Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!sun-spots-request From: era@ncar.ucar.edu (Ed Arnold) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: info needed: IPI disk Keywords: Hardware Message-ID: <5752@brazos.Rice.edu> Date: 13 Mar 90 22:22:15 GMT Sender: root@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 44 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 82, message 7 Having received conflicting information from Sun and 3rd party vendors, we're looking for someone out there who knows something about the IMPRIMIS (aka CDC/Seagate) IPI disks sold by Sun for the 4/490, as well as 3rd-party alternates. If you have info, please e-mail me; I will summarize to sun-spots. What I've been trying to find out is what disk drive is Sun selling as their 706A/707A disk unit. I've been variously told by third party vendors that this disk is a CDC-97209-12G, CDC-97229-12G, and a CDC-97200-1230. About half of the vendors swear that the CDC-97200-1230 is the SMD-4 version. I'm inclined to believe these vendors because they've sounded more knowledgeable overall. This leaves the CDC-97209-12G and the CDC-97229-12G. These are supposedly IPI-2 disk drives with a 1.2 Gbyte unformatted capacity. The CDC-97209-12G is supposedly a single-headed drive, and the CDC-97229-12G is supposedly a dual-headed drive. Finally, everyone seems to agree that the ISP-80 (408A/409A) controller that Sun sells is manufactured only by/for Sun. The greater unknowns follow. Namely, is Sun selling the CDC-97209-12G or the CDC-97229-12G as the 706A/707A. The apparently knowledgeable third party vendors seem to be evenly split on this matter. They also are split on whether Sun has an exclusive right to sell the CDC-97229-12G. Some claim only Sun and certain OEMs are allowed to purchase these disks, and others claim certain smart VARs with superior contracts prior to the Sun exlusive contract can also purchase these disks. One vendor told me that the third party sellers of the 97229 have to be purchasing their disks from the OEMs. Another matter concerns mounting hardware. Only a few of the vendors seemed aware that the new Sun Data Center Server tower-style cabinets require mounting hardware different from the 19" racks. Only one said they would be able to supply this hardware. Our local Sun rep has been unable to shed much light on the matter. He swears that the 706A/707A disks are single-headed models and have only a 3 Mbyte/sec transfer rate. He also swears he's never heard of a dual-headed model with 6 Mbyte/sec transfer rates. Does anyone know what's really going on here? Finally, how does the dual-headed model achieve performance improvement? Is it seen by the system as two drives with completely separate and independent hardware paths, or is some more sophisticated hardware and software scheme being used? Any confirmation, refutation, clarification, and/or amplification of this information would be appreciated.