Received: from localhost (unknown [200.46.204.183]) by mail.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DB8D16501C4 for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:41:48 -0400 (AST) Received: from mail.postgresql.org ([200.46.204.86]) by localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.204.183]) (amavisd-maia, port 10024) with ESMTP id 02619-09 for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:41:42 -0400 (AST) X-Greylist: domain auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from wf-out-1314.google.com (wf-out-1314.google.com [209.85.200.171]) by mail.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5074650140 for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:41:41 -0400 (AST) Received: by wf-out-1314.google.com with SMTP id 25so281102wfc.28 for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:41:38 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to :subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=PbLwZRJ8CVrlTtV/UOMrOVuzmcRZoTSE4wzlYAGlKbs=; b=JgJsBLIo+vy6I6K/JjBr9sUjyOtEUuoKZ5NouqIYlp2/J9gynOIzSmm5q5j5W04QGR n+ayV1jZovpxXa2yR+90OpcK62YB8LwFLxYQicg/fWd5a3Rtd//Ut2zSlxgKj0eFDu/j gbl7M9tCKHLh6F6l9tWZrI6lkJ8RBkB3ZlBUM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition :references; b=yB9eIQ8kVI5fTCJO+PtCSYugaX2djcAwn1xYWJ1N3iUwBigjQ5UbWLzNwz8ADgb1Au 5uHb4uZs0AXh8ZvpmMZGNCnUw5A40QSzuRnAuY7LqOy0b8mzXhPqF+9rnLeV0Qnb2uiK qGkKFMvfuajWV59g63D0wozE1Vr8nWKVtEfoQ= Received: by 10.114.79.18 with SMTP id c18mr1207463wab.215.1228938097975; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:41:37 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.114.167.5 with HTTP; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:41:37 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:41:37 -0700 From: "Scott Marlowe" To: "Greg Smith" Subject: Re: Experience with HP Smart Array P400 and SATA drives? Cc: "Matthew Wakeling" , pgsql-performance@postgresql.org In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <4934FE60.30702@sime.com> <493E6023.3030800@sime.com> <1228838308.13962.0.camel@jd-laptop.pragmaticzealot.org> <20081209161750.GO26596@yugib.highrise.ca> <493FB619.5060205@sime.com> <20081210155208.GR26596@yugib.highrise.ca> <493FE8B2.9040809@sime.com> X-Virus-Scanned: Maia Mailguard 1.0.1 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0 tagged_above=0 required=5 tests=none X-Spam-Level: X-Archive-Number: 200812/126 X-Sequence-Number: 32162 On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Greg Smith wrote: > On Wed, 10 Dec 2008, Matthew Wakeling wrote: > >> I'd be interested in recommendations for RAID cards for small SATA >> systems. It's not anything to do with Postgres - I'm just intending to set >> up a little four-drive array for my home computer, with cheap 1TB SATA >> drives. > > Then why are you thinking of RAID cards? On a Linux only host, you might as > well just get a standard cheap multi-port SATA card that's compatible with > the OS, plug the four drives in, and run software RAID. Anything else you > put in the middle is going to add complications in terms of things like > getting SMART error data from the drives, and the SW RAID will probably be > faster too. Note that you could combine the two and use a caching controller in jbod mode and do the raid in linux kernel sw mode. Just a thought. Not sure about the smart stuff though. >> What PCI-Express or motherboard built-in SATA RAID controllers for about >> four drives are there out there that are good, and well supported by Linux? >> What level of support is there for monitoring and reporting of RAID status? > > 3ware 9650SE-4LPML is what I'd buy today if I wanted hardware SATA RAID. > When I made a similar decision some time ago, I bought an Areca 1210 > instead, but two things have changed since then. One, I've become > increasingly unsatisfied with the limitations of the closed-source > controller management tool Areca supplies. Note that Areca's newest controllers, the 1680 series, have a separate ethernet port with snmp traps so you don't have to use any special closed source software to monitor them. Just FYI for anyone considering them.