Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-04 Thread Torsten Landschoff
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 03:24:53PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 
 Oh, and (since they sound like the kind of servers that come with
 monitors) don't plug monitors into UPSen.

Uhm, sorry, why not? I have connected a monitor (14, normally turned
off) to our server and to his USV so I can even read my email if 
the whole campus is without mail. What's the problem with that apart
from the shorter period you can run on battery power?

Thanks

Torsten


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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-04 Thread Joost Kooij
Hi,

On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 07:46:42PM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
 On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
  On Monday 30 April 2001 00:04, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
   I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
   You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
   (the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).

Alas, one generally cannot assume this!

Here in The Netherlands, most residential wall outlets do not have a
ground connection.  This causes mysterious computer illnesses.

The server won't come up on reboot, when the printer is attached.
The problem is gone after the printer gets a proper earth ground.
After purchase of a new Brand Quality monitor, the harddisk appears
damaged.  The bootup ID string is corrupt after 12 or so characters.
Fixing the monitor's wall outlet fixes the harddisk.  Multiply the fun
as you start plugging in network cables.

But I digress..

Frame ground isn't so important here I think, circuit ground is what you
should care about.  In principle, these are different things.  In most
applications they also are strictly different things, but pc's just
isn't one of them.

  External drives generally don't use an ATA interface!  I am not confidant 
  of 
  the main earth acting as a suitable earth for the DC power.
 
 True, but I don't see this as a big issue.

All traditional external drive systems that I know of have:
- Their own power supply in the external disk housing.
- A connection to the host that carries only signals, not power.
  This connection has a dedicated frame ground line (in fact,
  any decent cabling has its shielding connected to frame ground.)

 I think it would be better to deliberately turn them on in order, rather
 than trying to guess at the same time. Turn the hard drives on first.
 They may or may not spin up while the controller is powered off. Then
 turn on the main supply.

AFAIK harddisks have two motors: 
- A start motor that speed up the disk's rotation very quickly, but eats a 
  lot of current;  It is normally only used at boot time.  
- A continuous motor that spins with a very precisely controlled speed and 
  consumes considerably less power.  It works all the time when the disk 
  is operating normally.

If some day you turn on your computer and suddenly the disk is dead,
you should be able to hear from the disk's cries of agony which of the
two motors burned out ;-)  (There is an (urban?) legend that harddisk
manufacturers classify batches by the motor that is expected to fail
first.  If the start motor is weak, it will be a scsi disk, if the
continuous motor is weak, it will be an ide disk.)

All scsi disks (that I know of) have this feature, called Spin Delay.
If you configure the disk appropriately, it will not attempt to spin up
on powerup until it is explicitly asked to do so when initialised by the
scsi host controller.  This way the system can distribute the surges in
current draw caused by the powerful start motors in the disks.

  There was a presentation at a Linux Users of Victoria meeting some years 
  ago 
  about doing hot-swap IDE hard drives with cheap standard hardware.  My 
  recollection is that the power lines of the hard drive had to be connected 
  in 
  a particular order...

I have sucessfully powered down, disconnected, reconnected and powered
back up again an IDE disk once (this is why you should take anything I
claim here with a grain of salt.)  No umount or even swapoff, just disable
dma and cross my fingers ;-)  The disk was only off for 30 secs or so.

What probably helped is that the disk is an old, low-rpm disk.  Modern
disks seem to have a tendency to draw a lot power at once when power
is plugged in from a running system, throwing the whole system into a
hardware reset.  A rather unfortunate side-effect when hotplugging.

It can be really nice to have cheap (free) old hardware (junk) to mess
around with.  How else would I have discovered that sometimes, you _can_
successfully hotplug isa cards  ;-)

 Standard power supplies may have sequencing to switch the supplies on a
 known order. That doesn't stop you powering them from different power
 supplies though, as the sequencing isn't under motherboard control.
   On Monday 30 April 2001 16:11, PiotR wrote: 
   A good solution for this might be to connect the first PS's output to the 
   other, so the voltage is the same, and there's no massive current flow 
   across the data cables.  
  
  That's if both PSU's have exactly the same voltage.  If one provides a 
  slightly higher voltage than the other then it will try to power everything 
  itself (at least until the current drain lowers the output voltage).  Also 
  if 
  two PSUs with different voltages are connected together with insufficient 
  load then reverse current will flow through the PSU with the lower voltage!

Well, I'm not an electrical engineer, but I don't think it really works
like that.

   *** WARNING ***
My 

Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-03 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 11:21:49PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
 On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 08:30:10AM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
  In power combining applications like these, balancing diodes
  or resistors are usually used. It's not good just to connect
  the outputs together.
 
 What's the difference between those and a standard diode?

Nothing. I was just referring to their application. Just like
you have decoupling or bypass capacitors; they're just capacitors,
with a particular application named.

Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 04:49:27PM -0700, Alvin Oga wrote:
 the diodes need to be power diodes... vs signal diodes 
 
 given you cannot tie the power supplies at two diff voltages together...
 you have to isolate it somehow... ( the power diode method )

I'm a bit hazy on how this actually works, but I would guess that
each supply's output goes through a diode (forward biased) and
the lower potential sides of the diodes would be connected.
Thus not much current flows back the other way.

 but more importantly, its primary purpose is to allow for the 
 two power supply at different voltages ( +5.25v  and +4.75v ) to be tied
 together
 
 at these extremes... the diodes wont helpand the dioes will simply
 burn up due to the current it has to pass to get to that voltage
 one side being a diode drop ( 0.7v ) across itself..
   - a power mosfet is better suited ...

You will need some large diodes and you may well need cooling
ie heatsinks.

