On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 16:56, Matt Beebe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So how 'bout it hardware vendors? when can we get a PCIe(x8) SAS/SATA > controller with an x4 internal port and an x4 external port and 512MB battery > backed cache for about $250?? :) Heck, I'd take SATA only if I could get it > at a decent price point... The Supermicro AOC-USAS-S4iR fits the bill, nearly. It's got 4 internal and 4 external ports, on PCI express x8, with 256 MB of cache, for about $320[1]. Adding battery backup is about another $150[2].
> While we're at it, I'd also be happy with a PCIe(x4) card with 2 or 4 DIMM > slots and a battery back-up that exposes itself as a system drive (ala iRAM, > but PCIe not SATA 150) for slog and read cache... say $150 price point? > heehee... there is an SSD based option out there, but it has 80GB available, > and starts at $2500 (overkill for my requirement) Not terribly likely to see this soon, I'm afraid. Memory interface technology keeps changing once every couple years, and that makes such a device less attractive to market. Consider that DDR(-1) RAM is almost three times as expensive as DDR-2 RAM ($184 versus $67 for a stick of 2GB ECC... and SDRAM? Survey says $500 easy) and having the latest generation seems to make sense. But that means (as a manufacturer) your device goes obsolete quicker, you sell fewer units, and make less return on your investment. So unless a common memory bus is developed, such a device would be a bad investment. Actually, what I'd rather have than battery "backup" is a large enough flash device to store the contents of RAM, and a battery big enough to get everything dumped to persistent storage. That takes out the question of running out of batteries prematurely, and leaves only the question of batteries losing capacity over time and needing to replace them. Will [1]: http://www.wiredzone.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=32005545 [2]: http://www.wiredzone.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=10017972 _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
