Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 12:43:16 -0500 (EST) From: "Gary D. Margiotta" <gary@tbe.net> To: "Toll, Eric" <etoll@vipstructures.com> Cc: Alessandro de Manzano <ale@unixmania.net>, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: RE: what about highpoint 1640 SATA RAID controller ? Message-ID: <20051201121953.H44460@kerplunk.tbe.net> In-Reply-To: <9BC86C67C3AF7646B9C5382020457A949DD27F@VIP10-WIN2K> References: <9BC86C67C3AF7646B9C5382020457A949DD27F@VIP10-WIN2K>
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> Not bad -- 3Wares 8 port SATA is just over 400 USD. Refurb > 8 port cards can be had for just over 200 USD. > > "3ware 9500S-8MI PCI 2.2 compliant 64-bit/66MHz bus master > SATA Controller Card - OEM > (limit 2 per customer) Features: Supports RAID levels 0, 1, > 10, 5, 50, Single Disk (JBOD), 128 MB of ECC protected > SDRAM, upgradable to 1 GB, Single array capacity scales to > over 3 TB per controller (64-bit LBA support), Optimized > hardware XOR RAID 5 engine provides true hardware based RAID > and intelligent drive management functions" > > $231.00 USD That's a decent price for that card then, although as you say it's refurb (but quite honestly I don't usually mistrust most refurb things, could be as simple as an opened box that got returned unused with some missing cables or something that they can't just resell as new anymore). > Cool! I opted to go with a 64Bit board, dual 64bit procs > and the 64Bit 3Ware card running the 64 bit version of > FreeBSD (all brand new hardware was $1,800.00 usd) +shipping > > Here's my dmsg: > > Copyright (c) 1992-2005 The FreeBSD Project. > Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, > 1992, 1993, 1994 > The Regents of the University of California. All > rights reserved. > FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE-p1 #1: Thu Jun 23 08:33:42 EDT 2005 > root@rodan.vipstructures.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/HAMMER > Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0 > CPU: AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 242 (1595.04-MHz K8-class > CPU) > Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0xf5a Stepping = 10 > > Features=0x78bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,S > EP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2> > AMD Features=0xe0500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,LM,3DNow+,3DNow> > real memory = 2146893824 (2047 MB) > avail memory = 2063540224 (1967 MB) > ACPI APIC Table: <PTLTD APIC > > FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs > cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0 > cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1 > MADT: Forcing active-low polarity and level trigger for SCI > ioapic0 <Version 1.1> irqs 0-23 on motherboard > ioapic1 <Version 1.1> irqs 24-27 on motherboard > ioapic2 <Version 1.1> irqs 28-31 on motherboard > acpi0: <PTLTD XSDT> on motherboard > acpi0: Power Button (fixed) > acpi0: Sleep Button (fixed) > <snip> > twe0: <3ware Storage Controller. Driver version 1.50.01.002> > port 0x4000-0x400f mem 0xf0800000-0xf0ffffff irq 25 at > device 1.0 on pci9 > twe0: 2 ports, Firmware FE8S 1.05.00.068, BIOS BE7X > 1.08.00.048 > twed0: <Unit 0, TwinStor, Normal> on twe0 > twed0: 238474MB (488395120 sectors) > SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched! > Mounting root from ufs:/dev/twed0s1a > Sweet!. One of these days I'll go and splurge on some really nice hardware, but unfortunately I'm a pack rack, and as long as the old stuff I collect still suits my needs, I use it until it sputters out. > Warm and fuzzy? Hmmmm. They (3Ware) did have all kinds of > files/drivers/utils for FreeBSD even the 64 bit version -- > which I'm running. I called techs at 3Ware and they actually > talked to me about FreeBSD before I bought it and helped > with recommendations. For me it doesn't get much warmer than > that. Well, my main warm and fuzzy is basically the price they charge, plus I've seen some issues come up on the lists that just made me think twice about spending the money. I do know they have had good support for FBSD for a while, but I've not seen the same kind of questions raised about the HPT stuff so far (and that could be just that they aren't used as widely as the 3Ware stuff, so less stress testers). > Well - if you have RAID - then data is important. IMHO It > is very useful to know when the array is in trouble. With > the highpoint I guess you have to watch logs etcetera -- > does the card have an audible alarm on it? I do believe there is an audible alarm on the card, I've been installing and working with so many RAID cards lately, I can't remember the specifics about that one at the moment. I do know that I have other HPT cards that have alarms on them (in fact I had a RocketRaid 454 screaming at me last night for a failed array), so I would think that this one does, I just can't remember. > > Also for me it all goes back to the optimized XOR RAID > engine that provides *true* hardware based RAID that you get > when you buy a 3Ware. Can you rebuild an array in the > controller BIOS screen? If the data is worth the extra $100 > or $200 get the 3Ware - I paid $147.00 USD for the 2 port > that I have.. > Yeah, the HPT cards have their own BIOS which is where you construct/reinitialize/rebuild the arrays, etc. The "A" series does have a dedicated onboard XOR processor: "With an optimized XOR technique and advanced Intelligent Cache Algorithm powered by the HPT 601" They have the same card in a non "A" version, without the additional HPT 601 chip onboard, which effectively makes it a "soft" raid card. There is a windows management utility, though none that I know of offhand for FBSD (not saying it doesn't exist, but I haven't looked for or found one yet), which is I'm assuming similar to what you're talking about with the 3Ware utility. As for my data, it is not mission-critical in this particular scenario. I obviously don't want to lose an array, but if it happens, it's not a horrible thing. For this use, I need large amounts of storage (and this was the first test array, I'm planning on a much larger set of arrays forthcoming), as this particular installation is going to be the backend storage mechanism for video editing. Basically, I need to store the data from an editing project offline from the workstations for a period of up to 4 months, until the client comes back and releases the project as completed. At that point, the project data gets archived onto tape for a few months (just in case, people sometimes do change their minds), and then is wiped for good. If we lose an array, it just means if the clients come back for changes to their project, we'd have to reload the original data up and re-edit it again, which is slightly more than an inconvenience, but doable. With each project in the 40-60GB range, the storage requirements build up very quickly (3-6 projects per week on average, so 4 months of retention can build up to almost 5TB in the max scenario, very scary). Of course, if I was running something mission-critical, I would definitely consider a higher-end solution such as the 3Ware cards (or even SCSI-based if needed, and those cards can go through the roof pricewise), however, this fits my needs for this situation quite well. BTW - I do have an older 3Ware card, it's a 5xxx series, 8-port PATA with RAID-0 or RAID-1 capabilities which I'm planning on using for a file server, just haven't had time to set it up. I will definitely check out the card's abilities and the monitoring utilites, since you are obviously having good results with them already. Thanks for the input, this has been a great discussion so far. -Gary
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