> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shaun T. Erickson [mailto:ste@research.bell-labs.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 8:27 PM
> To: Norman, Paul
> Cc: toasters(a)mathworks.com
> Subject: Re: FC-AL: Onboard vs. PCI Adapter Card
> 
> 
> "Norman, Paul" wrote:
> > 
> > Over the last couple days, there has been some discussion 
> about on-board FC-AL
> > in our filers.  This summer, NetApp  started shipping 
> filers with an FC-AL
> > adapter card rather than the on-board FC-AL to improve 
> reliability and
> > performance.  We did this because we found errors which, 
> though recoverable,
> > potentially effect performance and loop stability.  The 
> problem effected a very
> > small fraction, just a few percent, of the installed base.
> 
> Thank you for your reply. However, you didn't address the main
> concern/perception of many folks here: that NetApp apparently shipped
> many F700 series systems with onboard FC-AL controllers that had hard
> failures shortly after being put into production, after which NetApp
Perhaps I missed some e-mails, but I didn't see anyone suggesting that there
were "many F700" filers that had "hard failures shortly after being put into
production". As I said the number of filers with instability problems was quite
small.  We've shipped on the order of 5,000 F700 series filers, the vast
majority of which run fine on on-board FC-AL.  About one percent of these
exhibited instability on the on-board FC-AL and not all of those the instant
they were put into production.
All that being said, as I look back on how we handled this problem I think
NetApp should have been more aggressive in alerting the installed base. You
can't be a chicken little crying the sky is falling every time you have a hiccup
in the production line, but you also have to recognize when an issue is not just
temporary problem.  
> apparently started sending out new filers with the PCI card
> pre-installed, to be used in place of the onboard controller. That's
> quite different from what you just described.
> 
> Can you elaborate on and clarify this issue for us, please?
I think I've been pretty clear, but please feel free to call me tomorrow if you
want to discuss further.  408 822 6288 is my direct line.
> 
> TIA,
> 	-ste
>