<div dir="ltr">My server uses ECC RAM and is plugged into a UPS, so I've taken reasonable precautions.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 11:42 AM, Adam Thompson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:athompso@athompso.net" target="_blank">athompso@athompso.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">> this differently). I've only tipped the ice berg of info here and<br>
> I'm sure Adam Thompson will fill in the bits I've missed. :)<br>
<br>
Err... no, I think you've covered it quite sufficiently!<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I'd also recommend avoiding as much RAID as possible that's not<br>
> controller independent mirroring.<br>
<br>
</div>The obvious exception being ZFS arrays, where hardware RAID controllers are pretty much useless and just get in the way.<br>
Unless you meant to stay away from hardware RAID controllers altogether and use software RAID?<br>
That pendulum swings back and forth regularly.<br>
<br>
RAID 6 warrants (in many cases) a dedicated processor... either by running a dedicated storage array with, e.g. ZFS or Linux MD in raid6 mode, or by using a hardware controller that does RAID 6 onboard.<br>
RAID 5 gives the best TB/$ but suffers a write performance penalty, and an everything penalty when in degraded mode.<br>
RAID 1 gives the worst TB/$ but the best performance all-round.<br>
<br>
Whatever you do, a BBWC (battery-backed-up write cache) will enable much better performance. This is typically a hardware thing, but it can be simulated in software too if you have a UPS and you otherwise trust the solid state components of your motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc.<br>
<br>
So, if you use software RAID, make sure you have ECC RAM and a good UPS (that gets tested regularly).<br>
If you use hardware RAID, shoot for RAID 6 native support and a BBWC.<br>
<br>
[Yes, I know I'm getting off-topic from Kevin's original post.]<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
-Adam<br>
</font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
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