• • • • • • •

The Flexible Array Storage Tool (FAST) is a graphical user interface that allows you to easily manage and monitor your storage subsystems. This chapter introduces you to FAST.

Starting and Exiting FAST

This section describes how to start and exit FAST.

Starting FAST

To start FAST, do the following:

  1. Click the Start button, locate the controller name on the Start menu, then choose the FAST program icon (Figure 1).

    Figure 1. FAST program icon

    The FAST splash screen appears, followed by the Open Controller dialog box (Figure 2).

    Figure 2. Open Controller dialog box

  2. Select a computer in the Show controllers on list.
  3. Select a controller in the Available controllers list.

    Note: If there is only one controller detected on the selected computer, it is selected by default.

  4. For NetWareTM controllers, enter your User Name and Password.
    Before you open a controller on a NetWare server for the first time, you must first add the computer's network address and specify the corresponding network protocol. For NetWare, only IP and IPX are supported. See Managing Remote Connections for more information.
    If you are opening the controller on a remote NetWareTM system in read/write mode, you are prompted for the administrator's name and password on the remote NetWare system. Enter the appropriate login information for the remote NetWare system and click OK.
    Note that the NetWare system can be configured to always require a password, only require a password for read/write opens, or never require a password. For more information, see your NetWare documentation.
  5. Click Open.
    The Open Controller dialog box disappears, and the FAST window becomes active (Figure 3).

    Note: You can run multiple FAST applications simultaneously to manage more than one controller at a time. You can also open more than one controller from a single FAST application. However, only one user at a time can open a controller in read-write mode.

Figure 3. FAST window

For more information about opening controllers, see Managing a Local Controller and Managing Remote Connections.

Exiting FAST

To exit FAST, select Exit from the Controller menu.

Identifying the Main Parts of the FAST Window

Figure 4 identifies the main parts of the FAST window.

Figure 4. Main parts of the FAST window

  • Menu bar—Standard Windows menu bar.
  • Toolbar—Standard Windows toolbar.
    Selecting Toolbar from the View menu toggles the toolbar in and out of view. You can reposition the toolbar using a drag-and-drop operation when it is visible.
  • Key—Shows the icons that represent the main FAST objects; located at the bottom of the FAST window, above the status bar.
    Selecting Key from the View menu toggles the key in and out of view. You can reposition the key using a drag-and-drop operation.
  • Status bar—Displays a variety of FAST messages on the left and a read-only indicator box and number-selected indicator box on the right. The read-only indicator box is empty when the controller associated with the active view window is open in read-write mode. The read-only indicator box displays READ when the controller associated with the active view window (that is, the active controller) is open in read-only mode. The number-selected indicator shows the number of objects that are selected in all view windows of the active controller.
    Selecting Status Bar from the View menu toggles the status bar in and out of view on your screen.

Working with View Windows

View windows contain graphical representations of FAST objects. (A list of FAST objects is on Managing FAST Objects.)

FAST presents the following view windows:

  • Controller view
    Appears when you select Controller View from the View menu. The controller, buses, and their attached devices (such as disks and SAF-TE enclosures) appear in this view window. This is the default view if no containers exist and if no initialized disks are found when a controller is opened.
  • Disk view
    Appears when you select Disk View from the View menu. Only initialized disks appear in the Disk view window. In addition, existing partitions and freespace available for creating new containers on these disks are displayed. This is the default view if no containers exist, but at least one initialized disk is found, when a controller is opened.
  • Container view
    Appears when you select Container View from the View menu. The containers on the disks displayed in the Container view window, including their component parts and characteristics, appear in the Container view window. This is the default view if any containers exist when a controller is opened.

Refreshing View Windows

You can use the Refresh Display command (or press F5) while FAST is idle. When you select Refresh Display from the Controller menu, FAST reloads and redisplays the information about the active controller.

If you have devices that are newly connected to a controller, you must use the Rescan command from the Controller menu for the controller to recognize these new devices. It will reload and redisplay the information in the window.

This may take some time, particularly when there is heavy disk activity. The refresh is complete when the hourglass (or other busy indicator) disappears and the status bar displays For Help, press F1.

Adding a New View Window

To add a new view window, select New View Window from the Window menu.

The new view window is the same type as the previously active view window. For example, if Container view is active when you select New View Window, the new window is also a Container view window. If you open a new view window while the Command Prompt window is active, the new view window is the same type as the one currently indicated in the toolbar.

Arranging View Windows

To arrange view windows, select Cascade, Tile Horizontally, or Tile Vertically from the Window menu.

