zfs discuss - Feb 2010 - Anyone with experience with a PCI-X SSD card?

I''ve a couple of older systems that are front-ending a large backup
array.

I''d like to put in a large L2ARC cache device for them to use with 
dedup.    Right now, they only have Ultra320 SCA 3.5" hot-swap drive 
bays, and PCI-X slots.

I haven''t found any SSDs (or adapters) which might work with the 
Ultra320 bays, so I''m hunting for something to stick in the PCI-X (NOT 
PCI-Express) slot.

Ideally, I''d love to find something that lets me hook a standard
2.5"
SSD to, but I have space limitations. About the best I''ve found right 
now is a 32-bit PCI card which has Compact Flash slots on it.  /Really/ 
not what I want.

So, I''ve seen a bunch of PCI-E cards which have flash on them and act
as
a SSD, but is there any hope for a old PCI-X slot? Anyone seen such a beast?

-- 
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop:  usca22-123
Phone:  x17195
Santa Clara, CA

Erik Trimble wrote:
> I''ve a couple of older systems that are front-ending a large
backup
> array.
>
> I''d like to put in a large L2ARC cache device for them to use with
> dedup.    Right now, they only have Ultra320 SCA 3.5" hot-swap drive 
> bays, and PCI-X slots.
>
> I haven''t found any SSDs (or adapters) which might work with the 
> Ultra320 bays, so I''m hunting for something to stick in the PCI-X
(NOT
> PCI-Express) slot.
>
> Ideally, I''d love to find something that lets me hook a standard
2.5"
> SSD to, but I have space limitations. About the best I''ve found
right
> now is a 32-bit PCI card which has Compact Flash slots on it.  
> /Really/ not what I want.
>
> So, I''ve seen a bunch of PCI-E cards which have flash on them and
act
> as a SSD, but is there any hope for a old PCI-X slot? Anyone seen such 
> a beast?
>
To reply to myself, the best I can do is this:

        http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=59

(it uses a sil3124 controller, so it /might/ work with OpenSolaris )


and an award for the That-is-ALMOST-What-I-Want goes to:

        http://www.sonnettech.com/PRODUCT/tempohd.html



<sigh>


Anyone else find anything?

-- 
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop:  usca22-123
Phone:  x17195
Santa Clara, CA

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:33 PM, Erik Trimble <Erik.Trimble at sun.com>
wrote:
> Erik Trimble wrote:
>
>> I''ve a couple of older systems that are front-ending a large
backup array.
>>
>> I''d like to put in a large L2ARC cache device for them to use
with dedup.
>>    Right now, they only have Ultra320 SCA 3.5" hot-swap drive
bays, and
>> PCI-X slots.
>>
>> I haven''t found any SSDs (or adapters) which might work with
the Ultra320
>> bays, so I''m hunting for something to stick in the PCI-X (NOT
PCI-Express)
>> slot.
>>
>> Ideally, I''d love to find something that lets me hook a
standard 2.5" SSD
>> to, but I have space limitations. About the best I''ve found
right now is a
>> 32-bit PCI card which has Compact Flash slots on it.  /Really/ not what
I
>> want.
>>
>> So, I''ve seen a bunch of PCI-E cards which have flash on them
and act as a
>> SSD, but is there any hope for a old PCI-X slot? Anyone seen such a
beast?
>>
>>  To reply to myself, the best I can do is this:
>
>       http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=59
>
> (it uses a sil3124 controller, so it /might/ work with OpenSolaris )
>
>
> and an award for the That-is-ALMOST-What-I-Want goes to:
>
>       http://www.sonnettech.com/PRODUCT/tempohd.html
>
>
>
>
The first one is really cool.  I was wondering this as well btw.
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On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 07:33:56PM -0800, Erik Trimble
wrote:
> To reply to myself, the best I can do is this:
>
>        http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=59
>
> (it uses a sil3124 controller, so it /might/ work with OpenSolaris )
Nice.  I''d certainly like to know if you try it and have success.
Note that the pci-x version also has a pci-e to pci-x bridge (Tsi384)
that would need to work.  I expect ppb''s are handled generically by
the framework and spec.

I didn''t find anything to indicate either way whether there was
bootable bios on board; again this might be a potential hurdle with
the ppb if you intend to boot from it.

For me, I''d be looking at the pci-e version, and as you note there are
other options for pure ssd.  This seems the most modular (choosing my
own brand/type/mix of ssd and hdd, for example).

--
Dan.
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On Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 03:11:38PM +1100, Daniel Carosone
wrote:
> I didn''t find anything to indicate either way whether there was
> bootable bios on board
Ah - in the install guide there''s a mention about pressing
"F4" or
"Ctrl-S" when prompted at boot to configure the raid format, so
there''s evidently is some bios. 
> again this might be a potential hurdle with
> the ppb if you intend to boot from it.
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