On Fri, 23 Oct 1998, Mike Tvarkunas wrote:
> I just read a posting from an Linux group, Dated first of this year 3/98 or
> so... stating that ALR was not supporting Linux? Is this still the case?
> What I have is a ALR ADAC 3 (Gateway Server) and was wanting to put Linux
> up on it, and maybe utilize the RAID CARD. Is this still not an option?
> Does anyone know for sure? Guess there is always "software". :)
It was true at the time, but...
Jeffrey Jones of American Megatrends posted a patch for the 0.92 beta
driver to this list on September 2. The ALR ADAC is an OEM version of the
AMI MegaRAID card. I believe that the driver will be included in kernels
after 2.0.36, but you can get the 2.0.32 patch from the list archive, or I
can email it to you.
According to Jeffrey, AMI plans official support for Linux.
> Any suggestions? IS software or hardware raid better for 1st time raid
> builders, anyway??
I had to use software RAID because the ADAC driver was not available at
the time (Feb 98). It was a bit difficult to plan and setup, but gives
more flexibility because you are working on filesystems, not physical
drives. I have one RAID0 (/var) and two RAID5 (/usr and /home)
filesystems across six drives. A number of variables are involved, but
basically hardware is easier to setup and faster for parity RAID (4/5)
with less CPU load, wheras software is more flexible and appears to be
faster (?) for simple mirrored/striped arrays (RAID0/1).
I may go back to the ADAC card, but not immediately. I just installed the
latest RAID software alpha drivers and tools, which seem to be working
just fine after some initial shakeout.
Geof
DISCLAIMER: The comments above are my own and may not represent the views
of my employer.
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
: Geoffrey P. Goodrum : US Department of Commerce :
: +1-301-457-5100 : NOAA/NESDIS National Climatic Data Center :
: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Satellite Services Branch :
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