Alacritech 2000-100004 manual

A lacri tech     A cc elerator Users Guide[...]

Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide i Preface Disclaimer The in formation i n this d ocum ent is subject to chang e withou t notice. Al acritech re serves t he right to change any por tion of thes e products for reasons su ch as im proving perfo rmance o r enhancing function ality. Alacr itech as sumes no liabi lity arisin g out of the application o[...]

ii Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Organizati on of T his Guide This g uide is the prim ary reference and operation g uide for the Alacritech A cceler ators and contains th e foll owing sect ions: Chapter 1 - In troduction prov ides a general introdu ction to Alacritech A cceler ators and the SLIC Technolog y on which they are based. Chapter 2 -[...]

Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide iii Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1-1 1.1 About th is Gui de 1-1 1.2 Desc ription 1-2 2 Soft ware Insta llatio n 2-1 2.1 Sof tware Ins tallat ion Over vie w 2-1 2.2 Accele rator Softw are Inst allati on 2-2 2.3 Accelera tor Software and Hardw are Removal 2-13 3 Operations and Management 3-1 3.1 Overv iew of Per[...]

iv Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6.8 Misc ellaneous Prob lem s 6-11 A ppendi x A Network Software Lice nse Agreement and Warranty A - 1[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 1-1 1 Introduction 1.1 Abo ut this Guid e This guide describes how t o install sof tware and opera te Alacritech Accelera tors on a Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Serv er 2003 system . Windows N T is not suppor ted with th is releas e, but will con tinue to be supporte d under ea rlier re leases wit h a majo[...]

1-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide At tim es it will be n ecessa ry to differ entiate b etween N etwork Accelera tors and Sto rage Acceler ators. The sp ecific t erm Network Accelera tor for thi s release applies to al l of the fo llowi ng adapters : • 100x1 Sing le-Port Serv er and Storag e Accelerator (10/100BASE- T) • 100x2 Dual- Port Se[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 1-3 ■ TCP/IP Protocol pro cessing is offloaded onto the Accelera tor, freeing the CPU for a pplication pr ocessin g and maximiz ing throughput. ■ A unique ASIC utilizes an I nternet Pro tocol Processo r (IPP), optim ized for TCP/IP protoco l processing , which delivers fas ter perform ance than gene ral purpo[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-1 2 Sof t w are Inst allat ion 2. 1 Sof tw are In st al l ati o n Over vi ew This c hapter cov ers the ins tallat ion of the so ftware required for an Alacritech Ac celerator und er Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Serv er 2003. The re may be diff erent ste ps for eac h Windows ope rating sy stem, so fo llo[...]

2-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 2.2 A ccel erator Software Install ation This sec tion covers the procedur es for install ing the software require d for Alacr itech Accele rators. Follow t he appropria te procedure fo r your ty pe of install ation. Note: Running the A lacritech Setup program is the only way to corre ctly initia lly inst all [...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-3 3. If you accep t the lice nse agreem ent, the Alacr itech Accelera tor Setup window will appear :[...]

2-4 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Click the View Re adme button if you wish to read the latest pro duct inform ation. Otherwise, cl ick the Continue button. 4. If a Reinsta ll Drive r dialog box appears, click the Ye s button: 5. A dialog box ti tled Digital Signature Not Found for Windows 2000 or Hardwa re Insta llation for Window s XP or Win[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-5 6. Click Exit to end the ins tallation proce ss. The user wil l be prompted to reboot t he system . 2.2.2 Installation of an Accelerator with Port Aggregation 1. Insert your Alacritech Dr iver Insta llation C D into th e system . 2. In the Alacritech Accele rator Setup – So ftware License Agre ement window,[...]

2-6 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 3. If you accep t the lice nse agreem ent, the Alacr itech Accelera tor Setup window will appear :[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-7 Click the View Re adme button if you wish to read the latest pro duct inform ation. Otherwise, check the Por t Aggregation D river box in the Alacr itech Accel erator Setup window, and cl ick the Continue bu tton. 4. In the Re ins tall Dr iver dialog box cli ck the Yes button: 5. A dialog box ti tled Digital [...]

