multiple sata controllers

[lynxloco]

For my work I'm planning to build a small server with 8x2tb WD red drives as backup, and 6x240gb ssds for storage for files and other stuff. The boot drive will be off the mobo but for the ssds en the hdds I will be using 2 HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL. Now my question is, will this work? Will the software just show the 14 drives combined and will I be able to make a raid 6 array for the WD reds and a raid 5 for the ssds?

 

Thanks in advance.

[dalekphalm]

For my work I'm planning to build a small server with 8x2tb WD red drives as backup, and 6x240gb ssds for storage for files and other stuff. The boot drive will be off the mobo but for the ssds en the hdds I will be using 2 HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL. Now my question is, will this work? Will the software just show the 14 drives combined and will I be able to make a raid 6 array for the WD reds and a raid 5 for the ssds?

 

Thanks in advance.

The software will separate the two controllers into pools of available drives.

 

You won't be able to mix or combine drives from one controller into a pool on the other controller.

 

You will, however, be able to make your 8x2TB RAID 6 array and 6x240GB RAID 5 array, as planned, as long as they are plugged into the correct HBA.

 

Also, just in case you weren't aware, those controllers are HBA's (Host Bus Adapters), which means that any RAID will be software based. There are pro's and con's to that, but I just wanted to let you know in case you thought these were actual RAID cards.

[lynxloco]

The software will separate the two controllers into pools of available drives.

 

You won't be able to mix or combine drives from one controller into a pool on the other controller.

 

You will, however, be able to make your 8x2TB RAID 6 array and 6x240GB RAID 5 array, as planned, as long as they are plugged into the correct HBA.

 

Also, just in case you weren't aware, those controllers are HBA's (Host Bus Adapters), which means that any RAID will be software based. There are pro's and con's to that, but I just wanted to let you know in case you thought these were actual RAID cards.

Thanks a lot!

 

I did know that yeah! The problem is I'm kind of having problems with finding a proper hardware raid card that isn't worth my house...

[dalekphalm]

Thanks a lot!

 

I did know that yeah! The problem is I'm kind of having problems with finding a proper hardware raid card that isn't worth my house...

You won't. lol. Unless you look on the used market for a RAID card that is a generation or two behind. eBay has great deals on used RAID cards. If this is for work, then you will likely want to spend the extra to get a really solid setup.

 

Here's an example:

LSI 9261-8i - New: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-LSI-9261-8i-SAS-SATA-8port-PCI-E-6Gb-RAID-Controller-Card-/301197634451?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item4620c72b93

The seller has 5 currently in stock for $176 USD, which frankly is a pretty good price.

 

Official specs page:

http://www.lsi.com/products/raid-controllers/pages/megaraid-sas-9261-8i.aspx#tab/tab1

 

I would also recommend adding this (for EACH RAID Card - if you want two RAID Cards, you'll want to double all of this):

2x of these: CBL-SFF8087OCF-06M - These are 1-to-4 SATA Breakout cables - $16 USD each

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-LSI-3Ware-CBL-SFF8087OCF-06M-SFF-8087-to-SATA-Cable-Bulk-/200541392883?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item2eb132cff3

 

And 1x of these: LSIiBBU07 Battery Backup Unit - $158 USD

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-LSI-LSIiBBU07-Battery-Backup-Unit-9260-4I-LSI00161-/380390831821?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item58910f76cd

 

The breakout cables are because a true RAID card comes with SFF-8087 SAS ports (Which are fully compatible with a SATA signal but the port is physically different). These ports are 4-channel (They carry 4 SAS/SATA data streams). The cables take one and give you 4 SATA data connectors. Two of these breakout cables will give you the 8 SATA ports.

 

The Battery backup Unit (BBU) is basically a cache battery. If power fails in the middle of a write operation, you could suffer data corruption or even have the array break, which would then need to be "rebuilt" from the parity drives. This can take hours. The BBU provides backup power directly to the RAID card, so that it can store any pending/ongoing operations into the onboard RAM on the RAID Card, until power is restored.

 

MOST DEFINITELY you will want to run this server on a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). As this will be your backup for work, I'm sure I don't have to tell you how priceless and important company data can be?

 

EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention: The main downside with buying off eBay is no warranty. That 9261 RAID card is $599 from LSI direct though, so you can afford to buy 3 from eBay (with one as a spare) and still save a TON of cash.

[lynxloco]

You won't. lol. Unless you look on the used market for a RAID card that is a generation or two behind. eBay has great deals on used RAID cards. If this is for work, then you will likely want to spend the extra to get a really solid setup.

 

Here's an example:

LSI 9261-8i - New: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-LSI-9261-8i-SAS-SATA-8port-PCI-E-6Gb-RAID-Controller-Card-/301197634451?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item4620c72b93

The seller has 5 currently in stock for $176 USD, which frankly is a pretty good price.

 

Official specs page:

http://www.lsi.com/products/raid-controllers/pages/megaraid-sas-9261-8i.aspx#tab/tab1

 

I would also recommend adding this (for EACH RAID Card - if you want two RAID Cards, you'll want to double all of this):

2x of these: CBL-SFF8087OCF-06M - These are 1-to-4 SATA Breakout cables - $16 USD each

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-LSI-3Ware-CBL-SFF8087OCF-06M-SFF-8087-to-SATA-Cable-Bulk-/200541392883?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item2eb132cff3

 

And 1x of these: LSIiBBU07 Battery Backup Unit - $158 USD

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-LSI-LSIiBBU07-Battery-Backup-Unit-9260-4I-LSI00161-/380390831821?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item58910f76cd

 

The breakout cables are because a true RAID card comes with SFF-8087 SAS ports (Which are fully compatible with a SATA signal but the port is physically different). These ports are 4-channel (They carry 4 SAS/SATA data streams). The cables take one and give you 4 SATA data connectors. Two of these breakout cables will give you the 8 SATA ports.

