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Date:      Tue, 18 Jun 2002 21:40:54 -0400
From:      "Remo Lacho" <Remo.Lacho@verizon.net>
To:        bob@immure.com
Cc:        stable@jnielsen.net, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: the new ATA driver vs. vinum
Message-ID:  <200206182140540930.089E3C72@smtp.verizon.net>
In-Reply-To: <20020619003131.GE9829@luke.immure.com>
References:  <DBEFLLCPEGLPEAGOPLIHIEEODKAA.patrick-fbsdstable@mindstep.com> <0fb301c2170c$df665ff0$0900a8c0@max> <20020618215151.GB9829@luke.immure.com> <108201c2171d$ea673d00$0900a8c0@max> <200206181948530523.0837ACB5@smtp.verizon.net> <20020619003131.GE9829@luke.immure.com>

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On 6/18/2002 at 7:31 PM Bob Willcox wrote:

>What type of ata drives were you using? I am using IBM drives w/o any
>problems (with DMA enabled). Most of my disks are the 80GB and 120GB
>120GXP models.
>
As I said, this is not (yet) a production system.  I have two Maxtor
(Quantum) "throwaways" lc20s, 20GB, 5400 RPM (about 6 months old), set up as
masters on each of the two ata channels.
>
>With one of my setups (a 3 80GB drive RAID0 array) I get up to 90MB/s
>through put on reads and 70MB/s on writes.
>
That's impressive!

My test box is a Gateway 6400 server with on board Symbios LVD 160
controllers (extremely fast with FBSD 4.6R).  It would really be nice to have
an ata array file server 2+2 RAID0+1 of 4 WD 80GB or 120GB drives with 8 MB
cache and 7,200 RPM (from $95 to $120 each on sale with rebates).
>
>Bob
>
>On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 07:48:53PM -0400, Remo Lacho wrote:
>> I too have set up a RAID0 array on a ServerWorks ROSB4 (non-raid)
>controller
>> (but not on a production machine!), that has worked flawlessly so far.
>> 
>> However, prior to setting up the array (and until the drives' mode was
>set to
>> "PIO4") the ata sub-system kept crashing continuously.
>> 
>> It would seem that if the atacontrol binary ever becomes stable  -- and
>can
>> run ata disks at their top rated speed -- vinum will be getting a run
>for its
>> money.
>> 
>> My experiences with vinum have all ended tragically.  It has never been
>> production level for my needs.
>> 
>> When (and if) atacontrol becomes stable, you will be getting champagne
>for
>> the price of beer!
>> 
>> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>> 
>> On 6/18/2002 at 5:14 PM John Nielsen wrote:
>> 
>> >----- Original Message -----
>> >From: "Bob Willcox" <bob@immure.com>
>> >To: "John Nielsen" <stable@jnielsen.net>
>> >Cc: "stable list" <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
>> >Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 3:51 PM
>> >Subject: Re: the new ATA driver vs. vinum
>> >
>> >
>> >> On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 03:12:36PM -0600, John Nielsen wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Bear in mind that atacontrol is a utility to interact with a
>hardware
>> >ATA
>> >> > raid controller, and doesn't do RAID itself.  Vinum allows you to do
>> >RAID
>> >> > without any special hardware.  ATA RAID was possible in 4.5, you
>just
>> >had to
>> >> > rely on the RAID controller's BIOS to set it up and manage it if
>there
>> >was a
>> >> > problem.
>> >>
>> >> Actually, with the new ata driver and atacontrol you can do raid w/o
>an
>> >> ata raid controller with some restrictions. From the atacontrol man
>page:
>> >>
>> >>               Allthough the ATA driver allows for creating an ATA
>RAID on
>> >>               disks on any controller, there are restrictions. It is
>only
>> >pos-
>> >>               sible to boot on an array if its either located on a
>"real"
>> >ATA
>> >>               RAID controller like the Promise or Highpoint
>controllers,
>> >or if
>> >>               the RAID declared is of RAID1 or SPAN type, in case of a
>> >SPAN
>> >>               the partition to boot must reside on the first disk in
>the
>> >SPAN.
>> >>
>> >> So as long as you don't want/need to boot from the RAID, any IDE
>> >> controller should work.
>> >
>> >I stand corrected!  I'll have to look into that some more. :)
>> >
>> >> I have several systems here runing both a RAID0 and a RAID0+1 array
>> >> using a standard non-RAID promise IDE controllers (TX2's as I recall).
>> >> Works fine! :-)
>> >>
>> >> Bob
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Bob Willcox            Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to
>> >improve.
>> >> bob@vieo.com           Success is also easy to handle: you've solved
>the
>> >> Austin, TX             wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
>> >with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
>> 
>
>-- 
>Bob Willcox            Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to improve.
>bob@vieo.com           Success is also easy to handle: you've solved the
>Austin, TX             wrong problem. Work hard to improve.




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