From owner-freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 4 05:30:44 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DC27216A4D0 for ; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 05:30:44 +0000 (GMT) Received: from pooker.samsco.org (pooker.samsco.org [168.103.85.57]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 648FF43D6A for ; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 05:30:44 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Received: from [192.168.254.11] (junior-wifi.samsco.home [192.168.254.11]) (authenticated bits=0) by pooker.samsco.org (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id j245WLOP008409; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 22:32:27 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Message-ID: <4227F1E3.9030500@samsco.org> Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:28:03 -0700 From: Scott Long User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050218 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mikhail Teterin References: <200503031523.j23FN62E022298@corbulon.video-collage.com> In-Reply-To: <200503031523.j23FN62E022298@corbulon.video-collage.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=3.8 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=failed version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on pooker.samsco.org cc: scsi@freebsd.org Subject: Re: need help choosing a SCSI controller X-BeenThere: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: SCSI subsystem List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 05:30:45 -0000 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