MSA 60 Disk Array Cascading

[Peter Turek]

I've got a DL380 G4 with P600 controller and have not yet had the opportunity to cascade an HP MSA SAS Array. I was wondering:

1) Is there any risk of data loss if I have data on an existing MSA60 if I plug in another MSA60?
2) Is the cascading a transparent process where I simply down the equipment, plug in the cabling, restart everything and my P600 controller just sees more disk (ie it couldn't tell the difference cascaded vs plugged in with two separate cables to something like an E500 w/2 channels)?

The point is I have 3+TB on the first array and I can't afford to lose it. It has to be almost zero risk because it'd be down for at least 24hrs to restore from tape so I can't do that. The alternative I'm thinking of is to swap out the P600 for an E500 and just run two separate cables to eliminate any risk.

thanks!

[Víctor Cespón]

If you check MSA60 user guide:

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00807290/c00807290.pdf

page 21

You can cascade up to 4 MSA60 enclosures.

And from the QuickSpecs:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12627_div/12627_div.html

NOTE: The HP Smart Array P600 supports the cascading of shelves in a 1+3 configuration to allow a maximum of 48 drives in an 8U configuration behind or the HP Smart Array P600 controller as the P600 has only a single external port.