Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:07:06 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com> To: TJ Varghese <tj@tjvarghese.com> Cc: stable@freebsd.org, Matt Thyer <matt.thyer@gmail.com> Subject: Re: PCIe SATA HBA for ZFS on -STABLE Message-ID: <20110601080706.GA18521@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <BANLkTik5Ukoy0-nMv_T0AEFTKk1azFqqxQ@mail.gmail.com> References: <BANLkTimmjrhnO9fAnFW_HmW%2BVQTrvMYYiA@mail.gmail.com> <BANLkTim-0X%2Ba9THZvuTXoRqCKn6didfErQ@mail.gmail.com> <BANLkTik5Ukoy0-nMv_T0AEFTKk1azFqqxQ@mail.gmail.com>
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On Wed, Jun 01, 2011 at 02:34:55PM +0800, TJ Varghese wrote: > On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Freddie Cash <fjwcash@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 5:48 AM, Matt Thyer <matt.thyer@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > What do people recommend for 8-STABLE as a PCIe SATA II HBA for someone > > > using ZFS ? > > > > > > Not wanting to break the bank. > > > Not interested in SATA III 6GB at this time... though it could be useful > > if > > > I add an SSD for... (is it ZIL ?). > > > Can this be added at any time ? > > > > > > The main issue is I need at least 10 ports total for all existing > > drives... > > > ZIL would require 11 so ideally we are talking a 6 port HBA. > > > > > > > SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i works exceptionally well. These are 8-port HBAs > > using the LSI1068 chipset, supported by the mpt(4) driver. Support 3 Gpbs > > SATA/SAS, using multi-lane cables (2 connectors on the card, each connector > > supports 4 SATA ports), hot-plug, hot-swap. > > > > > The USAS2 (6Gbps) is supported by the mps driver (on -CURRENT, not sure if > it's in 8-STABLE yet). Perhaps you're referring to the earlier USAS which > does 3Gbps and is supported by the mpt driver. Folks considering use of mps(4), which was committed to RELENG_8 roughly around 2011/02/18 (thus is not in 8.2-RELEASE), should read the below threads just in case. Always good to be educated. Of course, the mailing lists are usually filled with complaints rather than success stories, so the tone of my mail here will therefore sound negative; I don't mean it that way, I just ask that people "be aware". * 2011/04/29 -- mps driver instability under stable/8 http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2011-April/thread.html#62507 http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2011-May/thread.html#62518 * 2011/04/27 -- MPS driver: force bus rescan after remove SAS cable http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2011-April/thread.html#62438 http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2011-April/thread.html#62443 * 2011/03/10 -- LSI SAS2008 performance with mps(4) driver http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2011-March/thread.html#61862 To the OP (Matt Thyer): Sadly I don't have a recommendation for you, since you effectively want a 6-port SATA300 controller that's reliable, you're almost certainly going to be paying Big Bucks(tm) given the number of ports and your requirement that it be PCIe-based. You state quite boldly "not wanting to break the bank", but what you're asking for almost certainly WILL break the bank. For example, an "affordable" controller might be one driven by Silicon Image's SiI3124 chip -- four (4) SATA300 ports, but it's only hooked to PCI or PCI-X, not PCIe, which means you're susceptible to a much more severe bus bottleneck than with PCIe: http://www.siliconimage.com/products/family.aspx?id=3 FreeBSD does have support for many Silicon Image chips via the siis(4) driver, and support is quite good since SI provides mav@ with technical documentation and support. I commend SI for that; it's good to see companies supporting developers, regardless of OS. I tend to avoid consumer-grade Marvell and JMicron SATA chipsets like the plague, however. That's based on my experiences with them under Windows, where I would expect (truly) the drivers to be rock solid given the marketing demographic of the chips in question. Be aware that SATA port multipliers (if someone recommends them to you as a way of providing expansion) will also limit your I/O bottleneck, especially when multiple drives are used over a single multiplier port. E.g. 4 drives operating at 100MByte/sec (common read speed with consumer-grade Caviar Black drives!) will saturate a SATA300 connection easily. One port per drive solves this dilemma of course, putting the focus back on the PCI/PCI-X/PCIe bus as a bottleneck. Anyway, you need to ask yourself what your requirements really are, or what sort of monetary limitations you have, then make a decision based on that. Remember: a good, solid controller will probably be a one-time purchase. But also think about the future and if in 2-3 years you want to go about buying another controller (likely costing more than whatever it is you buy now). Good luck, and please let us know what controller you *do* end up going with and your experience with it! Positives are as important as negatives. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc@parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP 4BD6C0CB |
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