LSI and Cachecade Pro

S

spacecakes

n00b
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
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Hi guys, so i'm interested in getting a ssd cache to my raid 6 and iv'e been looking at LSIs option "cachecade pro 2.0".

I can't for the life of me figure out what's the difference between HW and SW key for cachecade pro? For example, the 9271-8i is compatible with both HW and SW keys, what does this mean? do i need both? if not, what's the difference?

And are my eyes lying to me when i see the only difference in 9271-8i and 9271-8iCC being that the CC version has cachecade pro already on delivery? It's crazy more expensive.

Can someone please clear this up for me.

Also, is the cachecade pro software working alright? Are there other, better, alternatives?

best regards
 
What are the use cases for the storage?

Generally, RAID 6 and caching features on a controller cost significantly more (even if they are only enabling software for the same underlying hardware).

Depending on what you are using the storage for, there may already be a (cheaper) software feature that does the same thing. For example, on VMware hosts you can use server-side cache. If building a ZFS storage server, you can leverage ZIL and L2ARC to optimize cache without the need for a separate controller.
 
REDYOUCH said:
What are the use cases for the storage?

Generally, RAID 6 and caching features on a controller cost significantly more (even if they are only enabling software for the same underlying hardware).

Depending on what you are using the storage for, there may already be a (cheaper) software feature that does the same thing. For example, on VMware hosts you can use server-side cache. If building a ZFS storage server, you can leverage ZIL and L2ARC to optimize cache without the need for a separate controller.
Click to expand...

Well, i have 10GbE between my workstation and my server that's running the raid6, i want to utilize that. I wan't to be able to work towards that raid6 with 10GbE speeds, so i was thinking LSi raid6 with 2x512gb ssd cache.
 
pretty much all software caches doing flash and ram would be faster

throw in a pair of juicy upses and you'll be fine with no nvram

spacecakes said:
Hi guys, so i'm interested in getting a ssd cache to my raid 6 and iv'e been looking at LSIs option "cachecade pro 2.0".

I can't for the life of me figure out what's the difference between HW and SW key for cachecade pro? For example, the 9271-8i is compatible with both HW and SW keys, what does this mean? do i need both? if not, what's the difference?

And are my eyes lying to me when i see the only difference in 9271-8i and 9271-8iCC being that the CC version has cachecade pro already on delivery? It's crazy more expensive.

Can someone please clear this up for me.

Also, is the cachecade pro software working alright? Are there other, better, alternatives?

best regards
Click to expand...
 
MrGuvernment said:
how many drives and what are there spec's in this raid array?
Click to expand...


I'm gonna buy a new set of drives for a new rad6, preferebly wd reds 6tb or 8tb ones if they've been released when the time comes.

Still no one is using cachecade pro here? I thought it would be somewhat popular. I still can't figure out the differences between HW and SW keys or the differences between the two cards i posted in the first post, anyone?
 
You still haven't answered on what this storage will be used for.

The performance benefits of cachecade are not aligned with its costs, except for very low latency applications (unlikely for whatever you are doing on a single desktop).

Also, the fact that your using 6 or 8TB drives insinuates a large data set, which will likely decrease you're cache hit ratio, and further diminish the purpose of using a hardware-level SSD cache.

As stated previously, there are other (free) options for caching software which are dependent on the storage platform and client use cases.

Please give us more info so we can help you.
 
REDYOUCH said:
You still haven't answered on what this storage will be used for.

The performance benefits of cachecade are not aligned with its costs, except for very low latency applications (unlikely for whatever you are doing on a single desktop).

Also, the fact that your using 6 or 8TB drives insinuates a large data set, which will likely decrease you're cache hit ratio, and further diminish the purpose of using a hardware-level SSD cache.

As stated previously, there are other (free) options for caching software which are dependent on the storage platform and client use cases.

Please give us more info so we can help you.
Click to expand...

I want a fast partition between my server and my desktop (no particular reason), maybe i should just make a separate raid array for that with ssds and not incorporate that into my storage raid?
 
spacecakes said:
I want a fast partition between my server and my desktop (no particular reason), maybe i should just make a separate raid array for that with ssds and not incorporate that into my storage raid?
Click to expand...

Or get one of the PCIe SSDs with integrated RAID. What capacity do you need and what's your budget?
 
Or just build a cheap UnRaid box (assuming its general media, since that hasn't been answered yet,you are using) and leverage its software ability to assign a cache drive (In-between you and your array)
 
Buy a single fast SSD and install in your desktop.

You're trying to reinvent the wheel here.
 
REDYOUCH said:
Buy a single fast SSD and install in your desktop.

You're trying to reinvent the wheel here.
Click to expand...

This + :p

Then run a nightly rsync or robocopy to catch your array up. Haha, should we try and not let the door hit us in our asses on the way out :cool: Because surely these are the ground breaking answers you were looking for.
 
spacecakes said:
I want a fast partition between my server and my desktop (no particular reason), maybe i should just make a separate raid array for that with ssds and not incorporate that into my storage raid?
Click to expand...

A single fast PCIe SSD like the Intel P3700 will blow any caching solution out of the water. If you need redundancy buy two and make a RAID1.
Caching only makes sense if the footprint of the workload fits on the SSD cache.
 
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