Linux Hardware RAID Support

lostinspace2011 · Apprentice Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 230

I have two onboard raid contollers none of which seem to be supported by linux

Intel X79 chipset : In RAID mode this is detected but doesn't seem to be working properly. Seems to be some sort of fakeraid.

Marvel 88SE9172: In RAID mode I am not able to see the array once booted. I am guessing it is not supported.

My local computer shop has got some affordable raid cards on offer:

http://www.ple.com.au/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryId=451

However the Highpoint Pocket Raid range seem to be using the same chipset Marvell 88SEXXXX as I already have onboard.

I tried looking online for a definitive list of supported controllers, but can't find anything which covers hardware raid controllers and their support in Linux. One link I found suggests that support for the Marvell Chipset is being added in the 3.0 Kernel. However this could just mean that they are going to support the chipset in AHCI rather then RAID mode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvell_Technology_Group_chipsets#88SE91xx_Chipsets

Any pointers on this would make my day.

frostschutz · Advocate Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 2977 Location: Germany

Just use mdadm

gorkypl · Guru Joined: 04 Oct 2010 Posts: 444 Location: Kraków, PL

If you have no specific need for hardware RAID just use mdraid.
From the list above only the ADAPTEC cards provide hardware RAID.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:17 pm Post subject:

lostinspace2011,

All the raid controllers in your link under $200 are fakeraid of one sort or another.
Fakeraid is a verybadthing for several reasons.
a) if the fakeraid hardware dies on you you need another *identical* controller to use your raid again.
b) for raid1 or raid0 there is no CPU overhead, so any raid controller is a waste of money.
c) kernel raid is a better product. Its more mature and more reliablle.

Of course - its your money. Invest the >$200 in a CPU with more cores and/or more RAM.
Its more generally useful to you.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Genone · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:34 pm Post subject:

Well, there is one reason to use fakeraid over software raid, namely if you have to access it from Windows and Linux. But in all other cases software raid should be preferred.

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

have a look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/scsi/aacraid.txt
you will find a list of adaptec supported raid card.