25 Nov
2012
25 Nov
'12
7:04 p.m.
Hi there!
Anyone know the history of the Compaq MSA1000 RAID controller? It came out right
around the time of the DEC acquisition by Compaq, and survived through the HP merger...
Does anyone know, was it actually designed by DEC engineers, or Compaq?
Thanks in advance!
-Ben
26 Nov
26 Nov
12:35 a.m.
On Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Benjamin Huntsman wrote:
Anyone know the history of the Compaq MSA1000 RAID
controller? It came
out right around the time of the DEC acquisition by Compaq, and survived
through the HP merger...
Does anyone know, was it actually designed by DEC engineers, or Compaq?
If I were to guess, I'd say a lot of it came from the Digital side of
things, and quite possibly with some OEM'd parts from Mylex. Mylex was one
of Digital's key suppliers for SCSI and RAID HBAs and was working on their
own fibrechannel HBAs and such around the time the MSA1000 was being
designed.
12:46 a.m.
On 26/11/2012 08:35, Tothwolf wrote:
On Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Benjamin Huntsman wrote:
I worked there at the time, and I can't remember. I think it came from
the Compaq side. I'll ask one of the guys in HP Storage.
--
Dave Wade G4UGM
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
Anyone know the history of the Compaq MSA1000
RAID controller? It
came out right around the time of the DEC acquisition by Compaq, and
survived through the HP merger...
Does anyone know, was it actually designed by DEC engineers, or Compaq?
If I were to guess, I'd say a lot of it came from the Digital side of
things, and quite possibly with some OEM'd parts from Mylex. Mylex was
one of Digital's key suppliers for SCSI and RAID HBAs and was working
on their own fibrechannel HBAs and such around the time the MSA1000
was being designed. 
3:41 a.m.
On 26 November 2012 08:46, Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote:
On 26/11/2012 08:35, Tothwolf wrote:
>
> On Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Benjamin Huntsman wrote:
>
>> Anyone know the history of the Compaq MSA1000 RAID controller? It came
>> out right around the time of the DEC acquisition by Compaq, and survived
>> through the HP merger...
>> Does anyone know, was it actually designed by DEC engineers, or Compaq?
>
It's repackaged SmartArray version 5 hardware from the Proliant range,
essentially a 5304 array controller. All Compaq designed hardware
right down to the midplane, and even shares the cache battery module
from the 5300/6300 controllers.
The same controllers are used in the MSA500 and MSA1500 series, plug and play.
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
4:43 a.m.
On 26/11/2012, at 10:41 PM, Adrian Graham <binarydinosaurs at gmail.com> wrote:
It's repackaged SmartArray version 5 hardware from the Proliant range,
essentially a 5304 array controller. All Compaq designed hardware
right down to the midplane, and even shares the cache battery module
from the 5300/6300 controllers.
I can definitely confirm it's a pre-merger Compaq design - I had a very boozy dinner
with a couple of the Compaq Storage team in Sydney in 2000 where we talked about it in
some detail. At that stage I was working for Compaq supporting an OpenVMS customer who
were planning to use them (and eventually did). A few years later (about 12) and I'm
now working there but we have moved on from MSA-1000s!
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies at kerberos.davies.net.au
Melbourne | "If soccer was meant to be played in the
Australia | air, the sky would be painted green"
11:52 a.m.
On 26/11/2012 12:43, Huw Davies wrote:
On 26/11/2012, at 10:41 PM, Adrian Graham
<binarydinosaurs at gmail.com> wrote:
That was kind of my recollection. Was the Digital SAN the EVA? Then
there was the "old" HSG80/HSZ80 that was really Digital...
It's repackaged SmartArray version 5 hardware
from the Proliant range,
essentially a 5304 array controller. All Compaq designed hardware
right down to the midplane, and even shares the cache battery module
from the 5300/6300 controllers.
I can definitely confirm it's a pre-merger
Compaq design - I had a very boozy dinner with a couple of the Compaq Storage team in
Sydney in 2000 where we talked about it in some detail. At that stage I was working for
Compaq supporting an OpenVMS customer who were planning to use them (and eventually did).
A few years later (about 12) and I'm now working there but we have moved on from
MSA-1000s! Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies at
kerberos.davies.net.au
Melbourne | "If soccer was meant to be played in the
Australia | air, the sky would be painted green"
--
Dave Wade G4UGM
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
27 Nov
27 Nov
3:48 a.m.
On 26 November 2012 19:52, Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote:
On 26/11/2012 12:43, Huw Davies wrote:
The biggest DEC array I can think of was the ESA12000 which was a pair
of HSG80s and up to 4 BA370 drive enclosures, that's 96 drives, count
'em!
I just built one for a customer last month :)
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
Compaq supporting an OpenVMS customer who were planning to use them (and
eventually did). A few years later (about 12) and I'm now working there but
we have moved on from MSA-1000s!
That was kind of my recollection. Was the Digital SAN the EVA? Then there
was the "old" HSG80/HSZ80 that was really Digital...
26 Nov
26 Nov
7:21 a.m.
That's kind of what I figured, but wasn't sure, given that they're on the
supported options list for AlphaServer systems, as are the SA 5300 and 6400.
At least in my experience, they've been rock solid.
On Nov 26, 2012, at 3:42 AM, "Adrian Graham" <binarydinosaurs at
gmail.com> wrote:
On 26 November 2012 08:46, Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at
gmail.com> wrote:
On 26/11/2012 08:35, Tothwolf wrote:
>
> On Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Benjamin Huntsman wrote:
>
>> Anyone know the history of the Compaq MSA1000 RAID controller? It came
>> out right around the time of the DEC acquisition by Compaq, and survived
>> through the HP merger...
>> Does anyone know, was it actually designed by DEC engineers, or Compaq?
It's repackaged SmartArray version 5 hardware from the Proliant range,
essentially a 5304 array controller. All Compaq designed hardware
right down to the midplane, and even shares the cache battery module
from the 5300/6300 controllers.
The same controllers are used in the MSA500 and MSA1500 series, plug and play.
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
4408
days inactive
4409
days old
7 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu -
binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com -
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
huw.davies＠mail.vsm.com.au -
tothwolf＠concentric.net