Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 10:07:54 -0600 From: "Aaron Sonntag" <aaron@sonntag.org> To: "Mike Smith" <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>, "Aaron Sonntag" <aaron@sonntag.org> Cc: <FreeBSD-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: SCSI RAID controller support Message-ID: <EFEFLFENNNOBGMNPFNNFGEGCCLAA.aaron@sonntag.org> In-Reply-To: <199912170135.RAA03472@mass.cdrom.com>
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Thank your for your help thus far! Mr. Smith, you said that I can't mirror the boot drive either. How would you go about securing the OS in a server such as the one I am looking at purchasing? It doesn't do me much good to have 10,000 worth of hot swap drives and power supplies if my main OS is still residing on a single point of failure... any thoughts? What is the minimum I would have to have on this boot drive? I could put /usr and /var and /etc on the RAID array correct? Or do you mean I can't have the boot sector proper on the raid array... meaning that a tiny slice of the OS for the boot partition is all I need to be off of the array? I have to make this system completely redundant at least one time over and at this point the only hole seems to be the lack of any ability to protect the main OS with mirroring via hardware(controller) or software(FreeBSD vinum?). Your thoughts and time are greatly appreciated. Aaron -----Original Message----- From: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Mike Smith Sent: Thursday, December 16, 1999 7:36 PM To: Aaron Sonntag Cc: Mike Smith; FreeBSD-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: SCSI RAID controller support > Yeah the Dell rep was telling me that the Adaptec controller was an OEM > based on the 7897 chipset. Er. Well, saying the aac-364 is "based on the 7897 chipset" is a bit like saying my car is "based on Michelins". Yes, it does use them, but it's really a complete computer system built around a StrongARM 110. > I am not going to be allowed to run 4.x on this > server. I will be able to run 3.4 when it is on CD later this month. Will > this help? I also did not plan on booting from the RAID controller. I had > planned on doing software mirroring on the SCSI boot drives and the RAID5 on > the hardware controller. Ok. Note that you can't really "software mirror" the boot volume either, unless you're talking about something else I'm not aware of. > Will this allow me to use the Dell/Adaptec > controller at all? I read in some FreeBSD documentation that the 7897 > chipset was supported... but I guess not in a RAID controller? The aic7897 is supported, yes. The Adaptec aac-364 is not. > Based upon > what you said I can at least use the AMI controller with 3.4 if I don't mind > booting off a different controller right? I hate to drag this out but a lot > of money is involved (relatively) and I really only have one shot at this. Not a problem. Yes, the AMI controller is perfectly viable with 3.4, and I've been getting quite a lot of good feedback on it so far. > One more question. Is there any vendor like Dell or SAG that is FreeBSD > friendly? This is always a difficult recommendation to make, simply because anything I say may be taken as endorsement and I don't want people to feel left out. Having said that, I've never had cause to regret recommending both Telenet Systems (www.tesys.com) and ASA Computers (www.asacomputers.com). -- \\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith \\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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