Hamish
-- 
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread Peter Bartosch
Hi!


  at these extremes... the diodes wont helpand the dioes will simply
  burn up due to the current it has to pass to get to that voltage
  one side being a diode drop ( 0.7v ) across itself..
  - a power mosfet is better suited ...

hmm, mosfet doesn't make sense to me - IIRC they only work like switches 

I think you should use Shotkey-diods the largest one i know could pass
200 ampere - and they've less than ~0.4V voltage drop



:wq - until next mail B-), l8r

Peter
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread straylite
At Thu, 3 May 2001 22:36:27 +0200 , Peter Bartosch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 

hmm, mosfet doesn't make sense to me - IIRC they only work like switches 

A MOSFET is a type of field-effect transistor ... hence the FET part of the 
name -- it can be sued for much more than a switch.

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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread Stephan Hachinger
 Hi!


   at these extremes... the diodes wont helpand the dioes will simply
   burn up due to the current it has to pass to get to that voltage
   one side being a diode drop ( 0.7v ) across itself..
   - a power mosfet is better suited ...

 hmm, mosfet doesn't make sense to me - IIRC they only work like switches

 I think you should use Shotkey-diods the largest one i know could pass
 200 ampere - and they've less than ~0.4V voltage drop

Hi!

Mosfets are a kind of transistors with less loss of energy than a bipoar
type. I agree that the only thing you could use is a shottky diode, the drop
is about 0.1-0.2 Volts, I think; therefore it won't produce so much heat and
maybe you won't even need any heatsinks for them. But I think it is
generally not a good thing to reduce the supply voltage by 0.2 Volts this
way, because computers are very sensitive to voltage changes... If there
will be a high load for only a short time, the voltage maybe drops down the
specs and your components are down.

Regards,

Stephan Hachinger



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread Rich Puhek
http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/products/model_pedge_1_pedge_2550.htm

...Has a system with dual power supplies. If anyone is interested in
putting together a system like that, I suggest they go ahead and buy
one. Otherwise, let's leave the design stuff to the power supply
engineers at Power One and the other big power supply companies. They've
got loads of (trained) people to take care of the design debates
(including the use of Schottky Diodes). If further discussion on this
toppic is desired, perhaps news:alt.engineering.electrical would be a
more appropriate forum (or any of a number of other resources that show
up in a google search).

The debate was off-topic to begin with, strayed even further, yet stayed
interesting with the concerns over load-ballancing supplies. Debating
design features of power supplies is really wandering off of the beaten
path... especially given the lack of experience most of us (the members
of debian-user) have with the subject.

Sorry for adding to the noise, but geez, this list is chatty enough
already to be almost unmanagable. Bottom line: let's let the discussion
die or else move it over to another list or NG.

--Rich


 (loads of chatter deleted)
 

-- 

_
 
Rich Puhek   
ETN Systems Inc. 
_



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-03 Thread Matthew Sackman
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 03:24:53PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 08:18:20PM +0100, Matthew Sackman wrote:
 ...
  
  Every production server that I've seen that has 2 PSUs has both
  continuously running. At hopefully  50% capacity. 
 
 Interesting. Could you post the list of brand names/vendors so
 that we'll know what not to buy.

Well their design may have changed over the last year or so, but afaik,
Penguin Computing do this, and the other one that I know of I can't
remember the name of - a UK based company that custom builds servers.
Can't remember the name,  sorry.

If you're looking to purcahse a server for use as a co-location server
in a hosting company then be advised that they do not like dual power
inlet servers (will charge more), and they are also very concerned over
the size of your server. I.e. don't buy a dell poweredge cos they're too
big and you'll get charged more for them.

Also be aware that any decent power supply will have a quickblow internal
fuse, thus the fuse in the plug is redundant. In this case (and ONLY in
this case), it is safe to foil-wrap the fuse in the PLUG to ensure it
never blows. This way you can have redundant power supplies through one
inlet. Be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT THE PSUs ARE INTERNALLY FUSED.

If I were you, I would use a company that will custom build you a box,
basically using components you specify: i.e. down to the model number of
the mobo. That way, and only that way, can you be certain what you're
getting.

Personally, I'd build the server from scratch myself, but if you're not
happy doing that then get a company to build it for you. I would not go
for an off-the-shelf server.

 
 ... Of
  course, the irony is that as they are both routed to the same power
  inlet, if the fuse in the plug goes then you're buggered anyway! :-)
 
 Tip of the day: plug them into 2 different UPSen connected to separate 
 power lines (pref. separate circuits). 
 
 Oh, and (since they sound like the kind of servers that come with
 monitors) don't plug monitors into UPSen.
 

Um, nope. ?6000 (uk pound) dual PIII 1Gb DRAM, U160 SCSI. Used by a very
professional web hosting company.


Hope this helps,

Matthew

-- 

Matthew Sackman
Nottingham,
ENGLAND

Using Debian/GNU Linux
Enjoying computing


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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-03 Thread Alvin Oga

hi ya...

though we are getting slightly off topic...
- dual power supply issues...

the problem is how to connect two power supplies together...
one at 5.25v  and the other at extreme of 4.75v

if using just a diode...( no matter what kind - power or schottky )... it
wont work as one diode will have a bigger voltage drop across it than its
normal .1v or .7v or whatever it might be...

voltage drop is NOT the issue you need something that will
allow a range of Vce  or Vsd  that will pass the normal current
and also support the surge current when you first turn on the
powersupply to spin the drives...

and since diodes/resistors are not active devices...
you will incurr significant loss of regulation and huge current
spikes ( good way to get a disk go *poof* on ya )

dual power supply is tricky biz...guess thats why its $500 for a pair...
or more or less... not the atx/pc stuff for $25 each

have fun
alvin

On Thu, 3 May 2001, Stephan Hachinger wrote:

  Hi!
 
 
at these extremes... the diodes wont helpand the dioes will simply
burn up due to the current it has to pass to get to that voltage
one side being a diode drop ( 0.7v ) across itself..
- a power mosfet is better suited ...
 
  hmm, mosfet doesn't make sense to me - IIRC they only work like switches
 
  I think you should use Shotkey-diods the largest one i know could pass
  200 ampere - and they've less than ~0.4V voltage drop
 
 Hi!
 
