Question of non-HPQ disks in ML370G2 SmartArray 5i

[troy12n_1]

I have several Compaq ML370G2's with 6x 36 gig drives in raid5. I am wanting to increase drive space in my array, as the servers are still running fine and I have carepacks for the servers for another year. I would like to buy off the shelf scsi drives, specifically seagate drives and put them in the current drive sleds. Will this work? I know it wont be supported by HP, but that is OK. I can save quite a bit of money by doing this, and when my budgets are pinched to the point they are, I need every penny. has anyone done this, if so, how did it work, what should I look out for, thanks,

[Mahesh Kumar Malik]

Hi

Off the shelf drives will work. You will have to provide proper specifications to supplier. However, as you have pointed out, HP will not be responsible for their funcionality and your Care pack will not support third party drives.

In fact HP stronlgy recommends NOT to use third party components in their servers or peripherals, unless it is certified by them

Regards
Mahesh

[troy12n_1]

"You will have to provide proper specifications to supplier."

what exactly do you mean by that?

I am under the assumption that any 80 pin SCA ultra 160/320 scsi drive will work

specifically I am looking at 180 gig seagate barracuda's. They may not be the fastest things out there, but the $$ per gig of storage cannot be beat as far as scsi drives go

"However, as you have pointed out, HP will not be responsible for their funcionality and your Care pack will not support third party drives."

oh yes, I understand that

"In fact HP stronlgy recommends NOT to use third party components in their servers or peripherals, unless it is certified by them"

of course, they want to make money, I understand that too

Its just that their storage pricing is absurd, just like every other big OEM

this is a temporary solution anyway, as we are likely moving to some sort of SAN here in the next year making all of this a moot point

thanks,

[Gavin Hubbard_1]

Off the shelf disks should be fine. However the back-plane in the ML370 G2 is only officially rated for U160 disks/controllers. A properly designed U320 disk will run fine on a U160 bus, so this shouldn't be a problem.

The only place you'll get into trouble is if you're using a controller like the 641 or 642 (which would be unlikely since you're using ML370 G2 servers).

For some bizarre reason the 641 & 642 are *unable* to negotiate with SCSI devices running at U160 or U2W speeds. Our tests show that they operate at U320 or UW-SCSI but *nothing* in between. If you have U160 or U2W controllers on the controller, it will automatically clock down to UW-SCSI (which cripples the speed).

As an interesting aside, the 6402 & 6404 do not have this limitation.