OT, info please

[Patrick_Boyd at Dell.com]

Ok of the servers you've listed here is the information that I know.

2800 - SCSI backplane allows for upto 10 SCSI drives (no SAS, SATA, or
IDE). Need drive carriers.
1430 - SAS cables, no backplane allows for upto 4 SAS or SATA drives 
830 (I don't know of a 930 so I think you mean this) - SCSI or SATA with
or without a backplane, I really don't know more than that having never
worked with this particular server. 

SAS/SATA mixing: 
The drives can be on the same controller, but not mixed in a VD. In
other words each VD must be entirely SAS or entirely SATA.

Drive Carriers:
Any server or enclosure with a backplane needs a drive carrier per
drive. Dell only ships drive carriers for drives and ships "dummy"
carriers for the empty slots. You can't install drives in the dummy
carriers.

Let me know if you have more questions. As for you complaints about the
website, I know there are people working on it. They are adding pages
like this one for most of the servers.

2900 (Sorry didn't see 2800 on this part of the site)
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_2900?c=us
&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
1430
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_sc1430?c=
us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
830
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_830?c=us&
cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Patrick Boyd
Dell Storage Software Engineer
(512)728-3182


-----Original Message-----
From: Glenn English [mailto:ghe at slsware.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 12:23 PM
To: Boyd, Patrick; linux-poweredge-Lists
Subject: OT, info please

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I'm looking at Dell's Power Edge 930, 1430, and 2800 servers. If you can
send me a pdf of the manual, please do.

I have a 3 or 4 low traffic networks that need new servers. I want to
replace the old Dells with essentially the same thing I have now: a
reliable box with a SCSI system disk and an IDE or two for huge hunks of
data. And running Debian stable.

Nowadays, that means (I think) SAS and SATA. I see on the Dell web site
that these boxes have disk bays, but can mixes of disks be used? Can one
drive in the bay be SCSI (parallel or SAS) and the others SATA?

Are the disk drive power and IO connectors accessible (like they are in
my old 1300 and 1400), or are the cages built with some kind of
backplane for hot-swapping? If a backplane, is it riveted in place, or
can it be removed with a screwdriver?

Do the drives live in carriers? If so, does every bay come with an empty
carrier, or do I have to buy a disk to get a carrier?

If you're running a Dell server, how did you get the info you used to
make your decision?

<rant>
The Dell website is astoundingly lame -- especially for a company that
is selling machinery online. Most of what I think I know about these
machines comes from clicking options and deciphering error popups on the
"Configure It" pages. There aren't even pictures of the inside of the
boxes or the front with the door open (with some exceptions). Absolutely
not enough info to make an intelligent decision. And when I called Dell,
they told me a 'server specialist' would call me back. Nobody did.
</rant>

- --
Glenn English
ghe at slsware.com

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