From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 9 18:04:27 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2EAC6106566C for ; Tue, 9 Feb 2010 18:04:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fjwcash@gmail.com) Received: from mail-iw0-f172.google.com (mail-iw0-f172.google.com [209.85.223.172]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E91368FC13 for ; Tue, 9 Feb 2010 18:04:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: by iwn2 with SMTP id 2so85491iwn.8 for ; Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:04:26 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type; bh=ZdtomB0YPmSn99kxKGhQKJE1sVZvlrCd9G+FIMgXjyU=; b=vTch/pPEssDuBRMMalCZvtDSaNMkxcKq/RRBQKD1/JnLsbe5PJOh1fNXy+8gbJSKeY PgJ2b2MVoPLhiiAm5UoYysXCDk2PzAJC1jdUanTW+K3AGoRoLuEXvbsaeivVkQ6RHlTN S0NocbctMX4Mvlvp9ld4EAfomO9jfJSpGtzmQ= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; b=pv4JQFWU0sH0aVzNm8IVbjJ7y0axU+ej903N1fWuhmMQJRqT2JvU1LdCxRrxqjJ4If v61E+NGSfHfZJ7MjgRJQJx8EjrlRaQIpRAQDz7GPPndtdZCUKngnbcKchnQQd60tNVhY S3KuqgcuwD6uPHRybRsUnnAPYZ7ZFNhBf7e5k= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.231.153.205 with SMTP id l13mr2034305ibw.64.1265738666395; Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:04:26 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <4B71490B.6030602@langille.org> References: <4B6F9A8D.4050907@langille.org> <4B71490B.6030602@langille.org> Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 10:04:26 -0800 Message-ID: From: Freddie Cash To: FreeBSD Stable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: hardware for home use large storage X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:04:27 -0000 On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 3:37 AM, Dan Langille wrote: > Charles Sprickman wrote: > >> On Mon, 8 Feb 2010, Dan Langille wrote: >> >> > Also, it seems like > >> people who use zfs (or gmirror + gstripe) generally end up buying pricey >> hardware raid cards for compatibility reasons. There seem to be no decent >> add-on SATA cards that play nice with FreeBSD other than that weird >> supermicro card that has to be physically hacked about to fit. >> > > They use software RAID and hardware RAID at the same time? I'm not sure > what you mean by this. Compatibility with FreeBSD? > > Add-on (PCI-X/PCIe) RAID controllers tend to have solid drivers in FreeBSD. Add-on SATA controllers not so much. The RAID controllers also tend to support more SATA features like NCQ, hot-swap, monitoring, etc. They also enable you to use the same hardware across OSes (FreeBSD, Linux, etc). For example, we use 3Ware controllers in all our servers, as they have good, solid support under FreeBSD and Linux. On the Linux servers, we use hardware RAID. On the FreeBSD servers, we use them as SATA controllers (Single Disk arrays, not JBOD). Either way, the management is the same, the drivers are the same, the support is the same. It's hard to find good, non-RAID, SATA controllers with solid FreeBSD support, and good throughput, with any kind of management/monitoring features. -- Freddie Cash fjwcash@gmail.com