Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 01:19:13 -0600 From: "Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC" <chad@shire.net> To: Nikolas Britton <freebsd@nbritton.org> Cc: Wojciech Puchar <wojtek@tensor.3miasto.net>, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Online Capacity Expansion, RAID, Etc. Message-ID: <CC43EC85-F539-489A-BB47-BB37F4BAC1D3@shire.net> In-Reply-To: <429A4F44.604@nbritton.org> References: <429A11AF.7000607@nbritton.org> <Pine.NEB.4.62.0505292212570.6829@chylonia.3miasto.net> <429A4F44.604@nbritton.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On May 29, 2005, at 5:24 PM, Nikolas Britton wrote: > Wojciech Puchar wrote: > > >>> to be starting the array in a RAID 1 config using 2 drives, I >>> will then migrate, and grow, the array to RAID 5 using the ORLM >>> and OCE features of the board when more space is required. >>> FreeBSD, RELENG_5_4, will NOT be install on this array, it will >>> be on a separate RAID 1 array using the motherboard's on-board >>> SATA RAID controller. >>> >> >> >> how about buying two 4-port SATA PCI board to your server and use >> software RAID. >> > > 2x PROMISE TX4 PCI-X SATA Controller ($65) $130 > PROMISE SX8-O PCI-X SATA Controller Card $164: > 8 SATA Ports > PCI-X > > HighPoint RocketRAID 2220 PCI-X SATA-II RAID Controller $249: > 8 SATA Ports. > PCI-X. > XOR Engine. > 64bit LBA. > HotSwap. > HotSpare. > Online Capacity Expansion. > Online RAID Level Migration. > Can connect two of them together with a jumper cable for a 16 Port > RAID card. > RAID Management Program, Will email me if RAID is degraded, auto > rebuild of RAID, etc. > The company supports FreeBSD and provides* drivers for FreeBSD, > Also I'm happy with a past product I bought from them. > > *Read the author section of the hptmv man page and go here: > http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/bios_rr1820a.htm > If you are using a REAL HW raid card (and this seems to be one from your description) I would use it any day over a software raid. I like all that stuff to be done before the OS sees the disk. I have not used the HighPoint Rocket Raid 2220 (I have a RR 1820a but only use it as a fancy SATA card) but have used Adaptec u160 and u320 and SATA cards. Much easier to deal with setting up and getting things to work. Software Raid can be useful, but I prefer true HW raid for anything important and heavily used. Think about RAID 10 instead of 5 for performance reasons (so I have heard). Chad
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CC43EC85-F539-489A-BB47-BB37F4BAC1D3>