[vox-tech] RAID hardware recommendations, software support info

[Bill Broadley]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2003 at 06:30:04PM -0700, Mark K. Kim wrote:
> Howdy!
> 
> Does anybody here have RAID under Linux?  Can I ask some questions?:
> 
>    - What hardware do you use? (controller, drive model/type/size)

Adaptec 39160's usually (dual channel), enlight 5 bay hotswap scsi modules,
whatever SCA scsi disks.

>    - Do you use software RAID or harware RAID?

Software, I've found it dramatically faster, and more reliable.

I.e. 200-300 MB/sec read/write, enough uptime to roll over the uptime
counter (297 days?)

>    - What software do you use to manage the RAID system?

mdadm, raidreconf, mkraid and friends.

>    - How do you know when a drive is damaged?

When the raid is happy:
cp /proc/mdstat /var/mdstat

Then in crontab (however often you want)
diff /proc/mdstat /var/mdstat

Then you get email whenever the raid brakes.

>    - How do you swap a drive when it gets damaged?

Er, pull the drive, reinsert a new one.

>    - Has a drive failed on you before?  If so, how did it go with the
>      drive swapping?

Yes, several times, no problems.

I've been playing with OSX, and the Raid xserv, it also looks like a
very nice solution.  Not bad, $10-$11k for 2.5 TB's of fiber channel
storage, redundant power supplies etc.

-- 
Bill Broadley
Mathematics
UC Davis