SUMMARY: Sun Mass Storage Subsystem

From: Michael R. Zika (zika@fatman.tamu.edu)
Date: Mon Aug 16 1993 - 00:26:02 CDT


  Sorry about the late summary, took a bit of a holiday for a
bit there. The responses (as usual) were specific informative,
and _fast_ -- thanx to everyone that replied. The original E-mail
is appended.

  The device was named a "Sun Shoebox" by many of the respondents --
a SCSI expansion system with a hard drive and tape (this unit is,
anyway)...

1) SS-10 support, formatting information?

  Under SunOS 4.1.3, the /etc/format.dat file already has the
Micropolis 1558 drive entered. Hence, ergo, therefore, support
and formatting information is available.

  The Micropolis 1558 is a "slow" SCSI device. SCSI buses with mixed
slow and fast devices are not supported. We are in the process of
segregating our slow and fast devices to separate busses -- the shoebox
will be placed on the slow bus. Several people warned of the terrors
of putting the shoebox on an SS-10 fast bus.

  The 1558 is an ESDI drive, and, therefore, needs a SCSI -> ESDI
converter to function on a SCSI bus. Hopefully, the one already
contained in the shoebox will function properly.

2) Drive type?

  The drive is a QIC-24. This is old hardware - most new drives will
read the low density format, but won't be able to write it. Also,
this drive will not be able to read high density tapes.

  I was more curious than anything else -- thankfully, we've got an
8mm and CD/ROM for our software distribution.

3) SCSI ID?

  The default SCSI ID's are 0 for the disk and 4 for the tape. The
ID's are set on the SCSI controller board -- they can be changed,
but as Glenn Satchell put it: "This is not for the faint hearted".
Instructions/experiences with this endeavor available on request...

  Regardless, using the "probe-scsi" command at the openboot prom should
show what SCSI devices the kernel finds.

4) SCSI connectors?

  I finally got straightened around about which connectors are
which (at least, _some_ consensus was reached). The SCSI level
(e.g. "SCSI-1" or "SCSI-2") does not necessarily indicate what
type of connector is present. The type of connectors on the back
of the shoebox are "DB50" (three rows, 50 pins, trapezoidal connector)
which needs to be connected to the back of the Sparc-10 which uses
"Micro-mini" (two rows, 50 pins, trapezoidal connector).

  AVCOM, ANDATCO, NuData and SunExpress were suggested as cable vendors.

5) Termination?

  The drive is internally terminated -- I'm going to remove this
since the SS-10's require active termination. Instructions/experiences
with this available on request.

Thanx to:
   Heas <heas@chpc.org>
   Harald van Breederode <hbreeder@nl.oracle.com>
   Eckhard Rueggeberg <eckhard@ts.go.dlr.de>
   Gordon Lack <gml4410@ggr.co.uk>
   Louis M. Brune <louis@andataco.com>
   Steve Lee <steve@seattle.avcom.com>
   Bert Robbins <bert@penril.com>
   Marcel Bernards <bernards@ECN.NL>
   Kevin Mah <kmah@DCS-Systems.COM>
   Carol Madison <carol@octopus.wr.usgs.gov>
   Matt Goheen <0005979262@mcimail.com>
   Glenn Satchell <glenn@uniq.com.au>

Special thanx to
   Kevin Mah for replies on proper SCSI connector terminology
                (ASCII diagrams are available, if you're interested!)
   Marcel Bernards for a terrific suggestion on how to use those
                vt100's cluttering our halls as fish tanks.
   Glenn Satchell for the instructions on how to change the SCSI ID's
                and get at the internal terminator.

----------------->8 Original Mail 8<---------------------------------
>
> I've inherited a "Mass Storage Subsystem" that used to be
> attached to a Sun 4/110 that is being phased out of operation.
> We would like to attach this device to a SCSI host adapter on a
> SparcStation 10, Model 30 running SunOS 4.1.3.
>
> A couple of questions about the device:
>
> 1) The hard drive is a 5 1/4" winchester-style Micropolis 1558. There
> shouldn't be any problems using this on a Sparc-10, should there?
> Anybody have the necessary formatting information?
>
> 2) The dox say that the 1/4" tape drive has a 45Mb capacity when used
> with a 450' tape cartridge. Do Sparc-10 systems support such
> a device? Just for future reference, how would we request a tape
> be written to be read by this drive (I'm thinking that it's an
> older "low density" tape or something?)
>
> 3) There were no obvious switches to change the SCSI address of each
> device. Anybody know what the default SCSI ID's are? Any way
> to change them?
>
> 4) Finally, the SCSI connectors are SCSI-1 style. Anybody know of
> a company that will sell cables with Honda-style SCSI-2 connectors
> on one end and SCSI-1 style connectors on the other?
>
----------------->8 Original Mail 8<---------------------------------



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