Storage Advisors Comments http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com Storage Solutions for Real World IT Professionals Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:31:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on The conundrum of large hard drives by: Neil http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/10/29/the-conundrum-of-large-hard-drives/#comment-364959 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:05:12 +0000 http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/10/29/the-conundrum-of-large-hard-drives/#comment-364959 Rob, If you can't have RAID 6, then a hot spare is the next best thing (though it doesn't hurt to have a hot spare with a RAID 6 as well). RAID 60 needs to have quite a few drives before it become an economically worthwhile proposition. Ciao Neil Rob,

If you can’t have RAID 6, then a hot spare is the next best thing (though it doesn’t hurt to have a hot spare with a RAID 6 as well).

RAID 60 needs to have quite a few drives before it become an economically worthwhile proposition.

Ciao
Neil

]]> Comment on The conundrum of large hard drives by: Rob K. http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/10/29/the-conundrum-of-large-hard-drives/#comment-364600 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:27:24 +0000 http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/10/29/the-conundrum-of-large-hard-drives/#comment-364600 I agree with RAID 6 and we employ it whenever we can. We do have some older DAS and controllers where RAID 6 is not an option but they have a "Global Hot Spare" option which we use along with the RAID 5 that *sorta* gives us a RAID 6 but not really. Along with RAID 10 and 50 there's now RAID 60 :-) I agree with RAID 6 and we employ it whenever we can. We do have some older DAS and controllers where RAID 6 is not an option but they have a “Global Hot Spare” option which we use along with the RAID 5 that *sorta* gives us a RAID 6 but not really.

Along with RAID 10 and 50 there’s now RAID 60 :-)

]]> Comment on RAID reliability calculations by: Neil http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2005/11/01/raid-reliability-calculations/#comment-363625 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:33:24 +0000 http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2005/11/01/raid-reliability-calculations/#comment-363625 Coldfusion ... Yes RAID 1 is a very valid RAID level, and with the size of disks available today it can supply a useful system to a large number of organisations. My only concern with this RAID level is performance (which is not terribly good due to only 2 spindles in the system). However, take a look at our new MAXIQ caching module. In combination with a RAID 1 it can give your webservers a ginormous kick in the pants when it comes to performance without compromising on the integrity (safety) of your data. Ciao Neil Coldfusion …

Yes RAID 1 is a very valid RAID level, and with the size of disks available today it can supply a useful system to a large number of organisations. My only concern with this RAID level is performance (which is not terribly good due to only 2 spindles in the system).

However, take a look at our new MAXIQ caching module. In combination with a RAID 1 it can give your webservers a ginormous kick in the pants when it comes to performance without compromising on the integrity (safety) of your data.

Ciao
Neil

]]> Comment on RAID reliability calculations by: ColdFusion Developer http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2005/11/01/raid-reliability-calculations/#comment-363546 Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:00:23 +0000 http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2005/11/01/raid-reliability-calculations/#comment-363546 Good article. I've always been a fan of RAID 1 on my primary work machine and for each of my web servers. It seems to be the sweet spot in terms of reliability and cost benefit. Good article. I’ve always been a fan of RAID 1 on my primary work machine and for each of my web servers. It seems to be the sweet spot in terms of reliability and cost benefit.

]]> Comment on Series 5Z … what would you like to know? by: Neil http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/06/25/series-5z-what-would-you-like-to-know/#comment-362562 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:52:51 +0000 http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2009/06/25/series-5z-what-would-you-like-to-know/#comment-362562 Aitor, All good points. Yes, having a massive cache would be nice, but there are many technical aspects that would need to be overcome, with some of those being space on the card, cost of the card once we'd done all this upgrading, speed of transfer of data to NANDflash, size of capacitor required to support this, etc etc. So yes, a large cache would probably be a great thing but the current card design just won't support it. Now what we put on our future cards is totally up to our engineering teams, but I'm sure they are thinking about exactly the same valid points you make here. Keep an eye on Adaptec's future releases (not promising anything now :-)) Ciao Neil Aitor,

All good points. Yes, having a massive cache would be nice, but there are many technical aspects that would need to be overcome, with some of those being space on the card, cost of the card once we’d done all this upgrading, speed of transfer of data to NANDflash, size of capacitor required to support this, etc etc.

So yes, a large cache would probably be a great thing but the current card design just won’t support it.

Now what we put on our future cards is totally up to our engineering teams, but I’m sure they are thinking about exactly the same valid points you make here.

Keep an eye on Adaptec’s future releases (not promising anything now :-) )

Ciao
Neil

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