Naturally, it would benefit Apple greatly if they offered a Fibre channel card like ATTO's as a BTO option. The "Firewire 3200" sounds amazingly amazing but I trust Apple knows that in order have Xserves put into established racks, like our Dell farm, then they've got to offer currently established SAN technology.
The introduction this week of PowerMacs that don't have FireWire3200 means nothing w.r.t. the Xserve and Xraid futures. FireWire3200 currently doesn't have a place on the desktop, but it could be quite compelling in a rack. I agree with the sentiment that Xraid would need to support an existing SAN standard as well, however. It would be interesting if both could be used in one setup, with the Xserves being able to connect via FireWire3200 and other equipment via the FibreChannel.
The drive *enclosures* are proprietary and only available from Apple. Now, whether they are selling them without drives in them is another question. Anyone know?
<strong>That can't be right <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" /> Well, it could be right, but it just wouldn't be right!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Agreed -- the Nexsan IDE RAID products also have proprietary hot-swap logic that individually controls power to the drives and ensures that a drive is connected before power is applied. It works with bare off-the-shelf drives.
Part of being successful in the enterprise is making sure that your products work with commonly available off-the-shelf components -- you *should* be able to purchase an Xraid (or whatever it's called) with 14 empty drive trays.
Comments
glad to see you back
Screed
[ 01-30-2003: Message edited by: sCreeD ]</p>
They arn't hiding the fact that FireWire 3200 exists. Its very possible that this will be included in the XRaid*.
Barto
*Yes, this is the CORRECT name. That is, if you can believe one of Apple's server gurus
<strong>*Yes, this is the CORRECT name. That is, if you can believe one of Apple's server gurus
I don't believe him. In the RAID's Battery Replacement Instructions it's called Xserve RAID.
And that seems so wrong, seeing as how RAID is supposed to be all caps.
Sure, it's a handy nickname, but we're splitting hairs here.
So will it have support for >120GB drives? Could I buy a bunch of Maxtor 320s and plop them in? Pretty please?
Alex
<strong>So will it have support for >120GB drives? Could I buy a bunch of Maxtor 320s and plop them in? Pretty please?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apple uses proprietary technology to allow ATA interface drives to be hot swappable. To my knowledge as result only Apple ordered drives will suffice.
That's what I was told by one of the guys on the Xserve team when I spoke to him last year at least.
<strong>To my knowledge as result only Apple ordered drives will suffice.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That can't be right <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" /> Well, it could be right, but it just wouldn't be right!
[ 02-02-2003: Message edited by: The Pie Man ]</p>
The drive *enclosures* are proprietary and only available from Apple. Now, whether they are selling them without drives in them is another question. Anyone know?
Good to see you! Man it has been a long time! How are your New Year celebrations coming along?
Keep up the good work!
~ronnie~
<img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />
<strong>That can't be right <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" /> Well, it could be right, but it just wouldn't be right!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Agreed -- the Nexsan IDE RAID products also have proprietary hot-swap logic that individually controls power to the drives and ensures that a drive is connected before power is applied. It works with bare off-the-shelf drives.
Part of being successful in the enterprise is making sure that your products work with commonly available off-the-shelf components -- you *should* be able to purchase an Xraid (or whatever it's called) with 14 empty drive trays.
Alex