 Mosfets are a kind of transistors with less loss of energy than a bipoar
 type. I agree that the only thing you could use is a shottky diode, the drop
 is about 0.1-0.2 Volts, I think; therefore it won't produce so much heat and
 maybe you won't even need any heatsinks for them. But I think it is
 generally not a good thing to reduce the supply voltage by 0.2 Volts this
 way, because computers are very sensitive to voltage changes... If there
 will be a high load for only a short time, the voltage maybe drops down the
 specs and your components are down.
 
 Regards,
 
 Stephan Hachinger
 
 
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? +55v

2001-05-02 Thread Hamish Moffatt

Alvin.. have you really been following this thread at all?

On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 05:43:57PM -0700, Alvin Oga wrote:
 and if the power supply to the disk dies...
 than you're out of luck
   or if the powersupply tot eh motherboard dies...
   you'd be out of luck too

So what? It's always been about load sharing, not redundancy.

 in which case...whats thepoint of having 2 PS ???
   - if it cannot handle the load...get a bigger power supply
 
   - having 2 power supplies complicates things..
   and some devices running at 12.5v and others at 11.5v..
   at the extreme voltage ranges ... similarly for +5v range
   and +3.3 ranges...( all kinds of possible random timing problems?? 

I don't think this is likely to cause much problem really.
For one thing, the logic between the controller and the drive
is running on 5V (I'd guess), not 12V. 5V logic is generally
pretty tolerant...

 if you do have 2 power supplies.. you should invest in a 
 properly designed load-sharing power circuitry such that the other
 supply can drive all devices it needs by itself...

Huh? The disks and the motherboard will never be independent.

Summary: I think disks and motherboard on separate power supplies
will work. Connect the grounds together. (They'll be connected by
mains neutral/earth, as well as case ground, anyway, but just
to be thorough.)

Yes, there will be differences in the supply voltages, but I
don't see that being a significant problem with 5V logic.

No, I haven't tried it. But yes, I do know something about electronics.


Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Matthew Sackman
On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 12:05:11PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 05:32:31PM -0700, Alvin Oga wrote:
 ...
  - even if you had 2 power supplies...
  - most motherboards only has one atx power connector
 
 True. And if you went for redundant PS's and a mobo that 
 supports them, the cost would go way up.
 
  - are the two power supplies properly doing load sharing...
 
 Usually not. I imagine that's too hard and not worth the trouble
 anyway: what you usually want is redundancy, not load sharing.
 (I mean, if one PS dies, it will overload and kill the other one
 pretty fast. Not a good idea. And if each PS can handle the load
 alone, there's little point in sharing the load.)

Every production server that I've seen that has 2 PSUs has both
continuously running. At hopefully  50% capacity. There is no
switch-over - if one goes then the other has to cope with both. Of
course, the irony is that as they are both routed to the same power
inlet, if the fuse in the plug goes then you're buggered anyway! :-)

Matthew

-- 

Matthew Sackman
Nottingham,
ENGLAND

Using Debian/GNU Linux
Enjoying computing


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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Rich Puhek
Dell Poweredge 2450 style servers is what you're looking for. They have
two power supplies, each with its own power cord. Yes, it can run on one
PS... the last one I set up ran that way on my desk since I only had one
cord handy. Of course, you'll want to make damn sure the grounds are at
the same potential, so doing funny tricks with where you plug them in
could be a bad idea. 

Another nice thing about this (and probably all the machines Matthew's
referring to) is that the motherboard doesn't need to support multiple
supplies, nor do the hard drives, fans, tape drives, etc.

I agree with Matthew in that there _is_ a reason to share the load,
actually a few that I can think of. Let's say you have a pair of 300W
supplies on a box that draws 250W at rest. Rather than let one supply
crank along at 250W, let's let both supplies run at about 125W. That
way, both supplies will run cooler (Depending on the supply design, the
supply may actually have slightly lower efficiency at the lower load
factor, but that's a trade off we can live with). Also consider what
happens if the load was near the capacity of a single supply, and spiked
over the capacity. If we were using the second supply as a backup to
only be switched in if the primary failed, how would that be handled?

--Rich


Matthew Sackman wrote:
 
 On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 12:05:11PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
  On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 05:32:31PM -0700, Alvin Oga wrote:
  ...
   - even if you had 2 power supplies...
   - most motherboards only has one atx power connector
 
  True. And if you went for redundant PS's and a mobo that
  supports them, the cost would go way up.
 
   - are the two power supplies properly doing load sharing...
 
  Usually not. I imagine that's too hard and not worth the trouble
  anyway: what you usually want is redundancy, not load sharing.
  (I mean, if one PS dies, it will overload and kill the other one
  pretty fast. Not a good idea. And if each PS can handle the load
  alone, there's little point in sharing the load.)
 
 Every production server that I've seen that has 2 PSUs has both
 continuously running. At hopefully  50% capacity. There is no
 switch-over - if one goes then the other has to cope with both. Of
 course, the irony is that as they are both routed to the same power
 inlet, if the fuse in the plug goes then you're buggered anyway! :-)
 
 Matthew
 
 --
 
 Matthew Sackman
 Nottingham,
 ENGLAND
 

-- 

_
 
Rich Puhek   
ETN Systems Inc. 
_



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Dimitri Maziuk
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 08:18:20PM +0100, Matthew Sackman wrote:
...
 
