RE: Since when is adding DASD so difficult?

["Glenn Birnbaum" <gbirnba@xxxxxxx>]

Pam,

I would upgrade the O/S to V5R1, then buy the PCI tower and add disks
(you'll be on a supported O/S and positioned to continue with current
technology).  SPD is going to be a dead end and you'll have to reinvest.
You're in good shape with a 100% PCI based system now, so why screw
around with SPD.  BTW, the upgrade from V4R4 to V5R1 directly was
straightforward for us, we did this on 6 systems (5 production) with
almost no issues.

Second option would be to remove one RAID set of 8GB disks at a time,
and replace with 17GB drives.  This doesn't seem particularly
complicated, you just need the space to this.  It could be done during
the day if the system isn't too busy or schedule during low use or off
hours.

Good Luck,
Glenn Birnbaum
REI

-----Original Message-----
From: pam@medisense.com [mailto:pam@medisense.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 8:44 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Since when is adding DASD so difficult?


I could use some advice on the following conundrum:

We have a Model 720 on V4R4. All the bays in both the system unit and
the expansion unit are filled with 8 GB drives, giving us a total
capacity of about 300 GB. We need to add about 100 GB. I had thought the
obvious solution would be to add another expansion unit and add in some
17 GB drives.  Simple, right?

I am told that the current technology for expansion, a PCI tower,
requires V4R5. The next option is swapping 8 GB for 17 GB drives in
place. This means a lot of planning to cover the risks. Another
possibility would be to get a used SPD tower, which may need to be
discarded when we finally do upgrade our OS.

What's your feeling on these options? Do you have any other suggestions?

Pam Phillips
Abbott Laboratories
MediSense Products
4A Crosby Drive
Bedford MA 01730
pam@medisense.com
781-276-6144
Fax: 781-687-5246

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