FC controllers - exchangeable ?

Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

This question came up just before putting production data on these
drives, just in time I think.

Hope to get some help here.

Cheers,
Matthias

Hello Mathias,

Matthias Schulz wrote:
Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

You can use a different controller, but you will need to change the
zoning to adjust to the new controller's WWN.

Regards,

Nathan

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 23:44:23 +0200, Matthias Schulz wrote:

Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

This question came up just before putting production data on these
drives, just in time I think.

Hope to get some help here.

Cheers,
Matthias
You will have to cahnge the zoning. In addition to that if you are using
High Avilaibility software you must ensure that software will support two
differnent make and manufactures of HBA's.

my 2cents.
Guy

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 23:44:23 +0200, Matthias Schulz
wrote:

Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

This question came up just before putting production data on these
drives, just in time I think.

Hope to get some help here.

Cheers,
Matthias

If I understand the question you are saying that you are using a hw
raid controller and wonder if it can be replaced with any fc
controller?

If that's what your asking then I don't think so. While you can
replace the card because the raid info is also on the drives, it needs
to be a card that understands the patterns and data, which I think is
card-specific.

If this is not the case someone will correct me.

~F

"Matthias Schulz" wrote in message
...
Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

This question came up just before putting production data on these drives,
just in time I think.

Hope to get some help here.

Cheers,
Matthias

If you mean you currently have a point-to-point connection between the FC
adapter and a hardware RAID box configured as JBOD, then the answer is yes.
You do have to ensure that the QLA2100 is supported by your O/S but with
this particular card that's the least of your problems. Just about
everything (except Netware 5.x and up) supports the QLA2100.

Rob

Thanks to everyone who answered.

It is indeed, that I have a point-to-point (i.e. noch hub or switch)
connection to a SUN A5000 array. And it's really JBOD (though I am
planning for a useful layout).

Since I have a QLA2100 for SUN systems (open boot I guess), is it just a
'firmware-swap' to use this controller with i.e. NT / W2K ?

Thanks a lot in advance
Matthias

Rob Turk schrieb:
"Matthias Schulz" wrote in message
...

Hi storage gurus,

I have a HP FC-AL controller to control a RAID box (at the moment just a
bunch of drives).

If this one controller breaks, do I have to use the SAME controller to
access the drives or can I just use ANY other FC-AL controller like the
QLA2100 (qlogic) ?

This question came up just before putting production data on these drives,
just in time I think.

Hope to get some help here.

Cheers,
Matthias


If you mean you currently have a point-to-point connection between the FC
adapter and a hardware RAID box configured as JBOD, then the answer is yes.
You do have to ensure that the QLA2100 is supported by your O/S but with
this particular card that's the least of your problems. Just about
everything (except Netware 5.x and up) supports the QLA2100.

Rob