[rescue] Re: Re: Hardware RAID on modern Sun equipment?

[Robert Novak]

On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Robert Rose wrote:

> > > You can do software raid on any disks pretty much, using Solstice
> > > Disksuite under Solaris.
> 
> And it "inhales deeply" compared to hardware raid.

Well, this is kinda subjective. Mirroring is probably about the same
performance, and compared to hardware raid inside-the-box on Sun SPARC
hardware (which doesn't exist), software raid at least exists, so it
performs far better than hardware raid inside-the-box on Sun SPARC
hardware by definition.

Yes, software RAID5 sucks unbelievably compared to hardware RAID5. No
argument there.

> >I don't know what the A1000 goes for, but you may also want to
> >consider the SCSI to SCSI RAID controllers.  These are platform
> 
> Problem is that Sun will refuse you support if you use a third party raid 
> box.  Been there, done that.

Well, if you use an external third-party RAID box, why would you want Sun
to support that external third-party box? 

Sun WILL support their own stuff, no matter what you connect to it, pretty
much. Been there, done that, have several tshirts. Literally. They may
charge you for the service call if the problem is traced to third party
solutions, but you don't lose support on your Sun server because you hang
a Raidzone or EMC or other such product on it.

Heck, you can even use third party memory and not void your warranty and
support contract. They won't support it, and they'll charge to replace it
if it turns out to be the problem, but then you go back to your memory
vendor and get them to reimburse you for it. 

If your Sun reps tell you otherwise, you should get new reps or go through
a VAR. 

> >I bought a 2 channel DAC960SX from Mylex on eBay - $88.  New

The problem with this is... where are the SPARC Solaris drivers for the
Mylex cards? 

--Rob

-- 
Robert Novak, Indyramp Consulting * rnovak at indyramp.com * indyramp.com/~rnovak
	"I don't want to doubt you, Know everything about you
      I don't want to sit Across the table from you Wishing I could run."