SAS disk shelves. I'm trying to hybridise them. Anyone got any suggestions for me?
I've been running a Xyratex HB-1235, a 12 disk SAS shelf, for some time as per my sig. It's been very nicely behaved. I'm using SATA disks, so I only have one of the two IO Modules plugged in all the way otherwise every disk shows an error light because it's not SAS and doesn't respond correctly to dual-pathing.
Nine disks in it at the moment, running close to 80% full and I was thinking of restructuring so went shopping for another one. Instead I found a Netapp DS4243 shelf for near zero money, a device which is very obviously made by the same company but has different IO Modules and has 24 slots. Given I have a spare IO Module, I checked on the Internet and there's a success story about simply removing the Netapp IOMs and swapping in an HB-1235 one.
Unfortunately I don't have as much success. Plugging it in as Netapp shows in the LSI BIOS as a DS-4243, but doesn't show any disks I put in - which is as expected, Netapp sells disks with their own firmware tweaks, so it's a vendor lockin. It does however show a self-test all-lights then settles down to little green lights for my test disks, despite not admitting to them otherwise. Same with one Netapp IOM.
When I swap out the two NetApp IOMs for one Xyratex one, it still shows up in the LSI BIOS as a NetApp 4243 which surprised me a little, I was expecting the IOM to own the model name and that the disk box was dumber. It does the self-test of all lights but doesn't show disks in the LSI firmware or even the green disk lights. I also tried moving both Xyratex IOMs into the NetApp.
There don't seem to be any IOM or chassis firmware updates available - I presume they'd come directly from the Dell or NetApp head unit, which I don't have any of.
Anyone got any ideas? My only thought is to try moving the brains of the Xyratex chassis into the NetApp, as although mine's a 12 disk the xyratex does come in a 24 disk version and it might work - and will be entirely reversible with a bit more screwdriverin'.
I've been running a Xyratex HB-1235, a 12 disk SAS shelf, for some time as per my sig. It's been very nicely behaved. I'm using SATA disks, so I only have one of the two IO Modules plugged in all the way otherwise every disk shows an error light because it's not SAS and doesn't respond correctly to dual-pathing.
Nine disks in it at the moment, running close to 80% full and I was thinking of restructuring so went shopping for another one. Instead I found a Netapp DS4243 shelf for near zero money, a device which is very obviously made by the same company but has different IO Modules and has 24 slots. Given I have a spare IO Module, I checked on the Internet and there's a success story about simply removing the Netapp IOMs and swapping in an HB-1235 one.
Unfortunately I don't have as much success. Plugging it in as Netapp shows in the LSI BIOS as a DS-4243, but doesn't show any disks I put in - which is as expected, Netapp sells disks with their own firmware tweaks, so it's a vendor lockin. It does however show a self-test all-lights then settles down to little green lights for my test disks, despite not admitting to them otherwise. Same with one Netapp IOM.
When I swap out the two NetApp IOMs for one Xyratex one, it still shows up in the LSI BIOS as a NetApp 4243 which surprised me a little, I was expecting the IOM to own the model name and that the disk box was dumber. It does the self-test of all lights but doesn't show disks in the LSI firmware or even the green disk lights. I also tried moving both Xyratex IOMs into the NetApp.
There don't seem to be any IOM or chassis firmware updates available - I presume they'd come directly from the Dell or NetApp head unit, which I don't have any of.
Anyone got any ideas? My only thought is to try moving the brains of the Xyratex chassis into the NetApp, as although mine's a 12 disk the xyratex does come in a 24 disk version and it might work - and will be entirely reversible with a bit more screwdriverin'.
