From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: <cnielsen@pobox.com>
To: <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] off-wall idea, file server and SAN
In-Reply-To: <20010305104324.DDAF719A02@mail.cse.psu.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.30.0103050412570.26707-100000@hayseed.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Date: Mon,  5 Mar 2001 04:46:07 -0800
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 6c28e612-eac9-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

On Mon, 5 Mar 2001 geoff@x.bell-labs.com wrote:

> what's the hardware you can't locate?
> it's never been a problem to obtain the
> buslogic bt-948 or 958 (now called the
> mylex multimaster series).  scsi disks
> are readily available.  if you have the
> money, hp scsi mmc optical jukeboxes (now
> in 9gb disk size!) are easily found.
> any old vga card will do, since the file
> server kernel just runs in cga mode.
> the intel 8255[789] ethernet cards (ether
> express pro/100+ or something like that)
> can be found on any street corner or
> intel's web site.

As proof that this is definitely possible, I
have a fileserver that I recently built with
modern components. The MB is a Tyan S1837
with onboard SCSI (symbios SYM53C896), fast
ethernet (intel 82559), and usable onboard
video.  I bought an HP MO jukebox (200fx)
from ebay for $1000 and built the server for
~$2500, which includes the pair of 72G SCSI
drives. For $3500 I have an awesome setup.

On the topic of SANs, I think it might be
interesting to introduce support for this
technology into plan9. Anyone else have
thoughts on this?

--
Christopher Nielsen
cnielsen@pobox.com