Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 13:35:02 -0800 (PST) From: Tom <tom@uniserve.com> To: Rich Winkel <rich@chumbly.math.missouri.edu> Cc: stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: RAID support in FBSD? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9810291312000.5325-100000@shell.uniserve.ca> In-Reply-To: <199810292052.OAA16290@chumbly.math.missouri.edu>
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On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Rich Winkel wrote: > I'm new to this raid stuff. I understand you can get a raid which > hooks to the scsi bus and looks to the computer like an ordinary > (albeit fast) disk. Theoretically this would work without any specific > OS support, right? More than theory. They work. Disadvantages: limited by speed of the RAID box host bus. More overhead before data hits the disk. Advantages: you can configure the unit from an LCD panel, or VT100 terminal. No need to run special software on your server. > The alternative would be a raid card on the PCI bus, which can move > data faster, but would require OS driver support. > > Of course there's a lot to be said for OS-independent hardware, but > aside from the faster speed, are there worthwhile advantages (i.e. > access to special features) to be gained by going with a PCI raid > card? I understand fbsd supports DPT pci controllers. How do > they compare with the competition? DPT has a whole line of host based RAID controllers. They are probably the best you can get. Very wide operating system support, so they are hardly OS depedent. Disadvantages: FreeBSD can't run the dptmgr software, so online re-config and monitoring is not possible. If, you have a smart drive enclosure, this shouldn't be a big problem. Advantages: a DPT PM334 is probably cheaper than a SCSI-SCSI raid unit. It also doesn't need any precious hard bays to be mounted in either. You also get up to 3 UW SCSI channels per PCI slot. > The machine would be a 400mhz xeon, a departmental server, with > an adaptec 2940 ultra wide/fast controller. > > Sorry for the open-ended questions, any faq pointers would be > much appreciated. > > Thanks for any help!!! > > Rich > Tom To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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