2-8 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 6. The Alacritech Acce lerator T eam Configura tor Prop ertie s window wil l appear. I f you wish to configure t eaming now, consult Chapter 4 ; otherw ise, select Can cel in the teaming window:[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-9 7. When insta llation com pletes, y ou will be ask ed to restart y our system . If you wish to as sign I P addresses before reboo ting, c lick No . Otherwise, cl ick the Yes button. The use r will be p rompted to r eboot the sy stem . 2.2.3 Installation of an Accelerator with the Microsoft iSCSI Softw are Ini[...]

2-10 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3. If you accep t the lice nse agreem ent, the Alacr itech Accelera tor Setup window will appear :[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-11 Click the View Re adme button if you wish to read the latest pro duct inform ation. Otherwise, check the Downlo ad iSCSI initiato r box in the Alacritech Accelera tor Setup window . If you also wi sh to install Failover/L ink Agg regation, then y ou may also check the Port A ggregation D river box in the Ala[...]

2-12 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6. If you selected Port Aggregatio n Driver , the Alacritech Acc elerator Team Con figurator Prop ertie s window wil l appear. I f you wish to configure t eaming now, consult Chapter 4 ; otherwise, se lect Cancel in the teaming window:[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-13 7. The insta llation will now open a b rowser window to allow you to down load the lates t Microsoft iSCSI Software I nitiator from the Mic rosoft web site. 8. When insta llation com plete s and you click Exit , you will b e asked to r estart y our system . If you wish to assig n IP addresses befo re rebooti[...]

2-14 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide Take care to remove al l software dr ivers for th e card before unplugging the adapter. 1. Double-click the Add/Remove Hard ware icon in the Control Panel . An opening screen w ill appear. Click the Next button. 2. Select Uninstall/Unpl ug a device in the selec tion list and click the Next button. 3. Confirm[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2-15 7. IMPORTANT! - Follow steps 1 through 6, rem oving each Alacr itech Accelera tor as desc ribed in step 4 . 8. Shut down the com puter, a nd unplug the power c able. Failure to d o so may endanger y ou, and may damage the adap ter or com puter. Note: A l acritech A ccelerators use components that are sensiti[...]

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Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-1 3 Operations and Management 3.1 Ov erview of Performance Mon itoring Perform ance data for an Accelera tor can be seen with Perform ance Monitor, whic h is locat ed in the Adm inistrative Tool s folder o n your Wind ows system. Sel ect the SLI C object in th e Perform ance Monitor prog ram to r eview SLIC spe[...]

3-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 1. Run the Perform ance Moni tor applicat ion from the S tart Menu, locate d under Sett ings in the Co ntrol Pane l fold er in the Adminis trative Tools object. 2. Select the + button to add objects to the chart : 3. In the P erformance Object field, se lect Proce ssor and in the Counter field, selec t % Proce[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-3 Before th e Alacrit ech Acceler ator is in stalled, w hen clients are gene rating a lot o f traff ic to and from the serv er's file system s using convent ional NI Cs, your display m ay look similar to thi s: In this exam ple, the C PU usag e is over 50% (black , highlig hted line). The throug hput is no[...]

3-4 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 4. With an A lacritech Acce lerator installed, a dd Alacritec h specific obje cts to the chart. I n the P erf orm anc e o bje ct field, sel ect SLIC and in the Counter field, se lect Fast Byt esTo tal/se c and cl ick the Add button. N ext, in the Object fi eld, select SLIC and in the Counter field, sel ect Slo[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-5 If t h e P erf or ma nce obj ect does not sh ow SLIC in the list, the Alac ritech Acce lerator was not prop erly ins talled u sing the Alacri tech Acce lera tor Se tup program on the Alacritech Dri ver Installa tion CD . Please f ollow the installa tion instruc tions in Ch apter 2 to re-install the Accelera t[...]

3-6 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide If your FastP ath resu lts do not indicat e similar k inds of perform ance benefits, t ake the add itional step s indicate d in the Problem /Solution table in th e Chapter 6. 3.1.2 Explanation of SLIC Performance Monitor Objects The basic ind ication of SLI C and network functionali ty is the amount of da ta m[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-7 processing . The FastPath data rate is the best indication of how much data is be ing transmitted usin g the SLIC protoco l stack and should be at le ast 95% . The table below indicate s the SLI C objects and counte rs relev ant to Alacritech Ac celerato rs for use with the Perform ance Monitor.[...]

