We are having a terrible time building an array of SCSI disks.  It will
consist of 10 physical drives, but they will be mirrored--so there will only
be 5 logical drives.

We are using an AMI Elite 1600 controller with 37 Gbyte IBM Ultra LVD's
(SCSI-3).

What happens is that any attempt to build the array fails when we load
channel 1 (the second channel) with more than three drives.  (Channel 0 is
happy with 4 drives.)

Calls to AMI have resulted in the usual tech-support purgatory.

We have never gotten to the point where we can install the operating system.
So far the problem has consumed on the order of ten or twelve man-days with
little or no progress.  The system is scheduled to ship Monday.


The problem is exacerbated by the fact that we are a small company, and no
employee has ever installed more than four drives on a system.  In fact, no
employee recalls having ever MET anyone who has set up a sizable disk array.


Free advice will be much appreciated.
   Offers of fee-for-service advice will be considered.



Trent Shipley

Work:
(602) 522-7502
mailto:tshipley@symbio-tech.com
http://www.symbio-tech.com