Re: miscellaneous BCS questions

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 7:34 PM, Steve Richter <stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The Vess Natchev read-me first document mentions the "LSI SAS CFFv"
expansion adapter and that it is needed to use the SAS drives. Is
this the Nortel L2/L3 switch module?

No, that's a small card that is installed into the Blade itself.

It looks roughly like this:
http://images.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/normal/858/product-6671858.jpg

Ethernet lan connection. The AMM is networked to my router. Are
there any other LAN cables to connect to the router? The only other
LAN ports on the back of the BCS are the external ports of the Nortel
switch ( whose purpose compared to the lower cost copper passthru
module is still unclear )

You'll need one link from the Nortel Switch to your Router.

If you would use the copper passthrough module, you would need two (or
one) cable to the router for each blade - with an integrated switch
you'll only need 2, 4 or whatever much bandwidth you need links

the screen stayed blank for more than 5 minutes. So I started the
VIOS install ( which I eventually pulled the plug on because 45
minutes into the install, it was only 50% complete. )

It takes about 3 hours.

Read these posts i made - the contain a timeline, which the readme does not.

You'll need about 24-30 hours of REAL TIME to setup IBM i on a JS12 in
a BCS with SAS Disks.

http://projectdream.org/wordpress/2008/06/23/ibm-bladecenter-s-getting-started-with-blades-in-the-smb-market/
http://projectdream.org/wordpress/2008/07/09/installing-ibm-i-on-a-js12-blade-in-a-bladecenter-s/

FIRMWARE. I got the AMM firmware, both functional and maintenance
downloaded and installed.

A firmware always overwrites the other. Just use the latest release -
no need to use old, stable images without feature enhancements on a
new system.

But then I was unsure which specific
firmware to download for the other modules. On the IBM support site
there are different firmware files for each model of module the FW
applies to.

Well, there are older releases available for download, but i didn't
run across this problem.

In the browser connect to the AMM there is a display of
all the modules in the BCS, with their product numbers, serial
numbers, etc. Problem for me is on the IBM support site I did not see
the product numbers the BCS reports in the descriptions or names of
the firmware files. How can I cross reference the product numbers the
BCS reports with the firmware descriptions? ( I guess I will try a
google search on the product numbers )

Or you could look at the order form ;)