Re: Supermicro SAS controller
On Thu, 03 May 2012 18:27:55 +0000, Ramon Hofer wrote:
> On Thu, 03 May 2012 16:30:00 +0000, Camaleón wrote:
>
> <snipped>
>
>> In brief, yes, that card seems one of those you can consider to be
>> "safe" enough to don't have many problems :-P
>
> This sounds very good :-)
Sounds good, but only your own experience will confirm :-)
My servers are running over an adaptec sata raid controller which it is
supposedly one of those that put your system in the "safe-side" but I'll
reconsider setting up a hardware RAID for the next time should I have the
chance. And also the manufacturer (I'm a bit dissatisfied with the
overall result).
>> This is an own-made list I did of things one should take into account
>> for hardware RAID cards:
>>
>> 1/ The driver is included in the kernel (you will avoid many problems)
>
> This seems to be the case.
If the card uses the "megaraid_sas" kernel module, yes.
>> 2/ The card's manufacturer provides a set of CLI tools (also GUI/web
>> based) to control all of the aspects of the RAID volume (from array
>> creation/modification/reconstruction/rebuilding/deletion/on-the-fly
>> volume expansion/current array status... up to firmware update, if
>> possible)
>
> Didn't find any infos about that :-?
There's some useful information in one of the links I sent before:
http://wiki.debian.org/LinuxRaidForAdmins
>> 3/ The manufacturer is enough linux-friendly so that in the event of a
>> problem you can contact them with no regrets :-)
>
> Hope I don't have to find out about that ;-)
Bugs do exist also in good hardware, so better having a person over the
wire that at least understands what you are talking about :-)
> Btw: Wouldn't it be better to use software raid? In case of failure of
> the controller I would need to get exactly the same card again? Or if I
> ever want to exchange the mainboard and use one with a SAS controller
> onboard?
Some people prefer "mdamd" (linux raid) instead using a hardware raid
card (it can be more flexible, yes) but IMO, a good raid card provides
better performance and it's easier to manage than a software raid system.
In case of disasterous raid failure you depend completely on the
manufacturer and what are the option they can provide (although data
recovery can be usually done at professional labs).
> Thanks for all your help and advices! Ramon
Just an additional note. By reading the chosen card specs it seems it
does not support a RAID 6 level (which is better than RAID 5 because it
allows the failure 2 disks) so that can be a handycap.
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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