PCI-X SATA Card + Server Recommendation

Sun Oct 26 19:30:13 UTC 2008

On Sun, 26 Oct 2008, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 02:48:16AM -0400, Charles Sprickman wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I have two questions regarding hardware support for two servers.  One is
>> an older Supermicro with a X5DPR-iG2+ mainboard, the other is a
>> suggestion for a brand new box that is well-supported...  Both boxes will
>> be in a co-lo, so stuff needs to not be "quirky".
>>
>> First the old box.  I need an SATA controller, non-RAID.  I'll be using
>> gmirror.  I have PCI-X slots, so I'd like to go with a PCI-X controller.
>> There seem to be very few out there, and this one keeps popping up
>> everywhere:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124014
>>
>> The comments there mention the chip is a Silicon Image 3124, but I don't
>> know if I can trust a random NewEgg user.
>
> That card does in fact use a Silicon Image chip -- I've confirmed by
> looking at the PCB itself (you can see the Silicon Image logo printed on
> it), and by looking at the Windows drivers:
>
> http://www.adeltek.com/Product%20Manual/PCI%20IO%20CONTROLLER/SD-PCXSA2-2E2R.jpg
> http://www.adeltek.com/Product%20Driver/PCI-X%20controller/sd-pcxsa2-2e2r.zip
>
> Stay away from this card.

Will do.  Google was very unhelpful with finding info on Silicon Image and 
FreeBSD, so I thank you for that.

>> Can anyone confirm that controller as working and free of quirks?
>> Are there other cards I should be looking at?
>
> I was hoping the X5DPR-iG2+ would have a UIO slot, but it doesn't.  Too
> old I guess.  PCI-X is also slowly getting phased out too, so it's
> becoming harder to find native PCI-X cards.
>
> These are cards I can recommend for your situation.  Yes, they do RAID,
> they all support JBOD; just plug the disks in and go.
>
> http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/series_2000.htm
> HighPoint RocketRAID 2210  (hptrr(4) driver; be sure to read NOTES)
> HighPoint RocketRAID 2220  (hptrr(4) driver; be sure to read NOTES)
> HighPoint RocketRAID 2224  (hptrr(4) driver; be sure to read NOTES)
> HighPoint RocketRAID 2240  (hptrr(4) driver; be sure to read NOTES)

Ouch.  I was thinking more along the lines of a dead-simple SATA card in 
the under $50 range.  I'm not up at all on PCI-X stuff, but I assume I can 
go with a normal PCI card, right?  Or 64-bit PCI (or is that PCI-X)?  What 
kind of performance hit would I have going from a PCI-X card to something 
else, and if I remove the PCI-X restriction, is there another recommended 
card?

> http://www.areca.com.tw/products/pcix.htm
> Areca ARC-1110    (arcmsr(4) driver)
> Areca ARC-1120    (arcmsr(4) driver)
> Areca ARC-1130    (arcmsr(4) driver)
> Areca ARC-1160    (arcmsr(4) driver)
> Areca ARC-1130ML  (arcmsr(4) driver)
> Areca ARC-1160ML  (arcmsr(4) driver)
>
> The FreeBSD community members who have Areca cards have been thrilled
> with them, and *do* use the native RAID features reliably.

I looked at those last time I was shopping.  The only thing that really 
bugged me about them was the fan on the card.  I know that sounds silly, 
but when you're spending 4 figures and a $3 fan is what's keeping the card 
from frying, and you can't monitor that fan...  I just didn't like that.

I really like the 9550SX.  I abused the hell out of it while I had the 
server at home.  Unclean shutdowns during drive rebuilds, shutdowns while 
growing an array, all sorts of "OMG! Don't do that!" scenarios and I could 
not break it.  My expectations were low though, as my previous experience 
was with Adaptec SCSI RAID controllers.

>> Next, I'm looking for a basic 1U server for light webhosting.
>> Reliability and compatibility are the two main concerns.  I'm very happy
>> with 3Ware RAID cards, so I will likely add that in myself.  The server
>> would optimally already have a hot swap SATA backplane and 4 drive bays.
>> I'm open to the semi-barebones route like the Supermicro servers as well
>> as major vendors like Dell and HP.  Having some type of IP-KVM-like
>> functionality as an option would also be nice, but I'll settle for a
>> serial console.  I'd like to keep this under $2K.
>
> There's a bunch of Supermicro systems which meet your needs.  The first
> four are very new, and use the Intel X48 chipset.  I don't know of any
> FreeBSD people using the X7SBU board, but I'm sure there are some.
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/
> Supermicro SuperServer 5015B-URB   (~US$975)
> Supermicro SuperServer 5015B-NTRB  (~US$975)
> Supermicro SuperServer 5015B-UB    (~US$785)
> Supermicro SuperServer 5015B-NTB   (~US$785)
> Supermicro SuperServer 5015B-MTB   (~US$655)

Thanks for the lineup, I'll check those out.

> Regarding KVM-over-IP: the Supermicro boards support an IPMI card add-on
> which does this, but I **highly** recommend avoiding it.  I know guys
> over at Yahoo who complain constantly about these cards being flaky
> (mostly card firmware bugs), people on the mailing lists have stated
> this, and folks on #bsdports as well.  Go with serial if possible.  But
> if you do have to get the IPMI card, buy one which has a dedicated NIC;
> DO NOT buy one which "piggybacks" on top of an on-board NIC, it will
> only cause you problems.

We have one Supermicro at a client site with the IPMI card.  A total waste 
of money.  It was/is flakey as hell and not something we rely on at all. 
I'd never even look at IPMI again.

> If you really want a KVM-over-IP solution, consider a KVM-over-IP device
> like ones from Aten; they'll work with anything.

I'm a bit intrigued by the Dell and HP add-in cards that are NOT IPMI, but 
do offer a full remote console.  The cost appears to be about the same as 
an IPMI card.  I've never bought either brand before though, and I have no 
idea how well supported these things are under FreeBSD (especially their 
own branded RAID controllers).

Dell PowerEdge R200 (upgrade CPU to C2D or Xeon, add RAID, add DRAC card) 
- around $1500
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=becwuk1&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=category~rack_optimized

The DRAC card, which has it's own ethernet port and supports booting from 
an ISO, etc.:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Networking_Communication/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=313-2822

On the HP side, the DL160 looks interesting as well.  Like the Dell, info 
on the RAID controllers is pretty slim.  Here's their "lights out" 
management option:

http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.asp?sku=3778577

Apparently it's already on the server, and you license advanced features. 
Probably a shared NIC situation...

Any opinions on this mess are welcome...

Thanks,

Charles

> -- 
> | Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
> | Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
> | UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
> | Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |
>
>