CentOS - Mar 2008 - Recommendations for a “real RAID" 1 card on Centos box

Hi,

I'm considering setting up my Centos Desktop machine for RAID 1.  I read a
lot of good info at this
site:http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html#intel-vitesse about
differences in fakeraid and real raid cards.

The hardware I plan on installing this RAID card into is an Intel DP35DP
motherboard with the Intel E4500 dual core processor, and I have two Mator 500
gig SATA hard drives.

Can anyone recommend a good ?real raid? card for my Linux?  What I am looking
for is to plug in a RAID controller card out of the box, and without having to
load any drivers onto my Centos 5.1 box, have the Real hardware RAID card 
automatically do all the work, mirror my hard drive onto the second backup drive
and do all the work for me.

Do such cards exist?   If so which model /manufacturers do you recommend? Any
experiences/info/insights on hardware RAID cards good or bad on centos boxes
would be appreciated.

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Therese Trudeau wrote:
> Do such cards exist?   If so which model /manufacturers do you recommend?
> Any experiences/info/insights on hardware RAID cards good or bad on centos
> boxes would be appreciated.
3Ware 8000-series cards are probably the most compatible going back
at least 3 years. 9000-series cards are faster/better and CentOS 5.1
should have full support for them.

For me, in SATA RAID cards it's 3ware or nothing. Been using them for
more than 8 years now.

I picked up a extra 8006-2 (2-port RAID) a couple weeks ago for
about $120 as a spare for my home system that has a 8006-2.

nate

On Mar 9, 2008, at 2:28 PM, Therese Trudeau wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm considering setting up my Centos Desktop machine for RAID 1.  I  
> read a lot of good info at this site:http://linuxmafia.com/faq/ 
> Hardware/sata.html#intel-vitesse about differences in fakeraid and  
> real raid cards.
>
Discontinued chipset but  works fine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816110002

Nice price!  $35/ 5 SATA drive support.  Fewer drives is a $21 card.

No drivers, you run the RAID from BIOS, it shows as an IDE volume for  
linux.  See the NewEgg comments for some tips.  Depending on the  
speed you need, it could be just great.

You need Windows to update the firmware.  Supports a handful of RAID  
types, but not RAID 5.  True hardware RAID though.

All the firmwares, manuals, utils are at:  http://www.soft-port.dk/

B

Once you get a handle on what you are after check back with me, I have a 
bunch of Raid controllers I picked up from a systems dealer who went out 
of business.  Some LSI's ICP, ICP says they are an Adaptec company and a 
couple of other off brands...  May be able to save you a few bucks, all 
are new, oem style...


john
















Therese Trudeau wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm considering setting up my Centos Desktop machine for RAID 1.  I
read a lot of good info at this
site:http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html#intel-vitesse about
differences in fakeraid and real raid cards.
>
> The hardware I plan on installing this RAID card into is an Intel DP35DP
motherboard with the Intel E4500 dual core processor, and I have two Mator 500
gig SATA hard drives.
>
> Can anyone recommend a good ?real raid? card for my Linux?  What I am
looking for is to plug in a RAID controller card out of the box, and without
having to load any drivers onto my Centos 5.1 box, have the Real hardware RAID
card  automatically do all the work, mirror my hard drive onto the second backup
drive and do all the work for me.
>
> Do such cards exist?   If so which model /manufacturers do you recommend?
Any experiences/info/insights on hardware RAID cards good or bad on centos boxes
would be appreciated.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge with star
power.
>
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_jan_______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
>
>

Therese,

You are definitely making your life more difficult then is needed for a desktop
machine.

You said you have 4 hard disks. Make a software RAID1 out of the first two. Make
a software RAID1 out of the second two and your good to go.

You can use dump/restore to backup the logical volumes on the second 
RAID set to an LV on the first.

No need for bare metal restore. Just need to get some working Linux distro to be
able to read your files.

Going HW RAID for your desktop is going to get in the way of you getting things
going and if your HW RAID card fails then what? Your drives will only work with
another identical HW RAID card.

-Ross


----- Original Message -----
From: centos-bounces at centos.org <centos-bounces at centos.org>
To: CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org>
Sent: Fri Mar 14 09:08:39 2008
Subject: RE: [CentOS] Recommendations for a ?real RAID" 1 card on Centos
box

>>> You can turn on write back caching if you have a UPS as well
>>>  (provided your UPS is wired into your system for a graceful
shutdown)
>>>     
>>
>> Hopefully you have a redundant PS unit. Having a UPS is not going to
>> help if your PS fails.
>>
>>   
> 
> redundant power supplies connected to redundant UPS's.   I've seen
more
> UPS failures than I've ever had failed PSUs on proper server grade
hardware.
This might be getting a bit elaborate for a desktop machine.  I really want RAID
because
I'm tired every couple years of hard drive crashes and having to start from
scratch and
spending a week setting up new drives and getting my design software back on
line and trying
to recover data.

What do you think of alternative back up systems, such as a tape backup with
bare metal restore software?  I'd go that route instead if I could fine a
solution which
would allow me to restore to different hardware, i.e. if my motherboard dies
and I need to buy a different brand or model MB.  I know Storix back up software
has this capability - I use storix on my Linux server with RAID 1.  @ home I
have
one Linux and one Windows desktop machine.

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> You are definitely making your life more difficult then is needed for a
desktop machine.
> 
> You said you have 4 hard disks. Make a software RAID1 out of the first two.
Make a software RAID1 out of the second two and your good to go.
> 
> You can use dump/restore to backup the logical volumes on the second
> RAID set to an LV on the first.
> 
> No need for bare metal restore. Just need to get some working Linux distro
to be able to read your files.
> 
> Going HW RAID for your desktop is going to get in the way of you getting
things going and if your HW RAID card fails then what? Your drives will only
work with another identical HW RAID card.
> 
> -Ross
That makes total sense Ross, I think I may end up going with software raid and
investing in a good hot swap redundant power supply
that would fit into an ATX case, combined with a good UPS.

That brings up a last question on possiblity of either a 3ware or acrea RAID 1
cards.  I'm wondering how long I would be able to order
a replacement RAID card from either of 3ware or areea.  Anyone know if 3ware or
acrea stock identical replacement cards for their SATA 4 port raid cards
for several years out?  Do they stock past the three year warranty period?


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