information on choosing software or hardware raid please

[lollysticky]

Okay, so I've used hardware RAID in the past (RAID5)....
However, I'm currently planning on upgrading my current fileserver and well.. I've been reading both positive and negative things on hardware raid... The biggest 'problem' I always had with hardware raid is when a controller dies, you need to buy a new one of the same type to be able to continue the array So the 'portability' is somehow tempered...

That's why I'm considering software RAID (I always use linux as server OS and fedora has excellent software raid). The problem is that I can't decide what's best. And, if I opt for software raid, I'll need some sort of SATA/SAS expander card (for like 8 ports max or something). Oh, and help on choosing the hard disks might be nice as well

My 'desired' config:
6 x 1.5TB HDs (brand?) in RAID5
1 SATA card (non-raid): Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8? This seems to be a good one

 

[lollysticky]

Not to be of any nuisance, but I'm sticking to fedora
It's the linux system I started with and am more than familiarized with. It doesn't have ZFS indeed, but ZFS isn't without faults either (although it has a lot of benefits indeed)

I'll look into your LSI card there tho... I am not that acquainted with modern controller cards :/

 

[john4200]

Intel SASUC8I PCI-Express x8 SATA / SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) Controller Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117157

This is an LSI 1068e-based card. In fact, it is identical to the LSI SAS3081E-R, but about $50 less expensive.

You will need the IT firmware to use it with mdadm. Some people seem to be getting the card with the IT firmware, others need to download a DOS based tool to flash it.

On linux, this card generally works well with recent kernels, but if you read the SMART data (with something like smartmontools), there can sometimes be dropouts or kernel errors.