[CentOS] Raid Cards

[Feizhou]

Drew Weaver wrote:
> 	Software RAID has failed us so many times in the past that I
> would never recommend it to anyone. Things like: the raid breaking for
> no reason and the server continually rebuilding over and over, and once
> a drive does finally die the other drive wasn't being mirrored properly
> (or wouldn't boot even though we manually sync'd the bootloaders as
> suggested.).

Dunno, I have a box that has two of them IBM IDE Deathstar drives in 
RAID 1 mode and I still DO NOT have raid problems even though they have 
started down the road of self-destruction. Oh, BTW, it is a RH 7.1 install.

> 
> 	It has been nothing but a hassle, so if you need reliable data
> you need to find a card that works for you, I'm not sure why people are
> so ready to suggest software raid when the fact is its pretty
> unreliable.
> 

Or maybe research the entire toolchains used by Linux software raid. 
Most IDE controllers will not tolerate a faulty device on the cable so 
my disks are the only devices on the entire channel. No problemo.

In contrast, on another box where I run Centos 4, i had to put a dying 
drive together with a new disk. Later on, the controller starting acting 
up because the drive started its death throes and so I got problems with 
the new mirror and with booting up in which the controller would not 
recognize the drives.

Taking the faulty drive off the channel resolved things. The problem 
here was not with Linux software raid but with the controller and that 
is a hardware problem, not even a kernel driver problem.

Oh, proprietary software raid drivers from HP, Promise and whoever are 
something else. If you use those, please go after the manufacturer's 
drivers and don't blame Linux's software raid drivers.