hardware raid solutions?

[James Gray]

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Lea Gris wrote:
> Alexander Skwar a écrit :
>> David Abrahams schrieb:
>>
>>> Does anyone happen to know if hardware RAID is easier to configure
>>> than software RAID?
>>
>> It certainly is. In true hardware RAID, you configure the RAID in
>> the "BIOS". The operating system then only sees ONE drive.
> 
> In hardware RAID, the controler is a single point of failure. If the
> controler dies and you can not find the very same controler
> model/version you are lost in the wild land of unrecoverable
> incompatible hardware raid setup.

Not entirely true.  I had a Compaq SmartArray-3 controller go belly up
on a RAID set.  Called HP (yes that's how old this kit is, it was
"pre-merger") and ordered a replacement RAID controller - it was a MUCH
newer SmartArray-5 with a 256MB cache.  Plugged it in, hooked up the
cables, and turned it on.  The *RAID* BIOS detected the old RAID set,
did some "performance tuning" and then promptly booted up the OS.

In another job, I had an ancient IBM RAID controller go up in smoke
(literally!) and we were in a real dilemma as the new RAID controllers
simply didn't have the right interfaces for the drives.  We called IBM,
they said to send them the box (after a few NDA's[1] changed hands).
THEY plugged our drives into a rig in their labs, recovered our data and
pushed it onto the new server we'd ordered, at no extra charge[2].  New
system arrived and booted into ye olde AIX that was running before the
controller went BANG!

Dead RAID controllers are only a problem when you rely on hardware from
transient vendors or niche players, which may not have the resources of
the big players to maintain support for legacy hardware.  Sticking with
the big-guns (HP/IBM/Sun/EMC/etc) you'll generally be OK.  For the few
occasions you wont be OK, you should be glad you have a good backup
regime. :)

Cheers,

James
[1] NDA = Non-Disclosure Agreement.
[2] Companies get really generous when you're big a casino with big cash
reserves and aren't afraid to spend it - the server came in at a smidge
under 6-figures $USD.  The new server was also consolidating a number of
old servers.
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