Simon Breden wrote:
Miles, thanks for helping clear up the confusion surrounding this subject!
My decision is now as above: for my existing NAS to leave the pool as-is, and
seek a 2+ SATA port card for the 2-drive mirror for 2 x 30GB SATA boot SSDs
that I want to add.
For the next NAS build later on this summer, I will go for an LSI 1068-based
SAS/SATA configuration based on a PCIe expansion slot, rather than the ageing
PCI-X slots.
Using PCIe instead of PCI-X also opens up a load more possible motherboards,
although as I want ECC support this still limits choices for mobos. I was
thinking of using something like a Xeon E5504 (Nehalem) in the new NAS, and
I've been hunting for a good, highly compatible mobo that will give the least
aggro (trouble) with OpenSolaris, and this one looks good as it's pretty much
totally Intel chipsets, and it has an LSI SAS1068E, which I trust should be
supported by Solaris, and it also has additional PCIe slots for additional
future expansion, and basic onboard graphics chip, and dual Intel GbE NICs:
SuperMicro X8STi-3F:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/X58/X8STi-3F.cfm
Any comments on this mobo welcome, plus suggestions for a possible PCIe-based
2+ port SATA card that is reliable and has a solid driver.
Simon
Note that the X8STi-3F requires an L-bracket riser card to use both the
PCI-E x16 and the x8 slot, which will be mounted horizontally (and,
likely, limited to low-profile cards). You'd likely have to use a
custom Supermicro case for this to work. Otherwise, you're limited to
the PCI-E x16 slot, in a standard vertical orientation. The board does
have an IPMI-based KVM ethernet port, but I have no idea if it's
supported under Solaris.
Also, remember, that you'll have to order a Xeon CPU with this, NOT the
i7 CPU, in order to get ECC memory support.
Personally, I'd go for an AMD-based system, which is about the same
cost, and a much better board:
http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron2000/MCP55/H8DM3-2.cfm
(comes with a 1068E SAS controller, AND the nVidia MCP55-based 6-port
SATA controller, no need for any more PCI-cards, and it supports the
add-in card for remote KVM console; it's a dual-socket, Extended ATX
size, though).
The MCP55 is the chipset currently in use in the Sun X2200 M2 series of
servers.
--
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop: usca22-123
Phone: x17195
Santa Clara, CA
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