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Raid controller for ESXi 5.0

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ChRoNo16

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
1,587
I need a raid controller for a vmware esxi box...

Not sure what to get, I want a 4-6port or better, 3gb/sec sata raid controller, the motherboard is an Evga 790i SLI FTW
 
I would go with an LSI 9260-8i. Just built up a few ESXi 5 servers with these cards and they work perfectly, out of the box.
 
It's nice, but very expensive, I was thinking maybe no more than 150 for a card.
 
We're using IBM M1015s in our ESXi 5.0 boxes for raid1 arrays without dramas or driver installation.
 
Go with the tried and true Dell PERC 6. ESXi supports it out of the box and on ebay it should run in your price range. A few caveats:

1. Make sure you get a battery backup unit with it (or buy it separately). This enables the on-board write cache which will greatly improve your write speeds.

2. A lot of the ones available are the version which mounts in a tray for specific Dell server models. Either look for the version with a normal PCIe bracket or buy the one mounted in the tray, remove from the tray and mod your own bracket for it. The cards themselves are the same--just different mounting options.

Even if you are only doing RAID-1 I would still go for the PERC (instead of a cheaper RAID-1 card) because of the battery-backed cache. That is the key to getting decent performance from a RAID card, no matter what RAID level.

Note you could also go for the slightly cheaper PERC 5. Rather than integrated cache it has a memory slot so make sure you get one with the cache stick already installed (it also uses the same battery backup unit as the 6).

The PERC series are all re-branded LSI cards so you're getting good hardware at a fraction of the price LSI charges.

Edit: Both cards are passively cooled and I've seen mention that in non-Dell servers they benefit from having good airflow. I've only used in Dell servers so I haven't bothered with any extra fans but just something else to keep in mind.

Here's a bit of info:

http://blog.peacon.co.uk/wiki/Dell_Perc_6i

Edit2: Also, only recognizes drives up to 2TB if that's important to you.
 
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Im not sure I can use the 6i My evga board only has pcie x1 slot 3x Pcie x16 for triple sli, and 2x pci slots.
 
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There are also issues with certain motherboards not posting with Dell Perc raid controllers, its a simple fix really where you have to put a small piece of electrical tape over one of the Perc's PCIe pins then it works fine. I have a thread save about it somewhere, its on Google, but you have to really look for it.
 
ashman said:
There are also issues with certain motherboards not posting with Dell Perc raid controllers, its a simple fix really where you have to put a small piece of electrical tape over one of the Perc's PCIe pins then it works fine. I have a thread save about it somewhere, its on Google, but you have to really look for it.
Click to expand...

http://www.overclock.net/t/359025/perc-5-i-raid-card-tips-and-benchmarks is the link that contains alot of info. The "SMBus Issue with Intel Chipsets" section references the mods that need to be made.
 
IBM M1015s from eBay are great. I haven't bought mine yet but the last time I asked this seemed to be the general consensus unless you are planning on investing a good amount of money into the card.
 
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