[sclug] RAID 5 - Summary

[Matt]

* Scott Rixon <scott at green-flag.com> [2005-09-22 21:55:12]:
> Alex Butcher wrote:
> 
> >On Thu, 22 Sep 2005, Scott Rixon wrote:
> >
> >>PS. I would have bought a hardware RAID card with 8 SATA connection. 
> >>(Oh and a hotswap one at that)
> >
> >
> >SATA is specified to be hotpluggable. Whether all SATA implementations 
> >are,
> >of course, is another matter entirely (especially when it comes to PC
> >hardware...)
> >
> >What model did you go for, out of interest?
> >
> >Best Regards,
> >Alex.
> 
> I didn't buy one.. Just would.. I like the Adaptec stuff. They use their 
> SCSI (Big stuff) BIOS on the small cards. But how Debian likes it I 
> don't know..
> 
> I have an LSI PATA card that works just fine in my Debian box..

I found a lot of the Adaptec cards performed quite poorly, and LSI
weren't much better.

I have an Areca 8-port SATA RAID adapter which at the time I bought it
seemed to be top of the tree, with fully GPL'd drivers. Performance is
excellent.

It supports RAID6 so you can suffer two disk failures at the expense of
less overall storage.

I nearly bought 3ware until I saw the performance stats, not terribly
impressed, although it appears to often be related to the firmware on
the card.

> There are some really nice SATA hotswap cases around.. If you're going 
> to build a server get a proper case. It will pay for it's self when you 
> hotplug a failed drive so don't have to stay late to down a rip apart 
> the box!

You can get quite a few hotswap drive bays that take up 3x 5.25" bays
and allow you to plug 4 disks in, 3ware I think make them.

> Full hotswap is the way to go.. Fans, PSU, disks.

Very hard to do this with generic build-it-yourself components, best buy
something like Dell, HP, IBM, etc.

Matt
-- 
"Phased plasma rifle in a forty-watt range?"
"Hey, just what you see, pal."
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