Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
I have build a lot of OmniOS boxes and was involved in a lot of hardware decisions. All of them are using LSI HBAs in raidless IT mode. If there was ever a consensus in the Solarish world regarding disk controller than this: - prefer pure HBAs, avoid hardware raid cards, use those with IT firmware - avoid controller cache, ZFS needs full disk control especially with sync write - your regular RAM, used by ZFS is anyway larger and faster - prefer LSI (nearly all Solarish ZFS boxes are using LSI) where you can expect the best driver quality My own favourite on OmniOS is the LSI 9207 with PCI-E 3.0 and the new 2308 chipset They come out of the box with the desired IT firmware, no need to reflash like with other LSI controllers. I would add: If you need expanders, use LSI ones paired with LSI HBAs, use SAS disks with expanders or if you intend to use Sata disks, prefer as much HBAs as needed without expander. Gea On 19.07.2013 00:48, Tobias Oetiker wrote: Folks, We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in JBOD mode with illumos, yet). Which controller would you choose for a new system ? cheers tobi -- H f G Hochschule für Gestaltung university of design Schwäbisch Gmünd Marie-Curie-Str. 19 73529 Schwäbisch Gmünd Guenther Alka, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Leiter des Rechenzentrums head of computer center Tel 07171 602 624 Fax 07171 69259 guenther.a...@hfg-gmuend.de http://rz.hfg-gmuend.de ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
On Jul 18, 2013, at 8:23 PM, "Schweiss, Chip" wrote: > I have used LSI HBAs exclusively. Performance and reliability has been very > good. > > The only problem I have consistently seen is if I hotplug a sas expander with > or without disks attached it will crash the system at least half the time. I > have simple resolved never doing that hot. This was a known bug in the mptsas driver more than a year ago. The root cause was related to the driver trying to manage LEDs. IIRC, a fix was integrated upstream as part of a set of changes in May 2012. If your experience is with a later release, then please file a bug at illumos.org. -- richard > > I have stuck with LSI because of using LSI SAS expanders to keep the > communication across venders to the minimum. The last thing I want is to be > in the middle of finger pointing between venders. > > -Chip > > > On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 7:03 PM, Saso Kiselkov wrote: > On 18/07/2013 23:48, Tobias Oetiker wrote: > > Folks, > > > > We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by > > our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers > > running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend > > Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in JBOD > > mode with illumos, yet). > > > > Which controller would you choose for a new system ? > > Hi Tobi, > > I'm using LSI exclusively, never had an issue with them. Their 6G SAS > HBAs are very affordable and remarkably solid. As for the ARECA vs LSI > debate, I'd contest that there's going to be any appreciable performance > difference. *IF* you're running in JBOD, the card should essentially be > a simple pipe for SCSI commands to the SAS bus with as little overhead > possible. I know for a fact that saturating a 6G SAS link isn't a > problem with LSI cards, so I'm somewhat at a loss as to where the > performance difference is supposed to lie. > > Cheers, > -- > Saso > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss > > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss -- richard.ell...@richardelling.com +1-760-896-4422 ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
On 19/07/2013 03:05, David Bomba wrote: > High quality RAID cards don't just perform simple passthrough, even thou > we would expect this to be all that is needed in a ZFS implementation. I know that that's what *RAID* cards do, but I specifically try to avoid RAID cards and go for simple HBAs. Hardware (and by that I also mean the firmware running on it) should be as dumb/simple as possible, I want to keep all of the complex logic in the software, which I can monitor (DTrace), update and fix myself if necessary. I've had plenty of performance issues on e.g. HP SmartArrays which just put a fat opaque layer between you and the drives and then it's anybody's guess on why the system's performance is sucking. > The controller will (at least in Areca's case) utilise writeback caching > to improve performance, driver implementation is also a major factor in > performance. We've seen significant performance improvements with > firmware upgrades on Areca cards. Here you've reiterated my point on the trouble of diagnosing performance. By simply swapping the driver you've seen "significant performance improvements", so good luck getting the driver vendor to optimize their driver if your customer is crying that performance is bad. Cheers, -- Saso ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
I have used LSI HBAs exclusively. Performance and reliability has been very good. The only problem I have consistently seen is if I hotplug a sas expander with or without disks attached it will crash the system at least half the time. I have simple resolved never doing that hot. I have stuck with LSI because of using LSI SAS expanders to keep the communication across venders to the minimum. The last thing I want is to be in the middle of finger pointing between venders. -Chip On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 7:03 PM, Saso Kiselkov wrote: > On 18/07/2013 23:48, Tobias Oetiker wrote: > > Folks, > > > > We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by > > our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers > > running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend > > Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in > JBOD > > mode with illumos, yet). > > > > Which controller would you choose for a new system ? > > Hi Tobi, > > I'm using LSI exclusively, never had an issue with them. Their 6G SAS > HBAs are very affordable and remarkably solid. As for the ARECA vs LSI > debate, I'd contest that there's going to be any appreciable performance > difference. *IF* you're running in JBOD, the card should essentially be > a simple pipe for SCSI commands to the SAS bus with as little overhead > possible. I know for a fact that saturating a 6G SAS link isn't a > problem with LSI cards, so I'm somewhat at a loss as to where the > performance difference is supposed to lie. > > Cheers, > -- > Saso > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss > ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
