Xserve and Compaq Fibre Channel array?

harald

Does anyone know if I can use a 3rd party fiber-channel RAID array on an Xserve?



It could be a deal breaker with us buying one ... legacy kit I can't throw away.



Can I use the PCI card / controller it comes with? Can I use Apple's fiber-channel card? Am I stuffed?



I love you, oh person smarter then me.

altivec_2.0

If you have the right drivers, and if they work for both plat forms, yeah, no reason why it wouldn't work. It's all in the drivers.

cake

I know nothing about RAIDs or fiber, but my friend tells me that you should have no problems (I had him read your post).

He administers our Xserve,Xserve RAID and fiber network.



BTW, we have an old MTI RAID hooked up to the Xserve.

cake

Harald, you mailbox is full.



PM me with your questions and I'll make sure he gets it.

cake

I'll try it here since I can't PM you.



Sorry for the delay in replying, but my friend is leaving for Paris today and I could only speak to him briefly - Here's what he recommends:



The only driver issue that you'll have is with the Host Bus Adapter.

Here at work, we use Apple's HBA. It's about $500, is OS X only and auto-switches between 1 and 2 gigabit.



Another recommended HBA is made by Astera - their Rhino 2000 and 3000 series will work fine with an Xserve.



Once you get your array and Xserve working together via a HBA, the next thing you might want is Fibre management software.

He recommends Charismac FibreShare. It's expensive (about $1200), but it does the job.



Sorry that this is very thin on details, but I'm sure that if you have any more questions that he'll be happy to respond directly once he's back from his trip in two weeks.



If you do have questions, either send me a message here or email me at drew1@macdotcom

Hope this helps!



Drew

harald

Marry me.