From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 27 07:45:58 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D79C61065674; Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsd@dannysplace.net) Received: from mail.dannysplace.net (mail.dannysplace.net [213.133.54.210]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 988098FC19; Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsd@dannysplace.net) Received: from 60-242-243-193.static.tpgi.com.au ([60.242.243.193] helo=[192.168.10.10]) by mail.dannysplace.net with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.68 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1KC8eZ-000FyY-Ly; Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:45:57 +1000 Message-ID: <48649AAD.4050806@dannysplace.net> Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:45:49 +1000 From: Danny Carroll User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (Windows/20080421) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Jeremy Chadwick References: <486450DB.4000907@dannysplace.net> <20080627040545.GA21856@eos.sc1.parodius.com> <4864769C.4050002@dannysplace.net> <20080627053314.GA24239@eos.sc1.parodius.com> <48649424.4010700@dannysplace.net> <20080627073612.GA29122@eos.sc1.parodius.com> In-Reply-To: <20080627073612.GA29122@eos.sc1.parodius.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Authenticated-User: danny X-Authenticator: plain X-Sender-Verify: SUCCEEDED (sender exists & accepts mail) X-Exim-Version: 4.68 (build at 19-Oct-2007 16:23:56) X-Date: 2008-06-27 17:45:56 X-Connected-IP: 60.242.243.193:3264 X-Message-Linecount: 40 X-Body-Linecount: 26 X-Message-Size: 1932 X-Body-Size: 1173 X-Received-Count: 1 X-Recipient-Count: 2 X-Local-Recipient-Count: 2 X-Local-Recipient-Defer-Count: 0 X-Local-Recipient-Fail-Count: 0 X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: 60.242.243.193 X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: fbsd@dannysplace.net X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.1 (2007-05-02) on ferrari.dannysplace.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=8.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL, DKIM_POLICY_SIGNSOME,TVD_RCVD_IP autolearn=disabled version=3.2.1 X-SA-Exim-Version: 4.2 X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes (on mail.dannysplace.net) Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: new server motherboard with SATA II X-BeenThere: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: fbsd@dannysplace.net List-Id: General discussion of FreeBSD hardware List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:58 -0000 Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > No, it should not happen at idle. You said "interrupt usage across 5 > disks", which I read to mean "interrupt usage is very high during I/O > across a zpool consisting of 5 disks". I misunderstood. > > IRQ sharing could result in what you see, but it sounds more like some > weird interrupt routing/bug that might be specific to that Asus board. That's kinda what I fear might be the case. > The FreeBSD Handbook has a list of hardware. Anything that has its own > xxx(4) driver (e.g. twa(4), twe(4), arcmsr(4), etc.) will suffice. Many > of these cards handle SATA disks which appear as daX in FreeBSD, since > they act as SCSI controllers. SCSI CAM on FreeBSD is quite reliable. > > Currently, the best SATA controllers I've seen that have native FreeBSD > support (meaning the vendor supports FreeBSD) are Areca controllers. I > have no experience with them due to their cost, but they are *very* > fast. Ouch.... Are the any other options? I'd be happy with a card that simply exposed the drive to FreeBSD rather than implemented Raid. Although I won't rule hardware raid out either (given a product that was fast enough). -D