High quality RAID cards don't just perform simple passthrough, even thou we would expect this to be all that is needed in a ZFS implementation. The controller will (at least in Areca's case) utilise writeback caching to improve performance, driver implementation is also a major factor in performance. We've seen significant performance improvements with firmware upgrades on Areca cards. On 19 July 2013 10:03, Saso Kiselkov wrote: > On 18/07/2013 23:48, Tobias Oetiker wrote: > > Folks, > > > > We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by > > our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers > > running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend > > Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in > JBOD > > mode with illumos, yet). > > > > Which controller would you choose for a new system ? > > Hi Tobi, > > I'm using LSI exclusively, never had an issue with them. Their 6G SAS > HBAs are very affordable and remarkably solid. As for the ARECA vs LSI > debate, I'd contest that there's going to be any appreciable performance > difference. *IF* you're running in JBOD, the card should essentially be > a simple pipe for SCSI commands to the SAS bus with as little overhead > possible. I know for a fact that saturating a 6G SAS link isn't a > problem with LSI cards, so I'm somewhat at a loss as to where the > performance difference is supposed to lie. > > Cheers, > -- > Saso > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss > ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
On 18/07/2013 23:48, Tobias Oetiker wrote: > Folks, > > We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by > our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers > running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend > Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in JBOD > mode with illumos, yet). > > Which controller would you choose for a new system ? Hi Tobi, I'm using LSI exclusively, never had an issue with them. Their 6G SAS HBAs are very affordable and remarkably solid. As for the ARECA vs LSI debate, I'd contest that there's going to be any appreciable performance difference. *IF* you're running in JBOD, the card should essentially be a simple pipe for SCSI commands to the SAS bus with as little overhead possible. I know for a fact that saturating a 6G SAS link isn't a problem with LSI cards, so I'm somewhat at a loss as to where the performance difference is supposed to lie. Cheers, -- Saso ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
We use ARECA 1882 series cards in all our OmniOS storage servers. We moved from a Linux/GlusterFS environment to OmniOS/Comstar and our benchmarks have been very similar between the two using these controllers. I highly recommend them, they have been very reliable for us, and performance has been exceptional. On 19 July 2013 08:55, Fábio Rabelo wrote: > This is my guideline article in this subject : > > http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=10 > > My box uses the IBM 1015 ones, works very good > > > Fábio Rabelo > > > 2013/7/18 Tobias Oetiker > >> Folks, >> >> We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by >> our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers >> running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend >> Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in >> JBOD >> mode with illumos, yet). >> >> Which controller would you choose for a new system ? >> >> cheers >> tobi >> >> -- >> Tobi Oetiker, OETIKER+PARTNER AG, Aarweg 15 CH-4600 Olten, Switzerland >> http://it.oetiker.ch t...@oetiker.ch ++41 62 775 9902 / sb: -9900 >> ___ >> OmniOS-discuss mailing list >> OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com >> http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss >> > > > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss > > ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
Re: [OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
This is my guideline article in this subject : http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=10 My box uses the IBM 1015 ones, works very good Fábio Rabelo 2013/7/18 Tobias Oetiker > Folks, > > We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by > our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers > running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend > Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in > JBOD > mode with illumos, yet). > > Which controller would you choose for a new system ? > > cheers > tobi > > -- > Tobi Oetiker, OETIKER+PARTNER AG, Aarweg 15 CH-4600 Olten, Switzerland > http://it.oetiker.ch t...@oetiker.ch ++41 62 775 9902 / sb: -9900 > ___ > OmniOS-discuss mailing list > OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com > http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss > ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
[OmniOS-discuss] areca or lsi
Folks, We are specing a new omnios server box ... and were just told by our vendor, that LSI HBAs were much slower (50%) than Areca Controllers running in JBOD mode ... and that they would therefore recommend Areca (we use areca for raid6 in linux boxes, but have never used it in JBOD mode with illumos, yet). Which controller would you choose for a new system ? cheers tobi -- Tobi Oetiker, OETIKER+PARTNER AG, Aarweg 15 CH-4600 Olten, Switzerland http://it.oetiker.ch t...@oetiker.ch ++41 62 775 9902 / sb: -9900 ___ OmniOS-discuss mailing list OmniOS-discuss@lists.omniti.com http://lists.omniti.com/mailman/listinfo/omnios-discuss
