[CentOS] Re: hardware raid vs fake raid

Tom Diehl tdiehl at rogueind.com
Thu Sep 13 15:11:54 UTC 2007


On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Ross S. W. Walker wrote:

> Tom Diehl wrote:
>>
>> Hi Tim,
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Tim Verhoeven wrote:
>>
>>> On 9/13/07, Tom Diehl <tdiehl at rogueind.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone know how  I can find out if an ibm serveraid
>> 8k sas storage
>>>> controller (zero channel RAID) is a real hardware RAID
>> controller and
>>>> supported in the standard CentOs kernel or is it a fake
>> raid controller.
>>>> I am trying to decide if I should get the serveraid
>> controller or go get
>>>> a 3ware controller.
>>>
>>> Tom,
>>>
>>> The ServeRAID 8k s a real hardware raid controller, is has 256 MB of
>>> cache I think and a battery backup. So in this case there is no need
>>> for a 3ware controller. On the IBM website you can also find a
>>> commandline tool (called arcconf) that allows you monitor and
>>> configure the controller inside Linux.
>>
>> Is there a place where this kind of thing is documented? I
>> looked through Google
>> for about 3 hrs yesterday and I could not find anything definitive.
>>
>> Thank You, for the info.
>
> I hate to be the stater of the obvious... but doesn't IBM's website
> provide product specs along with a compatibility guide?

They do but nothing I can find in there tells me if it is real hardware
raid or fake raid.  Adaptec for example, also says that their fake raid cards
are comaptable with Linux but they do not clearly specify if it is fake raid
or true hardware Raid. AFAIK the Adaptec cards are all fake Raid. and some of
ServeRaid cards were also based on the Adaptec chipset and hence Fake Raid.

When I looked at the IBM specs for the ServerRaid cards I did not see anything
that indicated if the were real hardware raid or Fake Raid. If I am missing
something please enlighten me. I am always willing to learn.

IMO this type of thing is ambigious at best.

Regards,

-- 
Tom Diehl		tdiehl at rogueind.com		Spamtrap address mtd123 at rogueind.com



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