SUMMARY: Hardware question: V240 and HBAs (fwd)

[Adam and Christine Levin]

Ok, Thanks to:
"Askew, Trey" <trey.askew at stratech.com>
"Dunn, Jeffrey" <jdunn at scrippsops.com>
"Mark.Costello at usdoj.gov" <Mark.Costello at usdoj.gov>
for letting me know they were away.

Also, it's nice to see anderson_baptist at uol.com.br using anti-spam
software that requires me to click over to a web site to allow him to
receive mail from the list.

For useful info, thanks to:
Jeff Blosser <Jeff.Blosser at maryville.com>
"walker, odell" <Walker_Odell at emc.com> recommends JNI.
"Harrington, David B. (Contractor) (DSCR)" <David.Harrington at dla.mil>
joe.fletcher at btconnect.com
Cyril Plisko <Cyril.Plisko at CloverleafComm.Com>
Sandor Orban <sorban at mail.com>
Sven Heydecke <Sven.Heydecke at t-online.de>
Fredrik Robertsson <frero at swip.net>

The consensus seems to be that I *can* use two cards in the Sun, and that
I shouldn't buy Sun's cards, I should buy JNI (though some recommended
Emulex cards).  I will seriously consider the JNI cards, since they were
specifically mentioned by both Hitachi and StorageTek.

I may have a problem because two PCI slots are 33MHz and only one is
66MHz, but as long as the card works in the 33MHz slot, we'll take the
performance hit for the higher reliability of multi-paths.

Thanks again, everyone.

-Adam

---Original Question Below---

We're currently changing some of our disk infrastructure, and I'm trying
to spec out some new hardware.  I'm looking at some Sun V240s (we have one
already, and we like it).

We're considering purchasing a SAN box (Hitachi/StorageTek/Other), and so
I need to buy HBAs for the Sun.  However, I'm confused after looking at
Sun's web site.

In the store.sun.com configuration application for the V240, I see fibre
network cards -- I assume these are the HBAs, but I'm not sure.  They have
available a single channel and a dual channel.  The dual is *very*
expensive (NOTE: we buy from a reseller -- I'm just using Sun's website to
spec out what we need).

I'd like to put two single channel cards in the machine, for failover
purposes.  The configuration app is not letting me do this.  I've spoken
to two resellers -- one gave me a quote with two single cards, one said he
couldn't because I can only put one dual channel card in the machine.

Does anyone know the scoop -- can I put two single-channel FC HBA cards in
a V240, or do I have to go with one dual channel card if I want load
balancing/pathing failover?

Thanks,
-Adam
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