Re: SATA drives performance

Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> This isn't true. IBMs IPS series controllers can the checked and configured via the ipssend utility that works very well in 2.6.x LINUX.
>

Unfortunately, what we got (in the IBM) was the garbage ServeRaid 8kl
card. This one is atrocious - it shipped with a hideous firmware bug.
And there is no way to bypass it.

The HP have the P400 cards, which are decent in themselves, just not as
good as software raid.

Richard

> "Scott Marlowe" <scott(dot)marlowe(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 11:09 AM, Richard Neill <rn214(at)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> Jeremy Harris wrote:
>>>> On 12/24/2009 05:12 PM, Richard Neill wrote:
>>>>> Of course, with a server machine, it's nearly impossible to use mdadm
>>>>> raid: you are usually compelled to use a hardware raid card.
>>>> Could you expand on that?
>>> Both of the last machines I bought (an IBM X3550 and an HP DL380) come with
>>> hardware raid solutions. These are an utter nuisance because:
>>>
>>> - they can only be configured from the BIOS (or with a
>>> bootable utility CD). Linux has very basic monitoring tools,
>>> but no way to reconfigure the array, or add disks to empty
>>> hot-swap slots while the system is running.
>>>
>>> - If there is a Linux raid config program, it's not part of the
>>> main packaged distro, but usually a pre-built binary, available
>>> for only one release/kernel of the wrong distro.
>>>
>>> - the IBM one had dodgy firmware, which, until updated, caused the
>>> disk to totally fail after a few days.
>>>
>>> - you pay a lot of money for something effectively pointless, and
>>> have less control and less flexibility.
>>>
>>> After my experience with the X3550, I hunted for any server that would ship
>>> without hardware raid, i.e. connect the 8 SATA hotswap slots direct to the
>>> motherboard, or where the hardware raid could be de-activated completely,
>>> and put into pass-through mode. Neither HP nor IBM make such a thing.
>> Yep. And that's why I never order servers from them. There are
>> dozens of reputable white box builders (I use Aberdeen who give me a 5
>> year all parts warranty and incredible customer service, but there are
>> plenty to choose from) and they build the machine I ask them to build.
>> For hardware RAID I use Areca 1680 series, and they also provide me
>> with machines with software RAID for lighter loads (slave dbs,
>> reporting dbs, and stats dbs)
>>
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