Lots of confusion can creep in when something simple evolves into something
complex. Confusion is exactly what happened when my department recently
(1998.02.xx) attempted to migrate RFxx
series drives from a uVAX-4300 to a recently acquired (but used) VAX-6420. This
problem was made worse we when discovered that the SHOW DSSI console command on
our particular VAX-6420 was not implemented and console upgrade kits for the
6420 were no longer available. In retrospect, I think that some confusion came
from the fact that the VAX-6420 was probably designed for use with an HSC based
storage system. I hope that some of this information may be of use to someone
else since there seems to be a lot of used VAX systems still available at very
reasonable prices. Besides, who really wants to migrate to a UNIX box when a
VAX-VMS system will do a better job?
| Name |
Description |
| BI |
- Backplane Interconnect - is a
computer system backplane for medium to large size VAX
processors.
- This technology made UNIBUS
virtually obsolete in the VAX world.
- 13.3 Megabytes/second maximum
transfer rate. (Megabytes, not Megabits)
- Features ZIF (zero insertion
force) backplane sockets.
|
| CI |
- Computer Interconnect
- 80 Megabytes/second depending
on the adapter
|
| DSSI |
- Digital Storage System
Interconnect
- 1.5<5.0 Megabytes/second
depending on the adapter
|
| HSC |
- Hierarchical Storage
Controller
- a special purpose computer
that off loads storage management from the host computers
|
| ISE |
- Integrated Storage Element
- a DSSI device that contains an
HSC like embedded intelligent controller and an on board MSCP
server.
|
| KDA-50 |
- A Q-Bus based MSCP disk
controller
|
| KDB-50 |
- A "BI" based MSCP disk
controller
|
| MSCP |
- Mass Storage Control Protocol
|
| Q-Bus |
- A small computer system
backplane for PDP and early VAX processors.
- Similar in concept to the
Unibus except Q-bus address and data lines are multiplexed onto
the same wires in order to reduce costs
|
| SC |
|
| SCS |
- System Communication Services
|
| SCSI |
- Small Computer Systems
Interconnect (pronounced scuzzy)
|
| SBB |
- StorageWorks Building Block
|
| UniBus |
- A "56 line" computer system
backplane for PDP and VAX processors.
- Address and data lines are NOT
multiplexed together as is the case with Q-Bus
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unibus
|
| uVAX |
- A Micro VAX is usually a small
to medium sized machine that is based on Q-Bus
|
| VAX |
- Virtual Address eXtension
(refers to Digital's 32 bit processor technology)
- all early 700 series machines
could run PDP-11 code in compatibility mode (this was done to
allow customers to migrate from PDP to VAX without rewriting
their software
- VAX-11/780 (the
architecture reference platform. "One VUP" still means "one
VAX-11/780")
- VAX-11/750
- VAX-11/730
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAX
-
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/vax/
|
| VAX-6000 |
|
| VAXBI |
|
| VAXXMI |
|
| VMS |
- Virtual Memory System
- refers to Digital's VAX
operating system software
|
| XMI |
- eXtended Memory Interconnect
- a 64 bit wide computer system
backplane for medium and large VAX processors
- supported 40 bits of address
space (1 Terabyte)
- only 30 bits on VAX-6000
series 200 to 500
- only 32 bits on VAX-6000
series 600 and higher
- 100 Megabytes/second maximum
transfer rate. (Megabytes, not Megabits)
- Features ZIF (zero insertion
force) backplane sockets.
|
VAX-VMS Storage Notes:
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