[CentOS] low end file server with h/w RAID - recommendations

On Thursday 02 November 2017 14:10:25 Bowie Bailey wrote:
> If you want raid 5 or 6, then you should get a hardware controller. For
> raid 1, mdadm should work just fine.  I would suggest trying it before
> buying a raid controller.  If it works for you, you save a few hundred
> dollars and you have one less piece of hardware to worry about.
>
> I haven't looked at them in quite a few years, but last time I was in
> the market for a raid controller, Areca controllers were the way to go.

I've used MDADM before on previous servers, but have found that this setup 
isn't hot swap. Ultimately if I had to replace a drive it involved a lot of 
effort, especially the first drive.

By using H/W RAID, it's literally just a case of removing the dead drive and 
inserting the replacement. I've got a number of IBM and DELL boxes like this. 
it's just a pity they're not compatible with Linux so I can't monitor or 
manage them while the servers are running. The only way I know I have 
problems is by watching the LEDS