On Wed, 2002-09-18 at 13:38, Derek Glidden wrote:
> On Wed, 2002-09-18 at 12:50, Justin Keyes wrote:
>
> > > 1) those "built-in RAID" are invariably all software-RAID that are
> > > only
> > > supported through Windows-only drivers.
> >
> > Well, not all of them, but support under Linux has headaches sometimes.
> > Plus, on-board RAID is probably going to be nothing but a fake BIOS
> > trick that is all software controlled.
>
> According to the Linux-IDE project homepage, the ONLY IDE devices that
> support hardware RAID are the 3Ware cards and the ARCO Duplidisk
> devices: (http://www.linux-ide.org/chipsets.html)
There are other IDE controllers out there that do hardware, but each has
its own issues, drivers, and performance characteristics. I don't think
the above website is by any means an exhaustive list. I know for example
that Adaptec has a DPT RAID tools compatible I2O driver, but the
performance isn't that great.
> ANYTHING else (including the HiPoint and Promise chipsets that are
> generally what you get on motherboards that claim "built-in RAID
> support!") require driver-level support to do any RAID at all:
> (http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/pdcraid/ataraidhowto.html), otherwise
> they act just like non-RAID chipsets.
Supposedly, some of the newer Promise RAID controllers are hardware -
but I'm unaware of any Linux drivers for them yet.
> So far I've never seen a 3Ware chipset built into a motherboard.
And for some reason, I strongly doubt we ever will.
> SCSI RAID, on the other hand, does exist on motherboards, but
> motherboards with built-in SCSI RAID capability are much more expensive
> as are SCSI drives, so I'm assuming we're talking about IDE.
SCSI RAID is *sooooo* expensive. The controllers are expensive. The
drives are expensive. The coolers to keep the drives at a non-scalding
temperature are expensive, not to mention the noise dampening.
> > On the other hand, 3ware has true hardware RAID cards and fully
> > supports linux--even with open source drivers.
>
> Yep, and we use them at NKS. Make SURE you have the latest firmware
> though! Earlier firmware was pretty buggy (in our experience) but the
> latest versions work fantastic.
Yeah. And they're CHEAP. Can't beat ~$100 for a hardware RAID card
(granted, the escallade 6400's are rather out of date now).
> Even our own Ian Blenke was pleasantly surprised when he bought a 4-port
> 3Ware card. And Ian isn't usually happy with hardware until he's had a
> chance to break it several times. :)
And believe me, I *do* TRY. :)
Honestly, there are so many GOOD things to say about IDE hardware RAID,
I can't recommend SCSI arrays anymore (unless you're into video
production, have a need for some high-end database performance and RAM
just won't do, or have a lot of cash in your pocket, in which case we
really need to talk :)
- Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net> <ian@blenke.com>
http://ian.blenke.com
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