SCSI HBA issue on N class

[Hasan Saiyid]

Hi Guys,
We have an old N-class (N4000) running HPUX 11.00 its connected to SAN. In order to do data migration we wanted to do a full backup of the data through the server and then restore from tapes at another location. We have a Tape library (HP MSL4048 2 LTO-3 Ultrium 920 SCSI Tape Library) and an HBA (HP PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Host Bus Adapter) and wanted to install the HBA on the server so that we can connect the tape library to it.
Reading the docs, it turns out that the HBA support matrix lists only HPUX 11.11 and 11.23 not 11.00. I thought maybe we can get drivers for 11.00 but HP support told us there are no drivers for 11.00 although they confirmed the HBA is compatible with the N class server.
Can we try to install the card and see if it works, or is there another way to do it?? Since its a production server, upgrading the OS will be a much more challenging task considering legacy application dependencies, etc.

I would really appreciate any help/suggestions.....

Thanks
Hasan

[David de Beer]

I would do as HP suggested, don't install the card if it's not supported - especially in a production environment.

Even 11i doesn't come with drivers out the box for that card.

Loosing / corrupting your data is going to cost much more to recover (if you can put a price on it) than buying / a new / second-hand supported card for your server.

[Jegadeesh Ramamoorthy]

Hasan,

Any specific reason why you want to use the "HP PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Host Bus Adapter" card ?

If you've no specific reasons, how about using A5838A (2port Ultra2-SCSI + 2port 100T ) card, which I believe was supported with N-class on 11.0.

If it helps, check this out -
http://docs.hp.com/en/1451/nc_100bt_perf.pdf

Jegadeesh

[Ganesan R]

Hi,

Since this is HP card, kernel may have built in driver. You can put this card in any dev or test 11.0 server if you have one before you try on production.