[rescue] Netra 240 - Backup rsync server?

[Jonathan Sturges]

> On Apr 11, 2009, at 9:44 AM, Brooke Gravitt wrote:
> 
> > I find myself with a Netra 240 - anyone's opinion on wether it'd  
> > make a
> > decent backup server for rsyncing to, or putting sparse images on for
> > TimeMachine?  Can the SPARCs take a bog-standard PCI 1394/FireWire  
> > card &
> > use that for additional dasd?
> 
> I have tried putting two different firewire chipsets in a PCI SPARC,  
> and neither worked.  One was a Via chipset, and the other was...  
> Well, I'm not sure.  It definitely wasn't Via.  Maybe it was TI?  
> There are supposed to be some firewire cards that will work though,  
> and I'd love if someone could point me at a specific card to buy  
> cheaply.
> 
> Also, Via USB doesn't work in Solaris/SPARC.
> 
> On the upside, NEC USB chipsets seem to work.  That is what is on the  
> Belkin card I had in a Solaris/SPARC machine. 

I second the "Via" compatibility issues.  Via USB 2.0 does not work, and I've never been able to get Via FireWire to work either.

You are guaranteed to be OK with an NEC USB 2.0 chip.  On the FireWire front, I thought most any FireWire chip BUT Via should work.  I am using a combo card that uses a T.I. FW chip now, and it seems to work find.   Here's the USB 2.0/FW400 card I'm using, with NEC & T.I. chips, for $10:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AUA-3020A-BULK&cat=CLR&cpc=CLR
I've got one of these in a Netra t1 105 and it's fine.  With any Solaris release, but especially prior to Solaris 10, make sure you have the latest kernel patch in order to save yourself a lot of heartburn with USB & FW storage.

good luck,
Jonathan