jms@tardis.tymnet.com (Joe Smith) (06/05/91)
A while back I asked if anyone else had upgraded to a SPARCserver-490 and
kept their SMD disks (such as the 892 megabyte NEC or Hitachi). One of
the reasons for posting was to make sure that others were aware that it
could be done, since I had heard many complaints when Sun first announced
the 490, and not much when they announced the SMD fix.
The "Sun-3/280 to SPARCserver-490" upgrade lists of $42,000 in the July-90
pricebook. The customer returns:
Sun-3/280 backplane
Sun-3/280 CPU board
Sun-3/280 memory
SCSI host adapter and cable.
The customer receives:
SPARCserver 490 rack
SPARCserver 490 CPU board
SPARCserver 490 memory (32 Mbytes)
SCSI host adapter and cable.
The customer retains a partially gutted 72-inch rack, which may contain disk
drives, a 1/2-inch tape drive, and various expansion boards.
The following boards do not work in the 490:
Second Ethernet controller (450A = ie1)
FPA, ALM-1, SCP
The following boards DO work in the 490:
Second Ethernet controller (452A = ie2)
ALM-2 16-line async interface
MCP 4-line sync interface
The price book said: "SMD controllers and disks are not supported. The
1600-bpi and 6250-bpi 1/2-inch tape drives and controllers are not
supported."
However, during 1Q91 Sun announced that they now ARE supported.
It seems that they had a problem on the 490 CPU card that prevented
the use of XD disks and XT tapes. That problem has been solved.
The upgrade kit and cables are:
UPG-SMD4-KIT $300.00 Upgrade kit (1 per controller)
#530-1475 $155.00 SMD Data Cable 6.0 meters (1 or 2)
#530-1476 $145.00 SMD Command cable 6.0 meters (1)
#530-1691 $185.00 GCR Command/Data cable (2 per controller)
Note: The "Upgrade Kit" is for the Xylogics SMD4 controller (410A) and
is a set of ROMs, that are not needed if you have an up-to-date disk
controller. Make sure someone checks your hardware before ordering it.
The cables are each 20 feet (6 meters) long, and replace the 8 foot
cables in the 280 chassis. A single XD controller with two 892 megabyte
disks needs 1 command cable and 1 data cable. If the controller has four
disks, it needs 1 command cable and 2 data cables. The Xylogics "XT" tape
controller needs 2 cables.
Our current configuration is
SPARCserver 490 with 32 Mbytes memory
SCSI controller for Exabyte/8mm tape (st1) and CD-ROM (sr0)
IPI controller with four 900 Mbyte disks (expandable to 8 disks)
MCP 4-port sync board running a 56Kbps
ALM-2 16-port async board (most ports running at 9600 or 4800 baud)
2nd Ethernet controller, model 452A (ie2)
Xylogics tape controller with 1/2-inch drive (xt0)
1st Xylogics SMD4 disk controller (xd0 and xd1)
2nd Xylogics SMD4 disk controller (xd4 and xd5)
We have had not problems with the set-up, other than the spurious message
"xt0: stray interrupt" coming out on the console whenever the disk and tape
are active at the same time.
The following is a summary of the responses I've received.
--------------------------------
From: "Ric Anderson" <ric@cs.arizona.edu>
Received: by cheltenham.cs.arizona.edu; Wed, 27 Mar 91 07:22:19 MST
To: jms@tardis.tymnet.com
Subject: Re: Anyone using SMD disks on your new SPARCserver-490?
We run a similar config (1 IPI controller with 2 IPI disks, 1
XY7053 (smd4) controller with 2 1.6GB Fuji M2392K disks, and
a SCSI tape drive that came from sun with the 490).
The people having problems (like one of the folks here on
campus) have a XT452(?) tape controller mixed with SMD4 disks.
You get "spurious interrupt" messages when the tape and
disks are both busy (like during backup) but it doesn't seem
to hurt anything (at least, that's how the folks over in
the observatory see it).
We haven't seen any problems with our config. I think I remember
reading about machines made after last october(?) had newer
microcode and wouldn't exhibit the problem, but I can't find
that article anywhere.
Hope this helps,
ric (ric@cs.arizona.edu)
--------------------------------
From: km@mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg)
Yes we are doing this too, in fact on two different 490s. The official
line is that you need a rev 12 cpu, the latest smd-4 firmware, and
4.1.1 for it to work. Although we have that now, we did run for a few
weeks with an older rev cpu with no apparent problem. In fact we even
ran with a xy451 which is supposed to be unsupported.