Activating a View Window

To activate a view window that is currently open, select the window from the Window menu's Recent Window(s) list or click anywhere in the window.

Printing a View Window

To print the active view window on a single page, select Print from the Controller menu.

To see what your printout will look like before you print it, select Print Preview from the Controller menu.

To select a printer or to change print properties, select Print Setup from the Controller menu.

To print from the Command Prompt window, do the following:

  1. Use Ctrl/c and Ctrl/v to copy and paste text from the command line into a text editor or word processor.
  2. Use the text editor's Print command to print the text.

Using Help

To access online help for FAST, select Help Topics from the Help menu or press F1.

Accessing FAST Context-sensitive Help from a Window

To access FAST context-sensitive help in a window, do one of the following:

  • Click the button in the toolbar to display a question-mark pointer ( ), and then click any object in the FAST window.
  • Press Shift + F1 to display a question-mark pointer ( ), and then click any object in the FAST window.

Accessing FAST Context-sensitive Help from a Dialog Box

To access FAST context-sensitive help in a dialog box, do one of the following:

  • Click the button in the title bar to display a question-mark pointer ( ), and then click a dialog box element.
  • Click the right mouse button on an element, and select What's This from the shortcut menu.
  • Move the system focus to a dialog box element, and press F1.

Accessing FAST Help in a Message Window

To access online help in a FAST message window, click the Help button.

Obtaining Information about FAST

To obtain information about FAST such as copyright date and version number, select About FAST from the Help menu.

Re-enabling All Message Prompts

Some message prompts contain a check box that allows you to indicate to FAST that you do not want to see the message displayed again. To reenable all message prompts that you previously disabled by checking this box, select Re-enable all prompts from the Help menu.

Managing FAST Objects

A FAST object is a physical or logical component of the controller management system as displayed by FAST, including the following:

  • Controllers
  • Disks
  • SAF-TE enclosures
  • Buses
  • Freespaces
  • Partitions
  • Containers

Scrolling in Container View

When you perform the following procedures in Container view, FAST automatically scrolls the new or modified container into view in all Container view windows in which the container appears:

  • Create a container using the Container menu
  • Create a container using the Container Creation Wizard

To control the way containers are sorted in the Container view window, do the following:

  • Select Sort Containers by Number from the View menu to sort the containers in ascending numerical order.
    Container numbers are automatically assigned by the controller software. Containers are numbered 0 through 63; visible containers are numbered 0 through 23; hidden containers1 are numbered 24 through 63.
  • Select Sort Containers by Letter from the View menu to sort the containers in alphabetical order by drive letter. Containers without drive letters follow in ascending numerical order by container number.

To manually scroll a container into view in the active Container view window, use any of the following methods:

  • Type the container's drive letter.
  • Type the two-digit container number (add a 0 before single-digit numbers, for example, 07).
  • Use the arrow keys.
  • Use the scroll bar (Figure 5).

    Figure 5. Scrolling in Container view

    Note: If you type a letter or number that does not belong to an existing container, the system beeps.

Using Shortcut Menus

Each FAST object has a shortcut menu, accessible through the right mouse button.

Figure 6 illustrates a mirror set's shortcut menu.

Figure 6. Accessing a shortcut menu

Selecting FAST Objects

This section tells you how to select FAST objects using the mouse and keyboard and using only the keyboard. (For more information about selecting freespace, turn to Working with Freespace.)

Selecting FAST Objects Using the Mouse and Keyboard

To select a single object, click the object.

To select multiple objects, click the first object, and then hold down the Ctrl key while you click the other object(s) you want to select.

To select a multilevel container, click the top-level container.

When you select an object, it changes color.

To deselect a selected FAST object, hold down the Ctrl key while you click the object you want to deselect.

To deselect all selected FAST objects, click in a blank area of the view window or choose Deselect All from the Edit menu.

An object you select or deselect in one window is selected or deselected in all other windows in which that object appears. For example, if you select a disk in Disk view, the disk is also selected in Controller view.

Selecting FAST Objects Using the Keyboard

To select a FAST object using the keyboard, use the following shortcut keys. System focus must be on the object you want to act on. (A FAST object that has focus is surrounded by a dashed rectangular border.)

