zfs discuss - Jun 2008 - LSAI SAS SATA card and MB comptability questions?

Hello,

I am new to open solaris and am trying to setup a ZFS based storage solution.

I am looking at setting up a system with the following specs:

Intel BOXDG33FBC 
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz
2 or 4 GB ram

For the drives I am looking at using a 
LSI SAS3081E-R 

I''ve been reading around and it sounds like LSI solutions work well in
terms of compatability with solaris. Could someone help me verify this?

Or are there any alternate cards I should be looking at?

I''m looking at having a max of 12 HDs so I''d use this card in
conjunction with another 2 or 4 port card.

My other option is to get 3 PCI or PCIE based 4 port cards which I am open to.
I''m just trying to keep the cost low.

Thank you
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Aaron Moore wrote:
> I am new to open solaris and am trying to setup a ZFS based storage
> solution.
> 
> I am looking at setting up a system with the following specs:
> 
> Intel BOXDG33FBC Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz 2 or 4 GB ram
> 
> For the drives I am looking at using a LSI SAS3081E-R
> 
> I''ve been reading around and it sounds like LSI solutions work
well in
> terms of compatability with solaris. Could someone help me verify this?
> 
> Or are there any alternate cards I should be looking at?
> 
> I''m looking at having a max of 12 HDs so I''d use this
card in conjunction
> with another 2 or 4 port card.
> 
> My other option is to get 3 PCI or PCIE based 4 port cards which I am
> open to. I''m just trying to keep the cost low.
In general, LSI cards based on the 1064 or 1068 chips should
work out of the box with the Sun-supplied mpt(7d) driver.

I think your motherboard and cpu choice are fine, and I encourage
you to stuff as much ram as possible onto the board ;)


James C. McPherson
--
Senior Kernel Software Engineer, Solaris
Sun Microsystems
http://blogs.sun.com/jmcp	http://www.jmcp.homeunix.com/blog

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 6:09 PM, Aaron Moore <mooreaa at gmail.com>
wrote:
> For the drives I am looking at using a LSI SAS3081E-R
The only snag that you might run into is the cable that comes with the
card. The cables included with the 3081 go from mini-SAS (sff-8087) to
SAS with power. If you''re using a hot swap back plane, they may not
work. You can get the right cables for about $50, but that adds to the
cost. Adaptec''s part # is "ACK-I-mSASx4-4SATAx1-SB-0.5m R"
for the
0.5m cable.

We''re in the middle of moving, so no big purchases for a bit but
Here''s the system that I''m planning on building once I get a
chance:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7739092
I''d appreciate any constructive comments. The hot swap bays are all
for a zfs storage pool, and the CF -> IDE adapter will hold mirrored
CF cards for the boot volume. Yes, I''m planning to build a 10TB raidz2
server for home.
> I''ve been reading around and it sounds like LSI solutions work
well in terms of compatability with solaris. Could someone help me verify this?
I asked the same question last week, James McPherson
replied:
> That card is very similar to ones sold by Sun. It should
> work fine out of the box with the mpt(7D) driver.
> Or are there any alternate cards I should be looking at?
The 3041E-R which is a little cheaper but only 4 ports. It won''t give
you the density you want on but it uses standard SAS/SATA ports on the
card which is kinda nice.

Areca cards are also supported under Solaris, but cost a bit more.
Something like the ARC-1220 or ARC-1222 would work, both are ~ $450.
The ARC-1230 is a 12 port card, but weighs in around $700.
> I''m looking at having a max of 12 HDs so I''d use this
card in conjunction with another 2 or 4 port card.
Get a motherboard with AHCI support and 6 SATA ports combined with an
8 port card. Boom, done.
> My other option is to get 3 PCI or PCIE based 4 port cards which I am open
to. I''m just trying to keep the cost low.
I don''t know of an inexpensive 4 port PCIe card, and PCI will easily
be saturated by one drive, let alone 4. If you don''t care, then the
Supermicro 8-port card is a steal.

-B

-- 
Brandon High bhigh at freaks.com
"The good is the enemy of the best." - Nietzsche

Thanks for your reply. I did go ahead and get the LSI based sata system. I will
be putting the machine together along with my first ever open solaris system
this coming week so I''m sure I''ll be poking my head in here a
lot!

I really apprecaite your quick response!
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org