Installing the A6828A Adapter

Installing the A6828A Adapter

Adapter Compatibility

This section explains adapter compatibility considerations for performing OLA and OLR.

Online Addition (OLA) You can add multiple adapters at the same time. While adding an adapter online, the first issue you must resolve is whether the new adapter is compatible with the system. Each OLAR-capable PCI slot provides a set amount of power. The replacement adapter cannot require more than the available power.

The adapter must also operate at the slot’s bus frequency. A PCI adapter must run at any frequency lower than its maximum capability, but an adapter that could operate at only 33 MHz would not work on a bus running at 66 MHz. The SCSI A6828A HBA operates at 66MHz. The rad command provides information on the bus frequency and power available at a slot, as well as other slot-related data.

If your system has one or more slots that support OLAR, and you want to use OLA to install the A6828A in one of those slots, install the adapter in your HP-UX system according to the procedure described in the “Managing PCI Cards with OLAR” chapter of the Configuring HP-UX Peripherals manual.

After you add a new A6828A adapter, SAM tries to locate the SCSI c8xx driver. If SAM is unable to locate the driver, you cannot use the new adapter until you install the driver (remember that driver installation requires a system reboot). If SAM locates the driver, it determines whether the new adapter is functional. If the adapter is not functional, SAM displays an error message.

Online Replacement (OLR) While replacing an interface adapter online, the replacement adapter must be identical to the adapter being replaced, or at least be able to operate using the same driver as the replaced adapter. This is referred to as like-for-likereplacement and should be adhered to, because using a similar but not identical adapter can cause unpredictable results.

For example, a newer version of the target adapter that is identical to the older adapter in terms of hardware might contain an updated firmware version that could potentially conflict with the current driver. In addition, the old adapter and new adapter must have the same PCI identifiers (subsystem ID and device ID).

Chapter 2

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