SCSI newbie + new server = help needed

[Viper GTS]

I recently purchased a quad Xeon rackmount server. It's a full fledged server, redundant power supplies, hot swappable drives, etc. Only problem is, I have no clue how to choose drives for it.

According to the manual, the drives need to be:

16 bit single ended SCA LVD

The drive connectors, as seen from the front
The internal connector to go to a SCSI controller
The mounting hardware

I did a little looking around on pricewatch, & found some Maxtor 10K RPM drives that looked attractive. The product description is:

MAXTOR ATLAS 73.4GB 100000RPM ULTRA-160 SCSI SCA 80PIN HOT PLUGGABLE 1.6 INCH HEIGHT HARD DRIVE

Should this work? If not, why not? What do I need to look for?

Also, what do I need to look for in a SCSI controller? Will any 64-bit PCI SCSI controller work as long as I have appropriate adapters?

Hopefully this will all make sense to someone, 'cause I'm lost.

Viper GTS

 

[bozo1]

Any LVD (Ultra2/160/320) host adapter should work - Adaptec, LSI, Tekram, etc.

The drive you listed will work assuming your chassis can handle 1.6" drives. (Some only handle 1" drives)

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Any SCA 80-pin drive should work fine. As far as modern scsi hard drives are concerned, there are basically 2 types: 68-pin LVD, and 80-pin SCA. 68-pins are what you'd commonly see in workstations and whatnot, but since there are two differenct connectors, one being the tough 4-pin molex power plug (and I believe the connectors can vary slightly in location on the drive, just like ide drives), hot swapping is either horrible or impossible with 68-pin drives. Thus, on servers with scsi drive cages, 80-pin drives are usually the norm; their single, standard connector is designed specifically for hot-swapping.

The connector that connects to the scsi controller is a 68-pin, which is what pretty much any scsi controller will have.

I recently picked up a compaq smart array 4200 controller on fleabay for about $108 shipped, it has a 64MB cache and battery backup. It's a big honking 64-bit card that is less than an inch from being a full-length card. I'm waiting on cables, so all I can do is stare at it right now

As far as the drive size issue bozo1 brought up, I *believe* that generally all scsi drives are 1.6", I know mine is (seagate cheetah 10k/18gb). Basically, try to slide a normal ide drive into your drive cage - it should be a bit too small.

I just recently got into scsi myself so anyone feel free to correct anything I got wrong

edit: So yeah, basically, to summarize, any scsi card should do, as far as the connector is concerned. Whether you get a 32- or 64-bit card is really up to you. For drives, get 80-pin drives. The upside is that they're usually cheaper (I got the aforementioned cheetah for $30 on fs/ft ).

 

[Viper GTS]

Looks like I'm limited to 1" drives...

How about this?

From what I've managed to gather on Google SCA2 is just the physical connection, correct? I haven't been able to find anything specifically explaining that.

[EDIT]Duh, I sure took a long time to reply, ignore the above question.[/EDIT]

Viper GTS

 

[mechBgon]

Newegg carries several flavors of SCA-style SCSI drives. Among the 10k models, the Maxtor Atlas 10K IV's are probably the fastest ones out right now, judging by StorageReview.com's benchmarks, and they're not too high in price (IMO). If you would consider 15k drives as well, the Seagate Cheetah 15k.3, Fujitsu MAS-series and Maxtor Atlas 15k are all pretty darn fast but definitely more $ per MB.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Newegg carries several flavors of SCA-style SCSI drives. Among the 10k models, the Maxtor Atlas 10K IV's are probably the fastest ones out right now, judging by StorageReview.com's benchmarks, and they're not too high in price (IMO). If you would consider 15k drives as well, the Seagate Cheetah 15k.3, Fujitsu MAS-series and Maxtor Atlas 15k are all pretty darn fast but definitely more $ per MB.

What about the MAM series? We're dealing with a fairly tight budget, we only have around $200-250 tops for drive + controller. I can get a 64 bit LSI controller for around $40, so we have at most $200 to spend on a drive.

This drive will be running with write cache disabled, so 15K RPM would be a definite advantage.

Viper GTS

 

[mechBgon]

How much capacity do you need?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
How much capacity do you need?

Absolute minimum 18 gigs, a 36 would be better.

Viper GTS

 

[mechBgon]

They say the cheapest way to buy, is to buy the right thing the first time... here's what I'm thinking you should get: Fujitsu MAS3367NC. 36Gb and pretty much the fastest thing on the market. Or they have the 18Gb version for $189 and you could add a second one later...

Good luck anyway

 

[Viper GTS]

Our primary reason for going SCSI is high spindle speeds - Throughput isn't really our primary concern, we're looking for as quick as possible access with no caching.

With that in mind, is there any particular reason to go with a newer 15K RPM drive (for example, the MAS series) vs an older one (MAM series)? Rotational latency would be the same, as I see it the main advantages of the newer drive would be areal density (and thus throughput) & physical improvements (heat/noise).

I would love an MAS series drive, & if it would serve us better we can get the 18 gig version of it instead of the 36 gig MAM series.

Viper GTS

 

[mechBgon]

One good reason to get the latest drive is that you have the longest replacement window if you need to buy an identical one down the road Also, the faster the drive's sustained transfer rate, the more quickly it can get itself freed up for your next request. And the STR on those Fujitsu MAS's is just nuts, have you seen the review at StorageReview? It be here. Check out the STR graph on the second page, it bottoms out at a STR that most drives never reach (including my Cheetah X15-36LP ).