 Every production server that I've seen that has 2 PSUs has both
 continuously running. At hopefully  50% capacity. 

Interesting. Could you post the list of brand names/vendors so
that we'll know what not to buy.

... Of
 course, the irony is that as they are both routed to the same power
 inlet, if the fuse in the plug goes then you're buggered anyway! :-)

Tip of the day: plug them into 2 different UPSen connected to separate 
power lines (pref. separate circuits). 

Oh, and (since they sound like the kind of servers that come with
monitors) don't plug monitors into UPSen.

Dima (sorry, couldn't resist)
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Dimitri Maziuk
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 03:13:34PM -0500, Rich Puhek wrote:
...
 I agree with Matthew in that there _is_ a reason to share the load,
 actually a few that I can think of. Let's say you have a pair of 300W
 supplies on a box that draws 250W at rest. Rather than let one supply
 crank along at 250W, let's let both supplies run at about 125W. That
 way, both supplies will run cooler (Depending on the supply design, the
 supply may actually have slightly lower efficiency at the lower load
 factor, but that's a trade off we can live with). 

IANAEE/Physicist and it's been (dear Goddess, has it been this long?)
over 15 years since school, so my recollection is a bit fuzzy... 
Lower efficiency at lower load will probably mean more energy is 
dissipated as heat. So 2 PSUs * 125W ea will generate more heat than 
1 PSU * 250W. Depending on box design this may cause CPU/disks to 
operate at higher temperatures, reducing their lifespan. In fact,
there will be some point at which each individual PSU will run 
just as hot as if it handled all the load on its own (you can be sure
your box will draw exactly that much load, thank you Mr Murphy).

I'm not arguing that this is the case, I'm saying that this kind of
argument can be twisted and turned any which way you like. 

I had mid-80s AT PSUs. They'd still be working if I didn't have to
move house and throw all that junk out. If a PSU lasts for 15 years, 
will 2 load-sharing PSUs last 30 years? Do I care? (Will I last 30 
more years?) I know that CPU will maybe last 1/5th of that, disks 
maybe 1/3rd. So what is it I'm going to achieve by setting up 
load-balancing PSUs?

... Also consider what
 happens if the load was near the capacity of a single supply, and spiked
 over the capacity. If we were using the second supply as a backup to
 only be switched in if the primary failed, how would that be handled?

Well if you mean some piece of hardware suddently decides to draw
$BIGNUM times its normal current, the PSU will die. Depending on the 
design, there's a circuit somewhere (eg. on the backplane) that does 
the  appropriate magic and switches the second PSU on. Of course it'll 
die very soon too, unless the FPOH in question magically fixed itself 
in the meantime.

Sometimes the magic fails -- I remember the look on my boss's face when 
he pulled a hot-swappable PSU out of a live swerver, and the box went 
down. Oops. (Only happened once; we later tried to reproduce the problem, 
quite unsuccessfully: PSUs switched over like a charm, every bloody time.
Surprise, surprise.)

Dima
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread PiotR
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 08:30:10AM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
 On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 08:42:04PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
  If you short circuit both PS's outputs then the voltage is the same and 
  there won't be any reverse current, neither in the data cables. So te load 
  will be distributed between both PS. 
 
 In power combining applications like these, balancing diodes
 or resistors are usually used. It's not good just to connect
 the outputs together.

What's the difference between those and a standard diode?
I think if you use a diode to connect the outputs you are limiting the current 
flow in one way only. And why would you want to do this?
Also I didn't understood why Alvin said If one PS dies you are dead I believe 
it will only fail to power those drives attached to them.

 
 Hamish
 -- 
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Rich Puhek

-- 

_
 
Rich Puhek   
ETN Systems Inc. 
2125 1st Ave East
Hibbing MN 55746 
 
tel:   218.262.1130  
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Nathan E Norman
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 11:21:49PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
 On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 08:30:10AM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
  On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 08:42:04PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
   If you short circuit both PS's outputs then the voltage is the same and 
   there won't be any reverse current, neither in the data cables. So te 
   load will be distributed between both PS. 
  
  In power combining applications like these, balancing diodes
  or resistors are usually used. It's not good just to connect
  the outputs together.
 
 What's the difference between those and a standard diode?
 I think if you use a diode to connect the outputs you are limiting the 
 current flow in one way only. And why would you want to do this?

Could this topic die or go somewhere else?  Please?  Thanks :)

-- 
Nathan Norman - Staff Engineer | A good plan today is better
Micromuse Ltd. | than a perfect plan tomorrow.
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]   |   -- Patton


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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Rich Puhek
(Sorry about the blank email... too much caffeene got me a twitchy
trigger finger).

Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 
 In fact,
 there will be some point at which each individual PSU will run
 just as hot as if it handled all the load on its own (you can be sure
 your box will draw exactly that much load, thank you Mr Murphy).


Hmmm, I'm doubtful that that's the case if our load is around 25% to 50%
or something like that. That's based on almost a pure guess, but I
recall UPS efficiency numbers of something like high 90% numbers for
almost full load versus 85% or so at 50% load. Obviously, a very lightly
loaded power supply will put out about as much heat regardless of
whether it's running at 1% or 2% capacity, but I'm thinking that will
diverge fairly quickly.

Also, in most PS and case designs, the PS should have a negligable
effect on the heat transfer of the box, given that its fan exhausts
directly to the exterior of the case. If the case is ventilated through
the power supply (as common in desktop PCs and low end servers), there
will be a small change, depending on the temperature within the power
supply case (been about 4-years since I decided 'Thermo and an ME degree
weren't for me, so the ideas are fuzzy for me too).

