F/W Streaming RAID
@8F82.ADF - IBM SCSI-2 F/W Streaming-RAID /A 'Cheetah'
194-170 IBM SCSI-2 F/W Streaming-RAID Adapter/A
FWSR Option Disk, #1 ver. 2.31
FWSR Option Disk, #2 ver. 2.31
   Readme for FWSR Option Disks
RAID Supplemental Diskette Version 2.0   RAIDSEND is an OS/2 command-line interface
   Readme.txt

SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Streaming RAID Adapter/A  "Cheetah" FRU 06H3059 
   Function of NVSRAM
   Cable Parts
HD LED Does Not Work
   HD LED Hack
Cyrix/Non-SOD Type 1 Incompatibility?
Cache Size
Accessing the RAID Configuration
   Configuration Utility
FWSR Bios Flash Disk
Cheetah in a 85 / 95 /95A
Cheetah in a Server 500
   Channel and RAID adapter configurations (takes you to 8641 page)
   Getting CD Rom to WORK On Server 500
Linux on FWSR?
LVD Drives on Cheetah?
Logical Drive Size Limits under NT
Specifications For FWSR
ADF Sections

SCSI-2 F/W Streaming RAID Adapter/A  "Cheetah" FRU 06H3059 Sidecard FRU 06H3060 
FWSR Features

J1 Channel 1 68 pin edgecard 
J2 Channel 2 68 pin edgecard 
J3 Not connected. Or used. 
J4 DASD Status Connector 
J5 DASD Status Connector 
J6 Possible serial port. Unused.
J9 Channel 2 external port. 
Y1 50 MHz Oscillator 
Y2 40MHz Oscillator 
F1 Channel 2 PTC resistor 
F2 Channel 1 PTC resistor
1

Channels
   The Cheetah has two channels. Each channel is controlled by an NCR53C720. The header J1 is Channel 1. It usually is attached to an internal array, but with the addition of a side card, it can controll an external array. The second channel uses J2 OR the external port, J9. This is still one channel, so one can use either the internal port, OR the external port. Do NOT try to use both J2 and J9 at once. 

Notes:
NVSRAM is a Benchmarq 28 pin 8Kx8  bq4010YMA-200, Spec sheet
  Another equivalent is a Dallas DS1225Y-200, spec sheet

NVSRAM Functions
  Each NV SRAM has a self–contained lithium energy source and control circuitry which constantly monitors VCC for an out–of–tolerance condition. When such a condition occurs, the lithium energy source is automatically switched on and write protection is unconditionally enabled to prevent data corruption. 

Cable Parts
   The mini C68 for the Channel edgecard connectors is the Molex 71660i, part# 15-92-3068, called a half pitch Centronics, or a VESA Media Connector. Suprise! AMP makes a similar part (mini-C68) AMP Part 1-557089-2 Any cable with a .025 pitch, 28 to 30 AWG will work with either connector. 

A Better Cable Hack?
Allen Brandt wrote: 
> A small, shotty attempt to get something uploaded concerning the PS/2. HERE

My Take on it:
   I am starting to have neurons fire. Actually, Allen provided the push. Al went and slit the conductors for better flexibility (in pairs). 
   Could you slit the flat cable up towards the controller and get the very flexible cable bundle of the IBM original? The black sheathing is available from Jameco for about $1 a foot. Well worth it, IMHO. (Start the slit with an X-Acto and use the reverse of the blade to finish parting the conductors???) 
   The sheathing is Techflex Cable Sleave, looks to be the 3/8" size. Sold in a 25' spool. Part #162157, Product # CCPT2X per spool $14.95  Techflex is HERE
What kind of signal degredation might occur? Each signal pair hopefully cancels it's noise out. 
   If the Brandt manuever can be done from the top drive connector to the adapter, it might be a close match to the real thing 



HD LED Doesn't Work
From Peter (or Tim?)
   The fixed disk light is non-functional with both the Server 95 A "Passplay" and Streaming-RAID "Cheetah" MCA RAID adapter.  I suspect this is also the case with other OEM'ed Mylex RAID adapters. 

LED For Cheetah
   BUT if you take an LED off of J6, pin 1 and 2, it will light when the drives are accessed. Just run a lead up to between the LED blocks in the display panel. Watch the polarity. If the LED doesn't light, switch the header around. You do not need a resistor for this. 
   I tried this, but the LED didn't have enough umph. Pretty dim through the LED Panel. Maybe some sort of a drive circuit? 
  Just had a thought- twist the existing HD LED out of the Op Panel and put the LED that is connected to J6 in there.... 

