zfs discuss - Dec 2006 - What SATA controllers are people using for ZFS?

Hi,

This may not be the right place to post, but hoping someone here is running a
reliably working system with 12 drives using ZFS that can tell me what hardware
they are using.

I have on order with my server vendor a pair of 12-drive servers that I want to
use with ZFS for our company file stores. We''re trying to use
Supermicro PDSME motherboards, and each has two Supermicro MV8 sata cards.
Solaris 10U3 he''s found doesn''t work on these systems. And I
just read a post today (and an older post) on this group about how the Marvell
based cards lock up. I can''t afford lockups since this is very critical
and expensive data that is being stored.

My goal is a single cpu board that works with Solaris, and somehow get 12-drives
plus 2 system boot drives plugged into it. I don''t see any suitable
sata cards on the Sun HCL.

Are there any 4-port PCIe cards that people know reliably work? The Adaptec
1430SA looks nice, but no idea if it works. I could potentially get two 4-port
PCIe cards, a 2 port PCI sata card (for boot), and 4-port motherboard - for 14
drives total. And cough up the extra cash for a supported dual-cpu motherboard
(though i''m only using one cpu).

any advice greatly appreciated.. 

Thanks!
Naveen
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

AFAIK there are Sata controllers from Areca and HP where you have a native
Solaris 10 driver. I don? t have them,  but the Areca controller had a very
positive test in a German computer magazine.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Hi Naveen,

I believe the newer LSI cards work pretty well with Solaris.

Best Regards,
Jason

On 12/20/06, Naveen Nalam <n_nalam at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This may not be the right place to post, but hoping someone here is running
a reliably working system with 12 drives using ZFS that can tell me what
hardware they are using.
>
> I have on order with my server vendor a pair of 12-drive servers that I
want to use with ZFS for our company file stores. We''re trying to use
Supermicro PDSME motherboards, and each has two Supermicro MV8 sata cards.
Solaris 10U3 he''s found doesn''t work on these systems. And I
just read a post today (and an older post) on this group about how the Marvell
based cards lock up. I can''t afford lockups since this is very critical
and expensive data that is being stored.
>
> My goal is a single cpu board that works with Solaris, and somehow get
12-drives plus 2 system boot drives plugged into it. I don''t see any
suitable sata cards on the Sun HCL.
>
> Are there any 4-port PCIe cards that people know reliably work? The Adaptec
1430SA looks nice, but no idea if it works. I could potentially get two 4-port
PCIe cards, a 2 port PCI sata card (for boot), and 4-port motherboard - for 14
drives total. And cough up the extra cash for a supported dual-cpu motherboard
(though i''m only using one cpu).
>
> any advice greatly appreciated..
>
> Thanks!
> Naveen
>
>
> This message posted from opensolaris.org
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

and specific models, and the driver used? Looks like there may be
stability issues with the marvell, which appear to go unanswered..


On 12/21/06, Jason J. W. Williams <jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Naveen,
>
> I believe the newer LSI cards work pretty well with Solaris.
>
> Best Regards,
> Jason
>
> On 12/20/06, Naveen Nalam <n_nalam at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > This may not be the right place to post, but hoping someone here is
running a reliably working system with 12 drives using ZFS that can tell me what
hardware they are using.
> >
> > I have on order with my server vendor a pair of 12-drive servers that
I want to use with ZFS for our company file stores. We''re trying to use
Supermicro PDSME motherboards, and each has two Supermicro MV8 sata cards.
Solaris 10U3 he''s found doesn''t work on these systems. And I
just read a post today (and an older post) on this group about how the Marvell
based cards lock up. I can''t afford lockups since this is very critical
and expensive data that is being stored.
> >
> > My goal is a single cpu board that works with Solaris, and somehow get
12-drives plus 2 system boot drives plugged into it. I don''t see any
suitable sata cards on the Sun HCL.
> >
> > Are there any 4-port PCIe cards that people know reliably work? The
Adaptec 1430SA looks nice, but no idea if it works. I could potentially get two
4-port PCIe cards, a 2 port PCI sata card (for boot), and 4-port motherboard -
for 14 drives total. And cough up the extra cash for a supported dual-cpu
motherboard (though i''m only using one cpu).
> >
> > any advice greatly appreciated..
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Naveen
> >
> >
> > This message posted from opensolaris.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > zfs-discuss mailing list
> > zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> > http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
> >
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

Thanks for the Areca recommendation. My vendor was initially proposing the Areca
as well. I had thought that the Supermicro MV8 would be better since two cards
total only $200 vs the $700 for a 12-port Areca card, and thought that the MV8
would have good support since Thumper uses the Marvell 88sx6081 sata chipset
(which I believe is what the MV8 uses as well).