 
 I'm not arguing that this is the case, I'm saying that this kind of
 argument can be twisted and turned any which way you like.
 

Very true, which is why redundancy will be the main factor, not heat
production.

 I had mid-80s AT PSUs. They'd still be working if I didn't have to
 move house and throw all that junk out. If a PSU lasts for 15 years,
 will 2 load-sharing PSUs last 30 years? Do I care? (Will I last 30
 more years?) I know that CPU will maybe last 1/5th of that, disks
 maybe 1/3rd. So what is it I'm going to achieve by setting up
 load-balancing PSUs?
 

Well, those mid-80s AT PSUs (in general, I mean) seem to have either
been A) oversized for the AT PCs or B) just better quality than normal
desktop-grade power supplies of today. (BTW: I recall hearing that Intel
speced Pentium CPUs for a lifetime of 10 or 20 years in normal usage...
used as a rationale for overclocking and the reduced lifespan it
causes). No, I don't anticipate a linear relationship between load and
lifespan, nor would I anticipate a linear relationship between load and
heat disappated, heat dissapated and lifespan, etc... I would however,
anticipate that keeping a power supply running somewhere under its full
rated capacity will increase its lifespan to some extent. Also, in a
load-balancing configuration, you eliminate the 


 ... Also consider what
  happens if the load was near the capacity of a single supply, and spiked
  over the capacity. If we were using the second supply as a backup to
  only be switched in if the primary failed, how would that be handled?
 
 Well if you mean some piece of hardware suddently decides to draw
 $BIGNUM times its normal current, the PSU will die. Depending on the
 design, there's a circuit somewhere (eg. on the backplane) that does
 the  appropriate magic and switches the second PSU on. Of course it'll
 die very soon too, unless the FPOH in question magically fixed itself
 in the meantime.
 

I was thinking more like the combined load in the box was something like
95% of the rated capacity of the power supply, then spiked to 110% (like
having a bunch of SCSI drives spin up). A decent power supply probably
won't let the smoke out, but it probably won't give the best power
either. A redundant load-sharing arrangement would have both supplies
running at something like 42.5%, then spike to something like 55%.
Granted, this is a bit of a stretch, but I've seen too many cases
recently of servers in a simple consumer PC box that gradually got
stuffed full of SCSI drives until a PS failed.


 Sometimes the magic fails -- I remember the look on my boss's face when
 he pulled a hot-swappable PSU out of a live swerver, and the box went
 down. Oops. (Only happened once; we later tried to reproduce the problem,
 quite unsuccessfully: PSUs switched over like a charm, every bloody time.
 Surprise, surprise.)
 
 Dima

Like you said, Mr. Murphy pays a visit every now and then :-)

(whew... ok, I'm done.. this topic has wandered far enough!)

--Rich

-- 

_
 
Rich Puhek   
ETN Systems Inc. 
_



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Mike Fedyk
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 11:21:49PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
 Also I didn't understood why Alvin said If one PS dies you are dead I 
 believe it will only fail to power those drives attached to them.
This would only work in a raid =1 setup.  You'd have one one drive on PS1,
and its mirror on PS2

md0= hda  hdc
md1= hde  hdg

hda  hde on PS 1
hdc  hdg on PS 2

I really wouldn't want to create a setup like this myself.  You should
really have a power supply that can handle all of your devices, and a backup
PS that isn't used until needed.

Mike



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-02 Thread Mike Fedyk
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 04:52:03PM -0500, Nathan E Norman wrote:
 On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 11:21:49PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
  I think if you use a diode to connect the outputs you are limiting the 
  current flow in one way only. And why would you want to do this?
 
 Could this topic die or go somewhere else?  Please?  Thanks :)
 
Probably not, sorry. ;)

Mike



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? - diodes

2001-05-02 Thread Alvin Oga

hi ya

 I think if you use a diode to connect the outputs you are limiting
 the current flow in one way only. And why would you want to do this?

the diodes need to be power diodes... vs signal diodes 

given you cannot tie the power supplies at two diff voltages together...
you have to isolate it somehow... ( the power diode method )
- even putting two batteries in parallel dont work...
-
- and it gets real fun when you put car batteries in parallel
- and if you can get it working... it makes for a very good UPS
-
- one car battery lasts about 15hrs ...for a P3-500 class server
- sitting idle with no AC power

yes...it might limit the current... and a resistor is bad too
cause they both nullifies/weaken the accurate voltage regulation..
- ie.  big current spikes will occur 

but more importantly, its primary purpose is to allow for the 
two power supply at different voltages ( +5.25v  and +4.75v ) to be tied
together

at these extremes... the diodes wont helpand the dioes will simply
burn up due to the current it has to pass to get to that voltage
one side being a diode drop ( 0.7v ) across itself..
- a power mosfet is better suited ...

think we're going off course...but... thats the fun of watching
things blow up in the lab when ne does whacky things like connect
two power supplies together???  ( smoke test or heat test )

c ya
alvin
http://www.Linux-1U.net ... 



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Mike Fedyk
On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 10:14:35AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
 On Sunday 29 April 2001 06:48, Brandon High wrote:
  On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
   The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
   SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
   had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
   there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
   option?
 
  I doubt it, but with a sufficiently large case (or small power supply) it
  may be possible to stick a 2nd (or 3rd) power supply in. Drives could be
  plugged into the second PS while the MB is powered off of the primary PS.
 
 That sounds like a really bad idea to me.
 
 In a regular setup the IDE controller and the drive get power from the same 
 source.  So if the signals on the cable have more current going one way than 
 the other then the difference will be made up on the 0V line on the PSU.  If 
 you have separate PSU's then the difference will go through other lines of 
 the data cable.  This is something that is likely to be fatal to drives and 
 motherboards.
 