Possible Cyrix-Cheetah Incompatibility?
Tim Clarke
Hi gang, 
      just thought that I'd better warn you. After checking out the Cyrix 5x86 at 4x clocking (in Type-1 non-SOD w/cache) my PassPlay RAID adapter seems to have been "duffed up". I only get a part of the BIOS v1.05 initialisation/installation message and the machine hangs (with *any* CPU) at CP:96. Looks as though the Flash ROM has been partially overwritten (just a guess). 



Cache Size
  Go HERE for more details


Access the RAID Configuration
   Both the FWR (Passplay) and FWSR (Cheetah) are only configurable through the RAID Utilities disk. You CANNOT see the SCSI Disks under "Set and View SCSI Devices" like normal SCSI drives. Boot with FWSR Option Disk, #1 ver. 2.31 in order to view or configure the array. 
   Both adapters use the same Utilities disk of the later IBM F/W Streaming RAID Adapter /A (Codename "Cheetah" - with external port) since both are based on Intel i960 / Mylex / NCR technology. There was a single-disk version 2.22, which should be unique for all /A-Raid adapters of that kind, but not the PCI-versions. The RAIDADM (manager) should work on both /A-adapters. 

Configuration Utility version 2.31 consists out of two disks: 
FWSR Option Disk, #1 ver. 2.31
FWSR Option Disk, #2 ver. 2.31
Readme for FWSR Option Disks

Not sure if this fits- 
RAID Supplemental Diskette Version 2.0    And the Readme.txt RAIDSEND is a utility that provides an OS/2 ONLY command-line interface for performing various tasks on a IBM F/W Streaming RAID Adapter/A, the IBM SCSI-2 F/W PCI-Bus RAID Adapter, and the Mylex PL adapter for the IBM PC Server 704. 



Fast/Wide Streaming RAID Flash Bios for "Cheetah"FRU 06H3059 

CAUTION!!!
   The Passplay and the Cheetah differ in the microcode, which *may not* be interchanged. The Passplay (FWR) adapter uses a microcode-level 1.6x through 1.99, the Cheetah (FWSR) uses 2.xx levels. If you flash the one adapter with the code from the other you end up in non-functional adapters. 

FWSR Flash BIOS 2.21   For RAID controller WITH external port! 
FWSR Flash BIOS Readme



Cheetah in a 95
  The RAID bay for the 85/95/95A does not have a place for the status cable to attatch. The RAID bay has a 68 pin edgecard at the back where the molex style SCSI connector attaches to. The 95 RAID bays automatically terminate the SCSI drives inside. Do NOT enable termination on the individual drives! 
   I installed a CD Rom in Bay 7. I used a 68 to 50 pin adapter from the RAID cable connector. I have installed both NT Workstation 4 and OS/2 on it. Both were able to detect and use the CD Rom during setup. FWIW, I had only one bay with three drives in it. 
 

Cheetah in a Server 500

Setting the CD Rom ID in a Server 500
  I think I saw a patch somewhere to "fix" a CD on the FWSR under NT.

From Rich Nagle
  Following repeated failures of NT 4 Server setup to recognize the CD Rom connected to the passthrough connector on the top backplane, I noticed that the CD Rom was showing up as one SCSI ID# higher than it was when I checked it under the RAID Utility View Configuration.
  After checking the SCSI ID jumper on the backplane (set to LO for IDs 0 thru 5 on the backplane), a sudden flash of inspiration occured- I set the CD Rom to ID 5, went back under the RAID Utilities, and the CD Rom was now ID6. I then deleted, then recreated the array. Now when I ran NT Setup the CD Rom was recognized automatically. 

Linux on FWSR
From Peter
>> Is anyone running linux on one of these machines?

Not on machines with the IBM Raid controller with the old 2.43 firmware. No Linux driver available

The IBM Fast/Wide Streaming Raid Adapter PCI as used in the Server 320/520 MCA-PCI versions is derived from the Mylex DAC960PL - it only has 128K Flash ROM (one 28F010 chip) but a second open socket. Firmware 3.x requires 256K Flash. I'd tried to plug in a second 28F010 ... but I think the old software contained in that chip confused the adapter a bit ... it behaved a little "strange" (long boot time etc.)

What I do not have is an Eprommer that is capable to write the Flash-ROMs of the 28Fxxxx series or I could a) write a spare 2.4x Flash (to keep for the "worst case") and b) clear the 28F010 ROMs I pulled from some old boards. Else I would stuff in a blank ROM in the second socket, have the old 2.xx in the first and run a firmware update 3.x from the DAC960PL on that adapter.

