Dell 5 series User Manual

Contents

Dell 5 series User Manual Manual pdf 14 page image

12 OverviewPCI ArchitecturePERC 5 controllers support a PCI-E x8 host interface. PCI-E is a high-performance I/O bus architecturedesigned to increase data transfers without slowing down the Central Processing Unit (CPU). PCI-E goesbeyond the PCI specification and is intended as a unifying I/O architecture for various systems such as,desktops, workstations, mobiles, server, communications, and embedded devices.Operating System SupportThe PERC 5 controllers support the following operating systems:• Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server family• Windows Server® 2003 (includes Standard, Enterprise, and Small Business Servers)• Windows Server 2003 DataCenter• Windows XP• Windows Vista™• Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5• SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server 9 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10NOTE: See driver release on www.dell.com for specific operating system service pack requirements.NOTE: Microsoft Windows XP is supported with a PERC 5 controller only when the controller is installed in aDell Precision™ workstation.NOTE: See the system documentation located at the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the latest list ofsupported operating systems and driver installation instructions.RAID DescriptionRAID is a group of multiple independent physical disks that provide high performance by increasing thenumber of drives used for saving and accessing data. A RAID disk subsystem improves input/output(I/O) performance and data availability. The physical disk group appears to the host system as either asingle storage unit or multiple logical units. Data throughput improves because several disks are accessedsimultaneously. RAID systems also improve data storage availability and fault tolerance. Data loss causedby a physical disk failure can be recovered by rebuilding missing data from the remaining data or parityphysical disks.NOTICE: In the event of a physical disk failure, you cannot rebuild data on a RAID 0 virtual disk.Summary of RAID LevelsRAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environmentthat requires no data redundancy.Dell_PERC5_UG.book Page 12 Tuesday, February 13, 2007 6:02 PM