Recommended RAID controller

[Scott Long]

KC Somaratne wrote:
>>>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   Adaptec hasn't released a newer version of the management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.

There really is no way to monitor or manage a serveraid card under
FreeBSD.  IBM/Adaptec seems to have no interest in releasing specs or
porting their apps, and there is no way to make the linux apps work.

Scott