From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 22 08:39:18 2012 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 5B0B5106564A for ; Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:39:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from thciobanu@nth.ro) Received: from mail-wi0-f178.google.com (mail-wi0-f178.google.com [209.85.212.178]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D0AF68FC08 for ; Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:39:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wibhr14 with SMTP id hr14so2292212wib.13 for ; Sat, 22 Sep 2012 01:39:16 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=nth.ro; s=ga; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=2pBb5q451FaWADlnxIjG/7c8zhR25k233oPGf87MC84=; b=ZXRmDy9idxKW8cEV7mlAvFlnQgjRO5a5JI1sW5qjwmDOdjQNUTrSxpaypBKDedP9oi lbTZ8/UZPPTL08y5jVc1g2n/p9rivTfFpJk1tG4MhPUJ1QqT+FGSs4yf/AwuDtNLHh/1 NCvtCxdgHw0mbFv4XIsENswpFszTl2Aqmu4Us= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :x-gm-message-state; bh=2pBb5q451FaWADlnxIjG/7c8zhR25k233oPGf87MC84=; b=eDPfFDG+8VF3fCQzUUktATCkLa2h87RHzgaamSrqZJGHxxPrMJWxxQU3wzreRfsj1O rXERx/3+6H01P11Cw6D3CpehGBiER9ZvtzFPvP88UYbBhgtxx+RXNjrymcgxxdZCFNuO AD8Fxvm1ZYa86yU2nARNFuSJ1VHdC2sojQ99nqnlGnoa1a7jRcVKJ23Gzc2q/LhbDKaK hK7kvMQRcBDheNNQnF/xQ511bxhcpU9DR9wS93/hkbY85L9oP1bGGOFiBes4hu2O5hvB brVAdGeOga1hHePY+fSscaC0CWiMcIxiZ0L479vx7Wjig+7mEIIAqJ9LEQOoqQk4Ufa6 fJKA== Received: by 10.216.206.209 with SMTP id l59mr4082720weo.217.1348303156278; Sat, 22 Sep 2012 01:39:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from unknown ([188.26.92.99]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id b7sm2683416wiz.9.2012.09.22.01.39.15 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sat, 22 Sep 2012 01:39:15 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 11:39:27 +0300 From: Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu To: "Pepe (Jose) Amengual" Message-ID: <20120922113927.00007ff3@unknown> In-Reply-To: References: X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.8 (GTK+ 2.24.8; i686-pc-mingw32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQkiAWM+De2GjNAxk/ozz6JoJICedXg1JS9NsZOUCkK5Zffj8DbQriXcBD2JoePb5p0i9VRg Cc: freebsd-hardware Subject: Re: Which one has better support for FreeBSD , LSI or Areca ? with multiport support X-BeenThere: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion of FreeBSD hardware List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:39:18 -0000 On Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:25:22 -0700 "Pepe (Jose) Amengual" wrote: > Hi Guys. > > I have a super micro server with this controller : > > http://www.addonics.com/products/adsa3gpx8-4e.php Controler> > > Connected to and Addonics storage rack via 4 eSata ports and port > multipliers to 10 disks using ZFS. > > It has been working fine but lately I have been experience some > issues with channel timeout and disk just disappearing from the pool. > I already posted another thread about that but looks like no one has > clue about what the errors means so I decided to swap controllers > with a spare one and same issue. > > So now I have decided to buy a real controller, Areca or LSI for the > server but I need one that is port multiplier compatible and with > external esata connectors. > > I just one a very good controller ( not super expensive) that has good > drivers for freebsd and that can give me reliable tools to diagnose > hardrive failures and diagnostics. > > I have the possibility to move to iSCSI too using an addonics module > for that so I could move to a different setup but I don't know is I > will have any benefit on I/O speed doing that or not. > > If someone can give me some advice I will really appreciate. > > Thanks. After moving away from Windows I also moved away from Areca, as I found poor support for it, although the drivers are official: - no hotplug (new discs were not picked up automatically, I had to reboot) - low transfer speeds (I found it bottlenecking at ~200MB/s, with Ultrastar 3TB discs being detected as SATA1) And Areca is actually the reason I moved to FreeBSD in the first place. After the v1.49 firmware update on my 1280s and 1880s, rebuild times increased to unacceptable values (what would before take ~1day would now require 1-2 weeks). When contacted, Areca's support told me they didn't notice any slowdowns with the latest fw version, any problems I had must be on my part. So I gave up on hardware raid and moved to ZFS. And if you really want to be pedantic about it, Areca are using LSI chipsets as well now, so why not just buy directly from them? -- Theo