Re: IBM Power Systems enhances its server and I/O options

Jonathan Wilson
<piercing_male@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote on
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 13:19:32 GMT:

This raises a question in my mind. Does the I have "hardcoded"
(for want of a better term) acceptable disks? Or can it accept
any disk that can be connected to it just as long as the
interface/protocol matches?

All operating systems require device drivers to recognize disk.
IBM i only recognizes specific devices containing specific VPD
(vital product data) which is on each disk device.

To expand. Are the cables/protocols/connectors/backplane
industry standard in that they use the SAS interface and the
SAS command set?

Yes, industry standards are used.

Following that, if SAS, does the SAS also
include the sata tunnelling protocol so that it can accept
sata disks?

No, there are no SATA disk with the appropriate VPD.

That then leads on to the question, if the
cables/interfaces are industry standard... is it possible to
"build your own" expansion box by running the cables into an
external drive draw and shoving a load of larger IBM LFF's or
commodity "near line" SAS's in there?

No

Obviously if the drives/interfaces are fibre channel then
thats a whole different ballgame (interposer cards ;-).

Now I realise that a person buying an I is likely to want all
the advantages that come with the box, such as reliability and
the ability of the disk system to keep the processor busy and
a host of other "it just does" features... but as a nerd with
a home built multi-TiB media server running linux who loves
the technicalities, and nitty-gritty, of both hardware and
software the details and "I wonder if I could just..."
questions and answers fascinate me.

You can try, but likely will end up with a bunch of hardware not
recognized by either Power Systems firmware and/or IBM i.