FAQ: For Multiprise 3000 (7060-H30) Internal Disk Subsystem - acquiring disks
of unknown or questionable origin that you intend to re-use
There is a very little or obscurely documented feature that should be more
widely known by owners.
The feature is called InitSurf (Surface Initialization).
Q: What does it do?
A: Writes zeroes from beginning to end on a disk as well as generating good
block LRC (Longitudinal Redundancy Checking - similar to CRC or checksum).
Effectively this wipes the drive clean making appear to the Internal Disk
Subsystem Configuration application as a "brand new" disk.
Q: What will likely happen if I don't use InitSurf on a previously used disk
from another system?
A: Most likely the Internal Disk Susbsystem Configuration application will
throw errors like "I/O failure occurred when trying to create an array - LSS
configuration data could not be built or upgraded" - after that the Disks for
that array will appear with red backgrounds in the HDD Enclosures area
Q: How do I use/access InitSurf?
A: Only through the 'SSA Hard Drive Service Aids' icon in the Support Element
Workplace application when logged in as 'SERVICE'.
- Click&Drag CPC icon over to the SSA Hard Drive Service Aids icon in
the Service pane.
- this starts a special version of the ISSACFG utility in a window
- select the SSA Adapter - Bus 1 Slot 1 (12) to access the Internal
Disk Subsystem (not the OS/2 ones which is 11)
- Select 'Disk Aids' and you should see all the drives (use F9/F10 to
toggle flashing the lights on each drive so you're sure which is which)
- F6 is the magic key to start the InitSurf (if you select the drive
you are doing the InitSurf on it will show % complete)
General Internal Disk Subsystem Topics:
Q: When building arrays in a 7060-H30, after cabling the blue SSA cables
properly, where do the jumpers go?
A1: for a single array0 (six disks, two jumpers, Adapter card 0, two long blue
SSA cables)
disks: SD10,SD11,SD20,SD21,SD40,SD41 (SD21 should end up being the
hotspare for the entire system)
jumpers: SD30,SD31
A2: for a two array system (array0 and array1) (11 disks, 5 jumpers, Adapter
Cards 0 and 1, two long blue SSA cables, one 6" blue SSA cable)
disks: SD10,SD11,SD20,SD21,SD40,SD41,SD12,SD13,SD22,SD33,SD42 (SD21
should end up being the hotspare for the entire system)
jumpers: SD30,SD31,SD32,SD23,SD43
A3: for a three array system (array0, array1, array2) (16 disks, 0 jumpers,
Adapter Cards 0 and 1, two long blue SSA cables, one 6" blue SSA cable)
disks: all 16 slots populated with disks (SD21 should end up being the
hotspare for the entire system)
jumpers: none
Q: How do I cable the blue SSA cables in the adapter cards above the disks for
the different quantities of arrays?
A: The left-most cable always remains in place. When needing to go to add
array1 (and array2), you will need to get a short 6" blue SSA cable, attach it
to the right-hand port on the Adapter Card 0 (Hard Drive Group 0 - leftmost)
and attach the other end to the left-hand port on the Adapter Card 1 (Hard
Drive Group 1 - middle) adapter card. The remaining long blue SSA cable that
runs back to the back of the machine should be attached to the right-hand port
on Adapter Card 1 (Hard Drive Group 1 - middle) adapter card. Conceptually,
each pair of columns of disks is a loop on the midplane. What you're doing for
the array1&2 is essentially connecting those two loops to make one big
continuous loop.
Q: Where is/are the database file(s) that the Internal Disk Subsystem
Configuration application uses?
A: This also does not seem to be documented, but they appear to be...
D:\sp_rw\bbr2ccfg.dat
D:\sp_rw\bbr2scfg.dat
D:\sp_rw\bbrucfg.dat
D:\sp_rw\bbrucfg2.dat
If you really want to start from scratch and wipe out everything this
application knows, you can rename/move them and the application will create new
ones
References:
Service Guide Supplement - SY24-6162-00 ---- Chapter 7
Internal Disk Subsystem: Users Guide - SA22-1026-00 ---- Chapter 3
Service Guide - SY24-6155-03 ---- pages 4-44 through 4-72 (this is really
more for the OS/2 array)
Parts Catalog - S123-7471-00 ---- pages 8-11,16
Part Numbers:
12K0474 - 18.2GB SSA HDD
21L3856 - HDD Jumper Assembly/Passthru
05N5370 - SSA Extender Card
31L7986 - SSA 1.4 meter cable
31L7985 - SSA .2 meter cable
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