From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 4 15:33:36 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D4B3F1065670 for ; Sun, 4 Dec 2011 15:33:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mavbsd@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ww0-f50.google.com (mail-ww0-f50.google.com [74.125.82.50]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 651978FC1C for ; Sun, 4 Dec 2011 15:33:35 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wgbdr11 with SMTP id dr11so5660318wgb.31 for ; Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:33:35 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=sender:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject :references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=/urauwDICYlCzIIxUPswW4Fi3WcvcN33fDAajBe3k9M=; b=Xbe0to0TVrg7GsnbH7/TbG/UcryFbAFcdcpOidXRlr7EjseckQCClFK0IjAIkJRL1a It2SRdo/8F2XyXM1MTGKVk9FVrwaSA1Wh/wxCEaR8pTovXRrk+W1j7Gk8pzN3Q/R3CjP f4itMd1yYEa6Se89sSmFQiU6RYybWLM6Lam3M= Received: by 10.216.14.37 with SMTP id c37mr1435502wec.86.1323012815280; Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:33:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from mavbook.mavhome.dp.ua (pc.mavhome.dp.ua. [212.86.226.226]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id fw16sm22809951wbb.13.2011.12.04.07.33.33 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:33:34 -0800 (PST) Sender: Alexander Motin Message-ID: <4EDB92CC.5020800@FreeBSD.org> Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:33:32 +0200 From: Alexander Motin User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:8.0) Gecko/20111112 Thunderbird/8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Nenhum_de_Nos References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: current Subject: Re: Sil3124 + Sil4726 PortMultipier and FreeBSD9 X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:33:36 -0000 On 04.12.2011 04:46, Nenhum_de_Nos wrote: > this port multiplier will work ok ? On Sil3124 and which others ? > > the tip on FreeNAS was great, but my main concern here is the sata hardware compatibility. I'd > like to buy it knowing it will work :) Port multipliers supported by all siis(4) hardware and many mvs(4) and ahci(4). In case of mvs(4) and ahci(4) support and effectiveness depends on controller model. SiI3124 is known to be a good option. If performance is not the first priority (150MB/s should be enough for home NAS) -- SiI3132 and SiI3531 are also fine. 6Gbps Marvell 88SE91xx in _non-RAID_ versions also good on tests, but there are not so many reports about them yet. I can't say for sure about ICH7 and NM10, but many Intel chipset controllers support port multipliers when AHCI is enabled. I have feeling that all of them support it in hardware (at least since ICH8), but it is blocked by BIOS. At least I had motherboard that had and lost port multipliers support after some BIOS update. You may see that info in ahci(4) boot messages. Unluckily now Intel supports only command-based switching, that allows only one device beyond port multiplier execute commands at a time and significantly limits performance. Controller support for more effective FIS-based switching reported by ahci(4) and mvs(4) drivers during boot. All siis(4) controllers support FIS-based switching. Also note that not all controller BIOSes support detecting and booting from devices on port multiplier, except one on the first port. Consider that when choosing controller and partitioning disks if you are going to boot from them. Port multipliers themselves are quite simple from driver point of view, so all of them should be supported if they follow standards. At least I haven't seen reports yet that some one is not supported. What's about reliability comparison -- I have no info. -- Alexander Motin