We''ve gotten Solaris to load on a newer motherboard - the Supermicro
PDSME+ which is an update to the Supermicro PDSME. I guess I will stick with the
MV8 for now, and if issues arise - replace them with an Areca card or whatever
else ppl suggest.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, Joe Little wrote:
> and specific models, and the driver used? Looks like there may be
> stability issues with the marvell, which appear to go unanswered..
I''ve tested a box running two Marvell based 8-port controllers (which
has
been running great on Update 2) on the solaris Update 3 beta without
issues.  The specific card is the newer version of the SuperMicro board:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2

but have yet to test them under the released Update 3 code.  I''ll post
a
followup after the box is upgraded or re-installed.  [I''m waiting for
the
next 48-hour day so that I can do the upgrade without affecting the user
community!!]

AFAIR the reported Marvell issues were with ON B54 - not Update 3.  Or do
I have this wrong?

In any case, if you discover a bug with the Sun proprietary Marvell driver
and Update 3 and you have a support contract, you can log a service
request and get it fixed.  Since the Marvell chipset is used in Thumper,
I think its a pretty safe bet that the Marvell driver will continue to
work very nicely (Thanks Lori).

And yes, I would feel better if this driver was open sourced.... but that
is Suns'' decision to make.

Regards,

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006

So are there any PCI-Express cards based on the Marvell chipset?  And/or
is there something with native SATA support that is the same general
specifications (8 ports, non-raid) just based on a different chipset but
using a PCI-E interface?

-----Original Message-----
From: zfs-discuss-bounces at opensolaris.org
[mailto:zfs-discuss-bounces at opensolaris.org] On Behalf Of Al Hopper
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 4:15 PM
To: Joe Little
Cc: zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
Subject: Re: [zfs-discuss] What SATA controllers are people using for
ZFS?

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, Joe Little wrote:
> and specific models, and the driver used? Looks like there may be
> stability issues with the marvell, which appear to go unanswered..
I''ve tested a box running two Marvell based 8-port controllers (which
has
been running great on Update 2) on the solaris Update 3 beta without
issues.  The specific card is the newer version of the SuperMicro board:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2

but have yet to test them under the released Update 3 code.  I''ll post
a
followup after the box is upgraded or re-installed.  [I''m waiting for
the
next 48-hour day so that I can do the upgrade without affecting the user
community!!]

AFAIR the reported Marvell issues were with ON B54 - not Update 3.  Or
do
I have this wrong?

In any case, if you discover a bug with the Sun proprietary Marvell
driver
and Update 3 and you have a support contract, you can log a service
request and get it fixed.  Since the Marvell chipset is used in Thumper,
I think its a pretty safe bet that the Marvell driver will continue to
work very nicely (Thanks Lori).

And yes, I would feel better if this driver was open sourced.... but
that
is Suns'' decision to make.

Regards,

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006
_______________________________________________
zfs-discuss mailing list
zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

On 12/21/06, Al Hopper <al at logical-approach.com>
wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, Joe Little wrote:
>
> > and specific models, and the driver used? Looks like there may be
> > stability issues with the marvell, which appear to go unanswered..
>
> I''ve tested a box running two Marvell based 8-port controllers
(which has
> been running great on Update 2) on the solaris Update 3 beta without
> issues.  The specific card is the newer version of the SuperMicro board:
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2
>
> but have yet to test them under the released Update 3 code.  I''ll
post a
> followup after the box is upgraded or re-installed.  [I''m waiting
for the
> next 48-hour day so that I can do the upgrade without affecting the user
> community!!]
>
> AFAIR the reported Marvell issues were with ON B54 - not Update 3.  Or do
> I have this wrong?
Yes, this is all OpenSolaris based, so the areca seems to be for
Solaris 10 proper and the marvell may have issues at least at B54.
>
> In any case, if you discover a bug with the Sun proprietary Marvell driver
> and Update 3 and you have a support contract, you can log a service
> request and get it fixed.  Since the Marvell chipset is used in Thumper,
> I think its a pretty safe bet that the Marvell driver will continue to
> work very nicely (Thanks Lori).
>
> And yes, I would feel better if this driver was open sourced.... but that
> is Suns'' decision to make.
>
> Regards,
>
> Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
>            Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
> OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
>              OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006
>

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, Al Hopper wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, Joe Little wrote:
>
> > and specific models, and the driver used? Looks like there may be
> > stability issues with the marvell, which appear to go unanswered..
>
> I''ve tested a box running two Marvell based 8-port controllers
(which has
> been running great on Update 2) on the solaris Update 3 beta without
> issues.  The specific card is the newer version of the SuperMicro board:
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2
Correction :(

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2-MV8.cfm

... snip ...