The only two problems we have seen are:
1) Apparently the total number of IPI+SMD+XT controllers can not exceed
4. The Sun doc only explicitly says this for IPI+SMD, but we have found
that 1*IPI+2*SMD+1*XT works, but 1*IPI+2*SMD+2*XT does not (without
deleting one of the controllers).
2) We have a removable pack SMD, that needs to be spun up and down. It
panics the system ocassionally when we do this, though it didn't when
the drive was on a 4/280 running 4.1.
--------------------------------
From: mtm@CAMIS.Stanford.EDU (Mike Macgirvin)
There is a firmware upgrade kit which Sun just released around
January which they support. This includes a PAL swap on the CPU board,
but the swap is not needed if the board is 501-1381-12 or greater. It
also requires a PROM change on the Xy 7053 board to work right, although
the PAL alone (or a recent CPU) should allow the tape to work. Without
the new PROM, I *think* that you will be subject to an intermittent bug,
which was the whole reason for the upgrade. It 'sort of' works, but our
department can't live with 'sort of'. If you want, I can dig up the order
number for the firmware upgrade..... I'm still trying to find out if this
upgrade supports the older Xylogics 450/451 boards. We have installed one
kit and tested the tape, but haven't yet installed the disk drives...
In my opinion, ordering the kit was a small price to pay to get Sun's
blessing on this configuration. Although it may appear to work otherwise, it
is not supported.
--------------------------------
From: danw@tbird9 (Dan Westerberg)
To: jms@tardis.tymnet.com (Joe Smith)
Subject: Re: Anyone using SMD disks on your new SPARCserver-490?
I don't know about the 4/490 setup, but according to our rep, Sun will drop
SMD support (with SVR4?) sometime in the Fall of '91. This means that you
should have plans to do away with all SMD disks by the Spring of '92.
--------------------------------
From: ekrell@ulysses.att.com (Eduardo Krell)
We upgraded a 4/280 to a 4/490 and we kept a 1.2GB Sabre disk we bought
for the 4/280 and the SMD-4 (aka 7053) controller. They both work just fine.
--------------------------------
From: zeke@mpl.UCSD.EDU (Rob Scott)
We run LOTS of SMD disks on our 4/490s here. We have 12 gigabytes on one
machine (4x1.2 gig Sabre-V, and 4x2.1 gig Sabre-VI), and 12 gigabytes on
the other (12x1.2 gig Sabre-V). These are all on Xylogics 7053-106
controllers.
Sun certainly has SMD4 (Xylogics 7053-105) configuration info in the
backplane configuration manual. While they are not touting the SMD
interface, things certainly seem to work. I seem to remember some
vague prohibition against trying to boot from an SMD, but that may
be just a red herring.
I think that SUNs push for IPI on the big servers is twofold:
1) the IPI disks are faster, and SUN wouldn't want the world
to think that their servers are slow.
2) there are a limited number of manufacturers for IPI
interface drives. Seagate/Imprimis, who supply the
drives that SUN sells, were only selling to SUN for
a while and the same drives weren't available from
the normal aftermarket suppliers. This equates to
paying the (usual) computer vendor's highway robbery
rates to buy the megabytes from them.
--------------------------------
From: raleduc@ncs.dnd.ca (Roch Leduc)
To: jms@tardis.tymnet.com
Subject: Upgrading a 4/280 to a 4/490
Cc: jms@gemini.tymnet.com, raleduc@ncs.dnd.ca, rpburry@ncs.dnd.ca
We are faced with stonewalling from sun saying that were we to upgrade
to any of the 300 or 400 series SPARCservers we would lose all existing
equipment (controllers and both tape and disks). Their claim is that
all our present equipment (except memory) is incompatible. Your upgrade
disputes that. Also they claim an outrageous cost for the upgrade.
--------------------------------
From: flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM (John J. McLaughlin-SunFlash Editor)
SunFLASH Vol 25 #14 January 1991
Upgrades from Sun-3/280, 3/480, and 4/280 to SPARCserver490
- SPARCserver490 compute performance
- Protect investment in SMD disk, tape & communications options
- Supports simultaneous use of SMD & IPI Disk Controllers
- Includes 32MB memory, expandable to 672Mb configurations
- Includes CDROM drive
In August 1990 Sun announced that technical problems had been
discovered with Sun's upgrades from Sun-3/280, 3/480, and 4/280 to
SPARCserver490. Specifically, there were spurious interrupt
problems in some tests of SMD (575MB and 892 MB) disk drives and GCR
6250bpi tape drives on the upgrades to SPARCserver 490.
