From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 21 09:32:50 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5FA0E16A474 for ; Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:32:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from philippe.lang@attiksystem.ch) Received: from mail.attiksystem.ch (f29.attiksystem.ch [212.147.59.29]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7D76D43D5C for ; Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:32:48 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from philippe.lang@attiksystem.ch) Received: from poweredge.attiksystem.ch (poweredge.attiksystem.ch [10.0.0.29]) by mail.attiksystem.ch (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id k5L9WlG7002090; Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:32:47 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from philippe.lang@attiksystem.ch) Content-class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.6603.0 Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:32:47 +0200 Message-ID: <6C0CF58A187DA5479245E0830AF84F421D0E40@poweredge.attiksystem.ch> X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: ICH5R, ICH7R or Promise PDC20378 RAID? Thread-Index: AcaVFJsrssf1c//IQkOBpKxZRxyr7wAAECCw From: "Philippe Lang" To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" , "Doug Poland" X-Spam-Score: -1.44 () ALL_TRUSTED X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.49 on 10.0.0.111 Cc: freebsd-questions Subject: RE: ICH5R, ICH7R or Promise PDC20378 RAID? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:32:50 -0000 Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: >>> On Mon, Jun 19, 2006 at 10:18:05AM +0200, Philippe Lang wrote: >>>> Hi, >>>>=20 >>>> I've got two boxes that would be perfect for a small server. The >>>> motherboards are:=20 >>>>=20 >>>> - ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe, with ICH5R and Promise PDC20378 >>>> - ASUS P5WD2, with ICH7R >>>>=20 >>>> I intend to install FreeBSD 6.1, and I wonder which chipset you >>>> would recommend me for RAID 1? I need something rock-solid, of >>>> course...=20 >>>>=20 >>> I'm running -STABLE on a P4C800-E. I've never had a problem with >>> the PDC20378. Recently, I added two drives on the ICH5R with no >>> issues. A little benchmarking shows the ICH5R to be a little faster. >>=20 >> Hi, >>=20 >> I wasn't as lucky as Doug with my ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe board, both >> with the ICH5R and Promise RAID controller. >>=20 >> 1) With the Promise controller, after simulating a disk problem >> (shutdown - disk disconnection - reboot - shutdown - disk >> reconnection - reboot), I wasn't able to rebuild the array at all, >> either with "atacontrol rebuild ar0" or from the bios. I suspect a >> spare disk is necessary for a complete rebuild. >>=20 >> 2) With the ICH5R controller, installation went fine too. If I >> disconnect a disk, the system still boots, but when I plug the disk >> back (computer shut down), no boot is possible anymore. At boot, a >> kernel panic says: "softdep_setup_inomapdep". No array rebuild is >> possible from the bios, so I'm stuck. >>=20 >=20 > You need to take the disk you unplugged to some other machine > and wipe it, then make sure the one disk with the system left > on it is in the 0 position, put the wiped disk in the 1 > position, then you should be able to boot. >=20 > Your simulating a failure when you pull the one disk, but > your not simulating a recovery when you insert that disk back in. >=20 > Ted Hi, I'm sure there are solutions to make things work, but personnaly, I don't feel confortable with a RAID system that acts that way, and that is supposed to make the whole system more robust and problem-free. I used to play with hardware SCSI RAID controllers, and was never able to trash the system. Arrays are being rebuilt in the background, that's just great. I hope this is the kind of ease and quality I will get with the 3WARE raid controller I have ordered... Apparently, everyone says very good things about 3WARE. --------------- Philippe Lang Attik System