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT

> And yes, I would feel better if this driver was open
> sourced.... but
> that
> is Suns'' decision to make.
Well, no.  That is Marvell''s decision to make.  Marvell is
the one who make the determination that the driver
could not be open sourced, not Sun.  Since Sun
needed information received under NDA from
Marvell in order to write this driver, Marvell can
dictate whether or not the source can be made
available.

Regards,
Lida
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.
>  al at logical-approach.com
> Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134
>   Timezone: US CDT
> enSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member -
> Apr 2005
> OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member
> - Feb 2006
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discu
> ss
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discu
> ss
>
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006, Lida Horn wrote:
> > And yes, I would feel better if this driver was open
> > sourced.... but
> > that
> > is Suns'' decision to make.
>
> Well, no.  That is Marvell''s decision to make.  Marvell is
> the one who make the determination that the driver
> could not be open sourced, not Sun.  Since Sun
> needed information received under NDA from
> Marvell in order to write this driver, Marvell can
> dictate whether or not the source can be made
> available.
Thanks Lida, for the clarification.  Do you have a contact at Marvell
where we can send email requests to have the necessary info made public?

Thanks,

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006

For future reference for someone looking to build a ZFS storage server, the
server config I am now using is Solaris 10 U3, has two Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8
controllers, 12 Seagate 750GB drives, 2 Seagate 160GB drives, and an Asus P5M2
motherboard (don''t think these boards are yet for general sale, my
vendor got them from Asus). The P5M2 has one PCIe x16 slot, two PCI-X
133/100/64bit slots, and PCI 33/32bit slot.

The vendor''s IT staff claimed that even though Solaris loaded on the
Supermicro PDSME+ motherboard, there were frequent keyboard detection issues.
Asus claimed they had tested the P5M2 with Solaris.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007, Naveen Nalam wrote:
> For future reference for someone looking to build a ZFS storage server,
> the server config I am now using is Solaris 10 U3, has two Supermicro
> AOC-SAT2-MV8 controllers, 12 Seagate 750GB drives, 2 Seagate 160GB
> drives, and an Asus P5M2 motherboard (don''t think these boards are
yet
> for general sale, my vendor got them from Asus). The P5M2 has one PCIe
> x16 slot, two PCI-X 133/100/64bit slots, and PCI 33/32bit slot.
>
> The vendor''s IT staff claimed that even though Solaris loaded on
the
> Supermicro PDSME+ motherboard, there were frequent keyboard detection
> issues. Asus claimed they had tested the P5M2 with Solaris.
Nice system.  What case did you use?

PS: Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006

I''m using the Chenbro RM31212B. I highly recommend Chenbro rackmount
chassis.

http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_01features.php?serno=33
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

> For future reference for someone looking to build a
> ZFS storage server, the server config I am now using
> is Solaris 10 U3, has two Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8
> controllers, 12 Seagate 750GB drives, 2 Seagate 160GB
> drives, and an Asus P5M2 motherboard (don''t think
> these boards are yet for general sale, my vendor got
> them from Asus). The P5M2 has one PCIe x16 slot, two
> PCI-X 133/100/64bit slots, and PCI 33/32bit slot.
I looked on Newegg for this motherboard and found the P5M2-M but it
doesn''t seem to have the same slots that you mentioned.  What socket is
this motherboard?
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

> I''ve tested a box running two Marvell based 8-port
> controllers (which has
> been running great on Update 2) on the solaris Update
> 3 beta without
> issues.  The specific card is the newer version of
> the SuperMicro board:
> 
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/A
> oC-SAT2
> 
> but have yet to test them under the released Update 3
> code.  I''ll post a
> followup after the box is upgraded or re-installed.
>  [I''m waiting for the
> ext 48-hour day so that I can do the upgrade without
> affecting the user
> community!!]
> 
What motherboard are you using with these sata controller cards?  I have been
trying to find a relatively inexpensive board with PCI-X to use with update 3
were the rest of the board is well supported.  Any suggestions?
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