 But if you try it please let me know how it works.  ;)
I've used a second power supply just to test out some hard drives, because I
didn't want them to hang off the PS.

It worked great.

Mike



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Russell Coker
On Monday 30 April 2001 00:04, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
 On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 10:14:35AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
  In a regular setup the IDE controller and the drive get power from the
  same source.  So if the signals on the cable have more current going one
  way than the other then the difference will be made up on the 0V line on
  the PSU.  If you have separate PSU's then the difference will go through
  other lines of the data cable.

 I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
 You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
 (the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).

External drives generally don't use an ATA interface!  I am not confidant of 
the main earth acting as a suitable earth for the DC power.

On Monday 30 April 2001 01:01, Brian May wrote:
 Another thing to watch out for is timing differences. Eg. if you turn
 on one power supply before the other. Or if one power supply generates
 good power before the other.

 I would assume (hope!) the original poster plans to run both power
 supplies from the same central switch, in order to minimise problems
 here.

 Designers of the interface need to take into consideration if it is
 going to be used for external devices powered by external power or
 internal devices. A number of factors need to be taken into account
 ranging from internal delays in the power supply, logic levels, cable
 length vs cable quality vs speed of communication vs reliability of
 communication, ground loops, etc.

There was a presentation at a Linux Users of Victoria meeting some years ago 
about doing hot-swap IDE hard drives with cheap standard hardware.  My 
recollection is that the power lines of the hard drive had to be connected in 
a particular order...


On Monday 30 April 2001 16:11, PiotR wrote:
 A good solution for this might be to connect the first PS's output to the
 other, so the voltage is the same, and there's no massive current flow
 across the data cables.

That's if both PSU's have exactly the same voltage.  If one provides a 
slightly higher voltage than the other then it will try to power everything 
itself (at least until the current drain lowers the output voltage).  Also if 
two PSUs with different voltages are connected together with insufficient 
load then reverse current will flow through the PSU with the lower voltage!

Go to http://www.raidzone.com/ if you want affordable IDE-based RAID 
solutions without all this bother.

-- 
http://www.coker.com.au/bonnie++/ Bonnie++ hard drive benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/postal/   Postal SMTP/POP benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/projects.html Projects I am working on
http://www.coker.com.au/~russell/ My home page



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
 On Monday 30 April 2001 00:04, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
  I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
  You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
  (the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).
 
 External drives generally don't use an ATA interface!  I am not confidant of 
 the main earth acting as a suitable earth for the DC power.

True, but I don't see this as a big issue.

 On Monday 30 April 2001 01:01, Brian May wrote:
  Another thing to watch out for is timing differences. Eg. if you turn
  on one power supply before the other. Or if one power supply generates
  good power before the other.
 
  I would assume (hope!) the original poster plans to run both power
  supplies from the same central switch, in order to minimise problems
  here.

I think it would be better to deliberately turn them on in order, rather
than trying to guess at the same time. Turn the hard drives on first.
They may or may not spin up while the controller is powered off. Then
turn on the main supply.

 There was a presentation at a Linux Users of Victoria meeting some years ago 
 about doing hot-swap IDE hard drives with cheap standard hardware.  My 
 recollection is that the power lines of the hard drive had to be connected in 
 a particular order...

Standard power supplies may have sequencing to switch the supplies on a
known order. That doesn't stop you powering them from different power
supplies though, as the sequencing isn't under motherboard control.

 On Monday 30 April 2001 16:11, PiotR wrote:
  A good solution for this might be to connect the first PS's output to the
  other, so the voltage is the same, and there's no massive current flow
  across the data cables.
 
 That's if both PSU's have exactly the same voltage.  If one provides a 
 slightly higher voltage than the other then it will try to power everything 
 itself (at least until the current drain lowers the output voltage).  Also if 
 two PSUs with different voltages are connected together with insufficient 
 load then reverse current will flow through the PSU with the lower voltage!

Yes, that's a bad idea.


Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Charles Lewis

 Sorry I missed the start of the thread. I would suggest you to buy a simple
 IDE-to-SCSI Raid Appliance. You don't have the trouble with sizing the Power
 supply. You get a neat chasis with plug-able disks and you also get the
 speed of SCSI and the ability to plug it into every server you desire. The
 prices are quite reasonable. I asume you need it at work, cause more than
 4x36GB isnt realy needed for private persons, even if they have a large mp3
 archive :)
 

I also missed the start of this thread, but I will share my experience...

We built a rackmount backup server with SEVEN 80GB drives, CDROM, floppy,
20GB drive (for root system), etc. We software raided the 7 drives together
to make 1 partition. When we first put the system together (using a 300W PS)
the drives were making funny noises and we were having stability problems.
Somehow (I can't remember exact details) we got the idea that it was a PS
problem. So I ordered a high quality 350W PS and our problems went away.

We actually like our backup solution. It only cost us about $2800 for over
1/2 terabyte of storage and its maintenance free, fast, and easy to use. On
the Windows client side we have loadlin scheduled to boot into linux at
night (which uses an NSF system mount), it then rsyncs the client's hard
drive, and then reboots the computer back into Windows.

Charles Lewis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread PiotR
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
 On Monday 30 April 2001 16:11, PiotR wrote:
  A good solution for this might be to connect the first PS's output to the
  other, so the voltage is the same, and there's no massive current flow
  across the data cables.
 
 That's if both PSU's have exactly the same voltage.  If one provides a 
 slightly higher voltage than the other then it will try to power everything 
 itself (at least until the current drain lowers the output voltage).  Also if 
 two PSUs with different voltages are connected together with insufficient 
 load then reverse current will flow through the PSU with the lower voltage!

