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Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

 
Artem V. Bashkin
Occasional Advisor

MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Our customer is going to upgrade msa 2012fc G1 by adding MSA2000 Enclosure (AJ750A) with 12x 300GB SAS drives in it. I'm interested in possibility of using AP858A hard drives (HP P2000 300GB 6G SAS 15K LFF (3.5 inch) DP ENT HDD).

It's obvious that in quickspecs for MSA2012 G1 there are no such HDDs, but quickspecs haven't been updated since february 2009. So, maybe anyone had a experience of using new P2000 300GB 6G SAS in MSA2012 G1, or could explain why it is a bad idea?

I can't see any reasons why new P2000 300GB 6G SAS HDD's could not work with MSA2012 G1 on 3Gbps/s expect for AP858A sales title: "300GB 15K hot plug 3.5" Dual-port 6G SAS LFF HDD for MSA2000 G2 and P2000 only (AP838A, AP845A, AW567A, AW593A, AP843A) replace AJ736A".

I appreciate any assistance.
14 REPLIES 14

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Hi

I agree with you it is probably only related to a quickspec update.
If you use Sales builder, the official hp configuration tool, you can configure 6Gb SAS disks without any problem.
Artem V. Bashkin
Occasional Advisor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

I just checked sales builder. Unfortunately, there's no 6G drives for MSA2012fc (AJ743A). Screenshot is included. So according to sales bulder we can't use these drives in MSA2012fc, but only in MSA2312fc (AJ948A).
So I suppose it still can be a problem.
Anyway, I'll have to test AJ948A 6G drives with AJ743A MSA2012fc enclosure soon and tell about results.
Thanks for your reply.

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

You are right
I had configured an AJ948A and not AJ750A, sorry about that.
I am quite sure that the 6G drives will work well, but be aware about the fact that the configuration will be unsupported by HP. This is the reason why it is probably a bad idea
Artem V. Bashkin
Occasional Advisor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

I thought about that...
It's just happened so there were no 3G disks AJ736A available and HP replaced it for AP858A. But it was not mentioned in the order the generation of MSA controllers used. The order consisted of disks and HP StorageWorks MSA2000 Dual I/O 3.5 inch 12 Drive Enclosure which can be used with both MSA2012fc and MSA2312fc.

I tried to find out the answer in HP. HP Pre-Sales said that officially 6G disks are not supported and advised to upgrade controllers. And he said nothing about unofficial possibility)))

I'm agree that 6G disks should work and I'll keep in mind potential problems with HP Support.
Thanks again.
Joshua Small_2
Valued Contributor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Hi,

 

I wouldn't usually dig up such an old thread but I wanted to ensure Artem saw my post.

 

I'm in exactly this position - the supported disks on the MSA2012 G1 are quite low spec nowadays, but the enclosure has the exact same part number as the MSA2012 G2, which supports 6G, larger disks.

 

Has anyone had experience in using these or could Artem let me know how he went in his trial?

Frozen_69
Occasional Advisor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Hi, I have the same problem.

 

I have an MSA2000 (2012 fc) G1 enclosure, double controller FC, and I need to know if 6g Disks will work together with 3g Disks, in all the situations (hot spare, part of a Virtual Disk while being mixed with same-size-but-different-speed disks, etc).

 

I know this will be definitely unsopported, but 3g Disks are not available anymore on the market, not even as spares. Therefore mixing the Disks is my only option apparently, apart from buying a new SAN of course.

 

Apparently the "Spare Kit Number" on the 6g Disks is exactly the same as their former 3G versions of the same capacity.

 

What changes is the disk model number, e.g. "SEAGATE ST3300656SS FW 0004" is now ""SEAGATE ST3300657SS FW 0008", but the "Spares Kit Number" is always "480938-001" in BOTH the cases.

 

But the Quickspecs say that the 6g Disks are UNSOPPORTED (they do not even appear in the list of disks that I can put in the enclosure), and also the Firmware Upgrade page of the 6G Disks says that FW flashing is not to be made in MSA2000 G1 environments.

 

Will it work? Has anybody tried it? This would be really urgent and of great help to me.

 

Thanks

 

PS I can't find this information elsewhere so I repeat help would be greatly appreciated!

Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Hello Frozen,

check you PN at HP partsurfer - http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?SearchText=480938-001

It describes the part, below you can click on compatible product, there IS your array 2012fc. So it si definitelly compatible. Anyway, 6Gb SAS is backward compatible with 3Gb SAS, (http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Savvio-Cheetah-and-Constellation/SAS-2-0-6GB-s-intercompatibility-with-SAS-3GB-s/m-p/35835) and if you add 6Gb drives they will simply operate at lower speed thank are able.

 

Jan

Frozen_69
Occasional Advisor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Thanks a lot Jan. Your answer is somewhat tranquilizing me, but I'd like to ask you what do you think about the following link:

 

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4118559&prodNameId=4350553&swEnvOID=2026&swLang=8&mode=2&swItem=MTX-a46bf4628d1b49a6aa420037cd

 

That is the Firmware Update page for the 6G Disk. It states clearly that firmware cannot be installed in any "G1" Configuration. I have a "G1" enclosure.

 

So this is what really scares me. They sell a part with a spare kit number, which is always consistent, but then they publish contraddictory information like the link just above.

 

Also, the link you shard (Thanks!) with the spares part search, says that the kit is compatible with "MSA2012FC", but it doesn't say "G1".

 

I can assure you that the "MSA2000 G1" quickspecs do not report the 6G Disks in the list of supported devices.

 


Can you please share some thoughts regarding what's written on the Firmware Update Page?

 

Thanks a lot for the info you've shared so far, btw. I really neede some sort of reassurance :-)

Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: MSA 2012fc G1 (AJ743A) campatibility with P2000 6G SAS HDDs (for example, AP858A)

Hello Frozen,

you don'need to be afraid. Your link just says " Please DO NOT use this package for flashing the drives if they are in any other configurations including MSA2000 G1 array configurations.". That means if you have such disk in G1 array, you just CAN NOT flash this disk with mentioned firmware package. So maybe there is another firmware package for the same drive, or maybe isn't at all, as last two firmwares are related to SAS 2 = 6Gb problems/features. I think if you receive the disk already with 0008 firmware there will be no problem with them asi will anyway operate at 3Gb. We have similar Dell storage MD3000i which is internally 3Gb SAS and last replacement disk were excatly your model seagate ST3300657SS. Absolutelly no problem with them at all. Just plug in and go green at 3Gb speed as rest of array (now we have 15 disk there, 5 different types! due failures in time during last 4 year, all 300GB 15k, different age and models from Seagate, Hitachi)

 

Jan