I built a home server to run VMware ESX server, and I want to re-purpose it for OpenSolaris and VirtualBox. I need some advice on SATA controllers and upgrade options.
My motherboard has four SATA-I ports, but I have six SATA-II drives (two for root disk and mirror, and four for a ZPOOL). I have one PCI-X 64-bit/133MHz slot, which has an OEM Adaptec AAR-2610SA 6-port SATA RAID controller and all six disks are currently attached to it. The card is PCI-X 64-bit/66MHz and works under OpenSolaris with the AAC driver. Performance is rather slow (even in JBOD mode), and this card model has been known to be unreliable. Here's where I need advice. Would I be better off to : 1) purchase a different PCI-X controller, say a SuperMicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port controller (around $100). 2) purchase a PCI or PCI-X two-port controller for the root disk and mirror, and plug the four ZPOOL disks into the embedded motherboard SATA ports. 3) ditch the PCI-X motherboard, replacing it with one that has six SATA-II ports or a decent PCI-E SATA-II controller? 4) If neither 1, 2 or 3 will give me significantly better reliability and performance with these relatively slow disks, cross my fingers and leave well enough alone. I don't mind spending $200 to get a much better solution, but doing nothing is certainly the cheapest option. ;-) I've seen motherboards out there that have six SATA-II ports, but I understand there is very limited support in Solaris for embedded SATA RAID controllers and many of these desktop motherboards don't support ECC memory (I'd like to reuse as many parts as possible). Suggestions? Here's the current setup: M/B: Supermicro H8SSL-i2 server board CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ dual-core 2.793GHz MEM: 4GB (2x Kingston KVR800D2E5K2/2G 2GB Kit DDR2-800 PC2-6400 ECC) I/O: one PCI-X 64-bit/133MHz slot, two PCI 32-bit/33MHz slots VID: Integrated ATI ES1000 Graphics Controller DISK CONTROLLER: Adaptec AAR-2610SA/64 PCI-X 64-bit/66MHz SATA 6ch with 64MB cache (OEM HP Part No 372953-B21 or OEM Dell CERC6 aka CERC SATA 1.5/6ch) DISKS: 6 x Seagate SATA/300 500GB disks (7200 RPM, 16MB cache) Thanks! mikebo This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ storage-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/storage-discuss
