I have a hypervisor and two NAS systems I built. Each server is built in a Supermicro chassis with SAS2 backplane, and I'm currently using IBM M5015s with BBUs for each server. The cards have performed well, and I haven't experienced any real issues when them. However, each NAS currently has 14x 4TB drives in them, with NAS01 running in RAID 5, and NAS02 running in RAID 6 (with the key).
My worry right now is that I add more HDDs every couple months. When I do this, the reconstruction time to add drives to the arrays is 11+ days. Since NAS02 is a copy of NAS01, I've lately just been deleting the array on one, building the array again with the new drives, and copying data back over. I'll then do this for the other server to add drives to it... I don't feel safe doing this (especially with NAS01 only operating with R5 right now), and have been thinking about upgrading the RAID controllers to something faster in each to decrease the reconstruction time.
I'm looking for recommendations. I don't know how much I want to spend just yet, but I know a new $700 card isn't going to fly (well, I'm sure it will in terms of performance, just not with the wallet). Used M5210s with a cache card seem decent, but what else is available to achieve this? Are there better performing cards for the money? I'll look to get two for the NAS' at first, but might replace the M5015 in my hypervisor down the road, as I could replace the backplane with SAS3 to match my 12GBps drives in there.
My worry right now is that I add more HDDs every couple months. When I do this, the reconstruction time to add drives to the arrays is 11+ days. Since NAS02 is a copy of NAS01, I've lately just been deleting the array on one, building the array again with the new drives, and copying data back over. I'll then do this for the other server to add drives to it... I don't feel safe doing this (especially with NAS01 only operating with R5 right now), and have been thinking about upgrading the RAID controllers to something faster in each to decrease the reconstruction time.
I'm looking for recommendations. I don't know how much I want to spend just yet, but I know a new $700 card isn't going to fly (well, I'm sure it will in terms of performance, just not with the wallet). Used M5210s with a cache card seem decent, but what else is available to achieve this? Are there better performing cards for the money? I'll look to get two for the NAS' at first, but might replace the M5015 in my hypervisor down the road, as I could replace the backplane with SAS3 to match my 12GBps drives in there.