Re: Support for QLogic FC HBA

Thanks for your reply Matt.

I am the principal investigator on a research project which will use 
this new server.

I understand that Dell isn't supporting the PowerVault 660F and the 
QLogic QLA2200A for the PE7150 running Linux, but I am thinking of the 
future growth of our datacenter, and current (as well as future) costs 
to maintain our systems.

If I were to purchase the 660F and associated controllers, with the idea 
that possible instabilities of the controller would be temporary (and 
without any guarantees from you), would I still be able to manage the 660F?

I have some experience dealing with such problems, as I developed 
systems using Alpha Linux during the period of time when Linux wasn't 
stable on that platform.

So, I am trying to find out if it is even possible to manage a 
direct-connect (for now) 7150-660F system, even with a buggy driver. 
Don't I need software to manage the 660F?

I have used hardware RAID systems before (specifically, an HSZ40 
controller on an DEC AlphaServer), but I have no experience with SAN's.

Thanks for your time.

[email protected] wrote:
>>Dose anyone know if the QLogic QLA2200F card is supported by 
>>ia64 linux?
>>
> 
> Yes, Red Hat Linux 7.2 for Itanium has a driver for this card, though I
> can't recommend using the driver included there.  I don't consider it stable
> enough to trust my data to it.
>  
> 
>>Qlogic has new driver source code on its web site (all written in C); 
>>will this code compile and work correctly.
>>
> 
> Since uncovering a number of problems with the qla2x00 driver, (Itanium was
> good at bringing problems to light), Red Hat, Dell, and EMC have been
> working closely with QLogic to improve their device driver so that it works
> well on x86 and ia64 platforms.  The driver that's currently posted to their
> site is v6.00 beta 20, which includes a lot of that cleanup work.  However,
> being "beta" status, and as such has not passed anyone's rigorous testing
> process yet, Dell can't recommend its use on production systems yet.  Once
> the driver work is complete and has passed QLogic/Dell/EMC/Red Hat testing,
> then we will be happy to recommend that solution.  The EMC Support Matrix
> http://www.emc.com/horizontal/interoperability/interop_support_matrices.jsp,
> updated monthly, is what our salespeople use to know when a particular
> solution has been tested and can be recommended.
> 
> 
>>I am purchasing a Dell 7150 server and am considering an FC 
>>storage system.
>>
> 
> Excellent hardware choice.  :-)  At present Dell doesn't offer an FC storage
> system on a PE7150 running Linux for the reasons outlined above.  We'd be
> happy to sell you PowerVault 2xxs and PERC 3/QC RAID cards for direct
> attached SCSI storage though.  Your salesperson can give you additional
> details.
> 
> Thanks,
> Matt
> 
> --
> Matt Domsch
> Sr. Software Engineer
> Dell Linux Solutions www.dell.com/linux
> Linux on Dell mailing lists @ http://lists.us.dell.com
> #1 US Linux Server provider for 2001!
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Prof. Michael A. Mackey ([email protected])
Biomedical Engineering / Radiology
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
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