More Serial RAID Controllers from AMCC, Areca, LSI

[muk]

AMCC/3Ware, Areca and LSI Logic bring enterprise-grade RAID controllers to market for entry-level applications .

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/30/more_serial_raid_controllers_from_amcc/index.html

 

[Niva]

It would be really cool if you had included pricing of these controllers, or maybe I missed it?

Also if you included RAID 0 why didn't you include RAID 1 benchmarks? For the server sector only RAID5 and 6 matter anyways.

Also curious how these stack up against controllers coming on motherboards these days, I'm guessing they're better unless you fork out the money for a Tyan beast of a motherboard...

 

[Evil_Overlord]

Performance I/O sec comparisons are great, but there are a lot more important things (IMHO) that can make or break a RAID controller:

■How long (time) to rebuild an array?
■Was data integrity maintained during an...
■-Online Capacity Expansion?
■-RAID Level Migration ?
■-Power Failure? (Perhaps even a power failure during an OCE or RLM???)
■Where is the array information kept? (NVRAM, Disk, or both)
■What happens when you simulate a controller failure by replacing it with an identical controller card that has never seen this array?
■What happens to the array if the replaced controller has a different firmware version compared to the previous controller?

I would love to see Tom's Hardware step up to the challenge and delve deeper into RAID Controllers. I've seen what your group can do with power supply reviews.

 

[Datlev]

I have to concur with Evil_Overlord on this. I was expecting a bit more details on test scenarios.

Also, why just I/O Ops/sec for benchmarks ? I would have liked to see some different ways of measuring perf on these cards.

 

[SinxarKnights]

I also agree with Evil_Overlord. We need more information about these controllers.

 

[haplo602]

The joke in the part about the LSI controller remembering bad disks is nice. If you pull out the wrong drive from a damaged RAID array (so you have actualy 2 missing disks will be the end of your raid unless you are running the advanced 6+ RAID modes or you have a larger RAID 1 array and pull the correct disk.

Actualy the realy good raid controllers remember the removed disk for 1 minute or so, so you can put it back and the array will do as nothing happened.