disc diagnostics ( RS 6000 )

[Jim Ray]

We intend to put some 3'rd party discs on our IBM RS 6000's ( model
540 ).  Unfortunately, the IBM sales people have ( apparently )
decended on our management with aguments ranging from " 3'rd party
discs aren't supported" to " you can't do proper disc diagnostics that
are supplied on the RIOS if you use 3'rd party drives".  To me, it
sounds like the old "you can only buy from us" argument.

So, my questions are:

1) Is it true that there are diagnostics which you can only run on IBM
   supplied scsi drives on the RIOS box's.

2) Is it true that you can not do disc striping with 3'rd party
drives?


We are new in the IBM RIOS arena but have lots of DEC's and SUN's and
am familiar with this argument ( although I have to admit its been
quite a while since i've heard it ).

ANY comments would be useful.

Thanks,



-- 
Jim Ray                                Harris Semiconductor
Internet:  jdr at semi.harris.com         PO Box 883   MS 62B-022
Phone:     (407) 729-5059              Melbourne, FL  32901