On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 03:08:04PM -0500, Peter Tripp wrote: > Hi folks, > > I'm in the market for a couple of JBODs. Up until now I've been > relatively lucky with finding hardware that plays very nicely with > ZFS. All my gear currently in production uses LSI SAS controllers > (3801e, 9200-16e, 9211-8i) with backplanes powered by LSI SAS > expanders (Sun x4250, Sun J4400, etc). But I'm in the market for > SAS2 JBODs to support a large number 3.5inch SAS disks (60+ 3TB disks > to start). > > I'm aware of potential issues with SATA drives/interposers and the > whole SATA Tunneling Protocol (STP) nonsense, so I'm going to stick > to a pure SAS setup. Also, since I've had trouble with in the past > with daisy-chained SAS JBODs I'll probably stick with one SAS 4x > cable (SFF8088) per JBOD and unless there were a compelling reason > for multi-pathing I'd probably stick to a single controller. If > possible I'd rather buy 20 packs of enterprise SAS disks with 5yr > warranties and have the JBOD come with empty trays, but would also > consider buying disks with the JBOD if the price wasn't too crazy. > > Does anyone have any positive/negative experiences with any of the following > with ZFS: > * SuperMicro SC826E16-R500LPB (2U 12 drives, dual 500w PS, single LSI > SAS2X28 expander) > * SuperMicro SC846BE16-R920B (4U 24 drives, dual 920w PS, single unknown > expander) > * Dell PowerVault MD 1200 (2U 12 drives, dual 600w PS, dual unknown > expanders) > * HP StorageWorks D2600 (2U 12 drives, dual 460w PS, single/dual unknown > expanders) > > I'm leaning towards the SuperMicro stuff, but every time I order > SuperMicro gear there's always something missing or wrongly > configured so some of the cost savings gets eaten up with my time > figuring out where things went wrong and returning/ordering > replacements. The Dell/HP gear I'm sure is fine, but buying disks > from them gets pricey quick. The last time I looked they charged $150 > extra per disk for when the only added value was a proprietary sled a > shorter warranty (3yr vs 5yr). > > I'm open to other JBOD vendors too, was just really just curious what > folks were using when they needed more than two dozen 3.5" SAS disks > for use with ZFS. > > Thanks > -Peter
We've had good experiences with the Dell MD line. It's been MD1200 up until now, but are keeping our eyes on their MD3260 (60-bay). You're right in that their costs are higher for disks and such, but since we are a big Dell shop it simplifies support significantly for us and we have quick turnaround on parts anywhere in the world. If that weren't a significant issue I'd go SuperMicro or DataON. We used SuperMicro for quite a while with mixed experiences. Best bet was to find a chassis that work and stick with it as long as possible. :) Even if you're not using Nexenta, their HCL is valuable for finding HW that is likely to work for you. Ray _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
