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HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard |
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The Question is: Can I buy 3rd party generic scsi disks for my alphaserver 2000 The Answer is : Yes, you can certainly purchase third-party "generic" SCSI disks for your AlphaServer 2000. If you purchase third-party "generic" SCSI devices, you and your SCSI device vendor will be responsible for the testing and the support of the devices. Compaq will address problems in the host interface (changes that will not prevent operations with supported devices, of course), but you and the device vendor are responsible for problems in the device. Realize that SCSI is not a standard interface, it is a collection of optionally-implemented and standardized interface features. Do not simply assume that all SCSI devices are interchangable. Each SCSI host contains non-trivial SCSI driver software, and each SCSI device contains equally non-trivial firmware -- taken together with the mechanical and electronic components, this software and firmware will communicate storage-related requests using the standard SCSI protocol. Hosts and devices have various optionally-implemented features, and both also implement vendor-specific protocol extensions for operations outside those explicitly specified in the SCSI protocol. Integration and testing work is mandatory with each new SCSI device, and there can be no certainty that any particular SCSI device will operate as expected in any particular configuration without first performing this (non-trivial) work. Please review the previous discussions of third-party SCSI device support issues here in Ask The Wizard. -- The Wizard would encourage you to upgrade to OpenVMS Alpha V7.1.
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