Sun engineers have identified the source of the problems and developed
solutions to address them. In order to support the SPARCserver490
configurations, the following are required:
(1) SunOS 4.1.1 (FCS version),
(2) CPU dash level of -12 or above,
(3) SMD4 controllers dash level -04 or above, and
(4) for FCC compliance, extended interface cables.
In addition to providing support for SMD disk drives, the SPARCserver490
upgrades support Sun VME cards and tape options, including the 6250bpi
1/2" Tape Drive.
The upgrades to SPARCserver490 feature 32MB memory standard, expandable
to 672MB. The system supports a total of four disk controllers in any
combination of IPI and SMD drives. The upgrade provides maximum
configuration flexibility to existing SMD server customers.
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS
SMD4 Controllers:
The SMD4 Controller must be at dash level -04 to support SMD
drives with upgrades to SPARCserver490. The SMD4 Firmware
Enhancement Kit (see detailed ordering information in this
announcement) includes the firmware necessary to make this
modification and the filler panels necessary to maintain
emissions compliance.
Cabling:
Extended interface cables for existing 575MB, 892MB SMD disk
drives, and for the 6250bpi 1/2" tape drive are required to
remain FCC compliant.
The cables are available as spares and can be ordered as
separate line items (see detailed ordering information in this
announcement). The number of cables required is dependent on
the number of controllers on the server.
Monochrome Support:
For server upgrades from Sun-3/280 and Sun-4/280 that require
support of a monochrome monitor option, order the monochrome
frame buffer upgrade as a separate line item.
US PRICING AND ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS
Description Order List Discount Same Day
Number Price Category Service
Sun-3/480 Upgrade to UG3/480-R32 $42,000 A $190
SPARCserver 490 with (V3, V4)
32 Mbytes, 644-Mbyte
Internal SunCD
Sun-4/280 Upgrade to UG4/280-R32 $42,000 A $190
SPARCserver 490 with (V3, V4)
32 Mbytes, 644-Mbyte
Internal SunCD
SMD4 Firmware UG-SMD4-KIT $300 ND $0
Enhancement Kit
#530-1475 Data Cable $155 ND $0
892Mb SMD Disk
#530-1476 Command Cable $145 ND $0
892Mb SMD Disk
#530-1691 Command/Data
Cable GCR Tape $185 ND $0
#530-1692 Data Cable $155 ND $0
575Mb SMD Disk
#530-1693 Command Cable $195 ND $0
575Mb SMD Disk
SPARCsystem 400 Mono- UG-MFB-S $400 A $0
chrome frame buffer
upgrade
Ordering Instructions:
----------------------
1. Upgrades to SPARCserver490 require SunOS 4.1.1 or later release;
order USPA-07 or USX-21 at no charge if media is required.
Note: The RTU license transfers with the purchase of a
hardware upgrade.
2. To support 575Mb and 892Mb SMD drives, or the 6250bpi 1/2" Tape Drive
on SPARCserver490, order UG-SMD4-KIT.
Note: To retrofit existing systems to SMD funtionality, the CPU
must be at dash -12 or above. Contact your local service
office for information on updating the CPU. The firmware for
updating the SMD4 controller is included in UG-SMD4-KIT.
3. To cable existing 575Mb drives, order one #530-1692 data cable
and one #530-1693 command cable per controller.
4. To cable existing 892Mb drives, order one #530-1475 data cable
and one #530-1476 command cable per controller. If more than
two disk drives are driven by one controller, an additional
data cable will need to be ordered for each controller.
5. To cable existing 1/2" 6260bpi Tape drives, order two #530-1691
data/command cables.
6. Order IPI drives and controllers as separate line items.
7. Order additional memory as a separate line item.
8. SPARCserver 490 systems are only available in 230V domestic
operation and 240V European operation. Append "V3" to the
order number for 230V; append "V4" to the order number for
240V.
9. Order UG-MFB-S for all Sun-3/280 and Sun-4/280 systems with a
monochrome monitor frame buffer upgrade.
Notes:
------
1. Only Sun memory may be returned.
2. The Sysgen SCSI tape drive controller is not supported.
3. GB, GP, CG3, CG9 and GP+ frame buffers and graphics processors
are not supported.
4. FPA+, FPA floating point are not supported.
5. ALM-1 and SCP communication devices are not supported.
6. 1600-bpi 1/2" tape drives and controllers are not supported.
7. ECC memory is not supported with the SPARCserver490 CPU.
8. Second Ethernet Controller (450A) is not supported; SunNet Ethernet
(452A) is supported.
9. Current SCSI Host Adapter is replaced with the upgrade.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM.
Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM.
John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.
--------------------------------
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