On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 09:28, Erik Trimble <erik.trim...@sun.com> wrote: > I'm pretty darned sure that the LSI 1068-based HBAs will do "true" > JBOD. Supermicro makes two such beasts: AOC-USAS-L8i and > AOC-USASLP-L8i Both are 8-port PCI-Express x4 cards. No, both are UIO cards. They're compatible with PCI express x8 (not x4) but they're mirrored top-for-bottom. Take a closer look at the pictures [1] [2]; these cards are designed to share a slot with a standard one (think of the PCI+ISA boards that used to exist). On a standard PCI device, the PCB is toward the top when mounted in a standard case, but these cards go in the other way around. I haven't heard anything definitive about whether these work in a standard x8 slot, but I wouldn't assume that they work.
>> ... I've bumped into both Sun OEM Adaptec and HP OEM Megaraid at work and >> none of them would do true JBOD; No disks showed up in format. I had to >> configure 1-disk volumes in BIOS to simulate JBOD, and from what I >> understand this writes this config to disk destroying any existing data and >> partitioning, and what shoes up in format is *not* the disks (i.e. >> SEAGATE/IBM/whatever) but the logical volumes (i.e. Sun-STK RAID EXT or >> HP-LOGICAL VOLUME) This is still the case, judging from my x4150s. >> I would like to have a HBA that is just (like the AOC-SAT2-MV8): >> + Plug the pieces together >> + power on >> + devfsadm >> + zpool create The LSI cards fulfill this requirement. You might consider a case with a SAS expander in it; you can plug sata disks into it, and it eliminates the need for a large number of controller ports. The Supermicro SC846e1 [3] does this; you can plug 24 disks into one SAS controller. The power supply fans are fairly noisy, though, for a home box. You could also take a look at a standalone SAS expander; Chenbro sells one called the CK12801 [4] that would suit the purpose, and might be cheaper than buying additional controller ports. An 8-port LSI card with two of those expanders would run about $750, and support 32 drives. Compared to an Areca card of that size, that's a good deal. I haven't seen anyone running the Chenbro expanders, but if they perform as specified they're convenient. Will [1]: http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-USAS-L8i.cfm [2]: http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-USASLP-L8i.cfm [3]: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/846/SC846E1-R900.cfm [4]: http://www.valleyseek.com/product.action?itemID=83883 _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
