SATA300 Controllers

Hello all,

Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem relevant for
lists...

Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with FreeBSD
6.1?  I've been
trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not having any
luck.  Using a MSI
K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's installation
hangs as soon as it
sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec 1210SA
controller and had zero
results.  I've read that the chipset on this controller is
not very good -
forces serialized access to the controller's channels??? 
Nevertheless, I've
got a K8N Diamond motherboard on a workstation and I was
able to at least
"start" the 6.1 installation.  I have no idea if
its stable.  At this point,
I'd settle for just knowing "which" SATA300
controller to use that will work
successfully and "well" with FreeBSD 6.0 OR 6.1.
 Another question, would I
have more success installing 6.0 and then upgrading the
kernel and
recompiling with a build-world?

I'm currently trying to build a moderate large system with
4 presentation
servers, 2 database servers and one large storage system
using NFS mapped to
~1.2 terrabyte of SATA disks (4x Maxtor 500GB 7200 RPM disks
w/RAID5
config).  Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Derrick
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On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 08:02:55PM -0500, Derrick T.
Woolworth wrote:
> Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem relevant
for lists...

That's okay, I am not on all and I'll create some bounces,
I am sure.

> Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?
> I've been trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm
not having any
> luck.  Using a MSI K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but
6.1's
> installation hangs as soon as it sees ad4.  I've also
tried using an
> Adaptec 1210SA controller and had zero results.  I've
read that the
> chipset on this controller is not very good - forces
serialized
> access to the controller's channels???  Nevertheless,
I've got a K8N
> Diamond motherboard on a workstation and I was able to
at least
> "start" the 6.1 installation.  I have no
idea if its stable.  At
> this point, I'd settle for just knowing
"which" SATA300 controller
> to use that will work successfully and
"well" with FreeBSD 6.0 OR
> 6.1.  Another question, would I have more success
installing 6.0 and
> then upgrading the kernel and recompiling with a
build-world?

I am running 6.0 and 6.1 systems (-STABLE) with both ARECA
12xx cards
and 3WARE/AMCC 9550SX cards.

Neither are cheap, but they are doing the job and are in use
in binary
spoolers for news.

> I'm currently trying to build a moderate large system
with 4 presentation
> servers, 2 database servers and one large storage
system using NFS mapped to
> ~1.2 terrabyte of SATA disks (4x Maxtor 500GB 7200 RPM
disks w/RAID5
> config).  Any suggestions?

Up the # of spindles? 

-- 
Mike Horwath, reachable via drechsauGeeks.ORG
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[ Trimmed to just performance since disk performance
sizing seems to ]
[ be a frequently hit upon topic recently.                  
         ]

> I'm currently trying to build a moderate large system
with 4
> presentation servers, 2 database servers and one large
storage
> system using NFS mapped to ~1.2 terrabyte of SATA disks
(4x Maxtor
> 500GB 7200 RPM disks w/RAID5 config).  Any suggestions?

*cough* 4x 50iops per SATA is about 200iops assuming 100%
cache miss.
Go with 8x 250GB drives instead or do something to increase
your
spindle count before you spend any time worrying about what
SATA card
you're using.... unless your disk set is going to fit
inside of
64-128MB of RAM, at which point I'd suggest just increasing
the number
of nbufs instead of spending the bucks on a fancy SATA
controller.
What's your justification for this machine?  Capacity, raw
random
IOps, or ....  -sc


-- 
Sean Chittenden
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On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 20:02:55 -0500 Derrick T. Woolworth
wrote:

> Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?  I've been
> trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not having
any luck.  Using a MSI

I have an nForce4 built-in card on amd64 motherboard and use
it as a
testing machine with 6.1-STABLE/7.0-CURRENT amd64/i386
worlds.
Everyting is fine so far (crossing fingers).

> K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's
installation hangs as soon as it
> sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec 1210SA
controller and had zero
> results.  I've read that the chipset on this
controller is not very good -
> forces serialized access to the controller's
channels???  Nevertheless, I've
> got a K8N Diamond motherboard on a workstation and I
was able to at least
> "start" the 6.1 installation.  I have no
idea if its stable.  At this point,
> I'd settle for just knowing "which"
SATA300 controller to use that will work
> successfully and "well" with FreeBSD 6.0 OR
6.1.  Another question, would I
> have more success installing 6.0 and then upgrading the
kernel and
> recompiling with a build-world?

