classiccmp server hardware

From: Jay West <jwest_at_classiccmp.org>
Date: Sun Oct 10 08:33:19 2004

Jochen wrote...
> Those Promise "RAID" cards don't do hardware RAID. They handle RAID
> entirely in software, by there own BIOS for booting / DOS and via a
I don't *THINK* that is true, at least as a generalization. There may be
some low end cards from promise that don't really do hardware raid, and
there may be promise chips built into some motherboards that don't really do
hardware raid, but - my experience is that most of their ata raid cards
actually do hardware raid. Can someone clarify for sure?

> As you are running FreeBSD: What about vinum(4)???
> The machine should be fast enough to handle RAID1 in software. No
> problem with the Promise BIOS stuff, no cost for an extra PCI card.
I won't do OS-land raid. Doing any raid level in the OS is simply... brain
dead. For the same reasons that I refuse to use a WINmodem in a windows
machine. It's inherently bad engineering to waste/degrade the main systems
cpu for this kind of thing.

> If you want real hardware RAID look for a 3ware card.
I'll look at 3ware, but like I said I was under the impression many (most)
promise cards did do real hardware raid.

Jay West
Received on Sun Oct 10 2004 - 08:33:19 BST