Recommended RAID controller

[KC Somaratne]

>>Walter Vaughan wrote:
>>
>> I am looking to build two new servers, and
>> plan on using freeBSD. I've read the last
>> 5 months of this list and while I haven't seen
>> anything to scare me, I'm looking for advice on
>> something that'll work pretty much out of the block
>> with 5.2.1 that has pretty good tools support.
>> I was all fired up about a Zero-channel Adaptec,
>> but after reading it's only 4.* tools supported
>> I not so sure.
>> I liked what I've read about Intel's SATA
>> raid that uses the iir driver, but again
>> I am worried about administrative tools.
>> 
>> Thanks
>> -- 
>
>Let me go through the list:
>
>Adaptec:
>  - There are two families of controller here.  The 2010/2015
>    ZCR cards are all that is left of the old family.  It is
>    supported under 4.x and 5.x, though there are issues with
>    the management tools that require a few tricks to overcome
>    in 5.x.  I'm also not terribly happy with the driver, but
>    I recently started cleaning it up.  Adaptec provides no
>    support nor updates for the driver.  If you have a strong
>    desire to use Adaptec ZCR, this is the only choice right now,
>    but a lot of people use it and are happy with it.
>  - The newer family of cards is a bit better in my opinion.
>    Adaptec hasn't released a newer version of the management
>    app for FreeBSD in several years, but the one that shipped
>    with the 5400S will work for all cards in the family.
>    Alternatively, the Linux CLI tool that Adaptec does ship
>    will work under FreeBSD in linux emulation mode.  The driver
>    is well maintained.
>
>Intel:
>  - The ICP/Vortex/Intel controllers are actually owned and
>    produced by Adaptec now.  The driver is fairly good and is
>    actively maintained by the vendor.  A management app is
>    available for FreeBSD, but it will not work with FreeBSD 5.2.x
>    due to an inadvertent IOCTL incompatibility.  I have changes
>    from the vendor pending right now that should hopefully fix
>    this for 5.3.  In the mean time, the patch that I committed to
>    5.2-CURRENT last month should work ok.
>
>AMI/LSI MegaRAID:
>  - This hardware used to be well supported, but the vendor no
>    longer provides regular updates.  I don't know whether a
>    management app exists or not, though I doubt that it does.
>
>3Ware:
>  - Both the 6xxx/7xxx/8xxx and the 9xxx generation cards are
>    actively supported on FreeBSD by the vendor and are used by a
>    large, well-known web portal company.  Not sure what the
>    status of management apps are.
>
>Compaq CISS:
>  - Driver is well supported by the FreeBSD community and is popular
>    amoung users.
>
>IBM ServeRAID:
>  - IBM provided an initial driver, and work has gone on over the
>    past year to clean it up and make it more robust.  It only exists
>    for 5.x, but backporting it to 4.x would only take a few days.
>    No management app exists, nor can the Linux apps run on FreeBSD.
>    This hardware is owned and produced by Adaptec also.
>
>If I were to go the ZCR route right now, it would likely be with the
>Intel card.  I've just started playing with them, and it has been a
>generally positive experience.  The fact that they actively support
>FreeBSD is a big plus.  For SATA, it would be a toss-up between 3ware
>and Adaptec.  For U320 SCSI that you can buy in the channel (as opposed
>to only buying from the vendor), Adaptec probably wins.
>
>Scott

Hi,

With respect to the support for the IBM ServeRAID cards, has there been a change
of status since then. I am looking at getting two IBM servers with ServeRAID-6M
cards to run 5.3-R.

Also, are there any management apps available in 5.3 for the ServeRAID-6M card?

thanks n rgds,
-kc.