mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Spankus) (04/30/91)
Hello,
I want to move our Netware 3.1 server software to a Compaq SystemPro
that has an 800Mb drive and 16 Megs of Ram. I will be using an Etherlink 507
network card, with the drivers that came from 3Com. But what I need to know
is do I need a special hard disk driver to support the SystemPro's hard disk,
and if so where can these drivers be found? Otherwise I should be able to
use one of the standard drivers that Novell provides, right?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance (I hope , I hope...)
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Mark Spankus University of Wisconsin - Madison
path: ...!{allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,ucbvax,uwm-evax}!uwvax!mark
arpa: mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-jaj174@sarah.albany.edu (JONES JUSTIN A) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.010858.1101@spool.cs.wisc.edu> mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Spankus) writes: >Hello, > I want to move our Netware 3.1 server software to a Compaq SystemPro >that has an 800Mb drive and 16 Megs of Ram. I will be using an Etherlink 507 >network card, with the drivers that came from 3Com. But what I need to know >is do I need a special hard disk driver to support the SystemPro's hard disk, >and if so where can these drivers be found? Otherwise I should be able to >use one of the standard drivers that Novell provides, right? > >Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance (I hope , I hope...) > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > Mark Spankus University of Wisconsin - Madison > path: ...!{allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,ucbvax,uwm-evax}!uwvax!mark > arpa: mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You can use the standard Novell ISA disk driver, but Compaq does provide a driver specificly for the SystemPro Disk Array which I believe gives you slightly better performance. It should be available on NetWire (the Novell CompuServe Forum). -JJ
douglas@wybbs.mi.org (Douglas Mason) (05/02/91)
In article <1991Apr30.010858.1101@spool.cs.wisc.edu> mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Spankus) writes: > I want to move our Netware 3.1 server software to a Compaq SystemPro >that has an 800Mb drive and 16 Megs of Ram. I will be using an Etherlink 507 >network card, with the drivers that came from 3Com. But what I need to know >is do I need a special hard disk driver to support the SystemPro's hard disk, >and if so where can these drivers be found? Otherwise I should be able to >use one of the standard drivers that Novell provides, right? > Ah, you may want to lose some of that memory. Most people think that with Netware, the more memory and abilty to cache, the better. This isn't always true. When you get caches that are that big for a drive that is only moderately big (800 meg), the time that it takes the beast to search through all that cache memory requires more time than if it had to re-read that data. Sounds crazy, but I watched a machine have 5 megs taken away from it and actually run FASTER than it did with the additional RAM. Something to keep in mind. -DM --- Douglas Mason | Network Admin | Beene, Garter & Co. | Grand Rapids, MI
kenh@techbook.com (Ken Haynes) (05/06/91)
In article <1991Apr30.010858.1101@spool.cs.wisc.edu> mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Spankus) writes: >Hello, > I want to move our Netware 3.1 server software to a Compaq SystemPro >that has an 800Mb drive and 16 Megs of Ram. I will be using an Etherlink 507 >network card, with the drivers that came from 3Com. But what I need to know >is do I need a special hard disk driver to support the SystemPro's hard disk, >and if so where can these drivers be found? Otherwise I should be able to >use one of the standard drivers that Novell provides, right? > If the systempro is using a standard controller, you should be able to use the ISA.DSK driver supplied by Novell. If it is a SCSI drive, you will need a different driver. Most ESDI and IDA controllers (I think) will work with the ISA.DSK driver. Ken -- Ken Haynes, CNE 900 Support.... Novell Technical Support 7 Days a week/24 Hours a day UUCP: {nosun, sequent, tessi} kenh@techbook
keith@ca.excelan.com (Keith Brown) (05/08/91)
The News Manager) Nntp-Posting-Host: ca Reply-To: keith@ca.excelan.com (Keith Brown) Organization: Novell, Inc. San Jose, California References: <1991Apr30.010858.1101@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Distribution: na Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1991 20:54:22 GMT In article <1991Apr30.010858.1101@spool.cs.wisc.edu> mark@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Spankus) writes: > I want to move our Netware 3.1 server software to a Compaq SystemPro >that has an 800Mb drive and 16 Megs of Ram. Hey... thats my servers configuration! At last.... someone I might be able to actually help :-) > I will be using an Etherlink 507 >network card, with the drivers that came from 3Com. Well, thats blown it! I use an NE3200 but anyway....... >But what I need to know >is do I need a special hard disk driver to support the SystemPro's hard disk, >and if so where can these drivers be found? Otherwise I should be able to >use one of the standard drivers that Novell provides, right? > The SystemPro's disk subsystem is rather special. Compaq have this gadget called an Intelligent Drive Array (IDA) which uses all kinds of tricks to get at data on the drives faster than your average controller. Its even capable of handling disk mirroring without the help of NetWare (they can mirror the disks at the controller level, in the firmware). I'm particularly fond of its "Data Guarding" feature which, given a 4 drive 800 Mbyte array, allows you to guard against a failure in any single drive at the cost of only 1/4 of your disk space (obviously mirroring "costs" you 1/2 your disk space). It does it by keeping data on 3 of the 4 drives and using the 4th drive for checksumming/guarding information. If any drive is lost, the original data can be "rebuilt" using information on the remaining 3. Obviously Compaq hired somebody with a maths degree :-) The drawback to all this is that if a drive fails the system will go down, unlike with NetWare's mirroring and duplexing features where the server will stay running. Such is life.... Anyway, this controller does have a default mode where it is compatible with your humble IBM AT disk controller and hence ISADISK.DSK will drive it. To improve performance though, you should use a special disk driver supplied by Compaq which uses the controller to its max. This driver is called CPQDA386.DSK and the most recent version I have is v2.0 (900817). If you are unable to find this driver on the diskettes that came with the machine, call one Shannon Clyde on 713 378 8035. Compaq have also written a few NLMs that give you all kinds of stats on disk usage etc.... Keith - Keith Brown Phone: (408) 473 8308 Novell San Jose Development Centre Fax: (408) 433 0775 2180 Fortune Dr, San Jose, California 95131 Net: keith@novell.COM