SGI SAN InfiniteStorage 200 -setup help needed :/

DamdamCz · December 4, 2019

Hello guys,
So I got my hands on this "beautiful" device - SGI Infinite Storage 200.
However, I've got a problem setting it up.

SHORT VERSION - I AM LOOKING FOR A WAY TO SET THIS THING UP WITHOUT SERIAL PORT, OR ETHERNET USE. I AM ALSO LOOKING FOR A PROGRAM CALLED "SGI INFINITE STORAGE SYSTEM MANAGER"

The whole story:

I do have plenty of hardware and network experience (in fact, I'm admin of my own server-operation, with over 100 linux-based servers running currently online, all done, setup and managed by myself.)

However, I'm more into the computational stuff and not really into storage. The need came and I got my hands on this 10 years old hardware, basically for free.
As long as it is only for my personal, long-term backup storage, I do feel comfortable using it, even given its age.

So, to my problem >

My current setup looks like this >
SGI IS 200 - connected via 4gbps fibre directly to my storage-host DL360 G7 (Dual X5660 + 64GB RAM) via a QLE2560 QLogic fibre card. If I enter the cards management utility during the bootup, I see the SGI IS 200 connected, I can access it, however I can not see any individual discs or any raid setup, whatsoever. After I boot vmware, I can see 2 SGI fibre drives however, they are 20/10MB big and I can not delete them, nor repartition them.

My guess - The SGI IS 200 has integrated raid controller, and shares only the whole raids through the fibre connection. The two disks I see are remainings of old raids, that were present on the server before it was given to me, however due to the missing drives, they only show up as "really small units".

And now FINALLY MY QUESTION:
HOW TO CONFIGURE THE RAID WITH NEW DRIVES???

Because no matter how many drives I stick in, I can always see only the 2 drives (20 and 10MB big in size), and I've tried so hard, but had no luck setting the SAN up myself.

The SGI IS 200 has integrated ethernet jack, however it does not seem to work right. It does not retrieve IP from my DHCP server, inspite of the port being "active - status leds blinking" - my guess is that it is configured for a static IP, which I have no way of finding out.

I've read through all manuals available, however I came to only 3 conclusions:
1. I can not set it up through online interface, because the port is configured incompatibly with my network.
2. I could reconfigure it using serial port, which I have no way to connecting to.
3. The unit is able to be configured through fibre, using program called "sgi infinite storage system manager" however, I had no luck finding it online.

So, am I stuck with a brick and should just find something else, or is there any way, you can help me solve this problem? :)
I think that the best way would be to get the software, or to find some way to reset the controller board to retrieve IP from my DHCP and let me configure it via network interface.

Thank you very very much,
Every advice appreciated :)

DamdamCz · December 4, 2019

Btw, one more idea - I do have also a controller to swap, with SAS SFF 8088 connectors instead of the fibre. If I'd get external SFF 8088 raid card and used the SAS connection instead of the fibre, could maybe that solve my issue?
Appreciate your time