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Which RAID controller ?

R

rufik

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
Messages
151
Hello

Im under build new server setup for my home purpose.

At the moment i have LSI 9271-8i. I will build two more server with esxi

1. For backup only via Nakivo.
12 x 3 TB WD Red SATA HDD in RAID10

2. ESXi Host
6 x 3 TB WD Black in RAID6.

For option 1 and 2 what RAID controller can you recommend ?

Im thinking about Adaptec,
IS Adaptec is good company, below raid cards are good ? any problems ?
Please provide you opinion, thoughts ...

Below models

Adaptec RAID 71685
Adaptec RAID 71605
Adaptec RAID 71605Q
Click to expand...
 
I have the Adaptec RAID 71605Q with 2 400GB intel S3700 drives and 8 3TB WD reds. Great setup, tons of IOPS, use it on a VM host with over 30VMs running off the 18GB RAID6 array and I can simultaneously boot every VM at once with the smaller VMs being available 30 seconds to a minute after I hit start, most of the rest available by the 2 minute mark and the bigger ones like SQL and Exchange being available by 5 minutes, which is about how long they all take regardless if I start one or 30. Most people around here will recommend Areca or LSI, but since the 7 series there while maybe not the cheapest option for what you want the Adaptec is definitely holding its own, especially if you want the SSD cache.
 
I believe you will be totally fine with 8 lanes. These are hard drives not SSDs.
 
For OS - VMware ESXi I want to take one SSD maybe two for RAID1
Some SSD from Samsung, Pro :)

Dont understand why LSI have only 8 lanes.

Do you have experience with Adaptec ?
 
The adaptec also has 8 lanes. Well at least the 71685 has 8 lanes.

Edit: Actually after checking all of the 3 Adaptec models above are 8 lane cards.

Do you have experience with Adaptec ?
Click to expand...

Not with these specific models.
 
Last edited:
I thought you were talking about PCIe lanes since this
pciex 3.0 i can get only 8 lanes
Click to expand...
is about the number of pcie lanes not the # of SAS/ SATA ports.
 
I want raid controller on PCIEX 3.0, where i can plug 12 HDD :)

LSI is out :(
 
You're using hard drives, not SSDs, so PCIe 1.0 wouldn't even be a limiting factor. You don't need PCIe 3.0 at all.
 
I hate, absolutely HATE, LSIs CLI. The old one was a f'ing nightmare. Plain and simple. The new one is better; but IIRC still a bit convoluted. AARCONF from Adaptec is much more straight forward. ;)

The GUIs are kind of a wash, both have their pros and cons. Adaptec forces you to use Maxview Storage Manager / MSM, which is a web based utility. This silently forces Apache/Tomcat onto your system, which is a bit of a resource hog. We never got a good answer out of Adaptec as to WHY they ditched the old Adaptec Storage Manager / ASM utility, which did the job just fine... our working theory is that some bright spark decided that "Web Stuff Is BETTER!" and that was that. I'm not all that in love with LSI MegaRAID Manger (or whatever it's called) either; but at least on Linux it doesn't force you to install a damned web server.

We only use LSI stuff in our Dell boxes as we don't have a choice. All of our custom built servers use Adaptec. We used the 5-series heavily and use the 7805 series pretty extensively now; will be using the 8-series in a bit.

I personally think you're getting too hung up on the PCIe 3.0 aspect. The LSI 9260-16i will likely do the job just fine.

If going with the Adaptec 71605 make sure it's not the "E" "H" "HBA". Just the straight 71605 or, better yet, the 71605Q. (We always use the battery backup)

You could also consider an older card too; after doing your own homework that is. You can find great deals on older LSI and Adaptec cards, such as the 51645, on eBay.
 
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