I have the P5M2, not the P5M2-M. It is a new board, not yet listed on
Asus''s website. The P5M2 is a LGA775 socket (I have an Intel Pentium D
processor).
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

> Well, no.  That is Marvell''s decision to make.
> Marvell is the one who make the determination
> that the driver could not be open sourced, not Sun.
> Since Sun needed information received under NDA
> from Marvell in order to write this driver, Marvell
> can dictate whether or not the source can be made
> available.
I asked this question a while back on the drivers list
and got no response. The latest reference driver I have
seen for linux is 3.6.1 and is tri-licensed( commercial,
BSD and GPL). Also, FreeBSD has integrated a working
driver for the 88SX[5][6]xx series. Please see

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/ata/ata-chipset.c

While I certainly don''t have the skills to write a driver
for inclusion, it would seem some documention in the
form of reference drivers is available. I would love to
see an open sourced Marvell sata driver as well.

-scott


This message posted from opensolaris.org
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zfs-discuss mailing list
zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org
http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

what I don? t unserstand. If the marvell driver is in opensolaris, but closed
source, why isn? t it in this list:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/about/no_source/


This message posted from opensolaris.org
_______________________________________________
zfs-discuss mailing list
zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org
http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

I am running a home fileserver with a pair of 4-port cheapo Silicon Image 3114
based cards.  I had to down-rev the firmware on the cards to make them dumb SATA
controllers vs. RAID cards.  I bought them at Fry''s, they were about
$70/ea, they''re "SIIG SATA 4-channel RAID", part number
appears to be SC-SA4R12.  My home fileserver is running something in the
neighborood of Nevada build 31  It''s been working well for me, and
obviously based on the kernel version I haven''t had to mess with it
much - just fire and forget.  :-)

At work, we are exploring the use of Nexenta alpha-6, which is based on build
50.    We are using the onboard SATA of the Supermicro H8DAR-T motherboards,
which is marvell88sx based.  Unfortunately, there are (at least) two versions of
this motherboard, which is silkscreened on the back oeft side of the
motherboard.  With the 1.01 version, the SATA driver does not bind. 
(I''ve tried adding the pci-id to the driver_alaises with no love but
haven''t spent a lot of effort on it since our adoption is still
expirimental).   The version 2.01 version of the motherboard works fine, though.
The specific pci id of the one that works is "pci11ab,6041.9".

Although I''ve also read about the reported marvell88sx driver issues, I
have not seen any problems as of yet, and I''ve done some IO benchmark
testing.

I am thinking of getting some cheapo silicon image sata-2 cards, and I may also
pick up an Areca card, both for benchmarking and for potential use in the 1.01
version of the H8DAR-T systems that we have (Assuming that I cannot get the
onboard SATA working on those systems)

-A
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

THANK YOU Naveen, Al Hopper, others, for sinking yourselves into the
shit world of PC hardware and [in]compatibility and coming up with
well qualified white box solutions for S10.

I strongly prefer to buy Sun kit, but I am done waiting for Sun to support
the SATA controller on the x2100.

-frank

Hi Frank,

Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on Solaris 10?
That''s
just bizarre.

-J

On 1/18/07, Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com>
wrote:
> THANK YOU Naveen, Al Hopper, others, for sinking yourselves into the
> shit world of PC hardware and [in]compatibility and coming up with
> well qualified white box solutions for S10.
>
> I strongly prefer to buy Sun kit, but I am done waiting for Sun to support
> the SATA controller on the x2100.
>
> -frank
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

On January 18, 2007 4:45:49 PM -0700 "Jason J. W. Williams" 
<jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on Solaris 10?
That''s
> just bizarre.
Not only that, their marketing is misleading (at best) on the issue.

-frank

Hi Frank,

What do they support? We''ve had some various service issues on the
NICs on the original X2100...which they gave us some flack on because
we were running Gentoo. Once we proved it on Solaris 10 Update 2 (at
the time) they got on board with the problem.

Best Regards,
Jason

On 1/18/07, Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com>
wrote:
> On January 18, 2007 4:45:49 PM -0700 "Jason J. W. Williams"
> <jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on Solaris 10?
That''s
> > just bizarre.
>
> Not only that, their marketing is misleading (at best) on the issue.
>
> -frank
>

Please don''t top-post.  It''s annoying.

