Subject: Re: software RAID vs hardware RAID
From: Damien Hull (dhull@digitaloverload.net)
Date: Fri Mar 14 2003 - 12:24:22 AKST
Looks like I have a lot of reading to do (software raid how-to)
On Fri, 2003-03-14 at 12:13, J. M. Mason wrote:
> Thoughts inline
>
> On Fri, 14 Mar 2003, Damien Hull wrote:
>
> >
> > I've been getting good feed back on my IDE RAID question. One person
> > pointed out that the Promise IDE RAID card is just as fast or slower
> > then software RAID. If this is the case why not use software RAID?
> >
> > I could get a better IDE RAID card but I'm trying to save $$$. A quick
> > search has brought up a few ideas and concerns about software RAID.
> >
> > 1. It seems more difficult to repair or fix a bad drive
>
> Somewhat - you have to bring the system down, plug the drive in, boot it
> up, partition the drive, and run the raid add command. Not too bad,
> really.
>
> > 2. Including /root in the RAID array requires a work around
>
> Sort of - I did root on a raid0 on debian for a long time, and the install
> step wasn't bad at all - the software raid howto has a good trick to
> simplify that.
>
>
> > 3. Performance will be better with hardware RAID
> >
> > The RAID array must be able to keep the system running even if one of
> > the drives fails. This means I need to have /root mounted on the array.
> >
> Disk performance *might* be better - hotswapping performance certainly
> would be, but that requires some pretty expensive controllers.
> > Also, I'm using Debian so any info on getting software RAID working
> > under Debian would be a big help.
> >
>
> > So far I like the money saving aspect of software RAID but it looks like
> > I might save my self a lot of time and a headache or two using a
> > hardware solution. If anyone has any thoughts and or ideas on this let
> > me know.
>
>
> I'd say that software raid is just fine - I've had great luck with it.
>
> ~Mac~
>
>
-- Damien Hull Network Administrator www.digitaloverload.net--------- To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org> with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
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