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Date:      Sat, 08 Feb 1997 20:37:37 -0500
From:      Richard Hwang <rhwang@bigpanda.com>
To:        Chris Bura <chris@MAIN.Netcorps.com>
Cc:        freebsd-isp@freebsd.org
Subject:   SCSI-to-SCSI RAID controllers (was "RAID ? ")
Message-ID:  <199702090137.UAA01887@megazone.bigpanda.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 07 Feb 1997 14:02:34 PST." <199702072202.OAA03484@main.netcorps.com> 

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There seems to be much interest in RAID for FreeBSD, but there doesn't
seem to be anything in the handbook nor FAQ regarding SCSI-to-SCSI
RAID controllers.  I would be more than happy to write something on
SCSI-to-SCSI RAID controllers, as I have been researching them for
awhile, and will be working with the CMD Daytona (see below) in the
next few weeks.

> Well after checking out Mylex's website I noticed a product called
> the DAC960SUI which connects the a SCSI controller.  It's supposed to
> just be seen as a hard drive as far as the OS is concerned.  
> Have no idea what it costs.  Can't seem to find a retailer around with
> enough IQ to figure out that if it's not in stock, it still may exist...

CMD Technology Inc. (http://www.cmd.com/) also makes SCSI-to-SCSI RAID
controllers.  They also have a turnkey system, the Daytona, which
includes a RAID controller and a drive enclosure with redundant power
supplies, hot-swappable drive canisters, and an extra slot for a tape
drive. 

The CMD CRD-5500 RAID controller is their top of the line product.  It
supports RAID levels 0, 1, 1+0, 4, and 5, and comes standard with 16MB
cache RAM (expandable to 512MB with 72-pin SIMMs).  It comes in the
standard 5.25" full-height form factor, so you can put it into any
standard case which has full-height bays.  This beast has 9 slots, in
which you can put the following SCSI interface modules:

CRD-5530 10MB/s single-ended FAST/SCSI-2 (disk channel only), $395
CRD-5540 20MB/s single-ended FAST/WIDE SCSI-2 (disk/host channel), $495
CRD-5560 20MB/s differential FAST/WIDE SCSI-2 (disk/host channel), $595
   **All prices are list prices

The CRD-5500 by itself (no modules) lists for $3,525.

The CRD-5500 controller supports any combination of interface modules,
with a maximum of 4 host channels and a maximum of 8 disk channels.
Yes, this means that this one RAID controller can be connected to
multiple FreeBSD machines.  I'm not exactly sure what the limitations
are with this, though.

CRD-550-015 CRD-5500 with 1 single-ended FAST/WIDE SCSI-2 host module
and 5 FAST SCSI-2 

The CRD-5500 can also be hooked up to another CRD-5500 using the
Failover kit (P/N: AAK-005500-000) for redundancy.

The Daytona contains a CMD CRD-5300 RAID controller and an enclosure
with support for either 4 3.5" half-height disks or 6 3.5" low profile
disks.  It comes with 16M cache, and has hot swappable redundant fans
and power supplies.  The following is a table of model numbers and
list prices for the Daytona:

HWS-005931-141  4 3.5" half-height canisters, single-ended FAST SCSI-2
list $5,995

HWS-005931-161  6 3.5" low profile canisters, single-ended FAST SCSI-2
list $5,995

HWS-005931-241  4 3.5" half-height canisters, single-ended FAST/WIDE SCSI-2
list $6,118

HWS-005931-261  6 3.5" low profile canisters, single-ended FAST/WIDE SCSI-2
list $6,118

HWS-005932-141  4 3.5" half-height canisters, differential FAST SCSI-2
list $6,395

HWS-005932-161  6 3.5" low profile canisters, differential FAST SCSI-2
list $6,395

HWS-005932-241  4 3.5" half-height canisters, differential FAST/WIDE SCSI-2
list $6,518

HWS-005932-261  6 3.5" low profile canisters, differential FAST/WIDE SCSI-2
list $6,518

  ** All Daytonas have 1 host port and 2 SCSI channels, and are
     expandable to 128M of cache

There will supposedly be a slave drive box (to be available soon) so
you can attach more drives to the Daytona.  No word on when that might
be available, though.

As for availability, CMD recently announced that it is distributing
the Daytona through Tech Data (large distributor), so it shouldn't be
*that* hard to find.

I apologize for the lengthy message, but some of this info isn't on
their web site (I had to get them to fax it to me).

---
Richard Hwang                                               rhwang@bigpanda.com
Big Panda House Consulting                              http://www.bigpanda.com



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