Comments on: Understanding your RAID Configuration http://ronaldbradford.com/blog/understanding-your-raid-configuration-2009-06-08/ Expert times and information on MySQL Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:07:30 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Peter Radavich http://ronaldbradford.com/blog/understanding-your-raid-configuration-2009-06-08/comment-page-1/#comment-567 Peter Radavich Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:24:03 +0000 http://ronaldbradford.com/blog/?p=1597#comment-567 A few comments: The x950 hardware is now released in 2 generations: The x950mkIII and the x950. The mkIII hardware comes with the sas6/ir or perc6/ir controller. Anyone running a database on local disk will end up buying the PERC6. The PERC6 is pretty different from the PERC5. That said, under FreeBSD, the device changes a bit, and a new controller util is used. I'd be unsurprised to find that MegaCli is ported, but keep an eye out for a tool called mfi_control. Anyway, a few other comments about the PERC5/6: Dell recently released a firmware upgrade for the PERC5/i which fixes a problem in which a patrol read is happening under heavy io and the controller locks hard. I've seen this with several of my systems in production, and cant recommend this more strongly. There have been a few disk firmware upgrades released as well, but these have not affected my databases. You should let your readers know about these upgrades, though. Linux and Windows users can use the dell utilities. Other OSes can netboot DOS via ISOLinux and install them remotely, assuming they have DRAC or IPMI interfaces set up for remote access. Good luck! A few comments:

The x950 hardware is now released in 2 generations: The x950mkIII and the x950. The mkIII hardware comes with the sas6/ir or perc6/ir controller. Anyone running a database on local disk will end up buying the PERC6. The PERC6 is pretty different from the PERC5.

That said, under FreeBSD, the device changes a bit, and a new controller util is used. I’d be unsurprised to find that MegaCli is ported, but keep an eye out for a tool called mfi_control.

Anyway, a few other comments about the PERC5/6:

Dell recently released a firmware upgrade for the PERC5/i which fixes a problem in which a patrol read is happening under heavy io and the controller locks hard. I’ve seen this with several of my systems in production, and cant recommend this more strongly. There have been a few disk firmware upgrades released as well, but these have not affected my databases. You should let your readers know about these upgrades, though. Linux and Windows users can use the dell utilities. Other OSes can netboot DOS via ISOLinux and install them remotely, assuming they have DRAC or IPMI interfaces set up for remote access.

Good luck!

]]> By: Xaprb http://ronaldbradford.com/blog/understanding-your-raid-configuration-2009-06-08/comment-page-1/#comment-566 Xaprb Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:55:21 +0000 http://ronaldbradford.com/blog/?p=1597#comment-566 I usually look at the Inquiry data for the model of the disk drive and then Google that to find out exactly what's physically behind the card :) I usually look at the Inquiry data for the model of the disk drive and then Google that to find out exactly what’s physically behind the card :)

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