problem about cabling when installing a raw EVA4000

[stephen peng]

dear all,
i have to install a raw EVA4000(it means that there is no HP-manufactured rack for this EVA4000 and i have to installing it in industry-standard rack), and i need to do all the cabling job. after i connecting both controller using a Y cable, where should i connect the other end of the Y cable to? is there a sole cable, carrying two terminator, which the Y cable will connect to? or could you please offer me some detailed connecting diagram?
thank you for offering me help!

[Uwe Zessin]

The Y-cable goes to the CAB/CAN/EAB bus which also connects to the disk drive enclosure's EMU (bottom port). Make sure you do not confuse both terminators (top / bottom) - else you will end up with confusing enclosure addresses ;-)

[stephen peng]

Uwe,
thank you for you reply.
it that CAB/CAN/EAB bus marked in the EVA4000 shipped stuff? in this 2C1D product, i just need to connect the Y cable and disk inclosure EMU to that bus? can i seperate the top terminator easily from the bottom?

[Steven Clementi]

Stephen:

You don't connect the shelves in that manner. You should have some gray cables that have some connectors on them. On one end a RJ45 type of connector, on the other end a RJ45 receptacle. In the middle of the cable there should be 2 more receptacles for the gray cables that come from the shelves. At the very bottom of the cable there should be a terminator that is marked bottom should be the small rj45 plug and on the top of the bus the rj45 receptacle terminator, which should be marked top.


At the very least, you should have 2 of these cables plugged into each other with the first disk shelf plugged into the very first "chain" connector at the bottom and the controller shelf cable plugged into the 3rd "chain" connector, leaving room for 1 disk shelf below and 2 more above. You can move it up 2 connectors as well if you ever think you might upgrade to a 6000.

In the end, your disk shelf should take ID 1 and your controller shelf ID 3 and 4 or 5 and 6 depending on where you plug it in.


Steven

[stephen peng]

steven,
thank you for your reply.
i read the document of HP, and the diagram told that i should connect the shelf to the very first "chain" connector, and the connect the Y cable, which connecting both controllers, to the second "chain" connector. the 2C1D EVA4000 only has one disk shelf, and the diagram told that it only needs one "gray cable". it that correct? are those ID for the shelves depending on the "chain" connector number they connecting to? what confusing me is that which kind of cable i should connect to the controller or the disk shelf, are they the same kind of cable?

look forward for you reply.

[Uwe Zessin]

Stephen,
see page 36 of the "HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 Enterprise Virtual Array Hardware Configuration Guide" (5697-5342):

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00370688/c00370688.pdf

> are those ID for the shelves depending on the "chain" connector number they connecting to?

Yes.

> what confusing me is that which kind of cable i should connect to the controller or the disk shelf,

Y-Cable to the controllers. The grey cable to the disk drive enclosure's EMU.

[Steven Clementi]

Stephen:

I suggested 2 "gray cables" only in the case that you might expand to a 2c2d configuration sooner rather than later.

You only need 1 of the gray cables in your case since you only need to connect 2 devices. The disk shelf and the y cable from the controllers.

The ID generation does come from the positioning on the gray cable so as if you were to swap the terminators, your ID's would go backwards (I think).

There are 3 cables that you need, and 2 terminators. The "gray cable" with the 2 chain blocks on it (and the 2 ends for the terminators... the y cable coming from the 2 controllers (1 cable) and the single ended cable for the disk shelf (also gray in color, I think it is a little lighter gray). It should be the same color as the Y cable.

The only other cables you should have are the black copper ended cables for the fibre loops that connect the disk shelf to the controllers. There should be 4 of those.


Steven

[stephen peng]

thank you guys,
i should handle that stuff with your opions. one last thing, do i need to manually modify the ID for the controllers and the disk shelf?
thanks

[Uwe Zessin]

No, it is defined by the plug position.

[Steven Clementi]

As stated, no... The position is the key.

Part of the reason why I suggested plugging in the second chain cable (the one we keep calling "grey cale") and attaching the controllers higher up was so that you would not need to move it later on if you added a second shelf. If you do plan on adding a second shelf at some point, I would suggest you leave room for it just above the first shelf and below the controllers. If you ever plan on upgrading to an EVA6k, then I suggest leaving room for 3 extra shelves below the controllers plus 1U for a loop switch, and appropiately plugging in the 3rd and 4th chain cables.

If you are going to stick with just the 2C1D for a while, then don't worry about the spacing and extra cables now.

Steven

[Uwe Zessin]

I've moved controller cables on running systems without a problem.

[Steven Clementi]

Yes, moving the cable does not effect the running system. I am just always in a position where the customer buys a small config with expectations to add to it sooner rather than later and they want the simplist upgrade procedure to do it.

Having less to do later on saves the time needed to perform those tasks during your upgrade window, maximizing your time for possible troubleshooing and/or issue resolution.


Steven

[Uwe Zessin]

Ah, I misread, but agree - I've always moved up controllers in a 2C1D for easy upgrade later on.