Question : Problem: Help using a Compaq Storageworks 4300 SAN

EE,
      I need help connecting to and reformatting a Compaq Storageworks 4300 SAN (that has been sitting in our warehouse for almost a year).  

Identification Step:
     There are (4) chassis (A,B,C,D).
Chassis A is obviously the controller.
It is labeled 'COMPAQ STORAGEWORKS'.  
Front:  
Going from left to right -> bay #1 has a power supply labeled B (with a picture of a Battery)
                                         bay #2 has a blank
                                         bay #3-5 have fans
                                         bay #6 has a power supply labeled A (with a picture of a Battery)
                                         bay #7 has a blank
                                         bay #8 has module in it with a picture of a ''heartbeat'.  
                                                     This module has a small square slot and two recessed buttons
                                                      (or lights) not sure.
 
Back:
Going from top down -> (2) 180W power cables (one of each side of Chassis A)
                                         Top:  (6) BN37A-01 SCSI connectors.  These appear to be redundant
                                                 connections to chassis (B,C,D) below.
                                       Middle:  (2) identical 'cards' or 'modules' labeled 'HSG80'.  These        
                                                    modules have a clear button on the left side and (6) numbered
                                                    lights and what appears to be a Cat5 connector.  These
                                                    modules also have (2) sets of 'optical' connectors.
                                       Bottom: (1) module labeled HSx80 Cache.  This module has (2)
                                                    small (less than 1") what appears to be SCSI connectors.

Chassis B, C, D each contain (14) bays of 36.4GB SCSI drives.

All these chassis are nicely housed in their original Compaq enclosure with dual power supplies and PDUs.

---------------------
My ultimate objective is to connect VMware ESX 3.5 hosts!  

Issue #1:  I don't have ANY experience with SANs.  I've never defined/formatted a LUN.  
Issue #2:  I don't think we have a fiber optic switching fabric in our warehouse.  And for that matter - any fiber optic patch cords.  And for that matter - any servers with fiber HBAs.  Any chance I can use iSCSI protocol?   :)

Let's assume - that issue #2 is a show stopper.  Can you at least give me the steps to connect as an admin (via cat5) to the Storageworks in order to reformat the arrays?

Issue #3:  I don't know the admin password.  :)

Thanks!

Thanks.
James Bell
[email protected]

Answer : Problem: Help using a Compaq Storageworks 4300 SAN

The HSG80 controllers were part of the old MA8000 infrastructure that Compaq did long before stuff like the Modular Smart Array (MSA) series made simple SANs affordable.

The G in HSG stands for glass which means that these are, indeed, fibre chanel products you have and certainly are not capable of iSCSI (dont think it had even been thought of when these were around) - even modern SANs dont mix fibre and iSCSI, you have one or the other.

Delving back into teh recesses of my mind tells me that you should be able to talk to the HSG controller directly via a console cable that goes into what looks like an ethernet port but is actually a serial connection (I have a feeling that the wiring on tis was odd and so a normal Cisco type console cable wont work but I may be wrong).

Connection will be done via normal HyperTerminal type connection - form there you can set up the array etc etc - had a quick dig on th enet and cant find a "how to factory reset" document but will likley have one in the office from when we used to sell loads of these, will look when I'm in there.

To be honest though - if you have no fibre switch, HBAs or cables you are going to have to buy all that kit and then go through all this hassle to get working an array that is around 8 years old. For the amount of hassle and cost you'd be as well looking at a modern MSA or similar as you'll get far more performance (the HSG80 is only a 1Gbps controller) and capacity than you have now.

Just my thoughts though - if you want to press on then I'll help if I can!

Andy
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