 
Mylex FlashPoint PCI Ultra SCSI Host Adapter
RAIDPlus Software Release
Version 1.00

June 30, 1997




Overview
========

This README file is divided into the following sections:

	  I. RAIDPlus Introduction
	 II. RAIDPlus Feature Set
	III. Release Content
	 IV. Installing Win95 on a Bootable RAID
	  V. Installing Windows NT on a Bootable RAID
	 VI. Adding RAIDPlus to an Existing Installation
	VII. RAIDPlus Beta Limitation



I. RAIDPlus Introduction
========================

Mylex RAIDPlus is an enhancement package for the FlashPoint family of
SCSI host adapters allowing for RAID levels 0, 1, and 0+1 through
RAIDPlus-enhanced BIOS, device drivers, and utilities.  This release
supports DOS, Windows 95, and Windows NT.

RAIDPlus requires the new RAIDPlus-enhanced BIOS to be resident on the
primary FlashPoint controller.  The following adapters with the new
128KB Flash ROMs are capable of supporting RAIDPlus.

	FlashPoint LT  (BT-930)  - PCI Ultra SCSI           (20MB/s)
	FlashPoint DL  (BT-932)  - PCI Dual Ultra SCSI      (20MB/s)
	FlashPoint LW  (BT-950)  - PCI Ultra Wide SCSI      (40MB/s)
	FlashPoint DW  (BT-952)  - PCI Dual Ultra Wide SCSI (40MB/s)

Future release of the RAIDPlus BIOS will allow existing 32KB Flash ROMs
to be upgradable for RAIDPlus capability.



II. RAIDPlus Feature Set
========================

	- RAID 0   (Striping)
	- RAID 1   (Mirroring)
	- RAID 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring)
	- Hot Spare with Auto Rebuild 
	- Supports Windows 95 and NT 
	- 2 RAIDs per System 
	- 8 disks per RAID 
	- 8 hot spare drives per System 
	- Duplexing across 2 host adapters 
	- RAIDPlus BIOS to support bootability 
	- BIOS-embedded AutoSCSI with RAIDPlus configuration 
	- Wizard-based configuration under Windows 
	- Windows-based status monitoring console 
	- Visual and sound failure alert notification 
	- Password-protected configuration 
	- Stripe size configurable from 16K to 128K
	


III. Release Content
====================

The RAIDPlus Software package contains the following 3-diskette set:

	RAIDPlus Manager Disk #1
	RAIDPlus Manager Disk #2

	   - Windows (95/NT) RAIDPlus installation
	   - RAIDPlus Manager
	   - RAIDPlus Configuration Wizard

	RAIDPlus Drivers

	   - RAIDPlus DOS device driver installation
	   - RAIDPlus device drivers for Win95 and NT



IV. Installing Win95 on a Bootable RAID
=======================================

Installing Win95 on a bootable RAID requires only a few more
steps than installing on a single SCSI drive.  (Only Step 1 is
additional.)

	Step 1
	------
	First, you need to create a RAID to create a logical
	hard disk. Press Ctrl-B during BIOS initialization time to
	enter AutoSCSI to create the RAID.

	Step 2
	------
	Create a partition and format the new RAID. This
	can be done by booting the DOS install disk and
	allowing the installation program to do so automatically.
	If you only have the DOS upgrade package, boot the first
	diskette and exit at the first screen by pressing F3.
	Use fdisk to create the partition, reboot, follow the
	same boot procedure, and run "format c: /s" to format
	the drive.

	Step 3
	------
	Install DOS.

	Step 4
	------
	Install the RAIDPlus DOS drivers. This step is
	necessary to access the CD-ROM for Win95 installation.
	Insert the RAIDPlus Drivers diskette and run "a:install".

	Step 5
	------
	Install Win95.

	Step 6
	------
	Register the RAIDPlus driver with Win95. After
	rebooting, 

		1. Double-click on the System icon in the Control
		   Panel, and select the Device Manager. 
		2. Double-click on the "PCI SCSI Bus Controller"
		   listed under "Other devices" 
		3. Click on the "Change Driver..." button 
		4. Select "Other devices" 
		5. Click on the "Have Disk..." button 
		6. Insert the RAIDPlus Driver diskette 
		7. Specify A:\win95 and install the driver from disk 
		8. After the driver is installed, reboot the system

	Note:
	-----
        For Windows 95, a message of "Unknown Device"
        will appear during the boot process (after device
        driver is loaded).  Please select "Do not install
        driver" at this point and click OK to continue.
        There will be an entry in the "Device Manager" shown
        as "Other Devices" with a yellow question mark.
        Please ignore this entry.