3-8 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Object Explanation Connections/ sec Number of new TCP/IP connection s establishe d per second. Established connections Total num ber of TCP /IP connect ions in Established st ate. FastBytesI n/sec Bytes per second of inpu t data manag ed by the SLIC protocol stack . FastBytesOu t/sec Bytes per second of output[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-9 3.2 Running A dapter Diagnost ics Diagnost ics can be run on a ny Acceler ator using the fol lowing procedure: 1. Run the slicuser a pplicatio n from the S tart Menu, loc ated under the Program Files-> Alacrite ch folde r. The SLIC Adapters w indow will appear :[...]

3-10 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2. Select the Diagnostics tab: Note: Running Diagnostics will disrupt all port s of the A ccel erator. 3. Click the Run button. The adapter w ill then run t hrough self- test of the I PP and the select ed port of the adapter. A properly fun ctioning board should displ ay the followin g result s:[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3-11 4. Close the slicuser utility by clicking the OK button. 3.3 Disabling SLIC T CP/IP Offload on Select Interfaces In certain environm ents, such as n etworks with routing loops, it m ay be necessary to disable the SLI C TCP/IP Offload feature on the Accelera tor interfa ces in your system . To determine if t [...]

3-12 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 2. Double-click the LAN connect ion of the int erface you wish to disable TCP offload. 3. Click the Prop ert ies button. Uncheck the box labeled Alacritech TCP Fast-path driver. Click OK . 4. Restart your computer.[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-1 4 Configuri ng T eaming and Failover 4.1 Ov erview of Teaming and Failover Team ing, trunking , link ag gregation, po rt agg regation, load balancing , call i t what you w ill. Though th ese te rms are not synonym ous, from Alacri tech’s perspec tive they mean the s ame thing – g athering several E therne[...]

4-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide team be con figured both on the ho st, and on th e switch tha t the host connects to. In a config uration tha t has one or m ore Alacri tech Accele rators connected to a compati ble sw itch, EtherChan nel allow s multipl e full- duplex Fast Ethernet or Gigabit E thernet connec tions to be grouped tog ether in [...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-3 Note: A l acritech’s Teaming implementation does not support the optional Port A ggregation Protocol (PAgP) feature of some EtherChannel and 802.3AD cable switches, nor the 802.3 A D L A CP protocol . PAgP/LACP facilitates the automatic creation of link aggregation groups by exchanging packets between chann[...]

4-4 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Note: To use TCP offload w ith Send-only Load Balancing, all network interfaces in the team must be on the same phy sical accelerator (for multi-port accelerators, specifically). Ot herwise, TCP offload will be disable d because inbound and outbound traffic use different interfaces. This is necessary since bot[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-5 team is se t up on the sw itch , you will h ave full netw ork connectivi ty, as long as you have only one physical connection to th e host. 3. Set up the te am on the ho sts based on the steps below. 4. Connect th e remain ing Etherne t cables to the approp riate switch and hos t ports. Ver ify that y ou have[...]

4-6 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 2. To configure a team , select the interfaces you wish to team, and c lick th e New Team butto n: 3. Once the t eam is cr eated, you m ust specify the type o f teaming or failov er the te am will use. Th e default is[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-7 Cisco Gigabit Eth erChannel/802.3AD . Se lect a ty pe of team and click the OK b utton: 4. If Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel /802.3AD is select ed, you must hav e a switch th at supports one of these protocols. I f you do, click the Yes button. Otherw ise, click the No button and se lect another m ethod:[...]

4-8 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 5. A new Virtual M iniport Adapte r for the team will appear in th e window and in the Networ k & Dial-up Connections folder locat ed under the Setting s menu. Click the OK button to con tinue: When insta llation com plete s, you will be a sked to restart your system . If you wish to as sign an IP address [...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-9 4.3.2 EtherChannel Conf iguration Guidelines and Restrictions • If you disab le a port i n a team , it is tr eated as a link failure and its tra ffic is tr ansferred to one or more o f the rem aining ports in th e team . • Configure all ports in a team to operate at t he sam e speed and duplex m ode (full[...]

