[LUAU] Favorite SATA or PATA RAID controllers

[Brian Chee]

Hmmm....considering just how many software raid systems have failed out from
under me, I'd like to add a pinch of salt to your statement.

For something as timing insensitive as say web/ftp/email services, yeah, I
can totally agree with that statement. But something as timing sensitive as
say SQL I would have to disagree.

Now considering the base reason why we want RAID in the first place, I'm
actually fond of the technique (but not the implementation) that Microsoft
has put into the Windows Home Server. All the drives are in a jbod
arrangement and if you have data that you'd like to make sure isn't lost to
drive failure, you flag it. That folder structure is then purposely
duplicated on one of the other drives. The end result is that you can now
afford to lose a drive and you keep important data...but since this is no
longer a RAID, drive recovery is exponentially cheaper and easier if such a
thing is necessary. The other advantage is that RAID controllers are almost
always a unique thing....an array from one can't always be used on another.
(unless they're identical) So you're rolling the dice that if your
controller should fail that you would be able to get an identical
controller.

So while this does tend to support the software RAID theory, (circular
logic?) I still support hardware RAID for the right reasons.

Hurrumph....well I guess I'll just have to see what ArcGIS really wants and
then decide about software or hardware RAID.

P.S. If you're really paranoid about making sure your data survives, take a
gander at this video that I shot while at CES in Las Vegas this last
January. And yes...that really is a 34,000lb excavator!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkH6gqoYNno

/brian chee



On 2/10/10 4:30 PM, "Clifton Royston" <cliftonr at lava.net> wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 12:22:20PM -1000, Brian Chee wrote:
>> I need to mirror (RAID 1) and was wondering about the collective option on
>> PCI RAID controllers....
>> 
>> These are going into 1RU SuperMicro machines that tend to run hot....so that
>> is a bit of a consideration. I¹d like to use the same RAID controller for
>> both Windows 2003 Server AND Debian Linux both...
>> 
>> /brian chee
> 
>   Even though you're looking for Linux supported cards, there's a thread
> on freebsd-stable right now you might want to look through, discussing
> reliable inexpensive SATA controllers.
> 
>   Thread title is: "hardware for home use large storage"
> 
>   For BSD or Linux machines, I tend to think you're just as well off
> with software RAID, at least until you get to fairly high-end systems
> (e.g. external enclosures with their own RAID controllers.) If the card
> has to do RAID under Windows, though, hardware RAID may be the only
> reasonable option.
> 
>   -- Clifton

-- 
Brian Chee
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology (SOEST)
2525 Correa Road, HIG 500
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: 808-956-5797