Lars,
Save your money, I have just had a fight with the powers to be
within Compaq about this. The story goes like this:
Early 1998 Digital promised that they would upgrade Ultra SCSI controllers
as a trade in to the fibre channel controllers which was to run on Unix &
VMS. When Compaq bought Digital this was all put on hold. Later in '98
the "new" mindless PC mentality of the Compaq management changed the
development and forced it to do the Fibre Channel arbitrated loop for NT
only.
Hence when you buy the RA7000 fibre channel, it is ONLY supported on NT.
(hand me a gun, I want to go shoot someone). A decision has been made to
write the drivers for DU & VMS for Fibre channel Switched Loop due for
release in March 1999 (this sounds good but a bit late). If you purchase
an Ultra SCSI unit now Compaq has assured me that they will trade in the old
controllers for new ones (check it with your reseller).
What seems to be missing is the pricing, the new unit with controller is
cheaper, the old one is more expensive and they are asking us to pay them
more for their short sightedness when we swap it over.
What the SOC doesn't say, is that the Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop IS NOT
SUPPORTED for DU & VMS. What we are seeing here in the PC mentality of
Compaq management. I have had to return the unit after waiting 3 months for
it.
I hope this helps. It has put our Oracle development back by four months.
Rgds
SHANE FEENEY
Principal Systems Engineer
shane_at_bcn.com.au <mailto:shane_at_bcn.com.au>
Received on Wed Jan 06 1999 - 12:21:11 NZDT