 

The Battery backup Unit (BBU) is basically a cache battery. If power fails in the middle of a write operation, you could suffer data corruption or even have the array break, which would then need to be "rebuilt" from the parity drives. This can take hours. The BBU provides backup power directly to the RAID card, so that it can store any pending/ongoing operations into the onboard RAM on the RAID Card, until power is restored.

 

MOST DEFINITELY you will want to run this server on a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). As this will be your backup for work, I'm sure I don't have to tell you how priceless and important company data can be?

 

EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention: The main downside with buying off eBay is no warranty. That 9261 RAID card is $599 from LSI direct though, so you can afford to buy 3 from eBay (with one as a spare) and still save a TON of cash.

Yeah.. Ebay will be kind of expensive since I'm living in the Netherlands (shipping costs = over 9000). But thanks for the suggestions anyway! But can you give me a small side by side pros and cons for software and hardware based controllers? I knew about the ups but I didn't know about the BBU! Thanks for the insight!

[dalekphalm]

Yeah.. Ebay will be kind of expensive since I'm living in the Netherlands (shipping costs = over 9000). But thanks for the suggestions anyway! But can you give me a small side by side pros and cons for software and hardware based controllers? I knew about the ups but I didn't know about the BBU! Thanks for the insight!

Well eBay is just an example. You can search eBay UK (I don't know what other EU countries have a localized ebay), where shipping will be significantly cheaper. Else you could use another used or auction site, whatever is available to you.

 

The basic pro's of a Hardware RAID Card is:

Speed - much faster at reads, writes, parity calculations, and array rebuilds

Reliability - these things are built like a brick

 

Con's:

Expensive!

Potentially complicated setup or troubleshooting

 

Software RAID Cards are generally easier to use, and are usually a lot cheaper. All hardware RAID and most software RAID also uses low-level filesystem RAID implementations that basically mean if you take a disk out of the array, you cannot just plug it in and read the data.

 

If Budget is an issue, then I can recommend an alternative:

FlexRAID

http://www.flexraid.com/

 

It does cost money (about $60 for the full featured version), but basically it's a special "RAID over File System" Software RAID that runs ON TOP of the file system. This means that if you take out a disk from the array, ANY Windows or Linux computer can read the normal NTFS filesystem that resides inside.

 

It has the same cons as other software RAID in that it is slower than Hardware RAID. I personally use this on my home file/media server and it's rock solid from my experience.

 

It also supports "RAID-Z" like features, such as unlimited number of parity disks. Parity disks are the things that prevent data loss during a drive failure. RAID 5 supports 1 failure (it has one parity disk), RAID 6 supports 2 failures (2 parity disks). FlexRAID allows you to assign as many disks to Parity as you'd like. You can do 1, 2, 3, or as many as you want. With your planned setup though, 2 parity for your 8-drive array and 1-parity for the 5-drive array is totally fine. No need to change that particular plan.

 

This software will work with ANY SATA Controller, HBA, RAID Card, etc. So your original RocketRAID selection will work totally fine with FlexRAID. It has a webGUI which is fairly easy to use as well, and can be configured for live monitoring and email alerts, etc.

 

@looney is a bit of a guru when it comes to FlexRAID (Or at least he USED to be - don't know if he still uses it).

[lynxloco]

Well eBay is just an example. You can search eBay UK (I don't know what other EU countries have a localized ebay), where shipping will be significantly cheaper. Else you could use another used or auction site, whatever is available to you.

 

The basic pro's of a Hardware RAID Card is:

Speed - much faster at reads, writes, parity calculations, and array rebuilds

Reliability - these things are built like a brick

 

Con's:

Expensive!

Potentially complicated setup or troubleshooting

 

Software RAID Cards are generally easier to use, and are usually a lot cheaper. All hardware RAID and most software RAID also uses low-level filesystem RAID implementations that basically mean if you take a disk out of the array, you cannot just plug it in and read the data.

 

If Budget is an issue, then I can recommend an alternative:

FlexRAID

http://www.flexraid.com/

 

It does cost money (about $60 for the full featured version), but basically it's a special "RAID over File System" Software RAID that runs ON TOP of the file system. This means that if you take out a disk from the array, ANY Windows or Linux computer can read the normal NTFS filesystem that resides inside.

 

It has the same cons as other software RAID in that it is slower than Hardware RAID. I personally use this on my home file/media server and it's rock solid from my experience.

 

It also supports "RAID-Z" like features, such as unlimited number of parity disks. Parity disks are the things that prevent data loss during a drive failure. RAID 5 supports 1 failure (it has one parity disk), RAID 6 supports 2 failures (2 parity disks). FlexRAID allows you to assign as many disks to Parity as you'd like. You can do 1, 2, 3, or as many as you want. With your planned setup though, 2 parity for your 8-drive array and 1-parity for the 5-drive array is totally fine. No need to change that particular plan.

 

This software will work with ANY SATA Controller, HBA, RAID Card, etc. So your original RocketRAID selection will work totally fine with FlexRAID. It has a webGUI which is fairly easy to use as well, and can be configured for live monitoring and email alerts, etc.

 

@looney is a bit of a guru when it comes to FlexRAID (Or at least he USED to be - don't know if he still uses it).

Thank you so much! I've come to the conclusion that this is not a build that needs hardware controllers and will probably be just fine with just the software controllers. After all this is meant as a simple small business server! Only a ups will be just fine for our server. And I already knew about the difference between each raid. That flexraid software seems helpfull though, thanks for that!