Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : Getting sick of LSI raid cards...worth switching to adaptec?

[RackPoint-Morgan]

Do the adaptecs require custom compiled in drivers the same way that the LSI cards do? Last I remember, adaptecs kicked LSI/3ware's butts in terms of performance, so mainly I'm curious about the driver question.

Thanks!
Morgan

[PCS-Chris]

Nope, I've yet to work on a system where Adaptec drivers aren't inbuilt (2405 at least).

Adaptec performance is fantastic

[MikeTrike]

Adaptec (2405 and 5445) at least, rock!

Step 1: Purchase Adaptec Card
Step 2: Physically Install Adaptec Card
Step 3: Install Linux (CentOS is my flavor of choice)
Step 4: There is no step 4, just use the damn thing.

[RackPoint-Morgan]

Is the 2405 still what I should be using for new servers today? Is there a newer one thats still universally supported that I should be purchasing instead?

[Dougy]

2405 is win if you don't need/want BBU - 5405 for BBU

[natecarlson]

Curious - what LSI cards are you using without out-of-the-box support? What OS are you running?

I prefer the Adaptec 5xxx series to the 2xxx series.. way faster, far more features, and now can optionally support caching data on SSD for increased read performance (MaxIQ; haven't had a chance to try it for myself yet.) This is assuming that performance is your primary objective though - the 5xxx's are significantly more expensive.

It is worth noting that Adaptec does not have a 6gb/s option yet - to get that LSI or 3ware (which is really LSI but different set of drivers) now, and you will probably need driver disks with distros that don't have a brand new release.

HTH!

[RackPoint-Morgan]

We are using LSI 8204 cards, which seem to run slow and require annoying drivers...! About 30 servers later I am getting sick of them, lol.

[ExpressColo-TomW]

Adaptec are supported in all our standard OS installs. As an added bonus the Adaptec is also supported by ESXi while 3ware/LSI is not and requires hackery to get it to work right.

I have heard that Adaptec's RAID division has been sold to a third party first part of May 2010. So I guess we will see how things progress with that, we will certainly be keeping an eye on quality and return rates.

[FastServ]

Adaptec 2405 and 5x05 cards are pretty much the only cards we use for almost all builds since the past couple of years. Never looking back...

Only gripe is the really bad GUI management interface, but it can be scripted from the command line at least with most distros. Ubuntu/deb take a little trickery to install the management tools but it works.

[Rens]

We always use areca, working out of the box as well and never had any problems with them

[mds85]

Originally Posted by expresscolo

[...] I have heard that Adaptec's RAID division has been sold to a third party first part of May 2010 [...]

Do you have a link to the source of this?

@OP, here is a full compatibility list. Apparently the drivers are embedded in all of the recent kernels
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/_common/linux/

I like the 2405, for its price you can't go wrong depending on your needs. The on-board 800MHz dual-core processor kicks some serious butt.

[natecarlson]

Originally Posted by mds85

Do you have a link to the source of this?

http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/_common/pmc/

[mds85]

Originally Posted by natecarlson

http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/_common/pmc/

Hot darn I need to read better

I don't know how to feel about this, this always happen to the good things in life.

/me sheds a tear

[plumsauce]

What's wrong with the LSI raid cards?

Is it the usability, or actual performance and reliability?

[RackPoint-Morgan]

They are a PITA because the drivers aren't already built into the kernel, which is fine but when another sys admin comes along and inadvertently runs a blind yum update, it will install a kernel without drivers built into it etc etc, so it creates issues along that line.

I've noticed much slower performance running similar hardware as our dell servers, but with the supermicro's instead and i have a feeling its the raid card. We run fairly large replicated mysql schemas where I work (500GB+).