4-10 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 3. Check the Alacr itech SLIC Team Config urator box, sel ect the entry , and click th e Prop erties button:[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 4-11 4. Select the entry or en tries you w ish to rem ove from the team, and c lick th e Drop Member but ton. Conversely, you may selec t the entr ies you w ish to add to the team and click the Add Member bu tton. Click the OK button when you are done : Note: When a team is established, team member config uratio [...]

4-12 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 5. If you w ish to remov e a team , select the ent ry for the team, and click the Dissolve Tea m button. Rem oving the next to the last m em ber of the team with the Drop Membe r button has the sam e effect :[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 5-1 5 Alacritech A ccelerator Inst alla tion in Windows Po w ered NAS A ppli ance 5.1 Installa tion Ove rvie w This c hapter add ress issue s specif ic to the i nstalla tion of an Alacritech Ac celerator i n a Window s Powered NAS appliance. The procedures ou tlined in this chapt er cover t he following types of [...]

5-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 5.2 A dapter and Driver Installation This sec tion covers the procedur es for install ing Alacrite ch Accelera tors. Follow the approp riate proc edure for y our type of installa tion. Note: Running the Alacritech Setup program is the only way to correctly install Alacritech Accelerator driv ers fo r Windo ws.[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 5-3 Note: A lacri tech Accelerators and o ther option cards use components that are sensitive to ESD. Proper ESD handling and storage should be followed. 4. Open the sy stem cov er or PCI bus access door to access the PCI slots. 5. Install t he Alacri tech Acce lerator in a free slo t. If insta lling more than on[...]

5-4 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 5-5 5.3 Performan ce Monitoring The perfo rmance of an A lacritech accelerato r can be m onitored using the Windows Perfor mance Monitor tool, perfmon . Because the Wind ows Powered NAS appl iance does no t typically have its own display , it is necess ary to acces s perfmon on the NAS appliance t hrough Term ina[...]

5-6 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 5.4 A dapter Teaming Alacritech A cceler ator port s can be team ed togethe r to prov ide fault tolerance a nd ease of adm inistra tion when m ultiple port s or adapter s are insta lled in Windows P owered NAS applianc es. The Alacr itech teaming utility is ac cessed by opening up a term inal serv ices session[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-1 6 T roubleshooti ng and Support 6.1 A lacri tech Automated Customer Support You can reach Alacritech’s autom ated support serv ice 24 hours a day, ev ery day. The se rvice cont ains the m ost up- to-date inform ation about Ala critec h products. You c an access the most current driv ers, installati on instr[...]

6-2 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide ■ Miscellan eous I ssues About SLIC Technology 6.4 Installa tion Prob lems This sec tion covers errors and prob lems sur rounding in stallation only. For o ther problem s, please s ee the othe r sections in this chapter. Problem Solut ion Error m essag e: "Setu p cannot find OEMSETUP.INF or OEMSETNT.INF[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-3 6.5 Ev ent Log Errors This s ection cov ers entries written to the Event Log. You can v iew the Event L og from the Event Viewer located in the Adm inistrativ e Tools fold er on the Star t Menu, loca ted under Prog rams. Problem Solut ion Event Log reports "SLIC<x> H as determine d that the adapter[...]

6-4 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Note: If a peripheral card with a PCI bridge chip was installed on your sy stem, the bus numbering may have been changed and the system will not be able to locate y our Accelerator. In this case, uninstall the appropriate Accelerator(s) and then re-ins tall. Problem Solut ion Event Log reports "The Alacri[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-5 Problem Solut ion The re is no connectiv ity at a ll with other com puters on the network. Pinging does not work.  Make sure that the cab les are attached securely at both RJ- 45 connections (adapter and switch ) and that th e network cab le is o therwise functional.  Make sure th at the network cabl es[...]