On January 18, 2007 4:55:35 PM -0700 "Jason J. W. Williams" 
<jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 1/18/07, Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com> wrote:
>> On January 18, 2007 4:45:49 PM -0700 "Jason J. W. Williams"
>> <jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on Solaris
10? That''s
>> > just bizarre.
>>
>> Not only that, their marketing is misleading (at best) on the issue.
>
> What do they support?
Marvell 88sx family.

-frank

On 18-Jan-07, at 9:55 PM, Jason J. W. Williams wrote:
> Hi Frank,
>
> What do they [not] support?
Hotplug.
See, inter alia,
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.solaris/msg/56e9e341607aa984
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.solaris/msg/9c0afc2668207d36

--Toby
> We''ve had some various service issues on the
> NICs on the original X2100...which they gave us some flack on because
> we were running Gentoo. Once we proved it on Solaris 10 Update 2 (at
> the time) they got on board with the problem.
>
> Best Regards,
> Jason
>
> On 1/18/07, Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com> wrote:
>> On January 18, 2007 4:45:49 PM -0700 "Jason J. W. Williams"
>> <jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on Solaris
10? That''s
>> > just bizarre.
>>
>> Not only that, their marketing is misleading (at best) on the issue.
>>
>> -frank
>>
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

Hi Toby,

Thanks for the links. That''s interesting. I assume this goes forward
to the M2s. Glad hot-swap isn''t a requirement where we use them.

Best Regards,
Jason

On 1/18/07, Toby Thain <toby at smartgames.ca>
wrote:
>
> On 18-Jan-07, at 9:55 PM, Jason J. W. Williams wrote:
>
> > Hi Frank,
> >
> > What do they [not] support?
>
> Hotplug.
> See, inter alia,
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.solaris/msg/56e9e341607aa984
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.solaris/msg/9c0afc2668207d36
>
> --Toby
>
> > We''ve had some various service issues on the
> > NICs on the original X2100...which they gave us some flack on because
> > we were running Gentoo. Once we proved it on Solaris 10 Update 2 (at
> > the time) they got on board with the problem.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Jason
> >
> > On 1/18/07, Frank Cusack <fcusack at fcusack.com> wrote:
> >> On January 18, 2007 4:45:49 PM -0700 "Jason J. W.
Williams"
> >> <jasonjwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Sun doesn''t support the X2100 SATA controller on
Solaris 10? That''s
> >> > just bizarre.
> >>
> >> Not only that, their marketing is misleading (at best) on the
issue.
> >>
> >> -frank
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > zfs-discuss mailing list
> > zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> > http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>
>

Toby Thain:
> 
> On 18-Jan-07, at 9:55 PM, Jason J. W. Williams wrote:
> 
> > Hi Frank,
> >
> > What do they [not] support?
> 
> Hotplug.
and NCQ.  and SMART.

-frank
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

I''ve been using the syba 4port card on linux and it works well.  I
bricked another one trying to downgrade the bios so it was just disks, no RAID. 
Ah, $20 gone.

So I got an Addonics eSata card.  Sata 3.0.  PCI *or* PCI-X.  Works right off
the bat w/ 10u3.  No firmware update needed.  It was $130.  But I don''t
pull out my hair and I can use it if I upgrade my server for pci-x
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

I came across this thread hoping to find overwhelming support for the Supermicro
MV8 cards I have sitting around.

I must warn against the Areca''s, my roommate was using one with
OpenSolaris and one day the exported raid array shrunk. ZFS reported the pool
was corrupted, and that he needed to start over. I wasn''t directly
involved in this, but it is a word of caution to do some heavy testing on it.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

[i]
I got an Addonics eSata card. Sata 3.0. PCI *or* PCI-X. Works right off the bat
w/ 10u3. No firmware update needed. It was $130. But I don''t pull out
my hair and I can use it if I upgrade my server for pci-x
[/i]

And I''m finding the throughput isn''t there.  < 2MB/s in ZFS
RAIDZ and worse with UFS.
*sigh*