If you short circuit both PS's outputs then the voltage is the same and there 
won't be any reverse current, neither in the data cables. So te load will be 
distributed between both PS. 

-- 
Pedro Larroy Tovar. PiotR | http://omega.resa.es/piotr/
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 07:46:42PM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
 On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
  On Monday 30 April 2001 00:04, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
   I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
   You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
   (the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).
  
  External drives generally don't use an ATA interface!  I am not confidant 
  of 
  the main earth acting as a suitable earth for the DC power.
 
 True, but I don't see this as a big issue.

You could connect the DC grounds of the two supplies together safely.
Don't connect any other rails together though.


Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-05-01 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 08:42:04PM +0200, PiotR wrote:
 If you short circuit both PS's outputs then the voltage is the same and there 
 won't be any reverse current, neither in the data cables. So te load will be 
 distributed between both PS. 

In power combining applications like these, balancing diodes
or resistors are usually used. It's not good just to connect
the outputs together.

Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences? +55v

2001-05-01 Thread Alvin Oga

hi 

yes gnd should be connected...

if +5v, +3.3v is NOT connected together...
and assuming you have 2 powersupplies..

and if the power supply to the disk dies...
than you're out of luck
or if the powersupply tot eh motherboard dies...
you'd be out of luck too

in which case...whats thepoint of having 2 PS ???
- if it cannot handle the load...get a bigger power supply

- having 2 power supplies complicates things..
and some devices running at 12.5v and others at 11.5v..
at the extreme voltage ranges ... similarly for +5v range
and +3.3 ranges...( all kinds of possible random timing problems?? 

if you do have 2 power supplies.. you should invest in a 
properly designed load-sharing power circuitry such that the other
supply can drive all devices it needs by itself...
- or just get a powersupply with 2x the capacity too
does almost the same trick..

- except if the one supply dies...you're dead...

some ( supermicro ) motherboards has dual atx connectors
...but the disks are not yet dual-power supplied... :-(

and we wont even talk about the UPS triggering a shutdown in
these cases... what a mess... but fun !!!

c ya
alvin
http://www.Linux-Sec.net ... 


On Wed, 2 May 2001, Hamish Moffatt wrote:

 On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 07:46:42PM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
  On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
   On Monday 30 April 2001 00:04, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
(the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).
   
   External drives generally don't use an ATA interface!  I am not confidant 
   of 
   the main earth acting as a suitable earth for the DC power.
  
  True, but I don't see this as a big issue.
 
 You could connect the DC grounds of the two supplies together safely.
 Don't connect any other rails together though.
 
 
 Hamish
 -- 
 Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 
 -- 
 To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
 with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-30 Thread PiotR
On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 10:14:35AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
 On Sunday 29 April 2001 06:48, Brandon High wrote:
  On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
   The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
   SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
   had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
   there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
   option?
 
  I doubt it, but with a sufficiently large case (or small power supply) it
  may be possible to stick a 2nd (or 3rd) power supply in. Drives could be
  plugged into the second PS while the MB is powered off of the primary PS.
 
 That sounds like a really bad idea to me.
 
 In a regular setup the IDE controller and the drive get power from the same 
 source.  So if the signals on the cable have more current going one way than 
 the other then the difference will be made up on the 0V line on the PSU.  If 
 you have separate PSU's then the difference will go through other lines of 
 the data cable.  This is something that is likely to be fatal to drives and 
 motherboards.
 
 But if you try it please let me know how it works.  ;)

A good solution for this might be to connect the first PS's output to the
other, so the voltage is the same, and there's no massive current flow across
the data cables. 

Anyone desagrees to this?
-- 
Pedro Larroy Tovar. PiotR | http://omega.resa.es/piotr/
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-29 Thread Brandon High
On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
 The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
 SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
 had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
 there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
 option?

I doubt it, but with a sufficiently large case (or small power supply) it may
be possible to stick a 2nd (or 3rd) power supply in. Drives could be plugged
into the second PS while the MB is powered off of the primary PS.

-B

-- 
Brandon High [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Just think: in a few million years, Barney will be motor oil.



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-29 Thread Alvin Oga

hi ya...

might be easier/cheaper to use a simple RC delay to deliver
power to the IDE disks before the motherboard actually gets
the power up

- remember that the atx powersupply has a power-ok signal
to tell the motherboard go ahead and power up...
( aka  the power switch )

each ide disks takes about 1Amp at 12v to sping up the drive...
and most atx powersupply is on that borderline at 8 drives..
4-drives is no big issue

you can fit 2 power supply into a 1U chassis if you used 8x8 sized
atx motherboards...

one of the 1u cases...put a power supply in the front and another
at the back. ( kinda funky )

c ya
alvin

On Sat, 28 Apr 2001, Brandon High wrote:

 On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
  The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
  SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
  had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
  there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
  option?
 
 I doubt it, but with a sufficiently large case (or small power supply) it may
 be possible to stick a 2nd (or 3rd) power supply in. Drives could be plugged
 into the second PS while the MB is powered off of the primary PS.
 



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-29 Thread Russell Coker
On Sunday 29 April 2001 06:48, Brandon High wrote:
 On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
  The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
  SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
  had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
  there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
  option?

 I doubt it, but with a sufficiently large case (or small power supply) it
 may be possible to stick a 2nd (or 3rd) power supply in. Drives could be
 plugged into the second PS while the MB is powered off of the primary PS.

That sounds like a really bad idea to me.

In a regular setup the IDE controller and the drive get power from the same 
source.  So if the signals on the cable have more current going one way than 
the other then the difference will be made up on the 0V line on the PSU.  If 
you have separate PSU's then the difference will go through other lines of 
the data cable.  This is something that is likely to be fatal to drives and 
motherboards.

