[Info-vax] VSI VMS Community License Program - PAKS Arrived today

[Mark DeArman]

On Fri, 14 Aug 2020 13:38:23 -0700, Mark DeArman <s.d.m at ieee.org>
wrote:

>On Thu, 13 Aug 2020 10:36:26 -0500, "John H. Reinhardt"
><johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org> wrote:
>
>>On 8/12/2020 5:21 PM, Mark DeArman wrote:
>>> On Wed, 12 Aug 2020 10:59:55 -0500, "John H. Reinhardt"
>>> <johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> <snip>
>>> 
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm disappointed on the lack of the HAOE PAK for Integrity.  This
>>>> means, among other things, no VMSCluster with Integrity systems,
>>>> something I have already set up and will have to break.  No Volume
>>>> Shadowing which all my systems use. I don't remember what else comes
>>>> with HAOE.  I'm also somewhat dispointed that patches andECOs will
>>>> not be available.  So much for testing on any VSI CLP system.  No
>>>> point in doing any bug testing/reporting if you won't get access to
>>>> them.  Maybe they will do like HP and release the SYSTEM patches
>>>> occasionally.
>>>>
>>> 
>>> This lack of volume shadowing PAKS is really a bad deal.  I'm
>>> dissapointed.  I was pretty excited to finally upgrade.  I just work
>>> on porting various opensource packages in my spare time for fun,
>>> exploring OpenVMS administration tasks, and other silly constructed
>>> problems.  But I'm not going to put any time into a system that
>>> doesn't have mirrored system drives, and disk mirroring for backups.
>>> 
>>> Mark
>>> 
>>
>>I agree with you.  With that said volume shadowing is available on the 
>>Alpha platform which is where most Hobbyists will be.  When it comes
>> to Integrity there is the option of using an HP Smart Array card which 
>>has hardware RAID-0, 1, 5 and JBOD.  There is thee P600 card which 
>>works in Integrity systems with PCI-X busses and SATA drives.  Or the 
>>P410 which is PCI-E and SATA.  For the likes of the RX2600 and ZX6000
>>with PCI-X and SCSI there are the Smart Array 5300 and 6400 series.  
>>These cards are relatively cheap on EBay.  I bought two P410 cards for 
>>$13 and a 1GB flash backed cache for one was another $12.  The older
>>SA6400 cards are creeping up in price but still can be had for under $50
>> usually.
>>
>>When the x86 systems are released then we will have to see about what is licensed there.
>>
>>Not the same, I know but at least you can get mirrored system drives and data drives.
>
>Yeah well, doesn't that mean having to backup and restore all those
>volumes to transition them onto another 6400 controller?  Its not
>going to just in-place create new mirror sets from unmanaged drives on
>the LSI controller is it?
>
>Mark

Honestly it might make sense to dump the SCSI-3 enclosures at that
point, and try and adapt the p800 type to a new SAS enclousre instead.
I haven't really looked at all the fitting issues inside the rx2620. I
just have gobs of 146gb SCSI-3 disks left over from work though. Haha.
I'll have to look into it.  Or just dump the rx2620 and put a blade in
c3000 inclosure.  Probably cost less anyway.