User Guide

User Guide
Introducing the Flexible Array Storage Tool: Dell Flexible Array Storage Tool User's Guide Back to Contents Page

Introducing the Flexible Array Storage Tool: Dell™ Flexible Array Storage Tool User's Guide

Starting and Exiting FAST Identifying the Main Parts of the FAST Window Working with View Windows Using Help Obtaining Information about FAST Re-enabling All Message Prompts Managing FAST Objects Managing Tasks
To: Press:
Move among FAST objects from left to right, top to bottom Tab
Move among FAST objects from right to left, bottom to top Shift + Tab
Display a shortcut menu Application key
Select an object Spacebar
Select additional objects Ctrl + Spacebar

Obtaining Information about FAST Objects

You can obtain information about a FAST object through its properties dialog box. The properties dialog box is accessible through the Properties item on the Edit menu or through the shortcut menu. For example, to obtain information about the controller, do the following:

  1. Select Controller view from the View menu.
  2. Select the controller.
  3. Select Properties from the Edit menu.
    The Controller properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 7.

    Figure 7. Controller properties dialog box

    Note: See Working with Controller Properties for an explanation of the information displayed in this dialog box. (Only controllers including a battery will display the battery information.)

  4. Click OK or Cancel to exit the dialog box.

Identifying Phantom FAST Objects

Phantom FAST objects cannot be configured by the controller's software and appear under the following conditions:

  • When you unplug a drive while your system is running. (After you rescan the controller, the drive does not appear at all.)
  • When you rescan the controller or reboot your system after a disk with a container fails or is removed and not replaced.
  • If you do not reconfigure containers after booting in Maintenance Mode. (See the controller installation guide for further information on Maintenance Mode.)
  • When a SAF-TE enclosure fails its diagnostic tests.

Table 1 shows the phantom FAST object icons. All phantom icons are gray with a white outline.

Table 1. Phantom FAST object icons

Icon Description Icon Description
Phantom SCSI disk
Phantom mirror set
Phantom partition
Phantom RAID-5 set
Phantom volume set
Phantom stripe set of mirror sets
Phantom stripe set
Phantom enclosure
Missing container
Phantom file system

Managing Tasks

A task is an operation that occurs only on the controller, asynchronous to all other operations. Table 2 lists all the tasks associated with the controller.

Table 2. Task types

Task Type Description
Clear container Creates a RAID-5 set or clears all data on a container.
Clear disk Clears all data on a disk.
Create file system (Windows NT only) Formats a container with a FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file system.
Scrub Creates a mirror set or RAID-5 set reads a redundant container to determine if its blocks are consistent.
Rebuild Rebuilds a redundant container (mirror set, RAID-5 set).
Reconfigure container Reconfigures a container.
Verify (with repair of bad blocks) Verifies a disk and repairs any detected defects.
Verify (with no repair of bad blocks) Verifies a disk without repairing any detected defects.

FAST allows you to initiate tasks through the Controller Properties, SCSI Device Properties, and Container properties dialog boxes. These dialog boxes contain a Tasks tab that shows all tasks running on the device. The Tasks tab also contains buttons that allow you to Stop, Suspend, or Resume a task and a Task Speed setting that enables you to set a task's speed to High, Medium, or Low.

For more information about working with these dialog boxes, see the following sections:

1 A hidden container is never visible and can only be used by other containers. For example, in a volume set of mirror sets, the underlying mirror sets are hidden containers that are used by the top-level volume set.

Back to Contents Page
Shop
Laptops & Minis
Desktops
Monitors
Projectors
Services
Support
Drivers & Downloads
Product Support
Support by Topic
Warranty Information
Community
Join the Discussion
Share Your Ideas
Read our Blog
View Videos
Company Information
About Dell
Corporate Responsibility
Careers
Investors
Newsroom
My Account
Sign-In / Register
Saved Cart
Order Support

Laptops | Desktops | Business Laptops | Business Desktops | Workstations | Servers | Storage | Monitors
All rights reserved : About Dell | Site Terms | Terms and Conditions | Service Agreements | Unresolved Issues | Privacy | Site Map | Dell Recycling | Feedback

Large Text
*IMPORTANT DELL DETAIL

TRADEMARKS: Celeron, Celeron Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom, Intel Atom Inside, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel Viiv, Intel vPro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, Viiv Inside, vPro Inside, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. For more information about the Intel processor feature rating, please refer to www.intel.com/go/rating

RETURNS POLICY: Dell’s “Returns Policy” found at http://www.dell.co.in applies to all sales. Choose carefully, as order cancellation rights are limited and additional costs may apply.

MISTAKES: While all efforts are made to check pricing and other errors, inadvertent errors do occur from time to time and Dell reserves the right to decline orders arising from such errors.

# The Easy EMI offer is valid only on Direct purchases from Dell. Processing fees of Rs. 999 and service taxes applicable.

Inclusive of delivery charges. The price excludes VAT (5%) and local taxes which vary basis jurisdiction.

snWEB2