From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Apr 25 17:31:27 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 68D6D1065672 for ; Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:31:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mkhitrov@gmail.com) Received: from yw-out-2324.google.com (yw-out-2324.google.com [74.125.46.29]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 260108FC12 for ; Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:31:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mkhitrov@gmail.com) Received: by yw-out-2324.google.com with SMTP id 9so851441ywe.13 for ; Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:31:26 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:from:date:message-id :subject:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=gz614jiflO0fwn6vLYibm1GzGf3n8dKlAxS+OhJy8P4=; b=aCqS3U9EwI/pwRFNwroksA1CItJ0vdBF8tMqKdbV9ru+w2p2K8dotw5/XTtnltJSZH VweqJ1D12ELUTRvsl0ivOM905TcP4OJsACYDp3DuFBMJfTCfs/sqWfQE9EBZNCwAua5P aI74PZil4vKJY1qCKPQKuOTpyWTdtMRVx4VXc= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; b=YASl9D8Rtihxugn/6iQ9kLROZcLwTWHnYY/IGWHTjURdkfO/NErmSs/BOaEcQHt6Kc NqqXMA+CrBrFMuhL5pnQur+oWrZGAOhSRs1D6ZE2w18kePOWwygSH5y430TjQI9X3gj5 3N5AGJV71zl5HIHsPJSxUukOlWiUwlJDiQVFo= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.90.93.13 with SMTP id q13mr3839427agb.63.1240680686192; Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:31:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Maxim Khitrov Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:31:09 -0400 Message-ID: <26ddd1750904251031q486a6ddar523d1470ce1fd8be@mail.gmail.com> To: Free BSD Questions list Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Software raid5 through a sata port multiplier 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: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:31:27 -0000 Hello all, I'm building a file server that must use an external sata hard drive enclosure. It will begin with 3 2TB (RE4-GP) hard drives and expand as needed. I've looked at 3ware and Areca hardware raid controllers with external sata/sas ports and currently have some doubts of whether the cost can justify the performance. This is also an addition of yet another piece of hardware that can fail. The machine is using a Q6600 processor with 8 GB of memory, so I'm thinking that a software raid5 solution may not be such a bad idea. The question is what port multiplier hardware does FreeBSD 7 support? I found an 8-bay rosewill enclosure that claims to use Sil3726/Sil3132R5 controllers. Is there a driver that supports these, and if so, what throughput can I expect from this setup (compared to hardware raid alternatives)? - Max