[net.periphs] VAX11/730 upgrade recommendation sought...

root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (07/14/85)

Ok, this one is not as trivial as it sounds mainly cuz the 'customer'
(an academic dept here) is trying to keep the cost down:

Current Config:

	VAX11/730
	2 RL02s
	DMF32
	3MB memory

Running 4.2bsd (yes, it can be done, sorta even works.)

Desires:

	More disk space, speed not critical
	backup device for the more disk space
	low cost

A primary thing you should immediately notice is that there is one
quad slot left in this configuration (usually used for the TS11),
that's it.

Current proposals:

	1. Buy the EMULEX medley (40 or 70MB I believe) with
	a builtin cartridge backup. I am pretty sure this has a quad
	board controller. Cost is about $12,000. This seems like
	a lot of $$ but is fairly simple: any experiences?

	2. Buy 2 more RL02 drives. This is cheap but I hate
	it: continue to use RL02s as backup devices? Only
	20MB additional, it is cheap tho and certainly fits.

	3. Buy a third party or used backplane expansion and
	then go buy something obvious. This is expensive,
	maybe better in the long run but the long run may not be
	an issue (see next.)

	4. Chuck the whole system for whatever you can get for
	it and go buy 3 or 4 PC7300s or 2 and a 3B2 or some such.
	This is plausible, probably more expensive than it sounds
	to really do, and may not be 'politically' acceptable (ugh,
	but there's a big difference between 'adding a disk' and
	replacing the whole system even if the cost is the same,
	it also probably means going to SYSV which may or may not make
	a difference to them.)

	5. Suggestions?

I am just amused at this point in time that the PC7300 on my desk, which
cost less than $4000, has 20MB of hard disk in it while I am about to
recommend spending $12,000 for 40MB of disk (and no computer!)

I guess one thing I am looking for, does anyone know of an inexpensive
quad unibus controller for 'standard' (eg. SCSI) winch disks, and a good
inexpensive winch they could recommend, especially if they could work in
a cartridge backup? Like for $5,000 complete (or a little more or less.)

Meanwhile, I will keep searching the ads, but people's experiences
are always more valuable. Thanks in advance.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University
	(root or bzs@bu-cs [CSNET], ..harvard!bu-cs!root or bzs [UUCP])