The machines with the older RAID-adapters ("Passplay" and "Cheetah") based on MCA technology are out of the discussion anyway. They are based on the DAC960M technology basically but an older draft of that concept. They use some of the chips of the -M and early -Px adapters (PL / PD) and they are developed by Mylex - but the firmware 3.x is PCI-specific, not MCA. So you can practically forget about using them under Linux since the driver is *particularly* written for the 3.x firmware level.

LVD on Cheetah
>What kind of drives does the RAID take? Is F/W DIFFERENTIAL SCSI the right kind? Or are LVD (low voltage differential) different and it needs them instead? I've never dealt with RAID before.

 From Peter
 Remember the  "Cheetah"-Adapter's "Real Trade Name" ?  IBM Fast/Wide Streaming Raid Adapter /A.
   It it an ordinary F/W indended for single-ended SCSI devices. It does however take U/W LVD drives, because these are downward-compatible to single-ended, which the old "high-voltage differential" are *not*. 
      If you get - for example - a set of U/W "Low Voltage Differential" (LVD) IBM DDRS 4.5 or 9.1GB drives then they will nicely run with the Cheetah. I have some of them in "Starship" - my Server 520 attached to the Fast/Wide RAID Adapter PCI. No problem. You can even mix them
 with "ordinary" F/W or U/W drives. Same for the Cheetah and even the older Passplay.



Logical Drive Limits under NT
Tony speaks with conviction when he says:
   I've got Cheetah running a rack of 9G drives in a MCA Server 320.  One issue seems to be it won't configure a logical drive larger than 32G (you can have several of these though).  Not exactly crippling for modest use, but a limitation none the less.  I haven't tried to see of NT's volume spanning tricks could be layered atop some of these 32G drives - might be one way around that issue


Cheetah Specs
SCSI type SCSI-2 Fast/Wide
SCSI bus path / speed 16 bit / 20 MB/sec
I/O bus path / speed 32 bit / 40 MB/sec streaming 
(80 MB/sec on PC Server 720)
I/O features Streaming data xfer Address and data parity
RAID levels  RAID 0, 1, Hybrid 1, 5 
4 ind (A, B, C, D) / 8 logical arrays
Tagged Command Queuing Yes
Processor i960CA at 25 MHz [accepts i960-CF25]
Size Type 3 (full length)
Channels Two (one internal; one internal or external) 
Connectors Three 16 bit wide connectors:
Two internal One external  
*Can only use two connectors at once
Devices supported 14 per adapter (7 per max per channel)
Cache std 4 MB (with parity) 60 ns soldered on.
Cache write policy Write-through or write-back


AdapterID 8F82  IBM SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Streaming-RAID Adapter/A

Interrupt Level
   Set the interrupt level for the adapter.
    <"Level E">, A, B

BIOS Base Address
   BIOS base address. Each adapter must have a unique address range. 
    <"C0000-0C1FFF">, C2000-0C3FFF, C4000-0C5FFF, C6000-0C7FFF, C8000-0C9FFF, CA000-0CBFFF, CC000-0CDFFF, CE000-0CFFFF, D0000-0D1FFF, D2000-0D3FFF, D4000-0D5FFF, D6000-0D7FFF, D8000-0D9FFF, DA000-0DBFFF, DC000-0DDFFF, DE000-0DFFFF

I/O Address
   I/O address. Each adapter must have a unique address range.
    <"1C00-1C1F">, 3C00-3C1F, 5C00-5C1F, 7C00-7C1F, 9C00-9C1F, BC00-BC1F, DC00-DC1F, FC00-FC1F

DMA Arbitration Level
   DMA channel the adapter will use to transfer data.
   <"Level 8">, 9, A, B, C, D, E, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Tower Configuration
   How many towers of seven drives will be presented to the user. Any messages regarding drive status are always presented in terms of bays in the tower. When each channel of the Streaming-RAID Adapter/A is connected to a different tower select the '2 Towers' Configuration and when both channels are connected to one single tower select the '1 Tower'
Configuration.
   <"2 Towers">, 1 Tower

Data Parity Exception Handling Support
   Enable or disable the Micro Channel data parity generation
NOTE: System must support this option.
   < "Enabled ">, Disabled

Micro Channel Streaming
   Eenable or disable the Microchannel streaming. NOTE: If the system does not support this then this option will NOT be available.
   <"Enabled ">, Disabled

INT 13 Support
   This provides limited support for BIOS INT 13 function calls and is required if boot devices are connected to Streaming-RAID Adapter/A.
NOTE: If the system does not support this (eg. not a T1 upgrade-66 or any T4 complex) then this option will NOT be available.
   < "Disabled">, Enabled

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