[CentOS] CentOS 5.2 with IBM SERVERAID 6i

Tue Nov 18 18:09:49 UTC 2008
Chris Geldenhuis <chris.gelden at iafrica.com>

miguelmedalha at sapo.pt wrote:
> I need to install CentOS 5.2 on a IBM Server xSeries 226, which comes 
> with a IBM SERVERAID 6i RAID card. I think it is not a true hardware 
> RAID card. I has, nevertheless, an interesting feature: 128MB of cache 
> with battery backup.
>
> I launched the CentOS boot DVD and CentOS correctly identified the 
> card and the RAID 5 array as configured by the controller's BIOS.
>
> My question now is: what would be the better way to implement RAID 5 
> on this server? Should I use the detected array and respective driver 
> or should I delete the array and go for Linus Software RAID?
>
> If both solutions are in fact Software RAID, is there any particular 
> reason to prefer one of the methods?
>
> I know that Linux RAID will create a universal, more compatible array, 
> readable on any Linux machine. But is there some other reason that 
> makes it preferrable to use the SERVERAID driver provided by CentOS? 
> Is it optimized in any way that recommends its use?
>
> Will the controller still make use of its cache and battery backup if 
> configured as a plain SCSI controller with Linux Software RAID?
>
> I hope that some more experienced list member can ellucidate me on this.
>
> Thank you!
>
> PS - The machine is powered by a Intel P4 Xeon processor served by 
> 2.5GB of RAM. The disks are 3 IBM 10K rpm SCSI 320 with 73 GB each.
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Hi Miguel,

FWIW I have been running an IBM e server 346 with 6 73GB disks in two 
RAID volumes using the SERVERAID drivers for 3 years with no problems - 
performance is mucj better than my development system that used single - 
non-rad disks for various partitions.

ChrisG