	Step 7
	------
	Install the RAIDPlus Manager. Insert RAIDPlus Manager
	disk #1 and run "a:setup". This installs the RAIDPlus
	Manager which allows you to manage and monitor the newly
	installed RAID.



V. Installing Windows NT on a Bootable RAID
===========================================

	Step 1
	------
	First, you need to create a RAID to create a logical
	hard disk. Press Ctrl-B during BIOS initialization time
	to enter AutoSCSI to create the RAID.

	Step 2
	------
	Install Windows NT from the Installation disks.
	Select Custom Setup option on NT 3.51 or Skip Detection
	on NT 4.0, and install the RAIDPlus driver from the
	RAIDPlus Drivers diskette.

	Step 3
	------
	After Windows NT installation is complete, install
	the RAIDPlus Windows NT driver and RAIDPlus
	Manager.  Insert RAIDPlus Manager disk #1 and run
	"a:setup".  This installs the RAIDPlus Manager which
	allows you to manage and monitor the newly installed
	RAID.

	Note:
	-----
	For Windows NT 4.0, there will be an entry(ies)
	in "SCSI Adapters (devices section)" under Buslogic
	Flashpoint PCI SCSI host adapters that shows disk
	drives reporting back with Device Type of SCSI Scanner.
	Please ignore this entry.



VI. Adding RAIDPlus to an Existing Installation
===============================================

Install the controller and hard disks, and follow the directions
below.

	Step 1
	------
	Install the RAIDPlus Win95/NT driver and RAIDPlus
	Manager. Insert RAIDPlus Manager disk #1 and run
	"a:setup". This installs the RAIDPlus Manager which
	allows you to manage and monitor the newly installed
	RAID.

	Step 2
	------
	Register the RAIDPlus Win95/NT driver. This step is
	necessary if you did not already have a FlashPoint SCSI
	Host Adapter driver installed (i.e. you were using IDE and
	are now adding a FlashPoint with RAIDPlus.)

	For Win95: 

		1. Double-click on the System icon in the Control
		   Panel, and select the Device Manager. 
		2. Double-click on the "PCI SCSI Bus Controller"
		   listed under "Other devices". 
		3. Click on the "Change Driver..." button. 
		4. Select "Other devices". 
		5. Click on the "Have Disk..." button. 
		6. Insert the RAIDPlus Driver diskette. 
		7. Specify A:\win95 and install the driver from disk. 
		8. After the driver is installed, reboot the system.
		9. See note below.

	For Windows NT: 

		1. Double-click on the SCSI Adapters icon in the
		   Control Panel, and select Drivers. 
		2. Click on the "Add" button and "Have Disk...". 
		3. Insert the RAIDPlus Driver diskette. 
		4. Specify A:\ and install the driver from disk. 
		5. After the driver is installed, reboot the system.
		6. See note below.

	Step 3
	------
	Use the Configuration Wizard to create a RAID with
	RAIDPlus Manager. The Configuration Wizard kicks in
	automatically when you invoke the RAIDPlus Manager if
	there is no RAID configured. You will need to reboot the
	system after creating the RAID.

	Step 4
	------
	Create a partition and format the new RAID as you
	would a single hard disk. You can use "fdisk" to partition
	the RAID, and run "format" to format it.

	Note:
	-----
	Physical drives that are in the RAID set (other than
	the drive with the RAID ID) will be reported as a
	"processor device".

	For Windows NT 4.0, there will be an entry(ies)
	in "SCSI Adapters (devices section)" under Buslogic
	Flashpoint PCI SCSI host adapters that shows disk
	drives reporting back with Device Type of SCSI Scanner.
	Please ignore this entry.

	For Windows 95, a message of "Unknown Device" will
	appear during the boot process (after device driver
	is loaded).  Please select "Do not install driver"
	at this point and click OK to continue.  There will be
	an entry in the "Device Manager" shown as "Other Devices"
	with a yellow question mark.  Please ignore this entry.



