On 10 Feb 2004 18:02:26 -0800, (Benjamin Goldsteen)
wrote:

Mark Landin wrote in message . ..
Subject says it all! Probably need no more than 16 drive bays. Host is
an HP 9000 A500 server. All the SATA controllers with redundancy I've
seen have been FC controllers, and I need SCSI.

That's going to be a hard combination to find. Most manufacturers are
focusing on FC now. Since SATA is new, support for it is only
appearing in newer units which tend to have FC host connectors.
Similarly, active-active is a somewhat more advanced
design/configuration (especially a working one...) and support for
that feature tends to be only found in higher-end designs -- like
those that serve the market that demands FC host connectors. I'm not
saying such a combination isn't possible -- just that the market for
such a device is probably too small to justify the engineering effort.

That's the conclusion I was coming to also.

Infortrend and StorCase do have single-controller units that meet your
needs: A16U-G1A3 and S10H100 respectively. My experience with
Infortrend hasn't been too positive and I have no experience with
StorCase since they were Kingston.

I have a unit wit Infortrend controllers now. I've been happy with it
but the vendor I bought it from is not wowing me with their support
policies and the thing is about to come out from under warranty. We're
just seeing if it makes sense to get a technology refresh, and along
with it a new warranty and a more responsive vendor.

Unless someone comes up with a better idea, I think your best bet is
either settle on a single-controller SCSI/SATA model or find a
dual-controller SCSI/ATA model and use PATA/SATA adapters (you'll have
to find a chassis design that accomidates). I've heard these adapters
work pretty well.

Interesting, Hadn't heard of that.


By the way, I'm assuming that you want SATA drives because you want
good reliability (better than traditional ATA) and low drive price
(less than SCSI).

Right.

If so, you probably want the Western Digital Raptor
drives. Personally, I would stick with SCSI/SCSI units until I could
replace the HP 9000 with something that could support FC controllers.

Well I could get FC controllers for my HP if need be. I was hoping to
avoid the need (and expense) however.