[Beowulf] what defines "enterprise class" hard drives?

[Paulo Afonso Lopes]

> On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Sabuj Pattanayek <sabujp at gmail.com> wrote:
>> If your array is a bunch of rack servers, make sure the controllers
>> will accept non-branded/certified drives (e.g. make sure it doesn't
>> require a Dell, HP, or IBM branded drive).
>>
>> After having determine that your array will take COTS components, and
>> if you can go with slightly slower drives, I'd go with the WD Caviar
>> green series, black if you want something faster. I'd stay away from
>> the really cheap 5400 RPM Seagate drives.
>
> Thanks for the very specific tips about the 5 year warranty and also
> Caviar Green. I've  specifically selected the JBOD so that I'm not
> tied to any one manufacturer's overpriced drives.
>


 Rahul,

As others have said, beware :-)

Some array vendors do NOT allow you to use off-the-shelf disks. For
example, I remember DG CLARiiON did not allow you to use off-the-shelf
disks, as they flashed in new firmware into the drives. In the begining
Field Support Techs had access to a hidden option in the array software
that allowed them to flash COTS drives, but this was later removed. I
suspect that EMC (and others, say HP, IBM,...) do the same.

The disks do not "show up" in the array, so it does not matter if you want
to config them as JBOD or RAID-something :-)))

(sidenote on "proprietary" stuff: I have 2 Avocent 8-port non-IP KVMs, one
IBM branded and the other HP branded; they look exactly the same model. If
you move a KVM-to-RJ45 adapter from the IBM to the HP (or vice-versa) it
does not work, it displays something like "Unrecognised adapter")

paulo


-- 
Paulo Afonso Lopes                        | Tel: +351- 21 294 8536
Departamento de Informática               | 294 8300 ext.10702
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia        | Fax: +351- 21 294 8541
Universidade Nova de Lisboa               | e-mail: poral at fct.unl.pt
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