RE: 270 upgrade from mirror to RAID with 2763 ctrl -- MIDRANGE-L

Philipp,

It sounds like you have a base 270 with a #5075 Expansion Tower, is that
right?

Here is the basic topology of 270 disks.

- The system unit contains six disk slots which can be controlled by a
PCI disk controller (including the #2763).  In a non-RAIDed system, you
may have a #9767 controller, which can control up to six disks and two
internal tape or DVD/CD-ROM units.

- A sidecar (feature #7104) can be added to the system unit, which will
allow for up to twelve addition disk slots.  It provides no additional
PCI card capability and the drives are controlled from the RAID
controller in the base system unit.

- A PCI Expansion Tower (#5075) can be connected to the system unit by
HSL.  This tower will support up to six additional disk slots and
additional PCI cards.  The disk slots would be controlled by a controller
installed in the #5075 itself, not from the system unit.

Given all that, I count up to 24 drive slots at the maximum, with all
expansions installed.  The question for you would be - Does the system
unit have a sidecar installed?  Your configuration is unusual (lots of
PCI slots and few disks) and indicates that the customer required
additional PCI slots for some reason, or they bought more stuff than they
needed at the time.  If you don't have a sidecar (#7104) installed, you
can't install eight drives in the system unit.

If your customer does have a sidecar, then yes, you can do what you
describe.  The #2763 can be installed in the system unit and will control
up to 12 drives.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "Do I have to uninstall the other
controller first?"  I don't think that you have to remove the #9767 in
order to accomplish your goal, but the #2763 can completely replace the
#9767 so you may be better off just swapping the two cards.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse

> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@midrange.com [mailto:midrange-l-
> bounces@midrange.com] On Behalf Of Philipp Rusch
> Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:38 AM
> To: Midrange List
> Subject: 270 upgrade from mirror to RAID with 2763 ctrl
> 
> Hello midrange-fellows,
> 
> let's get back to business now, I did not intend to start a long
> politicakl discussion, I was just stunned yesterday evening about
> the "tone" from abroad in concern to good old europe ....
> 
> I have a problem with a 270 to solve right now (this evening).
> 
> Customer setup the machine himself and now wants me to upgrade
> some disks. He got mirrored disks (4x 8GB) which it want to
> put in a RAID-5 together with 4x 8GB new disk to build an 8 disk-set.
> 
> Problem:
> System configuration shows a 2763 controller (RAID-capable)
> in the expansion tower which has no disks attached to it.
> The other disks are in the main system unit and are mirrored at the
> moment. These are connected to the (integrated?) MFIOP.
> 
> Is it possible to move the RAID-controller to the main unit to
> achieve what I described above ? (8 disks in a RAID)
> 
> Do I have to uninstall the other controller first ?
> (I' m not there at the moment)
> 
> 
> 
> Regards from germany, Philipp Rusch