VII. RAIDPlus Limitations & Known Problems
==========================================

        RAIDPlus Limitations:
        ---------------------

        1. Striping permitted only on one channel.

        2. Hot spare must be on primary channel of RAID.

        3. Windows 95 requires COMCTL32.DLL (7/11/95) and
           DLG32.DLL (7/11/95) to be updated in order for
           RAIDPlus to work correctly.  Updated files can
           be attained from Microsoft's WEB/FTP site.  The
           OSR2 and Memphis releases do not need the updates.

        4. Maximum RAID Name is 8 characters long.

        5. If a bootable RAID is installed, then the dual boot
           feature will only support Windows 95 and NT (4.0 &
           3.51).  A different RAIDPlus directory will be
           required for each of the Operating Systems.

        6. AutoSCSI and RAIDPlus Configuration Wizard will use
           only drives with no partitions if simple configuration
           is selected.  This is to prevent inadvertent erasure
           of active partitions.  Use manual configuration to
           override this protection.

        7. AutoSCSI and BIOS do not support integrity check or
           mirroring.  These operations can be performed by the
           RAIDPlus Manager when the OS is running.

        8. A RAID 0 set (striping) can not be upgraded to a RAID
           0+1 set (striping + mirroring).  The RAID 0 set must be
           deleted and then recreated as RAID 0+1.  The data on
           drives will be lost.

        9. The data on an existing drive with a partition table
           can not be mirrored onto another drive.  The data will
           be lost when a mirror set is created.  For example,
           disk1 has data and is to be mirrored on disk2.  When
           the mirror set is created with disk1 & disk2, the data
           on disk 1 is destroyed.  Currently there is no warning
           for this action in AutoSCSI or RAID Manager.

       10. Under Windows 95, a reboot may be required after
           formatting a RAID set.  This will ensure that the
           RAIDPlus driver is properly loaded and running at an
           optimum level.

       11. Low level formatting of certain disk drives such as
           Quantum and IBM may not be supported from AutoSCSI
           (accessed by pressing <ctrl-B> during boot).  For
           such cases, use the AUTO.EXE program in the
           RAIDPlus Drivers diskette.


        Known Problems in this Release:
        -------------------------------

        RAIDPlus Manager/Configuration Wizard:

        1. While RAIDPlus wizard background processes are running
           (rebuild, integrated check, or remirror), Scandisk and
           Disk Defragmenter may appear to freeze system.  This is
           because these utilities attempt to lock out other disk
           activities before starting.  These utilities will
           continue once the background processes have completed.


        RAIDPlus Install:

        1. Under Windows 95/NT 4.0, uninstall may not be able to
           remove some folders but the directories and contents are
           removed.  These folders can be manually deleted.  Also,
           some files may not be removed until a subsequent reboot.


        BIOS:

        1. With certain motherboards, there may be a coexistence
           problem between 32K and 64K FlashPoint cards.  The
           system may hang and not permit booting from floppy.
           In such cases, remove either of the mixed cards.


        Driver:

        1. DOS BTMDISK.SYS driver will load only for physical
           drives not used by RAIDPlus.


        General:


        1. A RAIDPlus capable host adapter must be the first scanned
           card when there are mixed "non-RAIDPlus" cards present.

        2. When adding or deleting a RAID, the partition table
           will be cleared (all data on original drive will be lost).

        3. If a drive used in a RAID set is removed without being
           properly deleted from the RAID, the drive can no longer
           be used.  At this point, run AutoSCSI to detect the
           inconsistency and remove the left over RAID data (COD,
           configuration on disk).  The disk will now be usable
           again.

        4. The status of the Windows NT 4.0 driver under Control
           Panel, SCSI Adapters, Device will show "Buslogic
           FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Adapter" if driver is
           installed during OS install.  If the driver is
           installed after the OS is installed (or reinstalled),
           the status will be "Mylex FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host
           Adapter".  This is cosmetic and will have no
           functional effect.

        5. Under Windows NT 4.0, if the RAIDPlus Configuration
           Wizard dialog does not automatically appear on the
           desktop after installing the RAIDPlus Manager
           and rebooting, remove the RAIDPlus Manager from
           Window's Startup folder and restart the system.
           You will need to manually start the RAIDPlus Manager
           from the Desktop Icon for drive failure notification.
