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Lab is growing - need a cheap PCIe RAID controller

R

RiDDLeRThC

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So I'm looking around today for a cheap PCIe SATA RAID controller so thought I would also post the question here.

Something that supports ESXi 5.
 
Dell PERC 5i.... 4 SAS or 8 SATA capable.

Can be had for $40 (serversupply.com).

You will still need to get a stick of RAM and a BBU for it though.
 
The PERC also has passive cooling and will probably require a fan on it. I bought a 40mm fan and it cools it fine.
 
Not to highjack, but I have questions about the right controller for my lab machine as well.

What about the Intel SASUC8I vs. the PERC 5i ?

Can someone link to a good price on the PERC with the necessary accessories required?
 
That would be my question- why are you opting for local storage rather than network storage? I think it's going to limit you in a number of ways.
 
Well I was going to play with VSA but have decided its not really a good fit for my lab.
 
Well instead of just throwing out names of RAID cards, how about you first tell us about what you are trying to do?

Shared NFS storage for VMs I assume?
Do you have the disks you are going to use? What are they?
How many disk?
Have you decided on how you are going to implement? RAID5/6/10/JBOD
 
I have to say the Uber VSA works quite well. I use two in my lab for replication/SRM testing-learning.

nickapedia.com


It will also give you some familiarity with EMC's Unisphere interface for VNX if you have interest as well as support for the vSphere Plugins.

And I have a really nice Iomega Storecetner PX4-300d as well but I like the fact that I can stand up two Uber VSA's with little work and have a lot of functionality out of the box. I only house test VM's on the VSA's, however, the Storcenter houses true prod vm's for home use and vSphere management.

All NFS.
 
Haven't had a chance to play with Uber VSA yet but its on my list.

I have an CX4 running Unisphere already at work so I'm very familiar with it.

I will check out the StorCenter along with the few others on my list. I think a small SAN is my best bet right now just a little more than I want to spend.
 
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