ML370 setup clarification please...

[Ayman Altounji]

[post from U.K.]
Apologies in advance for my ignorance: I would be grateful if you could tell me if I am doing anything obviously wrong here! I have been given a Proliant ML370 (667MHz CPU, 128MB RAM), part no. 102118-031, to "play" with. I seem to be missing the setup manuals so I have trawled the Compaq website to get several useful PDF's for the ML370.

This is a very nice looking machine and I am impressed by the build quality and design. The model I have been given is a bare-bones machine with no hard drives. I would like to clarify the initial steps in setting up the machine: what are the recommended hard drives and what do I need to connect them? My initial setup would (hopefully) be to have:

1) 2 x 9.1GB in the removable drive bays as system disk (mirrored, NT4) attached to the integrated Ultra2 controller. Compaq disk part no. 349526-B21 should be suitable but what other disks do users recommend for the ML370?

2) (If I can afford the cost!) 3 x 18.2GB in the hot-plug bays (RAID5, software based in NT4?). Compaq disk part no. 388144-B21 should be suitable? What other drives would be suitable? Initially, to keep costs down, I wouldn't go with a SmartArray controller (comments?).

As delivered, the 2 remaining media bays below the installed floppy drive and CD drive are empty and I would put the 2x9.1GB drives in there using the supplied HD68 terminated 3-device cable (part no. 269157-010) for connection to the system - I presume I need an extra adapter to connect a drive to the supplied HD68 cable? Is a mounting cradle required for fitting the 9.1GB drives into the ML370?

My next problem is that I am a bit puzzled about the hot-plug bays. The machine was delivered with 6 removable black plastic blocks in the bays which I presume must be replaced by the hot-plug drives (i.e. part no. 388144-B21), supplied in special cages? How much do these Compaq hot-plug drives cost? Are there any third part alternatives?

Again apologies for my ignorance but until the full documentation turns up I'm probably missing a few things I should know!

TIA for any help and compliments of the season to you all!

Andy (UK)

[Ayman Altounji]

Tech support can not provide pricing information or quotes...

As to what you can use, there should have been plenty of information in the manuals you found but, there are references online as to what options can be used:

ML370 Specs

I don't see anything obviously wrong with what you are planning.

[Ayman Altounji]

Thanks for the reply Ron. On behalf of us simple users, many thanks are due to you for the copious amounts of help you have given to us all!

Happy New Year to you!

Andy