[CentOS] software raid

[chrism at imntv.com]

Feizhou wrote:
>
>>> argh...i missed the raid5 on 3ware part.
>>
>> Ah.  No, I am using RAID0 since this is just scratch space for 
>> editing large uncompressed video files.
>
> Man a 3ware for RAID0? :D
>
> I cannot wait for port multiplexer support on libsata (or is it 
> libata?) in Centos 5. An elcheapo AHCI or whatever SATA controller + 
> Linux software raid will own 3ware cards on a price/performance basis :D
>

An 8-port 9550SX card is only US$500.  Why on earth would I mess around 
with software RAID when that card is going to make things a plug and 
play proposition?  It just isn't worth the hassle.

>>
>> Disks are so cheap and high enough capacity now that I don't even 
>> bother with RAID5 anymore.  I still don't think (even if I was using 
>> RAID5) that I would stray from the "vendor supported" ext3 filesystem.
>>
> Not when you need that fileserver to serve. I'd go with JFS. XFS is 
> too risky even if the code was not iffy. ext3 + 3ware RAID5 arrays is 
> that bad. IIRC XFS was somewhere like 4-5 times faster than ext3 and 
> no, i am not talking about 3ware 75xx/85xx boards. I am talking 3ware 
> 95xx boards with onboard RAM.
> _______________________________________________ 

If you need to serve files in an enterprise situation and you *cannot* 
afford a $500 RAID card, then I think you've got more pressing issues.  :)

Cheers,