Mac Pro, ATTO R680, iStoragePro 8-Bay (6gb/sec) = RAID 6 and Confidence Crisis. What Now??

[Mike Masse]

Hello David,

Realize this is a free forum, but as an ATTO user in pain, little surprised to see that your only comment is on another posters post. Is just walking past the problem, and tossing an aside to another industry insider really the message that ATTO wants to send??

Michael

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Simon –
Michael is now up and working.

Simon – do you want your drives to work ?
Simon – do you want your shared storage to work ?

Do you know how to accomplish this Simon ?

YOU CONTACT ME.

Michael’s fee for this morning was ZERO.
He is up and working.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Mike’s drive array is now up and working. Every manufacturer has different specs on the settings for the ATTO card. ATTO cannot be responsible for every damn drive chassis manufacturer’s independent settings.

This is why most people don’t try to “do it yourself”, but buy a preconfigured drive array with SUPPORT from a professional company, such as Maxx Digital, Small Tree, Sonnet, G-Tech, Dulce, etc, etc.

Mike is a great guy, and I was glad to assist him (for free). And Simon, if you need help, just contact me.

Bob Zelin

[Mike Masse]

Wow, Bob. You’ve been super helpful. You’re the first person I’ve talked to who is looking at the whole system.

[Simon Blackledge]

Hey Bob. Thanks for the offer. All our raids and shared storage is working fine. I was just saying we nearly upgraded to iStorage but there was a delivery issue. But I was interested in the issue that was causing him issues with his setup. Always good to know for info.

Was talking to these guys at IBC btw https://www.solarflare.com re: 10Gig network.

s

http://www.SpaceDigital.co.uk | http://www.matteblackfilms.com | http://www.flameop.co.uk

[Mike Masse]

I expect to make another post when I close out my support tickets with the manufacturers. Bob’s help was terrific. With new, top-end equipment, I am also expecting validaton of our fix, and/or other technical input from the manufacturers.

m

[Ron Amborn]

Mike
I could not agree with Bob more. Ci is a great OEM and they build for many companies such as Isilon, Small Tree and many others. It is as you found out the customer support that makes a huge difference. Bob helped out for free but if you had purchased through a system integrator support is only a phone call away. Try to call Ci and then call Maxx Digital and see who responds quicker. They can bend sheet metal but should leave the system support to system builders like Maxx Digital.

Sincerely,
Ron Amborn President
Maxx Entertainment Digital
21562 Newland Street
Huntington Beach , Ca 92646
Direct 714-374-4944
Cell 714-713-4492 Fax 714-374-3404
ron@maxxdigital.com
http://www.maxxdigital.com

[Mike Masse]

Mini update — If you stumble across this post, the message of caution about being your own RAID integrator is absolutely right — even when what you are getting is all specified to work together.

My iStoragePro 6gb/sec enclosure has dismounted by surprise more than once. I am now using the brand new ATTO FW for the raid card.

If you have the parts and have not turned the thing on:

The enclosure maker is the key. I got my ATTO r680 RAID card from iStoragePro, and the only instructions were in the ATTO Box: card fw should be latest, if not update before proceeding. The only problem is that the enclosure maker (CI) had not yet certified this fw level. Later (only after first set of serious problems), was advised by CI to roll back firmware to their last certified level…

It’s important to point out that 2 lessons from this have been that ATTO and CI each are committed to customer service. They are obviously each excellent companies — and they each are very prompt with tech support.

That said, the integration piece is a problem. A reliable RAID is and the enclosure needs to share what they know about how to set up their enclosures with their preferred card (atto). A single sheet of paper in the enclosure box, with this might have spared me a huge waste of time. Or maybe not… maybe I’d still be having issues. SO… don’t assume that you have the key config info from the enclosure maker. Call them up, email, and before powering up, make sure you know the:

– FW for card
– driver level for workstation

(Assuming you are using specified compaitible drives, os, etc.)

Keep you posted.

[Pete Leeman]

Dear Bob,

I too am looking to build a 6gb system with a ci chassis and an r680. I have built raids before with high point cards but I need this one to be bulletproof as a file server for print production. I am also considering the quantum Superloader 3 to share the other port of the r680. When I read your posts I feel much time and energy can be wasted climbing the wrong mountain. Will you be my digital Sherpa?

All the best,
Pete in Miami

[Bob Zelin]

Hi –
I would be honored to help you.
Call Maxx Digital. Ask for Ron.
(714) 374 4944

Bob Zelin