MSA500 G2 Upgrade path

[Joe.Schmo]

Hello all,

We are currently in the process of upgrading a number of production servers to Windows Server 2008 R2, and have found that Microsoft quite arbitrarily has decided that they will not support parallel SCSI connections for failover clusters. I understand (from this post - http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Disk-Array/Repost-MSA500-G2-with-Win-2008-or-upgrade-path/m-p/4221167#M27534 that I can upgrade our hardware, effectively turning the storage cabinet into an MSA1000. I also see that HP offers an upgrade kit that includes an MSA SAN switch. My first question is, do I need the SAN switch or can I directly attach the servers to the IO modules? My second question is, does anyone know of a workaround for this issue? Is there some way to "trick" Windows into allowing me to use our existing storage cabinet as-is?

Thanks in advance...

[Patrick Terlisten]

Hello,

there is no trick to get this supported, but maybe working. I wouldn't recommend unsupported components in a failover cluster enviroment.

You can connect directly to the controllers, but you should note, that this will cause a failover even in a case if a single HBA, cable or controller failure. You have to use the latest A/A firmware for the MSA. You could take a look into SPOCK the check if W2K8 R2 is supported with MSA1000.

Regards,
Patrick