> Getting back to the discussion of Hardware vs. Software raid...
> Can someone say *definitively* *where* the raid-5 code is being run on a
> *current* Raidzone product? Originally, it was an "md" process running
> on the system cpu. Currently I'm not so sure. The SmartCan *does* have
> its own BIOS, so there is *some* intelligence there, but what exactly is
> the division of responsibility here...
>From a recent email exchange with [EMAIL PROTECTED] of consensys, makers
of raidzone:
BG> Does the raidzone product for linux use hardware or software raid?
RZ> It is in the firmware of the unit.
RZ>
RZ> Everything is our own raid. eg. it is not RAID tools in Linux.
BG> [please clarify]
RZ> Our raid is firmware. This means that its both hardware and software.
RZ>
RZ> Most people are interested in a RAID5 configuration. The parity is
RZ> calculated on the CPU of the mother board. Our raid is as fast as anyone
RZ> else's raid hardware or software. There is a great misnomer regarding
RZ> raid today. Basically in the old days of 100 MHz CPU's there was a
RZ> performance issuer with calculating the parity on the CPU. Today that is
RZ> not true and many of the PC magazines reflect this in their comments.
RZ> There are lots of left over cycles to calculate the parity.
RZ>
RZ> Of course this is not the only thing the affects speed. Other issues that
RZ> make our units fast is the PCI bus which is 133Mbs and DMA directly to
RZ> drives.
It is however, still unclear whether it's safe to run reiserfs on a
raidzone. I have a question about that out to Colin.
Brian
