FWD SCSI Support

[James Kirk_1]

Hi gurus:

We have several Storagetek DLT libraries which have FWD SCSI interfaces. They all work very well but we are purchasing new servers and I just learned that FWD SCSI devices are not supported under HP-UX 11iv2. Is there anyway to use these old libraries or will I have to ask my manager for more money. Please tell me there is a way to do this!!

Thanks,
Jim

[Mel Burslan · Accepted solution]

There are some devices called fiber-to-scsi bridges. One brand name that we had for a while was PathLight. But due to constant problems and speed considerations, I think you are better off replacing your scsi adapters in DLT libraries with FC ones in my opinion unless of course you are hard starpped by budget.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Well Jim, this here is the kind of minor, trivial, insignificant detail that should be examined before you buy new stuff but the official answer is no; no HVD/FWD SCSI devices are supported at 11.23. HVD SCSI equipment is becoming rarer and rarer so this decision on HP's part makes sense although there are times when that 25m bus length limit comes in handy. What you should be able to do is purchase an HVD/LVD bus converter and your host computer shouldn't have a clue that it is really talking to an HVD device.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Oh, two sources for these mysterious bus converters are Blackbox Corp and Paralan. Either should work for you and they magically convert anything beyond their connection point in the bus to the opposite technology --- and they don't "eat" a SCSI ID neither.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Here is a link to the BlackBox version. I have used one of these but the Paralan version is cheaper but I haven't used one of theirs though I suspect it is equally good.

http://www.blackbox.com/Catalog/Detail.aspx?cid=308,1559,1566&mid=3202

[Tom Henning]

Another possible source, which I have used in the past is: http://www.rancho.com/Products.aspx?ID=0&CatID=1. This is a link to their converters. I used these a few years ago, when the system I was using (J-282/2) only had FWD and I had to connect a new RAID system to it using the RAID's LVD SCSI.

One point of caution, be extremely careful about what you are plugging into what. I once connected a LVD RAID system to the FWD bus of the converter and blew the interface in the converter and the RAID drive I was using.