PCMCIA Program Card
===================
HS operating firmware is stored in a PCMCIA program card. Digital ships the
card along with your controller. Each time HS operating firmware is updated,
new cards are manufactured for each controller model. You can purchase the
update cards on a per-release basis or through an update service contract.
Once the program card is installed in the controller, the contents are
copied into shared memory. Special error correction code corrects program
card errors when possible. Anytime you reset the controller, this loading
process gets repeated. Because of this scheme, when the firmware executes,
only part of the controller initialization diagnostics run directly from the
program card. The remaining diagnostics, all functional code, and all
utilities run from controller shared memory.
The PCMCIA card should be returned by the customer to:
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP.
Avard Rd
Nashua, NH 03063
Attn. PCMCIA
Include company name and address with returned cards so customer will not be
billed for non return of the cards
Firmware
========
The controller firmware, or hierarchical storage (HS) operating firmware,
consists of functional code, diagnostics, utilities, and exercisers.
The HS operating firmware consists of five functional areas:
Core functions
Host interconnect functions
Operator interface and subsystem management functions
Device services functions
Value-added functions
Core functions
==============
Tests and Diagnostics
Init Functions
Executive Functions
Host Interconnect Functions
===========================
CI--System Communication Services (SCS); Mass storage control
protocol (MSCP) and/or tape mass storage control protocol (TMSCP) and
DUP
DSSI--SCS; MSCP and/or TMSCP and DUP
SCSI--SCSI-2 protocol with SCSI passthrough software to the CLI,
tagged command queuing on the host and device side, and mode
select/sense support for SCSI
Operator Interface and Subsystem Management Functions
=====================================================
Command Line Interpreter
Diagnostic Utility Protocol
HSZ-Series Virtual Terminal
Local Programs
DILX and TILX
VTDPY
controller warm swap procedure (C_SWAP)
Firmware Licensing System (FLS)
Configuration menu (CFMENU)
Code Load/Code Patch utility (CLCP)
Fault Management Utility (FMU)
Configure utility (CONFIG)
Clone utility (CLONE)
Event Reporting and Fault Management
Device Services
===============
Normal SCSI-2, 8-bit, single-ended support.
FAST, synchronous, 8-bit, single-ended device support.
Tagged queuing for SCSI-2 devices.
Support of specified devices per HS operating firmware release.
Mixed disk and tape support.
Device warm swap.
Device shelf and SBB observation and control.
Device error recovery.
Command disks (HSJ and HSD only).
Value-Added Functions
=====================
RAID
RAID level 0 (striping).
RAID level 1 (mirroring).
Host-Based Volume Shadowing (HBVS)
RAID level 5.
HS operating firmware also supports RAID level 3
Failover
Caching
Read caching.
Write-through caching.
Write-back caching with the battery backed up cache module.
Write-back caching provides low write latency.
Managing of up to 32 MB of cache.
RAID assistance for improved performance.
Logical Block Number (LBN) extent locking.
Least Recently Used (LRU) replacement policy
Write-back cache module failover.
Caching enabled on a per-unit basis.
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