mre@ngdc2.colorado.edu (Marcus O. Ertle) (12/29/90)
As the subject line says - I am seeking advice/experiences from users of SCSI-controllers - in a Unix environment. The system this will be installed in will be (one of): 1) a 33-Mhz 386, 2) a 25-Mhz 486, or 3) a 33-Mhz 486 - possibly EISA if its a 486. The flavor of Unix will probably be Interactive 2.2 - because that's what I am running now and am used to. Our reason for going with a SCSI is to (hopefully) handle a CD-ROM-reader, 9-track tape, and read/write optical. In fact if anyone out there has experience they can relate with one of these devices and SCSI I would appreciate hearing about that as well. Thanks. - Marc Ertle NGDC
mike@cimcor.mn.org (Michael Grenier) (01/01/91)
From article <1990Dec28.233946.7381@csn.org>, by mre@ngdc2.colorado.edu (Marcus O. Ertle): > As the subject line says - I am seeking advice/experiences from > users of SCSI-controllers - in a Unix environment. The system this > will be installed in will be (one of): 1) a 33-Mhz 386, 2) a 25-Mhz 486, > or 3) a 33-Mhz 486 - possibly EISA if its a 486. The flavor of Unix > will probably be Interactive 2.2 - because that's what I am running now > and am used to. I'm sure everyone will be recommending the Adaptec 1542 controller. Its reasonable fast and well supported by most everyone. The WD FASST scsi board would make a second choice as it will be supported by everyone using System V Release IV - its part of the AT&T base port for the 386. Another option people may laugh at but one which I like is the Seagate ST-01 controller. I've made heavy modifications to the Public Domain driver for UNIX and am acheiving speeds twice that of the Adaptec controller on the same drive. (Though I'm testing it against the ESIX scsi implementation which if like their other drivers has probably has problems. -Mike Grenier mike@cimcor.mn.org
larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) (01/03/91)
mike@cimcor.mn.org (Michael Grenier) writes: >From article <1990Dec28.233946.7381@csn.org>, by mre@ngdc2.colorado.edu (Marcus O. Ertle): >Seagate ST-01 controller. I've made heavy modifications to the >Public Domain driver for UNIX and am acheiving speeds twice >that of the Adaptec controller on the same drive. >(Though I'm testing it against the ESIX scsi implementation > which if like their other drivers has probably has problems. I've heard that throughput with the 1542B under ESIX is very slow - a fraction of what is obtained under Interactive Unix. -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {..!uunet!mailrus!iuvax!ndcheg!nstar!larry, larry%nstar@ndcheg.cheg.nd.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) (01/04/91)
The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines with SCSI primary adaptors and multipe SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adaptors? Also, I found out that if you want to have a > 40MB tape backup, you can only go with a SCSI tape drive with Interactive 2.2. Now, I need a high capacity tape backup unit, but I cant use SCSI unless I know that the problem mentioned above is not a problem or it has been fixed. Is there any other high capacity tape backup unit that ISC supports which is not SCSI based? thanks /bruce deadhead@cup.portal.com
cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) (01/04/91)
In article <37532@cup.portal.com> DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes: >Also, I found out that if you want to have a > 40MB tape backup, you can >only go with a SCSI tape drive with Interactive 2.2. This is not true. We have non-SCSI 60MB and 150MB QIC tape drives running under ISC 2.2 with no problems. Although I would still recommend SCSI because of the savings in bus slots and interrupts. >Now, I need a high capacity tape backup unit, but I cant use SCSI unless >I know that the problem mentioned above is not a problem or it has been >fixed. Is there any other high capacity tape backup unit that ISC supports >which is not SCSI based? The problem with panicing under heavy usage of the SCSI system is quite rare under 2.2 and are more than offset by the vast increase in mult-user i/o performance using the bus-mastering SCSI controllers (like the Adaptec 1542). -- Conor P. Cahill (703)430-9247 Virtual Technologies, Inc., uunet!virtech!cpcahil 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160 Sterling, VA 22170
brando@uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu (Brandon Brown) (01/04/91)
In comp.unix.sysv386 you write: >The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines >with SCSI primary adaptors and multipe SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy >disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody >experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adaptors? I installed a system for a customer that is a Unix development house, and they pound the hell out of their SCSI system daily. I have not yet had a kernel hang of any type. My current problem with ISC is a networking one. It seems after awhile the telnet session just "hang"... >Also, I found out that if you want to have a > 40MB tape backup, you can >only go with a SCSI tape drive with Interactive 2.2. >Now, I need a high capacity tape backup unit, but I cant use SCSI unless >I know that the problem mentioned above is not a problem or it has been >fixed. Is there any other high capacity tape backup unit that ISC supports >which is not SCSI based? Well, if you are still set on a non-SCSI product, archive Viper 150 tape drive streams very well. It is essentially the same as the SCSI product but with its -own tape controller, etc. It also uses a lower numbered interrupt, so I have found that I had to forgo some other device, like a serial port, etc. Good Luck!
larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) (01/05/91)
DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes: >The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines >with SCSI primary adaptors and multipe SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy >disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody >experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adaptors? No, not here on nstar.rn.com - we run on a 386/33 with 12 megs of RAM. On a friends machine (486/33) he has had this problem - but it has since been corrected in 2.21 which was released last month. -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {..!uunet!mailrus!iuvax!ndcheg!nstar!larry, larry%nstar@ndcheg.cheg.nd.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
robert@towers.UUCP (Robert Hoquim) (01/06/91)
DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes: >The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines >with SCSI primary adapters and multiple SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy >disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody >experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adapters? This is a problem on some very fast systems with fast drives that have synchronous ability on 2 or more drives. Under heavy load I have several systems that will fail on a regular basis. With the 2.2.1 fix the problem has gone away completely so it is no longer an issue. If you have this problem it may be hard to get ISC to send you the fix but it will correct your problem. Also on the subject of SCSI. I have in beta test our custom drivers for the Mylex DCE EISA Caching controller. They will support ISC 2.02 and above on all Mylex MAE, ALR, HP and many other EISA mother boards that use the newest EISA chip set from Intel. There seem to be several revisions of these chips and some companies are running the 25mhz set at 33mhz. Due to the performance we are demanding of these controllers everything must be done right and many EISA MB builders just don't have it right yet. Be very careful of any EISA you choose, I have seen some real junk in the clone world. One wonders if they even tested the MB with an EISA card... :-). The performance of this controller is overall, 4 times faster than a 1542 on a similar machines of the supported BUS. (ISA/EISA) (Please remember that a 1542 on a EISA mb will run but it will run slower than it will on a system of the same speed with an ISA MB due to the "BusMaster" design.) So all 1542 test were run on a 486-33 ISA where the DCE tests were run on a 486-33 EISA. We also have drivers for SCO and Esix in the works due to be released in the next few months. For those that are interested please drop a note and we will send you a list of several benchmarks that have been run on this combination. Tape support will also be available in the final release. Bob Hoquim -- Robert Hoquim Small Systems Specialists (317)-255-6807 (Voice) 8500 N. Meridian robert@towers or towers!robert Indianapolis, IN. 46260 -- Providing HIGH Performance Unix Systems to YOU is Our ONLY goal! --
karl@naitc.naitc.com (Karl Denninger) (01/07/91)
In article <37532@cup.portal.com> DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes: >The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines >with SCSI primary adaptors and multipe SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy >disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody >experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adaptors? Sure, if you have a marginal motherboard. I am running 3 disks and a tape on SCSI, and haven't had a panic related to fixed disk access yet. And those disks get the crap pounded out of them regularly. Here at Nielsen we have a few of these too, and no problems either. >Also, I found out that if you want to have a > 40MB tape backup, you can >only go with a SCSI tape drive with Interactive 2.2. > >Now, I need a high capacity tape backup unit, but I cant use SCSI unless >I know that the problem mentioned above is not a problem or it has been >fixed. Is there any other high capacity tape backup unit that ISC supports >which is not SCSI based? Huh? What about the Wangtek and Archive drivers for board-based (Non-SCSI/QIC02) tape units? They are on the driver disks! -- Karl Denninger AC Nielsen kdenning@ksun.naitc.com (708) 317-3285 Disclaimer: Contents represent opinions of the author; I do not speak for AC Nielsen on Usenet.
jgd@Dixie.Com (John G. DeArmond) (01/07/91)
karl@naitc.naitc.com (Karl Denninger) writes: >In article <37532@cup.portal.com> DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes: >>The Interactive Release Notes for 2.2 says on page 19 that on machines >>with SCSI primary adaptors and multipe SCSI fixed disks doing very heavy >>disk I/O, the kernel may panic or the system may hang. Has anybody >>experienced this problem with Future Domain or Adaptec host adaptors? >Sure, if you have a marginal motherboard. >I am running 3 disks and a tape on SCSI, and haven't had a panic related to >fixed disk access yet. And those disks get the crap pounded out of them >regularly. I'll second that motion! Several of the guys around here bought Micronics motherboards at the then hotrod 25 mhz and one upgraded to 33 mhz. They've had nightmares. Daily panics, flaky async operation, VGA adaptor problems, network problems and the like. We went with a rather conservative 20 mhz Magitronics motherboard on this machine and Compaq DeskPro 33 mhz units on others and they've been rock-solid. No SCSI problems unless lightening strikes nearby and that is a function of our external drive cabinets and long SCSI cables. We have over a gig online with 3 spindles with an Adaptec 1542A here. We've seen uptimes > 2 months and even then, the reboot was either just for drill or because we wanted to alter the hardware. I'd suggest you take ISC's approved hardware list seriously. Someone from ISC ought to post that list to the net periodically in order to keep us updated on what they know works. John -- John De Armond, WD4OQC | "Purveyors of speed to the Trade" (tm) Rapid Deployment System, Inc. | Home of the Nidgets (tm) Marietta, Ga | "To be engaged in opposing wrong offers but {emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd | a slender guarantee of being right."