6-6 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide Problem Solut ion TCP connections c an be establi shed to othe r system s on the sam e subnet, bu t connections canno t be establishe d to sy stems on the other side of a router. If you hav e an Alacritech Accelerato r and another b rand adapte r installed on y our system, AND your network is configured such t[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-7 6.6.1 Alacritech Single-Port Gigabit Accelerator and SES1001C iSCSI Accelerat or LED Function Indicators LED Indication Meaning Off The Acce lerator is not s ending or receiv ing network data. ACT Flashing or On The Accele rator is s ending or receiv ing network data. Off Either the Acceler ator or th e switc[...]

6-8 Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide 6.6.2 Alacritech Single-Port Gigabit Accelerator and SES1001F iSCSI Accelerator LED Function Indicators LED Indication Meaning Off The Acce lerator is not s ending or receiv ing network data. ACT Flashing or On The Accele rator is s ending or receiv ing network data. Off Either the Acceler ator or th e switch [...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-9 6.6.3 Alacritech 100x2 and 100x4 Server Adapter LED Function Indicators LED Indication Meaning Off Either the Acceler ator or th e switch (or bo th) is not receiv ing power, or the ca ble connec tion between th em is fau lty. Green The Acce lerator a nd the sw itch are receiv ing power; th e cable connection [...]

6-10 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6.6.4 Alacritech 100x1 Server Adapter LED Function Indicators LED Indication Meaning Off Either the Acceler ator or th e switch (or bo th) is not receiv ing power, or the ca ble connec tion between th em is fau lty. LNK On The Acce lerator a nd the switc h are receiv ing power; th e cable connection be tween[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-11 data rate is high, then the Accel erator is w orking prop erly and t he perform ance problem s of your syst em are prob ably not related to networking (a bottleneck in the disk subsystem for exam ple). Problem Solut ion Perform ance improv ements of the Accelera tor are not apparent.  Look at the Properti[...]

6-12 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide Problem Solut ion Netmon or oth er network m onitoring software does not work properly with an Accelera tor insta lled. The Alacrite ch SLIC TCP/I P Offload accelerat es netwo rk process ing by offloading protocol proce ssing to th e Accelera tor. As a resu lt, protocol heade rs are process ed and then s tri[...]

Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide 6-13 Problem Solut ion Network Monito ring (either M icrosoft or 3rd party ) does not work throug h an Accelera tor. Network Mon itoring applications require packet ac cess to the ne twork , and are incompati ble with the sessi on layer interface provided by the SLI C TCP/IP Offload. I n order to use Ne twork Mon[...]

6-14 Alacritech A ccelerator Users Guide The serv er does not boot on a com puter running Com paq Sm artStart. Alacrit ech Acceler ators are incomp atible with Compaq Sm artStart v ersion 4.50 and earlier. The system will not boot if SmartStar t version 4. 50 or earlie r is run with an A lacrite ch Acceler ator insta lled. More re cent rele ases of[...]

Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide A-1 Appendix A Network Soft w are License Agreement and Warranty PLEASE REVIEW THE LICENS E AGREEMENT BELOW. BY OPENING THIS SOFT WARE OR PACKAGE OR OT HERWISE DOWNLOADING OR COP YING T HIS SOFTWARE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE B OUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT . DO NOT USE T HIS SOFTWARE UNTIL YOU HAVE C AREFULLY [...]

A-2 Alacritech Accelerator Us ers Guide copies of th e Software and accom pan ying docum entation. Transfer of th e Software terminates your right to use the Software. OWNERSHIP AND COP YRIGHT OF SOFT WARE: Title to the Software and all copies thereof remain with Alacritech or its suppliers. T he Software is copy righted and is protected by th e Un[...]

Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide A-3 ANY WAY OUT OF T HE USE OF THIS SOFTW ARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIB ILITY OF SUCH DAM AGE. The views and conclusion s contained in th e software and docum entation are those of the authors an d should not be in terpreted as repr esenting offi cial policies, eit her expressed or im plied, of t he FreeBSD P[...]

A-4 Alacritech Accelerator Us ers Guide documentation or return all copies of the Software and documentatio n to Alacritech. U.S. GOVERNMENT REST RICTED RIGHT S: The Soft ware and document ation were dev eloped at private expen se and are provi ded w ith "RESTRICTED RIGH TS." Use, dupli cation, or discl osure by th e Governm ent is subjec[...]