> I'm currently trying to build a moderate large system
with 4 presentation
> servers, 2 database servers and one large storage
system using NFS mapped to
> ~1.2 terrabyte of SATA disks (4x Maxtor 500GB 7200 RPM
disks w/RAID5
> config).  Any suggestions?


WBR
-- 
Boris Samorodov (bsam)
Research Engineer, http://www.ipt.ru Telephone
& Internet SP
FreeBSD committer, http://www.FreeBSD.org The
Power To Serve
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    Hi,

    I've been having the same issues.

    The conclusion of my testing is that type of card (aka
Adaptec 
1210SA, Promise PDC2* ) are not stable, reliable,
performant.
    (For my taste btw)

    The underlying technology is just mickey mouse:

       They store the config on drive (ok);
       They dont accelerate mirror that much. (mirror
function in driver);
       If you loose a drive your filesystem jam (since the
mirror 
function is in the driver);
       You have to rebuilt via the bios (long downtime).

    The best card are the 3ware 9000/9500 series.  Which is
a real hard 
implementation.

    FYI: I have both success with Marvell 88SX5041 SATA150
and Promise 
PDC20378 SATA150.

    I had major failure under load with Adaptec 1210SA and
Promise TX2300.

    Good luck.

Derrick T. Woolworth wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem relevant
for lists...
>
> Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?  
> I've been
> trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not having
any luck.  Using 
> a MSI
> K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's
installation hangs as soon 
> as it
> sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec 1210SA
controller and had 
> zero
> results.  I've read that the chipset on this
controller is not very 
> good -
> forces serialized access to the controller's
channels???  
> Nevertheless, I've
> got a K8N Diamond motherboard on a workstation and I
was able to at least
> "start" the 6.1 installation.  I have no
idea if its stable.  At this 
> point,
> I'd settle for just knowing "which"
SATA300 controller to use that 
> will work
> successfully and "well" with FreeBSD 6.0 OR
6.1.  Another question, 
> would I
> have more success installing 6.0 and then upgrading the
kernel and
> recompiling with a build-world?
>
> I'm currently trying to build a moderate large system
with 4 presentation
> servers, 2 database servers and one large storage
system using NFS 
> mapped to
> ~1.2 terrabyte of SATA disks (4x Maxtor 500GB 7200 RPM
disks w/RAID5
> config).  Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Derrick
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-hackersfreebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hacke
rs
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to 
> "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribefreebsd.org"
>

-- 
Alain Hebert                                ahebertpubnix.net   
PubNIX Inc.        
P.O. Box 175       Beaconsfield, Quebec     H9W 5T7	
tel 514-990-5911   http://www.pubnix.net   
fax 514-990-9443

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On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 08:02:55PM -0500, Derrick T.
Woolworth wrote..
> Hello all,
> 
> Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem relevant
for lists...
> 
> Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?  I've been
> trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not having
any luck.  Using a MSI
> K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's
installation hangs as soon as it
> sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec 1210SA
controller and had zero

Well, just as a datapoint this works fine for me:

wbfreebie ~: dmesg|grep -i Prom
atapci0: <Promise PDC20771 SATA300 controller> port
0xd480-0xd4ff,0xd000-0xd0ff mem
0xf7ff6000-0xf7ff6fff,0xf7fa0000-0xf7fbffff
irq 21 at device 13.0 on pci2
ar0: 238475MB <Promise Fasttrak RAID1> status: READY
wbfreebie ~: uname -a
FreeBSD freebie.xs4all.nl 6.1-STABLE FreeBSD 6.1-STABLE #2:
Wed Jun 14
22:01:33 CEST 2006     rootfreebie.xs4all.nl:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/FREEBIE
i386

