Combining Hardware RAID with Software RAID and Infiniband Support

[_Adrian_]

Hey Guys and Gals...

A quick run through of my gear...
My current file Server is a HP ML370 G5 and a HP MDS600
The ML370 has Dual X5450 Quad Core Xenon ( 3.0GHz ) with 32GB pf PC2-5300F ECC Memory, Array Controllers are Smart Array P800 x2 ( 1 SAS link to each half of the MDS ). Each P800 has a 512MB BBWC as well

Now the P800 has its own hardware based raid and was wondering how would FreeNAS would handle a Soft RAID on top of Hard RAID.

Here's an example :
Hardware RAID:
- HDD 1, 2 - RAID 1 - 4TB - Drive 1
- HDD 3, 4 - RAID 1 - 4 TB - Drive 2
- HDD 5, 6 - RAID 1 - 4TB - Drive 3
- HDD 7, 8 - RAID 1 - 4TB - Drive 4
- HDD 9, 10 - RAID 1 - 4TB - Drive 5
TOTAL SPACE : 20TB

HDD's - Seagate Barracuda 7200 - ST2000DM001 - SATAIII ( 6GB/s )

Software RAID:
- Drive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - RAID 5 - Virtual Drive Capacity ~16TB
Is this feasible with a ZFS file system ??

Also I haven't been around since 4.9 and with little time I have didn't skim through the manual...
Whats the status of the drivers for Infinniband ?? IPoiB or RDMA ??

 

[cyberjock]

Why not give the FreeNAS manual a read.. it'll give you the answers to your question and SO many more!

 

[_Adrian_]

Still didn't answer my question fully...

Why not ECC RAM ??
I mean that's what all the enterprise level servers use don't they ??
( I know they use as im running mostly HP Proliant Servers and everyone of them calls for ECC RAM )

FCOE ( Fiber Channel Over Ethernet ) is similar to iSCSI but that mainly falls onto the adapter and if it supports iSCSI over TCP/IP, but the lack of Infinniband support is somewhat puzzling as the OFED stack is available in FreeBSD since V4.4

I would choose IB over 10GBe as its cheaper and easier to deploy in smaller enviroments specially as RDMA or IPoIB.

Also Infinniband has speeds from 10Gbps upwards to 40Gbps on selected adapters.
10GB Ethernet switches are still outrageously priced for a level 2 or 3 managed switch in comparison to a TopSpin / Cisco SFS700. I do believe there's a topspin 120 with 10 Infinniband cards and cabling for $600 on ebay...
Just a plain bargain !!

 

[jgreco]

Check to see if Jason Bacon has made any progress.