Seeking advice about RAID

[Brian Fahrlander]

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Scott Medling wrote:
> I use mdadm to manage a software RAID 5 array.  The man page is thorough
> and
> there are plenty of online resources.  There is no GUI that I know of, but
> you can set it up to self-monitor and e-mail you if there is a problem so I
> haven't really interacted with mdadm much since I got it up and running.
> 
> Given the lack of time generally spent dealing with the array, I
> wouldn't go
> with hardware RAID unless you need it for the performance advantage (which
> is slight IMO if your CPU isn't maxed).

    I'd have to concur; software raid is fabulous. and most casual
systems have MUCH more than enough CPU to deal with it- it's not even
noticeable.

    When a system crashes, for whatever reason, or you just want to
change distros or something, THAT's the time you learn that the hardware
driver isn't supported anymore (like I've had) or that the new
environment for one reason or other isn't exactly compatible.

    Amazon.com? Hardware raid. Google? Hardware raid. Joe's Bakery?
Software. It's capable, and it's good, but it's expensive, and many
times quite proprietary, though they claim it's very transparent.

    Software raid is something I've used here for nearly 6  years; the
only hiccup I've had is changing drives- otherwise it's solid, fast, and
provides a peace-of-mind that only costs what the drives do.

    This is possible because the kernel-guys do such a fantastic job. If
I ever meet one, I'm gonna pat'im on the back, buy him a drink and
listen to every story he tells me.

- --
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 Brian Fahrländer                 Christian, Conservative, and Technomad
 Evansville, IN                              http://Fahrlander.net/brian
 ICQ: 5119262                         AOL/Yahoo/GoogleTalk: WheelDweller
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