M5314A vs M5314B Drive Enclosure Questions

[Dave Spear]

Just to confirm:
- Questions:
1. Do M5314A's and M5314B's both work in either the 2GB or 4GB EVA's??
2. Can M5314A's and B's reside in the same EVA?
3. Is the only difference ROHS compliance?

[chris callihan]

if you are planning on using the older enclosure with newer controllers, make sure you have the newer IO Modules and EMUs in the disk enclosures, or you will have to upgrade those

[Marco Gariboldi]

Does one have to, somehow, 'configure' something on the EMU to make this upgrade work?  I recently added an M5314C I/O "A" module into my M5314A (originally) enclosure, so removing the existing module.  (The seller sent me two "A" modules, while I ordered a "B" and an "A"; so I'm still waiting on a "B" module.  Furthermore, I noticed that the EMU module is the latest available, on the P/N.)  But, I'm still getting only 2 Gbit at most.  Is the non-M5314C I/O "B" module perhaps downgrading everything at the moment? 

Very frustrating, any help or information will be greatly appreciated. 

[Marco Gariboldi]

Can anyone perhaps enlighten me? 

What I should probably also add is that I'm not using HSV controllers, so just addressing the disks in a JBOD type of setup (in combination with software RAID). 

[Marco Gariboldi]

My guess is that these enclosures are EOL?  However, plenty of these enclosures are still being offered, surely in the used and refurbished market. 

I was hoping that someone here, of all places, could perhaps help me out. 

[Mike Texter]

I have used one of these M5314 shelves in a JBOD setup before, but i've only ever run it at 2Gbps.  The HBA i have it attached to is only 2Gbps. Sorry I can't be of more help on that subject.  Guessing it has something to do with your I/O modules and/or your HBA or switch if you're attaching through a fabric.

As far as their availability and usage, you're correct, they're everywhere on the third party/vendor market.  It only increases as people move into newer shinier systems and sell their old gear.  The shelves themselves just don't fail at a very high rate, even the disks are fairly reliable so they're pretty readily available on the refurb market.

[Marco Gariboldi]

The I/O "B" module finally arrived today.

It seems to not be working.  On top of not working in 4-Gbit mode (it seems to revert to 2-Gbit), at all.  Besides that issue, the modules seem to generally not adequately function either (for instance, I'm getting strange disk addressing errors... in terms of duplicate disks on the buses/channels).  The transceivers are HP P/N A7446B (4-Gbit, SW, LC/LC), in C-model "A" and "B" I/O modules. 

A total waste of time and money it seems. 

[Mike Texter]

Sounds like it could be a driver/OS issue.  What is your operating system? Do you have a multipath driver installed? 

[Marco Gariboldi]

Multipath?  I'm merely trying to address in JBOD mode, as I wrote earlier.  The operating system is IRIX, on a SGI Tezro workstation. 

[Mike Texter]

I realize that, but if you have a dual port HBA, and a dual port drive shelf, direct attaching, your host will see each disk twice.  This could be why you're getting multiple/overlapping disks showing up, and why you probably need a multipath driver, unless you want to reduce to one I/O path.