RE: Re: RAID recommendations?

["John Andrews" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Noel

8 channel - nice card
Yes, most raid arrays can be expanded later, check on the actual card.
With RAID 5, you always loose a disk when working out capacity, but with a
minium of 3 disks. So your sums are right, of 3 x 300gb disks, you get
600g=
b
disk space. You may want to consider a hot spare. This is an additional
dis=
k
that is only ever used if one of the other disks fail - the controller
automatically recovers the array to the spare disk. In the 100 servers I
manage, they all have a hot spare.
I normally build them along the lines of: System disk mirrored, 3 x disks
raid 5, and a hot spare.

Hope this helps.=20

-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
noel_pilot
Sent: 17 September 2005 19:42
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: RAID recommendations?

Just trying to get my understanding of this sorted out!!

If I get an 8ch Raid card like the highpoint, Setting up as Raid 5, if I
pu=
t
3 300Gb drives on there, one would be taken by the redundancy part of it
al=
l
leaving me with 600Gb of storage space.=20=20

At a later date could I then just chuck another couple of drives in there
(of the same size) and then them be added to the array with minimal fuss??
i.e. adding two more 300gb drives to give a total of 1.2Tb??

Hope someone can help

Thanks
Noel


--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Paul Gordon" <paul@p...> wrote:
> Thanks Noel, will take a look...
>=20=20
> No luck on the caddies yet, - still concentrating on the controller
options at the moment....
>=20=20
> Paul G.
>=20=20
>=20
> ________________________________
>=20
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx on behalf of noel_pilot
> Sent: Fri 16/09/2005 12:43
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: [ukha_d] Re: RAID recommendations?
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Hi Paul,
> Im looking at something very similar, this highpoint card looks
like=20
> it may just do the job.
> review here...=20
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=3Dreview&dId=3D716
> hth
> Noel
> p.s. any luck findding decent cheapish sata caddies??
>=20
>=20
> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Paul Gordon" <paul@p...>
wrote:
> > Thanks, but I should have probably made clear that for various
> reasons (NONE of which are anything to do with any kind of=20
> *NIX/Windows zealotry), in this particular instance the storage
server=20
> would definately be a windows box, - most likely XP MCE... (but=20
> possibly 2003 server)
> >=20
> > But OS choices aside, at the moment I'm more interested in
narrowing
> down my hardware choices... - there are quite a few suitable cards=20
> available from the likes of Promise/Highpoint and others, with
prices=20
> ranging from =A350-odd to =A3300-odd
> >=20
> > One that I'm giving serious consideration to at the moment is the
> Highpoint RocketRaid RR1820A 8Ch SATA Raid Adaptor, which can be
had=20
> for about =A3160 delivered...
> >=20
> > This has the following features that I'm attracted to...
> >=20
> > 8 SATA ports - I can add a few drives now, and have expansion
> capability later as/when I need
> > PCI  *and*  PCI-X compatible (so I can use my current m/board
with a
> PCI slot, but have an upgrade path to a PCI-X slot later)
> > Arrays can be expanded by adding more drives (without data loss I
> believe)
> > Has a "gigabyte boundary" feature so that drives of
very slightly
> different sizes can be mixed in an array with minimal loss of capacity
> > Reasonable price!
> >=20
> > BUT!!!
> >=20
> > I have had bad experiences in the past with Highpoint controllers
> (embedded motherboard ones that is), and I know a few other people=20
> have in the past as well... - however, it may well be the case that=20
> things have improved since I last used a Highpoint controller, so
what=20
> I'm really most interested in is personal experiences (good or
bad),=20
> that might help sway my decision...
> >=20
> > Cheers.
> >=20
> > Paul G.
> >=20
> >=20
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx on behalf of David Greaves
> > Sent: Thu 15/09/2005 19:56
> > To: UKHA_D Group
> > Subject: Re: [ukha_d] RAID recommendations?
> >
> >
> >
> > If it's a dedicated box for personal use as a server then
consider
linux
> > and sw raid.
> >
> > You get excellent managment (mdadm or EVMS), great performance
and=20
> > you can use commodity (none-accelerated) cards, mix IDE, SATA
(and,=20
> > god forbid, even USB or remote drives in a push!). RAID
0,1,5,6,10=20
> > and
many
> > other combinations.
> >
> > You can run Samba to share with other systems and have
excellent=20
> > web-based admin.
> >
> > A big benefit over HW raid is that if the card dies in a couple
(or=20
> > 5) years and is not made anymore then you're not toasted! (and
this
happens
> > more than you may expect!). You can also migrate over to
larger=20
> > drives and/or faster controller cards. You can upgrade the=20
> > motherboard underneath to say an AMD64 with whatever super IO
exists=20
> > in a few
years
> > and it will all just carry on working.
> >
> > I run a 1.2Tb raid5 system with 6x250Gb SATA and a 250Gb PATA as
a=20
> > hot spare (started life as a 4 disk PATA BTW). It runs on an
old=20
> > 1200Mhz machine and provides plenty of performance for editing=20
> > multi-Gb video files whilst reading and writing multiple TV
programmes.
> >
> > Sure I couldn't run a cable head-end from it but!!!
> >
> > If you want to know more then just ask.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > Paul Gordon wrote:
> >
> > > Is anyone actually using an IDE or SATA RAID card?
> > >
> > > Looking around, I see an increasing number of choices
appearing
now, -
> > > many more cards support more advanced RAID modes than was
the case=20
> > > a year or so ago, and prices seem to have dropped quite a
bit as well=
.
> > >
> > > Knowing that my DVD server is going to run out of storage in
a few=20
> > > months, I'm intending to rebuild my whole storage solution,
and=20
> > > this time I plan to do it "properly"
> > >
> > > a NAS solution like the Buffalo Terrastation will be in the
running as
> > > well, but I also want to look at a traditional storage
server as
well,
> > > - since I think this may offer me more flexibility...
> > >
> > > So I am looking for personal recommendations for RAID
controllers...
> > >
> > > - I'll consider either IDE or SATA - but I'd prefer to make
the
switch
> > > to SATA now... (or SATA-2 for that matter)
> > > - I'll consider either PCI or PCIe cards, - PCIe would
require=20
> > > purchasing a new motherboard as well to support it, but if
that's what
> > > it takes, then so be it...
> > > - I'd prefer cards that support at least 4 drives, more are
fine, but
> > > don't wan't to use 2-port SATA cards really...
> > > - Not too bothered about the price (shock!) - I'm prepared
to
pay good
> > > money if the features, quality & reliability justifies
it, - but=20
> > > within limits... - above =A3200-=A3300 is probably getting
into silly=
=20
> > > money territory for this excercise...
> > > - RAID 5 support is a must.
> > > - Controllers that allow for array expansion in the future
would=20
> > > be preferred, - either by upgrading to larger drives, or
by=20
> > > allowing an array to span across more than 1 card...
(although an=20
> > > 8-port
card will
> > > probably see me right for quite a while!)
> > > - Hot spare support would be nice, but not essential, -
if/when a=20
> > > drive fails, I don't have a problem having to replace it
myself...
> > >
> > >
> > > Also looking for recommendations for hot-pluggable SATA
caddies....
> > >
> > > Note, - I've already searched around and found plenty of=20
> > > controllers that I could choose, - what I am after now is
personal
experiences and
> > > recommendations...
> > >
> > > TIA
> > >
> > > Paul G.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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