Re: RAID - raidframe vs hardware/controller

[buhrow%lothlorien.nfbcal.org@localhost (Brian Buhrow)]

        hello.  If what you mean by hardware raid is the pseudo ataraid
driver as recognized by many Promise and other ATA and SATA cards, then the
differences between hardware and software raid are minimal in terms of
performance, since ataraid(4) is merely a software raid1 driver which
honors the labeling conventions of these ATA and SATA cards.
        In terms of raid(4) versus the hardware raid management on cards like
the 3ware cards and the like, the answers to your questions, are, of
course, it depends.
        In general, I prefer using raid(4) over hardware raid controllers
because while it's possible that performance may not be as good, I've found
it to be more robust in the face of marginal disks, as well as easier to
manage while the system is still running if things do go wrong.  If the
hardware raid card you're thinking of using works well with the bioctl(8)
utility, then I think managing disks in errored states and the like will be
comparable with raidctl(8), but if not, you'll have to bring the system
down when ever you want to do maintenance work and work from the card's
bios utilities.  In my view, that obviates one of the major advantages of
raid systems.
        Just my 2 cents.
        Just thoughts from a happy raid(4) user who's used it since
NetBSD-1.6.
-Brian

On Apr 18,  6:59am, Paul Goyette wrote:
} Subject: RAID - raidframe vs hardware/controller
} I'm about to implement RAID in my home server, and would like to know 
} the relative merits of using software raid(4) raidframe vs "hardware" 
} raid as implemented in the hard-drive controller.
} 
} Is it possible to use raid-set as boot device?
} 
} Are they equally confusing to configure (specifically WRT labelling!)?
} 
} Are they equally easy to "manage" (swap and rebuild failing member)?
} 
} Any other considerations?
} 
} 
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>-- End of excerpt from Paul Goyette