Now that Erik has made me all nervous about my "3xRAIDz2 of 8x2TB 7200RPM disks" approach, I''m considering moving forward using more and smaller 2.5" disks instead. The problem is that at eight drives per LSI 3018, I run out of PCIe slots quickly. The ARC-1680 cards would appear to offer greater drive densities, but a quick Google search shows that they''ve overpromised and underdelivered on Solaris support in the past. Is anybody currently using those cards on OpenSolaris? -- Dave Pooser, ACSA Manager of Information Services Alford Media http://www.alfordmedia.com
Hi David, why not just use a couple of SAS expanders? Regards, Tonmaus -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
Tonmaus wrote:> Hi David, > > why not just use a couple of SAS expanders? > > Regards, > > Tonmaus >I would go this route (SAS expanders for a 8-port HBA). E.g.: http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/mobilerack/CSE-M28E2.cfm is a great internal bay set up if you want a non-Supermicro case. $250 or thereabouts. You can get two of these, plus a pair of nice LSI HBAs. As an added bonus, it''s easy to put a SSD into one or more of the bays with no additional rewiring needed. -- Erik Trimble Java System Support Mailstop: usca22-123 Phone: x17195 Santa Clara, CA Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800)
Just as an FYI, not all drives like sas expanders. As an example, we had a lot of trouble with Indilinx MLC based SSDs. The systems had Adaptec 52445 controllers and Chenbro SAS expanders. In the end we had to remove the SAS expanders and put a 2nd 52445 in each system to get them to work properly. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
James C.McPherson
2010-Apr-10 12:49 UTC
[zfs-discuss] Areca ARC-1680 on OpenSolaris 2009.06?
On 10/04/10 08:52 AM, Dave Pooser wrote:> Now that Erik has made me all nervous about my "3xRAIDz2 of 8x2TB 7200RPM > disks" approach, I''m considering moving forward using more and smaller 2.5" > disks instead. The problem is that at eight drives per LSI 3018, I run out > of PCIe slots quickly. The ARC-1680 cards would appear to offer greater > drive densities, but a quick Google search shows that they''ve overpromised > and underdelivered on Solaris support in the past. Is anybody currently > using those cards on OpenSolaris?A few people are, sure. It''s been integrated since September 15th, 2008 (build 99). What do you mean by overpromised and underdelivered? James C. McPherson -- Senior Software Engineer, Solaris Oracle http://www.jmcp.homeunix.com/blog
As far as I have read, that problem has been reported to be a compatibility problem of the Adaptec controller and the expander chipset, e.g. LSI SASx which is also on the mentioned Chenbro expander. There is no problem with 106x chipset and sas expanders that I know of. People sceptical about expanders: quite a couple of th Areca cards actually have expander chips on board. Don''t know about the 1680 specifically, though. Cheers, Tonmaus -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
Any hints as to where you read that? I''m working on another system design with LSI controllers and being able to use SAS expanders would be a big help. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
That was a while back when I was shopping for my own HBAs. There were compatibility warnings all over the place with some Adpatec controllers and LSI SAS expanders. AFAIK, even the 106x need to be operated in IT mode to properly work with SAS expanders. IT mode disables all RAID functions of the 106x. Regards, Tonmaus -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
> What do you mean by overpromised and underdelivered?Well, when I did a quick Google search this <http://wordpress.fusetnt.com/2009/08/areca-are-liars-the-arc-1300ix-16-does -not-support-solaris/> was one of the first results I got. (I know, a different card-- but the same company, and if they fudge compatibility information on one product....) -- Dave Pooser, ACSA Manager of Information Services Alford Media http://www.alfordmedia.com