I received 3 responses on this, thanks to
Jon Wright <jon.wright_at_ui.com>
John P Speno <speno_at_isc.upenn.edu>
Saar Picker <saarp_at_uclink4.berkeley.edu>
Sounds like people are fine with the RA3000 and we'll be buying one.
their responses follow my original question
Rob Hamm wrote:
>
> During a recent RFP we're doing here, one vendor would not quote us
> an RA3000 because he said he's had too many problems with them (hard to
> configure, never worked right).
>
> What are your opinions on an RA3000 vs KZPAC for raid?
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From: Jon Wright <jon.wright_at_ui.com>
I've configured and delivered a couple RA3000s in a Digital Clusters for
Windows NT configuration and never had trouble. The biggest headache
with the RA3000 is that it has no CLI (unlike the model the RA3000
replaced, the RA310). So I'm not sure how one would configure it in a
Unix environment. If you HAVE to have a windows system to configure the
RAID box, well, I can see how that might qualify as "hard to configure."
I'm happy with them in an NT environment (so at some level, they work
okay) but can't give you any Unix feedback. I realize that information
is of dubious value to you, but still thought I'd pass it along.
Good luck,
Jon
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From: John P Speno <speno_at_isc.upenn.edu>
> What are your opinions on an RA3000 vs KZPAC for raid?
I haven't used the RA3000, but I have experience with other HSZ based
raid controllers.
Compared to the HSZ, the kzpac doesn't look good. It has several major
flaws. Here are a few:
- You can't configure the kspac while the system is up and running. You can
do that with an HSZ.
- When deleting raid sets from the kzpac, you must delete them in the
reverse order of creation. The HSZ has no such limitations.
- You can't check the status of the battery on the kzpac so you don't know
if it has failed.
Avoid the KZPAC if possible.
***************************************************************************
From: Saar Picker <saarp_at_uclink4.berkeley.edu>
We've recently bought one of these but have not put it in service yet. I can't
say we've had any real problems as far as set up and installation go. One
thing we were disappointed to find out was that it can only be configured with
a windows client. The KZPAC is a tried and true solution that works, but the
support software (SWXCRMGR) is very old and the new StorageWorks Command
Console stuff (SWCC) doesn't seem to support it terribly well. I guess what it
really comes down to is your needs. I think the RA3000 has better throughput
and more capacity (we got the rack-mount version) than KZPAC by the specs. If
you're worried about relying on a windows client, you could get an RA7000 (for
almost double the cost) which has a command-line console interface.
-Saar
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Thanks again to Jon, John and Saar !!
Received on Wed Apr 28 1999 - 17:27:38 NZST