zfs discuss - Jan 2007 - Solaris-Supported cards with battery backup

Since we''re talking about various hardware configs, does anyone know
which controllers with battery backup are supported on Solaris? If
we build a big ZFS box I''d like to be able to turn on write caching
on the drives but have them battery-backed in the event of a power
loss. Are 3ware cards going to be supported any time soon?

I checked and there doesn''t seem to be a battery backup option
for Thumper. Is that right? Does anyone know if there plans for
that?

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| Jim Hranicky, Senior SysAdmin                   UF/CISE Department |
| E314D CSE Building                            Phone (352) 392-1499 |
| jfh at cise.ufl.edu                      http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~jfh |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello James,

Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 3:20:14 PM, you wrote:

JFH> Since we''re talking about various hardware configs, does anyone
know
JFH> which controllers with battery backup are supported on Solaris? If
JFH> we build a big ZFS box I''d like to be able to turn on write
caching
JFH> on the drives but have them battery-backed in the event of a power
JFH> loss. Are 3ware cards going to be supported any time soon?

JFH> I checked and there doesn''t seem to be a battery backup option
JFH> for Thumper. Is that right? Does anyone know if there plans for
JFH> that?

ZFS makes sure itself that transaction is on disk by issuing write
cache flush command to disks. So you don''t have to worry about it.

-- 
Best regards,
 Robert                            mailto:rmilkowski at task.gda.pl
                                       http://milek.blogspot.com

On Jan 24, 2007, at 1:57 PM, Robert Milkowski wrote:
> Hello James,
>
> Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 3:20:14 PM, you wrote:
>
> JFH> Since we''re talking about various hardware configs, does  
> anyone know
> JFH> which controllers with battery backup are supported on  
> Solaris? If
> JFH> we build a big ZFS box I''d like to be able to turn on
write
> caching
> JFH> on the drives but have them battery-backed in the event of a  
> power
> JFH> loss. Are 3ware cards going to be supported any time soon?
>
> JFH> I checked and there doesn''t seem to be a battery backup
option
> JFH> for Thumper. Is that right? Does anyone know if there plans for
> JFH> that?
>
> ZFS makes sure itself that transaction is on disk by issuing write
> cache flush command to disks. So you don''t have to worry about it.
>
Areca SATA cards are supported on Solaris x86 by Areca (drivers etc  
from them, not from Sun) and they support battery backup.

It is what I am using

Chad


---
Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC
Your Web App and Email hosting provider
chad at shire.net



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Robert Milkowski wrote:
> Hello James,
> 
> Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 3:20:14 PM, you wrote:
> 
> JFH> Since we''re talking about various hardware configs, does
anyone know
> JFH> which controllers with battery backup are supported on Solaris? If
> JFH> we build a big ZFS box I''d like to be able to turn on
write caching
> JFH> on the drives but have them battery-backed in the event of a power
> JFH> loss. Are 3ware cards going to be supported any time soon?
> 
> JFH> I checked and there doesn''t seem to be a battery backup
option
> JFH> for Thumper. Is that right? Does anyone know if there plans for
> JFH> that?
> 
> ZFS makes sure itself that transaction is on disk by issuing write
> cache flush command to disks. So you don''t have to worry about it.
Ok, does that negate the performance gains of having the write cache
on?

I guess what I''m really asking is with the problems I and others have
noted with NFS/ZFS, what''s currently the best way to get good NFS
performance without sacrificing reliability (i.e., disabling the ZIL,
etc).

If a battery-backed cache isn''t necessary, all the better.

Jim

Hello James,

Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 10:31:46 PM, you wrote:

JFH> Robert Milkowski wrote:
>> Hello James,
>> 
>> Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 3:20:14 PM, you wrote:
>> 
>> JFH> Since we''re talking about various hardware configs,
does anyone know
>> JFH> which controllers with battery backup are supported on Solaris?
If
>> JFH> we build a big ZFS box I''d like to be able to turn on
write caching
>> JFH> on the drives but have them battery-backed in the event of a
power
>> JFH> loss. Are 3ware cards going to be supported any time soon?
>> 
>> JFH> I checked and there doesn''t seem to be a battery
backup option
>> JFH> for Thumper. Is that right? Does anyone know if there plans for
>> JFH> that?
>> 
>> ZFS makes sure itself that transaction is on disk by issuing write
>> cache flush command to disks. So you don''t have to worry about
it.
JFH> Ok, does that negate the performance gains of having the write cache
JFH> on?

JFH> I guess what I''m really asking is with the problems I and
others have
JFH> noted with NFS/ZFS, what''s currently the best way to get good
NFS
JFH> performance without sacrificing reliability (i.e., disabling the ZIL,
JFH> etc).

JFH> If a battery-backed cache isn''t necessary, all the better.

I thought you were worried about write cache in disks - if you
dedicate whole disks for zfs on x4500 write cache on disks will be
enabled by default.

But if you are talking about another level of cache then you''re right
- currently you can''t do it on x4500.


-- 
Best regards,
 Robert                            mailto:rmilkowski at task.gda.pl
                                       http://milek.blogspot.com