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Thread: Selecting the Best Raid Controller

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    236

    Default Selecting the Best Raid Controller

    I'm having lots of trouble with Adaptec controllers. Anyone got any suggestions for a good stable SAS RAID controller? I need it to drive 32+ drives...

  2. #2

    Default

    Surprised you are having issues with adaptec as I have heard good things about new speeds from there new chipsets.

    32 drives from a single controller had someone all me last month using the LSI 8888ELP with a SAS expander of up 30 drives (2 x RAID 6's).


    http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...elp/index.html
    All the best,

    Todd Maxwell


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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    236

    Default

    Well it's not the speed that's troubling me. As you know, the performance and stability of these products differ drastically when running on Linux. With the 51245 with 15 Drives raid0, I was getting 1GB throughput on Windows 2003. On Linux, I could only get max 500MB.

    The problem is i'm getting alot of command aborts and it is affecting the VMs now..

  4. #4

    Default

    On one of our test systems we have 2 DSS with the 3Ware 9690's and Areca 1680 and using the Auto Failover w/ VMware and have not received these abort messages so far. The LSI 8888ELP that the customer is using is not using it with VMware.

    Anyone with this Adaptec controller receiving these error messages?
    All the best,

    Todd Maxwell


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  5. #5
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    Aug 2008
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    Default

    I also have an Areca 1680. It appears to be running fine. I haven't had any issues - yet...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    86

    Default

    G'day Eneal,
    What drives are you running with the Adaptec?
    We've had a lot of problems with Seagate ES.2's until you update the firmware from SNx to ANx.
    The Adaptec KB article is here:
    Ask Adaptec
    Strangely they have now qualified the KB to state that the SN05 firmware (the level shipped to us mid 2008) is ok for the 51245.

    The other thing to check is it may be network related, if you download the logfiles from DSS and look in the test.log for the hdparm entires. This should give you an idea of what the raw speed of the Raid0 array is.

    Rgds Ben

  7. #7

    Default

    Are you guys using the validated drives with Adaptec controllers? They have a list of validated drives. If you're having problems, you should be able to report it to Adaptec and seek help from them....

    Dun scare me, all I heard was Adaptec should be the choice if you're running serious enterprise stuff....

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    236

    Default

    till this day I have problems with the ES2 drives.
    and YES we purchased HW that was on the HCL. I have problems with ES2 drives using Areca controllers AND Adaptec controllers.

    all of these controllers suffer with major issues. I'd rather go software raid if RAID10 was available.

  9. #9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by enealDC
    till this day I have problems with the ES2 drives.
    and YES we purchased HW that was on the HCL. I have problems with ES2 drives using Areca controllers AND Adaptec controllers.

    all of these controllers suffer with major issues. I'd rather go software raid if RAID10 was available.
    What problems were you having with the ES2 drives and Areca controllers? We have a 12TB Raid 1+0 array running off them, and I want to keep a lookout for any similar problems.

  10. #10

    Lightbulb

    Well, with the areca controllers, make absolute sure that you have the LATEST FIRMWARE. That's v1.46, but NOT JUST ANY VERSION 1.46!!! You MUST have the latest version, which has released January 2009. If it's before that, then it you might have a problem with time-out issues (i.e. a drive will fail out of an array under high load because it doesn't return data to the controller in time). This is a problem with some SAS drives (I think the 1TB 7200 RPM seagate ones), and might also be a problem with the ES.2 drives under the arc-1680 raid cards.

    Bottom line is make sure your areca raid cards have the latest firmware. There's an older version of 1.46 and a newer version. Make sure you have the NEWER one that was released after January 2009!

    If you DO have two drives fail in a RAID 5 under Areca, DON'T PANIC! There are ways to get your RAID functional again, as long as your drives aren't COMPLETELY toast. A lot of times you have a drive fail, the drive will still work, but it just timed out so it was dropped from the array.

    Also, make sure you have firmware sn06 or later on your ES.2 drives.

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