Re: SATA drives performance

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.

"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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