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Date:      Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:11:16 +0200
From:      Laszlo Nagy <gandalf@shopzeus.com>
To:        freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Cc:        Tony Nagy - SHOPZEUS <tony@shopzeus.com>
Subject:   Intel Server Board S5000PSLROMB + SAS ROMB
Message-ID:  <48CA0804.5080508@shopzeus.com>

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I'm about to buy a new server. There is a local distributor here and 
they offered good prices. The server will have 2 SAS disks in RAID-1 and 
8 or 10 SATA 2 disks in RAID 1+0. Others told me that I MUST ask the 
hardware list before I buy it. Here is their opinion:

> I don't know anything about how well this Intel RAID performs under 
> FreeBSD, but you should check that if you haven't already.  From the 
> little bit I read about it I'm concerned if it's fast enough for as 
> many drives as you're using.  The wrong disk controller will make a 
> slow mess out of any hardware you throw at it.
And here is the hardware:

- Boxed Intel Server Board S5000PSLROMB with 8-port SAS ROMB card 
(Supports 45nm processors (Harpertown and Wolfdale-DP)
- Intel® RAID Activation key AXXRAK18E enables full intelligent SAS RAID 
on S5000PAL, S5000PSL, SR4850HW4/M, SR6850HW4/M. RoHS Compliant.
- 512 MB 400MHz DDR2 ECC Registered CL3 DIMM Single Rank, x8(for 
s5000pslromb)
- Intel® RAID Smart Battery AXXRSBBU3, optional battery back up for use 
with AXXRAK18E and SRCSAS144E.  RoHS Complaint.
- 4-drive SAS/SATA backplane with expander (requires 2 SAS ports) for 
SC5400BRP and SC5400LX (two pieces)

The basic question is:

- how well is this configuration supported in FreeBSD 7?
- is this RAID controller fast and reliable with 10 or more disks? Can 
it take advantage of the disks, or should I use a different controller?

Thanks,

   Laszlo





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