Hello,
I'm looking for a recomendation for a SATA controlers. In the range of 4-8 ports, either PCI or PCIe (for desktop use) and/or PCI-X, PCIe (for server use). I'd especially like it if the Linux driver was already in CentOS or easily added. Everytime I find something interesting, a google search shows up either the drivers is for 2.6.30 (ie, not CentOS), someone tried it and it was unstable, or it has a proprietary driver.
They will be used as JBOD, with mdadm for RAID where I need it.
Thank you,
-Philip
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Philip Gwyn liste-at-artware.qc.ca |CentOS| <...> wrote:
Hello,
I'm looking for a recomendation for a SATA controlers. In the range of 4-8 ports, either PCI or PCIe (for desktop use) and/or PCI-X, PCIe (for server use). I'd especially like it if the Linux driver was already in CentOS or easily added. Everytime I find something interesting, a google search shows up either the drivers is for 2.6.30 (ie, not CentOS), someone tried it and it was unstable, or it has a proprietary driver.
I did the same search a year ago with similar results. Additionally, once you find something that uses an included driver, it turns out that driver is not especially stable, either. This seemed to be especially true for cards supporting command queuing.
The best driver I found was the sata_sil24. It seemed to offer a good balance of stability and performance.
They will be used as JBOD, with mdadm for RAID where I need it.
I'm running the same setup (md software RAID) on CentOS 5. These $50 four port cards work wonderfully with the sata_sil24 drived included with CentOS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132017
They only come as PCI. I never found anything stable enough for me (which is VERY stable) for PCIe. Perhaps someone else has found something good for that slot.
-- Steve Bonds
Steve Bonds wrote:
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Philip Gwyn liste-at-artware.qc.ca |CentOS| <...> wrote:
Hello,
I'm looking for a recomendation for a SATA controlers. In the range of 4-8 ports, either PCI or PCIe (for desktop use) and/or PCI-X, PCIe (for server use). I'd especially like it if the Linux driver was already in CentOS or easily added. Everytime I find something interesting, a google search shows up either the drivers is for 2.6.30 (ie, not CentOS), someone tried it and it was unstable, or it has a proprietary driver.
[...]
I'm running the same setup (md software RAID) on CentOS 5. These $50 four port cards work wonderfully with the sata_sil24 drived included with CentOS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132017
They only come as PCI. I never found anything stable enough for me (which is VERY stable) for PCIe. Perhaps someone else has found something good for that slot.
I've used these as well. No complaints.
I'm looking for a recomendation for a SATA controlers. In the range of 4-8 ports, either PCI or PCIe (for desktop use) and/or PCI-X, PCIe (for server use). I'd especially like it if the Linux driver was already in CentOS or easily added. Everytime I find something interesting, a google search shows up either the drivers is for 2.6.30 (ie, not CentOS), someone tried it and it was unstable, or it has a proprietary driver.
Linux ATA has a good compatibility list if you're interested: http://linux-ata.org/driver-status.html#sii311x
SiL 3124/3114 based units come highly recommended though I've never used them myself. That said, the SiL 3124 based boards from Addonics are on my firm's short list for a possible mass storage project.
I personally like the Promise TX4 as I've never had any driver issues with >=2.6.18 kernels. The units have no BIOS so they just plug in and work. Only downside is they are only available in PCI.
-
Benjamin Franz -
Drew -
Philip Gwyn -
Steve Bonds