for single drives. This option has no effect if the drive at that ID is part of an array. ====================================================================== Array Numbering ====================================================================== When you add a new array, it gets assigned the next available array number. Thus if one array already exists, it is array #1, and the new array gets assigned array #2. It is important to note that these array numbers are not fixed, but can change under some conditions. In the case given above, if a member drive of the new array is scanned before any drives of the old array, the new array will become array #1 upon reboot. Also, if a member drive is moved to a different SCSI channel or ID, it could change the array number assignment as well. Normally this changing of array numbers is not significant, since the NetWare volumes will all still be accessible. It is important if you are booting from an array, since you will always boot from array #1. (See Determining the Boot Device above.) It is also important if you are about to do some destructive action on the array, such as reinitialize it or delete it. In these cases, you should double-check the array number by noting which drives that make up the array. ====================================================================== ARCONFIG and arrays formatted with AHA-3985 release V1.0X ====================================================================== You can use arrays created with version 1.0X of the AHA-3985 without loss of data or performing any conversion function. However, ARCONFIG will not recognize the array. Thus, you should use ARUADMIN for any maintenance of a V1.0X array. You will not be able to boot from a V1.0X array. In order to boot from an array, you will need to back up the data on the V1.0X array, delete the old array from NetWare using ARUADMIN. Then you can create a new array, FDISK and FORMAT it, create the NetWare partition and volume, and then restore the data. Because of the greater overall functionality of the new V1.5 format, we recommend that you do eventually re-create the V1.0X array. However, this can be done whenever it is most convenient. ====================================================================== Exiting ARCONFIG ====================================================================== The only way to exit ARCONFIG is to reboot, using either CTRL-ALT-DEL or pressing the Reset button. Note that a few systems will hang on reboot after a CTRL-ALT-DEL due to the system's handling of PCI Reset on a warm boot. For these systems, the Reset button should always be used.