So, anyone know an inexpensive 4 port SATA card for PCI that''ll work
with 10u3 and I don''t need to reflash the BIOS on?  (I bricked a
Syba...)
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Tom Buskey wrote:
> [i]
> I got an Addonics eSata card. Sata 3.0. PCI *or* PCI-X. Works right off the
bat w/ 10u3. No firmware update needed. It was $130. But I don''t pull
out my hair and I can use it if I upgrade my server for pci-x
> [/i]
>
> And I''m finding the throughput isn''t there.  < 2MB/s
in ZFS RAIDZ and worse with UFS.
> *sigh*
I think that there are big issues with the 3124 driver.  I saw unexplained
pauses that lasted from 30 to 80+ Seconds during a tar from a single SATA
disk drive that I was migrating data from (using a Syba SD-SATA2-2E2I
card).  I fully expected the kernel to crash while observing this transfer
(it did''nt).  It happened periodically - each time a certain amount of
data had been transferred (just by observation - not measurement).  And
this was a UFS filesystem and the drive is a Sun original drive from an
Ultra 20 box.  I need to do some followup "experiments" as Mike Riley
(Sun) has kindly offered to take my results to the people working on this
driver.
> So, anyone know an inexpensive 4 port SATA card for PCI that''ll
work
> with 10u3 and I don''t need to reflash the BIOS on?  (I bricked a
> Syba...)
Honestly, you''re much better off with the $125 8-port SuperMicro board
that I have been unable to "break" to date. Details: SuperMicro
AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port - uses the Rev C0 (Hercules-2) chip:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2-MV8.cfm

Kudos to the Sun developers working the Marvell driver!  :)  In the
meantime I hope to find time to test a SAS2041E-R (initially the PCI
Express version of this card).

Keep posting to zfs-discuss!  :)

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006

On 2/1/07, Al Hopper <al at logical-approach.com>
wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Tom Buskey wrote:
>
> > [i]
> > I got an Addonics eSata card. Sata 3.0. PCI *or* PCI-X. Works right
off the bat w/ 10u3. No firmware update needed. It was $130. But I
don''t pull out my hair and I can use it if I upgrade my server for
pci-x
> > [/i]
> >
> > And I''m finding the throughput isn''t there.  <
2MB/s in ZFS RAIDZ and worse with UFS.
> > *sigh*
>
> I think that there are big issues with the 3124 driver.  I saw unexplained
> pauses that lasted from 30 to 80+ Seconds during a tar from a single SATA
> disk drive that I was migrating data from (using a Syba SD-SATA2-2E2I
> card).  I fully expected the kernel to crash while observing this transfer
> (it did''nt).  It happened periodically - each time a certain
amount of
> data had been transferred (just by observation - not measurement).  And
> this was a UFS filesystem and the drive is a Sun original drive from an
> Ultra 20 box.  I need to do some followup "experiments" as Mike
Riley
> (Sun) has kindly offered to take my results to the people working on this
> driver.
>
> > So, anyone know an inexpensive 4 port SATA card for PCI
that''ll work
> > with 10u3 and I don''t need to reflash the BIOS on?  (I
bricked a
> > Syba...)
>
> Honestly, you''re much better off with the $125 8-port SuperMicro
board
> that I have been unable to "break" to date. Details: SuperMicro
> AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port - uses the Rev C0 (Hercules-2) chip:
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AoC-SAT2-MV8.cfm
>
> Kudos to the Sun developers working the Marvell driver!  :)  In the
> meantime I hope to find time to test a SAS2041E-R (initially the PCI
> Express version of this card).
>
We switched away from those same Marvell cards because of unexplained
disconnects/reconnects that ZFS/Solaris would not survive from.
Stability for us came from embracing the Sil3124-2''s (Tekram). We had
two marvell based systems, and the most stable are the now
discontinued SATA-I adaptec 16 port cards, and Sil3124s. I think its
redundant, but the state of SATA support here is still the most
glaring weakness. Isolating this all to a SCSI-to-SATA external
chassis is the surest route to bliss.
> Keep posting to zfs-discuss!  :)
>
> Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
>            Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
> OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
>              OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

After failed luck with a pair of Syba SD-SATA-4P PCI-X SATA II controllers
(Sil3114 chipset), I''ve now successfully used a Tekram TR-834A 4-port
SATA-II controller (Sil3124-2 chipset) at the full PCI-X 133MHz bus speed and
b50.

Since my disk mirror on the previous SATA controller (built-in W1100z SATA I
controller) were both ZFS, a simple "zpool export zfsdata",
"touch /reconfigure", "init 6", "zpool import
zfsdata" was all that was need to migrate my ZFS data to this new
hardware...including a few zones.  VERY cool.
 
 
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