[NCLUG] IDE RAID For Linux

[gelfand]

Has anyone mentioned the 3ware Escalade IDE-RAID cards?

Sadly, it seems that 3ware will no longer be selling the
cards by themselves--though I assume that they are built
into 3ware's Palisade storage units.  Resellers should have some
in stock, for a little while.

Linux support for the cards is excellent: drivers have been in
the kernel at least since the 2.2 series, and there's an administration
daemon that works well.

One gotcha is that, at least for the 7000 series (with ATA-100
support), your motherboard has to support some recent PCI
spec.  I can't recall the details, but I do know that a not-so-ancient
BX-based Asus motherboard wouldn't work with one of those
cards.

Regards,
Marty Gelfand
Dept of Physics, CSU
>===== Original Message From nclug at nclug.org =====
>Hmmm... definately worth checking into...  IDE RAID is great since the
>cost is so low (of course, it can't exactly touch the speed of my
>Ultra160 15000 RPM drive, but hey, concidering those cost about as much
>as three IDE drives, I don't mind...
>
>The problem I've run into with people that claim "Linux" Support is
>there is always a catch.  With Highpoint, the catch was that the
>controller worked _as an IDE interface_ but not as an actual RAID
>controller.   In other words, they were unwilling to put any effort
>towards kernel development or even complied drivers that would actually
>support the RAID function (IDE is easy since the controller is contained
>on the drive itself- the card is merely an interface and therefore would
>be very easy to support on the BIOS level for simple IDE).  So my big
>question is (and partially answered because you guys rule) if I can't
>get my highpoint controller to work native RAID in Linux- then which one
>would be best to go with for my 'end of the year' upgrade?
>Thanks for the continuing feedback!
>-DJ
>
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