Using a new email client and didn't notice that I didn't reply to the
list. Since it might be helpful to others here are the missing bits.
On 7/21/2010 5:07 PM, Freddie Cash wrote:
We use the 500 GB versions attached to 3Ware controllers (configured
as Single Disk arrays). They work quite nicely.
Thanks, your reply was very helpful.
Did you use the TLER utility to change your Caviar drives? Have you
installed any of the new Caviar drives that don't support changing
TLER settings?
I forgot to mention, this is for a home server. I want something to
backup my other computers and provide some network storage for stuff
that doesn't that doesn't get used often but gets used frequently
enough or are too big that optical storage would be a pain.
Something along the lines of this
http://blogs.sun.com/mebius/entry/diy_home_nas_box_with2 or smaller if
I could use the 2.5" Scorpio drives. I'm willing to sacrifice
performance for power and heat savings. This is the only thread I
found regarding zfs and scorpio drives
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/opensolaris-discuss/2009-June/048287.html
It sounds like your 3Ware controller might be catching the errors
before it gets to zfs but if zfs had to handle it then it might have
the problems others have reported. If that's the case, *why can't zfs
do what the 3ware controller is doing?* Or does it and these reports
about problems with consumer drives and TLER are overblown? A <20s
delay every couple of weeks I can live with.
With the mini-itx mobo I'm planning to use I'm limited to PCI cards
and there isn't much selection. The SiL based cards are supported in
OpenSolaris but I'm not sure if they're going to behave the same as
your 3ware card.
I found this quote here http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1500505
which contradicts a lot of what I read regarding ZFS and consumer drives.
"Do i need to use TLER or RAID edition harddrives?
No and if you use TLER you should disable it when using ZFS. TLER is
only useful for mission-critical servers who cannot afford to be
frozen for 10-60 seconds, and to cope with bad quality RAID controller
that panic when a drive is not responding for multiple seconds because
its performing recovery on some sector. Do not use TLER with ZFS!
Instead, allow the drive to recover its errors. ZFS will wait, the
wait time can be configured. You won't have broken RAID arrays, which
is common with Windows-based FakeRAID arrays."
And Freddie Cash replied :
- hide quoted text -
> On 7/21/2010 5:07 PM, Freddie Cash wrote:
> We use the 500 GB versions attached to 3Ware controllers (configured
> as Single Disk arrays). They work quite nicely.
>
> Thanks, your reply was very helpful.
>
> Did you use the TLER utility to change your Caviar drives? Have you
> installed any of the new Caviar drives that don't support changing TLER
> settings?
The wdtler utility doesn't work on the Caviar Green drives.
We did use the wdidle3 utility, though, to "disable" the 8 second idle timeout.
Haven't needed to use the wdtler utility on any of the Caviar Black or
Caviar Blue drives. They don't cause any issues.
- hide quoted text -
> I forgot to mention, this is for a home server. I want something to backup
> my other computers and provide some network storage for stuff that doesn't
> that doesn't get used often but gets used frequently enough or are too big
> that optical storage would be a pain.
>
> Something along the lines of this
> http://blogs.sun.com/mebius/entry/diy_home_nas_box_with2 or smaller if I
> could use the 2.5" Scorpio drives. I'm willing to sacrifice performance for
> power and heat savings. This is the only thread I found regarding zfs and
> scorpio drives
>
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/opensolaris-discuss/2009-June/048287.html
If you want low-power, then the Green drives will be fine. So long as
you don't want super-fast throughput. These are 5900 RPM drives that
can slow down to 3400 RPM or thereabouts. But you definitely want to
play with wdidle3 to change the default head-parking idle timeout.
Otherwise you'll burn through the 500,000 load-store cycles in a
couple of months.
- hide quoted text -
> It sounds like your 3Ware controller might be catching the errors before it
> gets to zfs but if zfs had to handle it then it might have the problems
> others have reported. If that's the case, why can't zfs do what the 3ware
> controller is doing? Or does it and these reports about problems with
> consumer drives and TLER are overblown? A<20s delay every couple of weeks I
> can live with.
No idea. I don't have any ZFS systems using non-RAID controllers yet.
-- Freddie Cash fjwc...@gmail.com
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