>> I power cycled the server after my users went home, checked the cables,
>> and after about a hour's worth of hair-pulling nvram/disk configuration
>> mismatches I finally got the system back up with sd0 in degraded mode
>> and the other two optimal.
>
> yay
>
>> Brought the system up to the most recent snapshot and did a bioctl -H
>> 1:0 sd0 and the rebuild kicked off immediately.
>
> double yay
>
>> So it looks like 0:9 is still a bad disk--I'll try to check that out
>> tomorrow in the new server.
>
> You can rebuild 2 drives at the same time.
>
>> The cables were all tight connections but I wonder about the quality.
>> They are both loose bundled round cables with 5 connectors but I'm only
>> using one for the safte. They were what I had at the time, but I'd
>> sure take an suggestions for a good vendor and to get some really good
>> cables.
>
> Oh man these cables can be real bad. Since I am not familiar with this
> enclosure I'll give you some general ideas.
>
> If it is an external enclosure, never EVER use these cables. In fact if
> that cable isn't inside a box directly connected to ONLY disks then you
> are using it wrong. You can only have a point to point connection to
> an expander and I'll assume that your enclosure has one (if not send it
> back because that means that there is too much distance between the
> computer and the drives cable+trace wise!) For the EE folks, these
> connectors are counted as an electrical load and must be at least 10cm
> apart. Any obstruction will cause reflections that'll have all kinds of
> cute issues.
>
> This said if this cable connects the motherboard to an internal
> backplane you want a cable with 2 connectors only! Although it speaks
> for the quality if they use a cable instead of routing the traces to the
> backplane through some sort of riser.
>
> Go spend a good amount of cash on an Amphenol U320 round cable with
> adequate shielding and metal connectors. No plastic or shrunk plastic
> connectors since those tend to get deformed and get cocked upon
> insertion. Also the shrunk plastic cables do not have the correct bend
> radius and they tend to be flat where the cable meets the connector this
> causes first of all signal integrity issues and secondly they break.
> You want a cable that curves very evenly and naturally.
> Here is an example:
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-FJ114-PowerVault-220S-221S-Ultra320-SCSI-Cable_W0QQitemZ37010...
>
> Note: I am in no way shape of form endorsing buying SCSI cables of ebay!
> It is an example only! Pins can be easily bent and who knows what might
> have happened to it in the past.
>
> Your SCSI rig is only as good as your cables. Always remember that. It
> isn't uncommon to spend a couple hundred on a good cable.
>
