Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!LBL.GOV!nagy%warner.hepnet
From: nagy%warner.hepnet@LBL.GOV (Frank J. Nagy, VAX Wizard & Guru)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: EXSYS Race disk drives (too good to be true?)
Message-ID: <880518064620.23a00db2@LBL.Gov>
Date: 18 May 88 13:46:20 GMT
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> Soooo, what's the problem?
>     1. Am I missing something?  This seems too good to be true -
>        ~2.4GB of storage in an RA slot.  Similar performance specs
>        at a fraction of the cost (~10K per drive/controller/power/cables)

Nope, you are not missing anything.  When Digital first came out with the
RA-series of disks, they were quite state-of-the-art.  That is not true
any more.  Current disk technology is considerably ahead of Digital who
is once again playing catchup (however, there may be better news from
Digital in the future - sometime this year).
     
>     2. What about changes to firmware as DEC gets further into OLTP
>        (online transaction processing)?  Am I going to get screwed by
>        changes in the HSC microcode, changes to MSCP, changes to the
>        RA disk layout?  HSC v3.70 is released, any problems?
     
Don't know about HSC V3.70, but I doubt that Digital will do anything
to invalidate the current installed base of RA disks and HSC/UDA/KDA/KDB
controllers.  New disks/controllers might support new features, but
there is an enormous installed base which can't just be punted or
Digital will piss off A LOT OF SITES.

>        Aside: Has anyone written into a contract a warranty for *all*
>        ECO's/FCO's that might be needed if DEC changes something that
>        causes the 3rd party disk to break?  We are even considering
>        requiring them to supply us with equivalent DEC hardware should
>        they not be able to continue working with the HSC50, for 5 years.
     
Sounds like a good idea.

>     3. Is DEC going to sue these guys for running SDI/ESDI disks?  I don't
>        know if any of the disk architectures are proprietary.
     
ESDI is a public standard (non-Digital).  SDI is Digital's.  They
haven't sued anyone yet (such as Emulex or SI), but who knows what
the lawyers have planned for tomorrow.

>     4. Are there other disk drive/controller combinations that directly
>        plug into the HSC50?  I've seen lots of good drives, CDC, FUJITSU,
>        NEC, but they all need a controller to plug into the system.  We
>        feel the HSC50 is one of DEC's best products and don't want to go
>        back to UDA50's or equivalents.

Both EMULEX and SI sell such systems.  I believe that Emulex's use CDC
Sabre disks and SI's use NEC disks.

Note: if a disk will connect to a UDA50 or KDA50, it will also connect
to an HSC since both use the same Standard Disk Interface (SDI).     

= Frank J. Nagy   "VAX Guru & Wizard"
= Fermilab Research Division EED/Controls
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