WHY can I not connect an MSA 70 to an MSA 2012i with G3 controllers???????????????????

[Tom Lyczko]

HP's not-so-excellent support tells me:

"Thank you for your email. As per the MSA70 specifications, MSA70 is not supported for connecting to an MSA G3 with LFF disks. Therefore, For your MSA with LFF hard disks, connecting an MSA70 is not supported."

This is stupid...!! There should be no earthly connection between disk size and connectivity.

The reason I'm asking about this is that we have an MSA 2012i G1 which is to be upgraded to G3 controllers, and later on we want to connect an MSA70 to the upgraded MSA SAN.

I can't imagine what on earth the disk size has to do with anything -- it's a cable connection, either direct device-to-device or networked via switch.

Can someone please clarify??

Thank you, Tom

[Torsten.]

The MSA70 quickspecs say

...

NOTE: MSA70 is NOT supported behind a MSA2000 G2 (LFF) or a P2000 G3 (LFF)

Unfortunately without telling about the reason.

[Tom Lyczko]

This is majorly bad/stupid...

Do you (or anyone else) know about using a different MSA array like an MSA50 or MSA60??

Or what about this??

From the P2000 G3 QuickSpecs:

D2700 2.5-inch drive enclosure. This 2U storage enclosure (AJ941A) is designed to support twenty five ProLiant 2.5-inch Universal form factor (SFF) 6Gb SAS or SATA hard drives. It ships standard with dual I/O modules installed.

• This 2.5-inch drive enclosure can be attached to a P2000 G3 controller (SFF or LFF) array head
• The D2700 enclosure ships with a two .5m miniSAS to miniSAS cable.
• Up to five D2700 may be attached to the P2000 G3 array head, given total support for 149 SFF drives.

Thank you, Tom

[Johan Guldmyr]

Is there a reason why you need to use the MSA70?
The D2000 should work fine with the P2000 G3. 

[Tom Lyczko]

Before yesterday I had never heard/knew of the D2700 -- I only knew of the MSA70 for expanding an MSA 2012i SAN. Therefore, no, I'm not required to use the MSA70 since I can't, and I would use a D2700 instead.

Thank you, Tom

[John Kufrovich]

To all,

I'll have to take a look at the MSA70 Quick spec. Many moons ago, we didn't support the MSA70 behind a MSA 2000G2 or G3 array.  I

We do support a MSA70 attached to either a MSA2000 G2 or P2000 G3 array.  Regardless of LFF or SFF drive type.

We do not support MSA70 attaching to any MSA 2000 G1 arrays.  If you have a MSA2012i and you swapped out the G1 controllers for G3 controllers.  You have a P2000 G3 array and yes you can use the MSA70 enclosure.

Let me locate that particular QS and see if I can get it corrected.

My apologies for any confusion

[Tom Lyczko]

What is the difference(s) between an MSA70 and a D2700 2.5-inch drive enclosure??

My understanding now is that either one will work with an MSA P2000 G3 controller once it's installed to our MSA 2012i SAN.

Which one is newer, which one is better, which one will be supported for longer??

Thank you, Tom

[John Kufrovich]

The P2000 controllers have a 6Gb SAS backend.

The MSA70 SAS backend is 3Gb

The D2700 SAS backend is 6Gb

The D2700 is newer and will be supported longer. 

[Tom Lyczko]

Thank you for answering...

Our current MSA 2012i G1 which will be upgraded to P2000 G3 controllers this year -- its original spec is 3 Gb throughput -- would I be correct in understanding that a D2700 connected to this upgraded SAN might be throttled to 3 Gb throughput??

It's okay if it is -- I just want to clarify.

Thank you, Tom

[hvhari]

It is possible to use MSA70 on an MSA G3 when you are upgrading from G1 MSA. Pleaser refer below white paper which lists all necessry actions required for this.

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA0-8284ENW.pdf

The MSA2000 G1 and G2 models were built with a 3 Gb SAS internal infrastructure. The new P2000 G3 MSA models are built with the latest 6 Gb SAS infrastructure.

Since any MSA2000 G1 model can be upgraded to the new P2000 G3 MSA array, there may be existing MSA70s and MSA2000 expansion array enclosures with data that the customer needs. The MSA70 and MSA2000 expansion enclosures operate at 3 Gb. If you use the upgraded P2000 G3 MSA array head with a 6 Gb array enclosure and the MSA70/MSA2000 array enclosure, the 6 Gb device must be the first device in the cascade.

Note: When using heterogeneous expansion enclosures (6G and 3G) the MSA2000 (3G) expansion enclosures must be installed as the last enclosures and straight-through cabling must be deployed.