On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Ross S. W. Walker wrote: > Tom Diehl wrote: >> >> 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. > > Ok, if a card has an IO processor then it will definitely be a > true RAID card, as the fake ones don't have IO processors and > use the system processor as it's processor and thus why they > are "fake". AAH!! That makes sense. I did not think about that but I should have. :-( > > So look for a mention of an Intel/LSI/Broadcom on-board processor > in the specs and take note of the IO processor model # as that > will determine it's performance. Again, that makes perfect sense. I feel stupid for not figuring it out on my own. Sometimes one just cannot see the forest for the trees. :-) Thanks for the education. This list is great!! Regards, -- Tom Diehl tdiehl at rogueind.com Spamtrap address mtd123 at rogueind.com