[Beowulf] RAID storage: Vendor vs. parts

[Michael T. Halligan]

>> >> I'm in the process of getting a couple 16 Bay 6.4 TB RAID units.  The
>> >> vendors who have given me quotes have a SATA-SCSI version for around
>> >> $14,000 each.  I can get a similarly equipped StorCase unit for
>> around
>> >> $11,000. With the StorCase I envision that I'd be more on my own if
>> >> anything went wrong.  However, with the cheaper price, I'd be able to
>> buy
>> >> a spare RAID controller to have on hand in case one of them failed
>> and
>> >> still save a couple grand.
>> >
>> let's say $300 for 300GB (sata) disks ==> $4,800 for 16 disks ...
>> 	- pata disk is $150-$200 for 300GB disks
>>
>> 	- i'd put 2 or 3 raid controllers in it instead of 1 ..
>> 	unless there is an absolute requirement that there is only
>> 	1 disk subsystem that has the capacity of 6TB on "one disk"
>
> That's what I'm shooting for. Anybody have good luck with volumes greater
> than 2 TB with Linux?  I think LSI SCSI cards are needed (?) and the 2.6
> Kernel is needed with CONFIG_LBD=y.  Any hints or notes about doing this
> would be greatly appreciated.  Google has not been much of a friend on
> this unfortunatlely. I'm guessing I'd run into NFS limits too.
>
> Also, am I being overly cautious about having a spare RAID controller on
> hand?  How frequent do RAID controllers go bad compared to disks, power
> supplies and fan modules?  I'd guess that it would be very infrequent.
> Looking back at my own experience I think I've had to return one out of 15
> in the last eight years, and that was bad as soon as I bought it.
>
> If this is too off-topic let me know and I'll move it elsewhere.
>
> Thanks,
>


I've had no problems with raid voumes 4-8 terabytes in size.  recently,
but I use the 2.6.8 kernel and only use ICP Vortex cards, I've found the
LSI cards to be sketchy at best.



-------------------
BitPusher, LLC
http://www.bitpusher.com/
1.888.9PUSHER
(415) 724.7998 - Mobile