-- 
Wilko Bulte				wilkoFreeBSD.org
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Wilko Bulte wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 08:02:55PM -0500, Derrick T.
Woolworth wrote..
> 
>>Hello all,
>>
>>Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem
relevant for lists...
>>
>>Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?  I've been
>>trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not
having any luck.  Using a MSI
>>K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's
installation hangs as soon as it
>>sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec 1210SA
controller and had zero
> 
> 
> Well, just as a datapoint this works fine for me:
> 
> wbfreebie ~: dmesg|grep -i Prom
> atapci0: <Promise PDC20771 SATA300 controller>
port
> 0xd480-0xd4ff,0xd000-0xd0ff mem
0xf7ff6000-0xf7ff6fff,0xf7fa0000-0xf7fbffff
> irq 21 at device 13.0 on pci2
> ar0: 238475MB <Promise Fasttrak RAID1> status:
READY
> wbfreebie ~: uname -a
> FreeBSD freebie.xs4all.nl 6.1-STABLE FreeBSD 6.1-STABLE
#2: Wed Jun 14
> 22:01:33 CEST 2006     rootfreebie.xs4all.nl:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/FREEBIE
> i386
> 

Promise has a good relationship with FreeBSD, I would expect
their 
controllers to work pretty well.

Scott

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Derrick T. Woolworth wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem relevant
for lists...
>
> Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers with
FreeBSD 6.1?  
> I've been
> trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not having
any luck.  Using 
> a MSI

Yes, this chipset works well for me.

---
atapci0: <Intel ICH7 SATA300 controller> port 
0x3040-0x3047,0x3034-0x3037,0x3038-0x303f,0x3030-0x3033,0x30
20-0x302f 
mem 0xed000000-0xed0003ff irq 19 at device 31.2 on pci0
ad4: 152627MB <Seagate ST3160812AS 3.AAE> at
ata2-master SATA300
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm created (id=1306182778).
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm: provider ad4 detected.
ad6: 152627MB <Seagate ST3160812AS 3.AAE> at
ata3-master SATA300
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm: provider ad6 detected.
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm: provider ad6 activated.
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm: provider ad4 activated.
GEOM_MIRROR: Device gm: provider mirror/gm launched.
---

For a simple RAID such as mirroring, i strongly suggest you
stay away 
from cheap/onboard RAID solutions, and use gmirror instead.


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On Thu, Jul 06, 2006 at 03:26:17PM -0600, Scott Long wrote..
> Wilko Bulte wrote:
> >On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 08:02:55PM -0500, Derrick
T. Woolworth wrote..
> >
> >>Hello all,
> >>
> >>Sorry for cross-posting, but these issues seem
relevant for lists...
> >>
> >>Has anyone had success with SATA300 controllers
with FreeBSD 6.1?  I've 
> >>been
> >>trying Promise and nVidia nForce4 and I'm not
having any luck.  Using a 
> >>MSI
> >>K8NGM2-L motherboard and others, but 6.1's
installation hangs as soon as 
> >>it
> >>sees ad4.  I've also tried using an Adaptec
1210SA controller and had zero
> >
> >
> >Well, just as a datapoint this works fine for me:
> >
> >wbfreebie ~: dmesg|grep -i Prom
> >atapci0: <Promise PDC20771 SATA300
controller> port
> >0xd480-0xd4ff,0xd000-0xd0ff mem
0xf7ff6000-0xf7ff6fff,0xf7fa0000-0xf7fbffff
> >irq 21 at device 13.0 on pci2
> >ar0: 238475MB <Promise Fasttrak RAID1>
status: READY
> >wbfreebie ~: uname -a
> >FreeBSD freebie.xs4all.nl 6.1-STABLE FreeBSD
6.1-STABLE #2: Wed Jun 14
> >22:01:33 CEST 2006     rootfreebie.xs4all.nl:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/FREEBIE
> >i386
> >
> 
> Promise has a good relationship with FreeBSD, I would
expect their 
> controllers to work pretty well.

Yup.  I cleared this TX2200 (IIRC) card with Soren first
before I ordered
it.  It only has SATA150 disks connected to it though, I do
not own
SATA300 drives.  All in all the whole thing works fine for
me.

-- 
Wilko Bulte				wilkoFreeBSD.org
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