d240 - dual boot configuration
Hi,
First time using this forum so hope someone can help me...
I've inherited a D240 which currently has 2 hard drives, a dvd drive and a tape drive.I need to change this so it holds 4 hard drives only.Looking at the Sun docs this does'nt look too difficult.Are there any issues with changing the components over?
I also need to install Solaris 9 on the new drives, leaving Solaris 8 on the 2 existing central drives.Solaris 8 is the current boot environment for the main server. How easy is it to change over to the Solaris 9 build and test and change back if there are any issues?
Are there any white papers or config guides to help? I did have a look around and could'nt see anything of note.
Many Thanks,
DD
[764 byte] By [
dd747] at [2007-11-25 23:00:50]
# 1
Here are the supported configurtions for the D240:<a href=" http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/D240/D240.html" target="_blank"> http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/D240/D240.html& lt;/a>There is no official configuration for 4 harddrives.
# 2
Hello Colin,
you can review the documentation collection at docs.sun.com
<a href="http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/1930#hic" target="_blank">http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/1930#hic</a>
The configuration with 4 harddrives isn't listed on the page that m-lennon provided to you, but according to the <b>Sun StorEdge?D240 Media Tray Installation, Operation, and Service Manual</b> chapter 1.2 / 1.3, page 1-5ff this is indeed a supported configuration !
<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText"><b>Quote:</b></td></tr><tr>& lt;td class="quote">
1.2 Product Description
...
o Single 25.4-mm (1-in.) hard drives may also be installed in the left and right bays when assembled on sleds.
<i>and</i>
1.3 Standard Hardware Configurations
...
<div class="pre"><pre>Config. TypeHard Drives Tape Drives DVD-ROM DrivesMax. harddrives only400</pre></div>
...
</td></tr></table>
Note: The forums software is still broken. The table doesn't properly align.
Unfortunately this is just from the manual. I have never seen a D240 in real.
It might be diffcult to mount the hard drives on these 5 1/4" sleds and get the signal cable (68p SCSI to 80p SCA) and the power to the drives. The drives in the middle are SCA (Single Connector Attachment).
I think Sun thought about the 4 hard drive configuration, but in the end didn't offer the required parts.
Michael
maal at 2007-7-5 17:50:11 >
# 3
The link I provided shows the configuration options that the system sold with. If the D240 is on support contract and there are no supported options to configure two extra disks, then 4 disk configuration is <b>NOT</b> supported and will void your warranty. Though the system documentation does give the impression that the left and right sleds support hard drives as well. In the handbook there are only two 80 pin SCSI ribbons and two Disk Drive Adapter Boards, but no specific details on how to configure the drives for use in the sleds.
# 4
Martin, the link you provided does have "Outer Bay" X options listed further down the page which includes the Media sled & Drive for 18 -146 GB disks which addresses Michael's concerns.
Colin, It is not uncommon to remove Tape & DVD in favor of adding more disks. If using the "Split" SCSI bus each controller, or HBA, would see a target 0 & 6 where the center bay drive would be 0 and the outer bay would be 6 on each bus. On a "Full" SCSI bus Target 0, 1 (center bay) 4 & 6 (outer bay) would be seen.
See:
<a href="http://sunsolve.sun.com/data/806/806-4211/pdf/806-4211-12.pdf" target="_blank"> http://sunsolve.sun.com/data/806/806-4211/pdf/806-4211-12.pd f</a>
If D240 is already "Split" then adding two additional disks and loading Solaris 9 shouldn't be a major problem provided Jumpstart or Flash is used since the DVD is gone. You might be able to install Sol 9 with DVD on 1 drive & then remove it & mirror to 2nd drive. Building descriptive aliases with 2nd disk such as doma8 & doma9 (Domain A Solaris 8 target 0 or Domain A Solaris 9 target 6) might prove useful.
The same would apply if installing Solaris 9 on additional Disk(s) in "Full" SCSI bus.
If going from "Full" to "Split" keep in mind your original Solaris 8 disk that was Target 1 just became Target 0 so things like /dev, /devices, /etc_path_to_inst & /etc/vfstab will be incorrect.
DiskSuite & Veritas Volume Manager will have their own considertions if being used. Additionally, troubleshooting without a DVD may be problematic in the future if there is no net image available.
jds2n at 2007-7-5 17:50:11 >
# 5
Thanks John, I missed that " Outer bay " section, I mainly looked at SG-XMTST1-H2D1T1 for example. I even missed SG-XMT3-H4 from my price list which I sent a quote for a while back. Guess I should look into things more before I shoot my mouth off.
