Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:28:03 -0700 From: Scott Long <scottl@samsco.org> To: Mikhail Teterin <mi@corbulon.video-collage.com> Cc: scsi@freebsd.org Subject: Re: need help choosing a SCSI controller Message-ID: <4227F1E3.9030500@samsco.org> In-Reply-To: <200503031523.j23FN62E022298@corbulon.video-collage.com> References: <200503031523.j23FN62E022298@corbulon.video-collage.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Mikhail Teterin wrote: > Hello! > > I'm constructing a new system which will have 3 or 4 > SCSI drives (U320 or U160). I don't plan to use RAID-5 -- > maybe just striping (hardware or ccd). > > I'm looking for a controller with battery backup so > that it can safely cache writes. It must fit into PCI-X > motherboard and be offered on EBay for low price. > > My current choices are: > > . HP Compaq Smart Array 642 - U320 > (128Mb battery module optional, but available) > > . AMI 493 - U160 (128Mb and battery included) > > . Mylex DAC960PL (4Mb cache and battery included) > > HP looks best, but will be twice more expensive than AMI. Will things > be at least 30% faster? The Mylex is dirt cheap, but is a PCI, and my > motherboard will only have 1 "legacy" PCI slot. > > The quality of the FreeBSD driver is also of concern, especially since > this will be an amd64 system (running 5.x). > > Thanks in advance for any comments, suggestions, experiences. Yours, > > -mi The mlx driver is pretty old and crusty, and it hasn't seen a lot of attention. I might SMP lock it one of these days, but it's not a high priority. Both the ciss (Compaq) and the amr (AMI/LSI) drivers are fairly well maintained, and the hardware that you're quoting is pretty respectable. LSI is also talking about releasing FreeBSD-native management apps for their RAID controllers, though it's not clear to me whether they will support the older models. So, it's up to you. The Mylex probably isn't a good choice, but the other two are fine. Scott
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?4227F1E3.9030500>