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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] SATA RAID Recommendations for Linux

Dan Langille wrote:

On 16 Jun 2006 at 21:52, Milan Budimirovic wrote:

Anyway, I went for the Adaptec 2420S and had no trouble getting it working under Ubuntu Server 6.06. It boots directly off the RAID array too. :)
This is pretty cool. The controller card and the 4x160G SATA drives came 
out to about $800. That's very reasonable for hardware RAID 10.
   

I am in the process of setting up a system with similar storage 
requirements.  Where did you purchase?  How much were the individual 
components?
 

I bought the server at Computer Supply House on O'Connor St. The MegaRAID 150-4 and the Adaptec 2420s are in the $300-$400 range. A 160G SATAII drive is about $100 I believe.
Both cards use their manufacturer's SCSI RAID drivers. The Adaptec 
aacraid driver is built into the Ububtu installer program, making life 
very easy for the person installing the system.
I've been considering the 3Ware products:

probably the 9550SX-4LP but the 9550SX-8LP looks nice too:
  http://www.3ware.com/products/serial_ata2-9000.asp

3ware products have a reputation for being a bit less stable than some 
of the others. Also factor in that they are a much smaller vendor than 
LSI logic or Adaptec. If they go out of business you may have trouble 
finding a replacement card that can read your existing data.
They also don't have a distributor in Canada, so their products need to 
be purchased directly from their US distributor, and good luck getting 
them to honour any warranty if the need arises.
and the MegaRAID SATA 300-8XLP:

http://www.lsilogic.com/products/megaraid_sata/megaraid_sata_300_8xlp.
html

LSI logic also no longer has a distributor in Canada. As well, the 
4-disk MegaRAID controller does not support SATA II. That said, I 
generally like their disk controllers more than Adaptec's. This would be 
a good choice, if you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks for it to arrive.
All three cards are PCI-X and SATAII... that's the main thing for me. I have not attempted to source these cards locally.