Ed,
Only devices tested and qualified by NetApp are allowed in the filers. There's no allowance made for "like" drives. Conditions may arrise by using these other disks. There may be mode page settings that are hidden within the vendor specific model, format changes, etc. that could cause problems in device management or reliability.
As for editing /etc/qual_devices... Changes will invalidate the file. We supply this file directly from NetApp as a reference, and to allow for second source disks without having to release new software. It is not supplied as a vehicle to alter the matrix of supported devices.
Tony -------------------------- mailto:taiello@netapp.com Ph:(408)822-6515
-----Original Message----- From: Edward Henigin [mailto:ed@texas.net] Sent: Monday, January 17, 2000 5:41 AM To: Toasters Cc: Michael Douglass Subject: Re: Problem with F630 and qualified drives
Luke,
Thanks for the tip. This is what we've figured out so far:
The Seagate ST15150W and the Compaq ST15150W are the same drive. However, the "download code revision" (as indicated on stickers on the drives, and reported by the F630) are different. The revision # on the Seagate is 9107, and the rev # on the Compaq is 6213.
If it weren't for the differing version numbers, I'd be willing to add the Compaq line to /etc/qual_devices. Since the Compaq looks *older* than the Seagate, I'm concerned that the Seagate may be slightly different from the Compaq. I just don't want data loss.
Is anyone out there using ST15150W's with a code revision number of less than 6213? You can see it in the sysconfig -v output, the first number following the model number (following is revision #9107):
1: SEAGATE ST15150W 9107 Size=4.0GB(8388315 blocks)
Ed
-- On Tue, Jan 18, 2000 at 12:26:57AM +1100, Luke Mewburn said:
Take a look at /etc/qual_devices on your filer; that's probably what you want (from the look of it).
Your milage may vary, don't blame me if it trashes your
filer, etc, etc.
Tony,
Thanks for the info. Are you saying that even if we could verify our Compaq ST15150W to be 100% compatible with the Seagate, and we added it to /etc/qual_devices, the filer would still not recognize the hard drive, since /etc/qual_devices is for reference only?
My sales rep just called to tell me that NetApp doesn't sell the ST15150W anymore. I'm finding refurbished ST15150W's on the 'net, but that's what these were, we only found out about the Compaq branding after putting them in the filer. I believe we have the programming capability here to write a quick low-level SCSI query utility to figure out the low-level parameters upon which NetApp depends. IF you could tell us what those are, and IF the filer would recognize additions to /etc/qual_devices, then I think we can engineer our own solution.
How can you help us?
Edward Henigin CTO, Texas.Net
-- On Mon, Jan 17, 2000 at 07:49:59AM -0800, Aiello, Tony said:
Ed,
Only devices tested and qualified by NetApp are allowed in the filers. There's no allowance made for "like" drives. Conditions may arrise by using these other disks. There may be mode page settings that are hidden within the vendor specific model, format changes, etc. that could cause problems in device management or reliability.
As for editing /etc/qual_devices... Changes will invalidate the file. We supply this file directly from NetApp as a reference, and to allow for second source disks without having to release new software. It is not supplied as a vehicle to alter the matrix of supported devices.
Tony
mailto:taiello@netapp.com Ph:(408)822-6515
Ed,
My advice would be to stop trying to "jurryrig" your unsupported drives into semi-supported ones, even if you can get Netapp to give you all of their secrets.
As you say, you can find other ST15150W's on the net. Go get them. This time, make sure you specify that they are the right brand and rev code. I realize you want to make the Compaq's you got work, but the Compaq's were a mistake; talk to the person you got them from or just chalk it up to experience.
Bruce
Bruce,
We are pursuing other avenues :) I simply prefer to solve my problems in parallel.
Ed
-- On Mon, Jan 17, 2000 at 12:32:45PM -0800, Bruce Sterling Woodcock said:
Ed,
My advice would be to stop trying to "jurryrig" your unsupported drives into semi-supported ones, even if you can get Netapp to give you all of their secrets.
As you say, you can find other ST15150W's on the net. Go get them. This time, make sure you specify that they are the right brand and rev code. I realize you want to make the Compaq's you got work, but the Compaq's were a mistake; talk to the person you got them from or just chalk it up to experience.
Bruce
On Mon, 17 Jan 2000, Edward Henigin wrote:
Thanks for the info. Are you saying that even if we could verify our Compaq ST15150W to be 100% compatible with the Seagate, and we added it to /etc/qual_devices, the filer would still not recognize the hard drive, since /etc/qual_devices is for reference only?
That's not how I read it. It is for reference as well as to add drives like this. The only point that is unclear is what did Tony mean by "invalidate"? Will the filer in fact complain or malfunction directly due to changes to the file or simply will it make it an unsupported configuration. I think Tony made this point purposely vague.
IF you could tell us what those are, and IF the filer would recognize additions to /etc/qual_devices, then I think we can engineer our own solution.
I would be pleasantly surprised to see any vendor do what you request here.
Tom
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Aiello, Tony -
Bruce Sterling Woodcock -
Edward Henigin -
Edward Henigin -
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