ESXi server SSD RAID help

[Modna]

I am looking to piece this mobo/cpu/ram combo:

http://www.natex.us/Intel-S2600CP-Motherboard-Package-Deal-p/intel-s2600cp2j-128gb.htm

With a few 1TB SSDs. I am either going to do RAID 1 with 2 SSD's or RAID 5 with 4 SSD's.

I have never used a hardware RAID card so I am really not sure how to go about it and I am reading that ESXi is pretty picky with RAID cards. Is there a one-size-fits-all basic raid card? Is that even a good idea with SSD?

Thanks!

[tt2468]

3 minutes ago, Modna said:

I am looking to piece this mobo/cpu/ram combo:

http://www.natex.us/Intel-S2600CP-Motherboard-Package-Deal-p/intel-s2600cp2j-128gb.htm

With a few 1TB SSDs. I am either going to do RAID 1 with 2 SSD's or RAID 5 with 4 SSD's.

I have never used a hardware RAID card so I am really not sure how to go about it and I am reading that ESXi is pretty picky with RAID cards. Is there a one-size-fits-all basic raid card? Is that even a good idea with SSD?

Thanks!

I would do software raid IMO with a single ssd as boot drive.

 

Oh hey look at that I found this compatibility guide! Just so happened to be the first result when searching for "esxi compatible raid cards"

 

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io

[leadeater]

Generally hardware RAID with SSDs isn't a great idea, TRIM doesn't work in that configuration so server SSDs are needed to get decent long term performance and life. Use RAID 1 rather than RAID 5 as that will kill your SSD performance making the whole exercise pointless.