[Info-vax] Compaq Smartarray 5300 - test results

[Hans Vlems]

On 27 feb, 21:10, MG <marcog... at SPAMxs4all.nl> wrote:
> On 27-feb-2013 9:24, Hans Vlems wrote:
>
> > This is a follow up on a question I posted earlier, whether the Compaq
> > Smartarray 5300 would work on an AlphaServer 800 that runs VMS V8.4.
> > The Compaq Smartarray 5300 is not a supported device; a later model,
> > the 5300A is supported on some Alphaservers.
>
> Actually, the former (and perhaps it helps, when one loads the latest
> firmware) ought to work also.  See the Smart Array 5300 (KZPDC) and
> 6400 (KZPEC) series Q&As on the HP site.
>
> > An image backup from the system disk to RAID-1 set showed 440 ~ 480
> > IO's per second (MONITOR DISK), I've never seen values that high on
> > this AlphaServer 800 before.
>
> My memories are also very fond of this controller.  I remember I ran a
> RAID-0 logical volume, comprised of two 300 Gbyte 15K RPM Ultra320 SCSI
> disks, inside a DS10 I used to own.
>
> I remember that boot times decreased incredibly and that the overall
> access times and performance (transfer speeds, in particular for
> sequential read/write operations) improved amazingly.
>
> At the time I also remember reading that there was someone who was not
> very impressed by the card.  I was surprised, as it performed rather
> nicely for me.  (So, I wonder what kind of RAID level that person used
> and in what kind of system.)
>
>   - MG

The only firmware I can find on the HP site is for the 5300A.
My 5300 controller runs V3.56. Can you point me to a newer version?
Hans