[cobalt-users] Hardware RAID Infor - Applies to All Cobalt Products

["Jerry Farquhar" <jerry@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Please don't beat me up over this post.. I've just gotten so many inquiries
after posting a comment about a hardware RAID solution that I felt it was
best to simply post the information to the list.

See below for details.
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Hardware RAID for Cobalt Products:

Thank you for your interest..  Just so you understand we are a reseller.

The product is a true hardware RAID product that will work with not just
Sun/Cobalt products but virtually any device that use's a standard 3.5" IDE
hard drive.

As you may or may not be aware.. many Cobalt servers shipped with only a
single drive in them or were simply never intended to have a RAID
capability.  Additionally even the Raq's that have room for a second drive
often do not have a power supply that is capable of supporting the power
needs of two 3.5" hard drives.  With 5400 RPM drives starting to disappear
the higher power requirements of the 7200 RPM drives simply make it
impossible to use two drives (FYI - even some 5400 RPM drives draw to much
power to use two of them in a Cobalt product).

We originally started investigating a way to achieve a hardware RAID on our
own Cobalt servers.  Trying to locate a higher power output Power Supply
didn't turn up any positive results and we also weren't terribly impressed
with the use of a software RAID.

What we found and are now promoting as a solution is a hardware RAID that
uses two notebook hard drives (any size you wish to use - current sizes are
up to 60GB and 5400 RPM).  The two drives mount to a RAID controller that
with both notebook hard drives installed is the same dimensional size as a
typical 3.5" desktop hard drive. The RAID mirrors data between the two
drives, has LED indicators for individual drive status (we are working with
the manufacture about creating a version with remotely located LED's), an
alarm for notification of a failed drive, battery backup on the RAID itself
to remember the state of the drives when powered down to replace a failed
drive, unit is configurable as either master or slave, unit mounts in a
standard 3.5" hard drive bay.

We are selling the RAID portion of the solution (without notebook hard
drives) for $259.00 U.S. Dollars plus shipping. If you have a need for 5+
units we may be able to discount the price a bit more.  Also if you prefer
we can also supply complete units with notebook drives already installed if
you prefer not to source the drives.

If you would like to see pictures of the unit let me know and I'll either
email or post them to the web for you to view.

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For additional information and to prevent upsetting some users on the list
it might be best to inquire with me directly off list.
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Jerry Farquhar
Systems Specialist
mailto:jerry@xxxxxxxxxxx

Net Wise Solutions, Inc.
1633 West Schaumburg Road
Schaumburg, Illinois  60194-3902
http://www.netwise.com/


847-301-7550 Tel
847-301-8438 Fax