[CentOS] Software RAID vs 'fake/ on-board RAID'

Sun Feb 13 20:10:43 UTC 2011
Rudi Ahlers <Rudi at SoftDux.com>

On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 11:07 PM, David Hornford <dave at qillaq.com> wrote:
> Setting:
> We are setting up a low usage server for an alfresco km/collaboration system
> It is a low-end server with a pair of 1.5 TB disks we will be mirroring
> The server comes with Intel's on-board 'fake raid/ low-end RAID' capability
> and for price reasons we have not selected a mainstream RAID card
> Prior thoughts:
> Searches on the net indicate no performance advantage, and possible
> performance disadvantages to the on-board RAID
> I expect Intel & the Centos product to be rough equivalents in quality
> I am leaning to software RAID for a simple reason of minimizing my
> administration & operational burden. If I need to perform repairs, obtain
> alerts it is the same administration toolset rather than a BIOS-based tool
> that seems to be accessible only through boot/ reboot.
> Question:
> Over a reasonable lifecycle are we better served going with the on-board or
> Centos' software RAID?
> Any issue with booting from the RAID (obviously RAID 1)?
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
> Dave
> _______________________________________________


You'll get the same benefits by using Linux's software RAID + it's
easier to setup and you won't be "vendor tied", i.e. if the
motherboard packs up and you can't get exactly the same one, or
another one with the same RAID chipset. You simply put the drives into
another PC and you're up and running again.


-- 
Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
SoftDux

Website: http://www.SoftDux.com
Technical Blog: http://Blog.SoftDux.com
Office: 087 805 9573
Cell: 082 554 7532