Re: OT: sas controllers/expanders and "desktop" drives?

[Simon Matthews <simon.d.matthews@gmail.com>]

A couple of years ago, I was managing 2 systems. Both were built with
Supermicro motherboards and chassis and high-end 3ware controllers
(9550sx if I recall correctly). One system was built with
enterprise-class SATA  drives, while the other was built with
desktop-class SATA drives. They were both configured for RAID5.

The system with desktop-class drives occasionally kicked a drive out
of the array. The controller would report that the drive had failed
and then that it was back again a few seconds later, but this was
enough for the controller to kick it out of the array and require a
rebuild.

Caution: one anecdote is not hard data!

Simon

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 7:36 AM, Matt Garman <matthew.garman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> For building a Linux md system with many disks, I've been looking at
> the LSI SAS 3081E-R controller card[1] with the SuperMicro
> 846TQ-R900B chassis[2].  The SAS3018E card looks like it has a
> mature open-source Linux driver.  The chassis has a SAS expander;
> I'm not sure which one (but I have a question in to SuperMicro).
>
> Anyway, my question is this: has anyone used this setup, or one
> like it (sas controller + sas expander) with "desktop" class drives?
> The web research I've done suggests that most SAS controllers and
> expanders are targeted at the enterprise market, and therefore,
> aren't guaranteed to work with the (significantly cheaper) desktop
> drives.
>
> For example, from the FAQ for that SuperMicro chassis[3]:
>
>    Question: We want to use the new Seagate 1.5TB ST31500341AS
>    drives in combination with a storage solution based on your
>    846TQ chassis, is this compatible?
>
>    Answer: This ST31500341AS hard drive is designed to be a Desktop
>    type hard drive, not an Enterprise hard drive which is needed in
>    this setup.  We don't recommend this combination, so please use
>    the Seagate 1TB ST31000340NS drive instead. This drive is an
>    Enterprise drive and validated for our 846TQ chassis.
>
> In short, we want to build a server with 24 drives.  The desktop
> drives are significantly cheaper than the enterprise drives.  But
> getting 24 ports is cheapest with these SAS controllers + expanders.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>
>
> [1] http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/lsisas3081er/index.html
>
> [2] http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/846/SC846TQ-R900.cfm
>
> [3] http://www.supermicro.com/support/faqs/faq.cfm?faq=8230
>
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