Re: RAID Controllers

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 8:42 PM, David Boreham <david_list(at)boreham(dot)org> wrote:
>
> I'm buying a bunch of new machines (all will run an application that heavily
> writes to PG). These machines will have 2 spindle groups in a RAID-1 config.
> Drives will be either 15K SAS, or 10K SATA (I haven't decided if it is
> better
> to buy the faster drives, or drives that are identical to the ones we are
> already running in our production servers, thus achieving commonality in
> spares across all machines).
>
> Controller choice looks to be between Adaptec 6405, with the supercapacitor
> unit;
> or LSI 9260-4i with its BBU. Price is roughly the same.
>
> Would be grateful for any thoughts on this choice.

If you're running linux and thus stuck with the command line on the
LSI, I'd recommend anything else. MegaRAID is the hardest RAID
control software to use I've ever seen. If you can spring for the
money, get the Areca 1680:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151023 Be
sure and get the battery unit for it. You can configure it from an
external ethernet connector very easily, and the performance is
outstandingly good.