But if you try it please let me know how it works.  ;)

-- 
http://www.coker.com.au/bonnie++/ Bonnie++ hard drive benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/postal/   Postal SMTP/POP benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/projects.html Projects I am working on
http://www.coker.com.au/~russell/ My home page



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-29 Thread Bernd Eckenfels
On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 11:50:26PM +0200, Andreas Bombe wrote:
 The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
 SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
 had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).

Sorry I missed the start of the thread. I would suggest you to buy a simple
IDE-to-SCSI Raid Appliance. You don't have the trouble with sizing the Power
supply. You get a neat chasis with plug-able disks and you also get the
speed of SCSI and the ability to plug it into every server you desire. The
prices are quite reasonable. I asume you need it at work, cause more than
4x36GB isnt realy needed for private persons, even if they have a large mp3
archive :)

BTW: I would suggest to use only Master-Disks on those IDE Channels, since
those are much faster. One IDE-to-SCSI Solutoin I saw had 8 IDE Channels for
8 Disks, so no slave needs to be used.

Greetings
Bernd
-- 
  (OO)  -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] --
 ( .. )  [EMAIL PROTECTED],linux.de,debian.org} http://home.pages.de/~eckes/
  o--o *plush*  2048/93600EFD  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  +497257930613  BE5-RIPE
(OO)  When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl!



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-29 Thread Hamish Moffatt
On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 10:14:35AM +0200, Russell Coker wrote:
 In a regular setup the IDE controller and the drive get power from the same 
 source.  So if the signals on the cable have more current going one way than 
 the other then the difference will be made up on the 0V line on the PSU.  If 
 you have separate PSU's then the difference will go through other lines of 
 the data cable.  

I don't see why. Nor is this any different to any external drives.
You have a hefty ground connection between the power supplies anyway
(the mains, plus the metal case acting as ground).


Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-28 Thread Russell Coker
On Friday 27 April 2001 19:05, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 I imagine the dangerous part would be when you turn the thing on
 and it tries to spin up all those disks. You could put them to sleep
 shortly after bootup and get the load down, but if PS doesn't blow on
 startup it probably won't blow under normal load either.

I just checked one of my 46G ATA drives.  500ma @ 12V and 300ma @ 5V, that's 
7.5W of power.

A typical PSU will be 250W, even if the hard drives take double power at 
spin-up time there will still be plenty to spare...

-- 
http://www.coker.com.au/bonnie++/ Bonnie++ hard drive benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/postal/   Postal SMTP/POP benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/projects.html Projects I am working on
http://www.coker.com.au/~russell/ My home page



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-28 Thread Andreas Bombe
On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 12:05:11PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
 I imagine the dangerous part would be when you turn the thing on 
 and it tries to spin up all those disks. You could put them to sleep 
 shortly after bootup and get the load down, but if PS doesn't blow on 
 startup it probably won't blow under normal load either. 

The IBM SCSI disk I have here has a jumper to delay spin up depending on
SCSI ID so that an array of those would spin up sequentially if they all
had those jumper set (and different IDs, which they need anyway).  Maybe
there are IDE drives built with RAIDs in mind offering some similar
option?

-- 
 Andreas E. Bombe [EMAIL PROTECTED]DSA key 0x04880A44
http://home.pages.de/~andreas.bombe/http://linux1394.sourceforge.net/



Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-27 Thread Dimitri Maziuk
On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 12:49:13AM -0500, Rahul Jain wrote:
 On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 09:33:19PM -0700, Brandon High wrote:
  On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 09:42:16PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   IDE causes a bit of a performance hit, I don't think we're talking high
   speed file access here though... cheap is the objective.
  
  You'd be suprised at the performance hit. I had 2 drives/channel and
  suffered from really bad performance with the on-board Ultra66 controller. I
  installed a PCI controller (Promise Ultra 66) and put every drive on its own
  channel. Things are much happier now and about 3x faster. The best part is
  that the card only costs about $25.
 
 Yep, but the problem there is figuring out how to get each channel on a unique
 IRQ. With some BIOSes, it's just not possible.

Yeah but we don't need no stinkin' performance for this particular
application. We expect to receive large volumes of data (1TB/yr) that 
will be backed up on tape upon arrival. Occasionally somebody will want 
to retrieve some of it. So, they could just send us an e-mail and a tape 
monkey could restore the file in question. It's just that a) we'd like 
to have another copy of the data anyway, just in case, and b) all things 
considered, IDE drives are cheaper than tapes.

Of course, a wall of 8-drive peecees will have heaps of its own problems. 

Dima
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Re: (OT) Storage (8*IDE HDs) any experiences?

2001-04-27 Thread Dimitri Maziuk
On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 05:32:31PM -0700, Alvin Oga wrote:
...
 - even if you had 2 power supplies...
   - most motherboards only has one atx power connector

True. And if you went for redundant PS's and a mobo that 
supports them, the cost would go way up.

 - are the two power supplies properly doing load sharing...

Usually not. I imagine that's too hard and not worth the trouble
anyway: what you usually want is redundancy, not load sharing.
(I mean, if one PS dies, it will overload and kill the other one
pretty fast. Not a good idea. And if each PS can handle the load
alone, there's little point in sharing the load.)

I imagine the dangerous part would be when you turn the thing on 
and it tries to spin up all those disks. You could put them to sleep 
shortly after bootup and get the load down, but if PS doesn't blow on 
startup it probably won't blow under normal load either. 

Dima
-- 
E-mail dmaziuk at bmrb dot wisc dot edu (@work) or at crosswinds dot net (@home)
http://www.bmrb.wisc.edu/descript/gpgkey.dmaziuk.ascii -- GnuPG 1.0.4 public key
We're sysadmins. Sanity happens to other people. -- Chris King in asr