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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM
chrisg@warpspeed.com.au
 
Posts: n/a
Default FYI: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX

Just a FYI for those of you who might find this information useful.

I have an IBM RS/6000 Model 43P-140.

I pulled an IBM ServeRAID Card (not the II or 3L or other types) from a
working Intel PC Server (actually, an IBM PC Server 704) and put it
into the '140.

I installed AIX 4.3.3 (.0) onto the box.

The card **WAS** recognised and AIX reports it as an 'IBM PCI SCSI
Raid' card in the smit menus.

Given the cheap prices of these older raid cards on eBay, I thought
that some may find this information useful.

Pitty the 140 can't fit too many disks in it though.

-Chris

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  #2 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM
Tim Clarke
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX

Hi Chris...

<chrisg@warpspeed.com.au> wrote in message
news:1125287003.001166.253110@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> Just a FYI for those of you who might find this information useful.
>
> I have an IBM RS/6000 Model 43P-140.
>
> I pulled an IBM ServeRAID Card (not the II or 3L or other types) from a
> working Intel PC Server (actually, an IBM PC Server 704) and put it
> into the '140.
>
> I installed AIX 4.3.3 (.0) onto the box.
>
> The card **WAS** recognised and AIX reports it as an 'IBM PCI SCSI
> Raid' card in the smit menus.
>
> Given the cheap prices of these older raid cards on eBay, I thought
> that some may find this information useful.
>
> Pitty the 140 can't fit too many disks in it though.


As I've just won
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=5802608442 and
have been messing around with cross-referencing the "old" (i.e. unsupported
by IBM/Lenovo) MCA/PCI PC Server and RS/6000 adapters and their exchange
between OS/2 and AIX-based systems (site to come "soon"). This is good news,
thanks. Most of the IBM RAID adapters are "supported" by a common access
mechanism (i960 or Power chip on-adapter, with microcode loading from the
host) so, if one flavour (e.g. CopperStone ServeRAID I) is supported, then
in theory, all *can* be, given the microcode loader and BIN images.
--
Regards,
Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)

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  #3 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM
chrisg@warpspeed.com.au
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX


Tim Clarke wrote:
> Hi Chris...
>
> <chrisg@warpspeed.com.au> wrote in message
> news:1125287003.001166.253110@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> > Just a FYI for those of you who might find this information useful.
> >
> > I have an IBM RS/6000 Model 43P-140.
> >
> > I pulled an IBM ServeRAID Card (not the II or 3L or other types) from a
> > working Intel PC Server (actually, an IBM PC Server 704) and put it
> > into the '140.
> >
> > I installed AIX 4.3.3 (.0) onto the box.
> >
> > The card **WAS** recognised and AIX reports it as an 'IBM PCI SCSI
> > Raid' card in the smit menus.
> >
> > Given the cheap prices of these older raid cards on eBay, I thought
> > that some may find this information useful.
> >
> > Pitty the 140 can't fit too many disks in it though.

>
> As I've just won
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=5802608442 and
> have been messing around with cross-referencing the "old" (i.e. unsupported
> by IBM/Lenovo) MCA/PCI PC Server and RS/6000 adapters and their exchange
> between OS/2 and AIX-based systems (site to come "soon"). This is good news,
> thanks. Most of the IBM RAID adapters are "supported" by a common access
> mechanism (i960 or Power chip on-adapter, with microcode loading from the
> host) so, if one flavour (e.g. CopperStone ServeRAID I) is supported, then
> in theory, all *can* be, given the microcode loader and BIN images.


Hmmm. I could use that box. Pitty though. I shudded to think what it
would have cost me to get it here to Australia... 80Kg (about 200lbs).
Ouch.

Anyway, I have some more good news.

The model 140 uses the SYMBios/LSI Logic 53C825 (never heard of the
825, but there it was in the device list...). Anyway, it is obviously
part of the 8xx series, so it was just a matter how far up the line the
drivers would support.

The driver for the 825 was listed as an 875, so we sould be safe until
there.

I added PELogic card, which uses the 53C895 (SCSI Ultra-2/LVD). (The
card must be an OEM version of the LSI Cards, as I was sucessfully able
to flash the old PELogic bios with the newest LSILogic bios and the
card works fine). I reinstalled AIX 4.3.3 and it was added, via another
driver. So the 895 is supported. Great this gives us Ultra-2/LVD
support for 80Mb/Sec. The only thing that I've noticed is that the
disks attached to this are listed as non bootable.

One odd thing/warning though: The SMS menu would show an error: "Failed
to Boot" when you attempted to display the Config menu on the 34P-140.
An odd error to give, given that I was only trying to display the menu
to see how the machine recognised the card. Anyway, it still managed to
boot from CD-ROM to install AIX and then boot off the disks attached to
the integrated SCSI controller.

Can anyone comment on this as to why? Are you limited to supporting
bootable disks only on the integrated adaptec, or is it something
specific about the card. Or any card that is not integrated?

I also tried an Adaptec 2940-UW for a MAC. It hung the machine. But the
card itself may be toast.

I might try a few other Adaptec cards tonight (before I press this
machine into real service).

You mention above the intel i960. I've got some of those on some DAC
960's that I have. They were by produced by Mylex (again, now LSILogic
- insestuous itsn't it???). Mylex (at the time as least) was listed as
an IBM company, so I might even get support for those cards as well.

I'll report back tomorrow how I went, if I get a chance to play
tonight.

-Chris

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  #4 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM
chunguang yuan
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX

Very Good.I have one 140 and one 150.I will enrich my system...

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  #5 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM
chrisg@warpspeed.com.au
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX


The DAC960 was not recognised.

In looking through the device list, the 3COM 3C905-TX is supported.
Useful.

Didn't get time to look at other cards.

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  #6 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:20 AM
chrisg@warpspeed.com.au
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX

The Adaptec cards (not surprisingly did work either).

The GXT110P is a S3TrioV64+ (375 chipset).

I tried a 325 chipset as well, no good; it was not recognised. I don't
have another V64+ card to try to see if it is the bios on the card that
makes the difference or whether it is implicitly recognised.

Time for me to press the machine into service, so that is about the end
of me playing with hardware on this box.

-Chris

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  #7 (permalink)  
Old 01-05-2008, 07:20 AM
Tim Clarke
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: IBM PC ServeRAID Cards and AIX

Hi Chris...

<chrisg@warpspeed.com.au> wrote in message
news:1125536724.225499.222280@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> The Adaptec cards (not surprisingly did work either).
>
> The GXT110P is a S3TrioV64+ (375 chipset).
>
> I tried a 325 chipset as well, no good; it was not recognised. I don't
> have another V64+ card to try to see if it is the bios on the card that
> makes the difference or whether it is implicitly recognised.
>
> Time for me to press the machine into service, so that is about the end
> of me playing with hardware on this box.


O.K. I've saved the thread for incorporation into my forthcoming "help
site", will try to do a good job.

Thanks for your efforts to get this information out.
--
Regards,
Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)

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