On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 21:48, Erik Trimble <erik.trim...@oracle.com> wrote:
> Since we're talking about an old PCI slot here, I'd say there's really two > good options: > > A SiliconImage Sil3114-based card, which is a 32-bit/66Mhz card, with 4 > SATA-1 ports, usually for $25 > > A Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 card, which is a 64-bit/100Mhz PCI-X card (but > will fit and run just fine in a 32-bit PCI slot). it has 8 SATA-2 ports, > and runs $125. > > > I've had no problems with either card, and run both for quite awhile. > Even though the 3114 is a SATA-1 card, you should be OK, since it's more > than fast enough to keep up with the PCI bus with 4 HDs attached. Really the > two "issues" with this card are that it should NEVER be used for an SSD > (it's way to slow), and that it doesn't really support Hot-Swap of SATA > drives well. Theoretically, using a SATA-1 HBA will limit your burst > throughput to the drives, but the 3114 handles sustained I/O at about the > PCI bus' maximum limit, so I wouldn't worry. > > > The Supermicro is better in that it takes up a single slot, uses SATA2, and > does support hotswap very well, but once again, don't even think about using > SSD, as the PCI bus gets overwhelmed well before you notice any performance > increase. > > > There's also the Sil3124 (the SATA-2 version of the 3114), but IIRC, that > card is less stable under OpenSolaris, and, given the limitations of the PCI > bus, I wouldn't bother. > > > Bottom line: if you can live without true hot-swap capability (i.e. > shutdown the machine to change a drive), then save yourself $75 and go with > 2 3114 cards. > > -- > Erik Trimble > Java System Support > Mailstop: usca22-123 > Phone: x17195 > Santa Clara, CA > Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800) > > I have a number of SiI 3114 cards, and they are decent, basic cards. I had to update their firmware to ide version instead of raid version to get them working with opensolaris, which was a bit of a pain, but no problems since then. This controller does use the pci-ide driver, which I've had issues with misreporting the size of my drives (I mention that in this message http://www.archivum.info/zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org/2010-03/00325/(zfs-discuss)-zpool-will-not-import-on-a-different-controller.html ). That's a major problem if you move an existing pool from something that reports drive size correctly onto something that uses this driver, as I tried to do, but should be no problem if you create a pool on this controller to start with.
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