Upgraded Perc 5/i's or Storage Spaces

[Jeggs101]

Here is my dilemma. I have three 512gb plus bbu dell perc 5/i's. Building my windows server 2012 datacenter development server. Contemplating raid 5 on the reused percs then putting windows storage spaces over volumes or maybe just use windows ss's. I am a bit worried about whether batteries will last as long as the server.

Plan to be using 3tb wd red drives.

Advice?

 

[Patrick]

So generally I think the IOP333 is getting a bit old to deploy again. IIRC one or two current-gen SSDs in RAID 0 will generate more bandwidth than those things can handle. How many drives are you using? The idea of RAID 5 with Storage Spaces is intriguing since that is similar to what I did for my original WHS installation.

 

[awedio]

"Technically" speaking, I don't think the Perc 5/i will work.

I just tried using a Perc 6/i (with a Dell R710). I used drives 0 and 1 in RAID 1 for the o/s (Server 2012).

Drives 2 to 7 had to setup as "single drive" RAID 0 since that card doesn't do JBOD

The drive LEDs keep flashing amber, indicating drive failures.

Perc 6/i does not support more than 2 arrays (I think).

Swapped it out with a Perc H200, all is now good

 

[dba]

I'd say that your RAID cards are due to be recycled. The hardware is several generations old, which means slow, hot, and inefficient. Throw a ton of fast drives at a 5i and you'll still get no more than 250-300MB/S writes and 500MB/S reads under ideal circumstances. Unless the rest of the server is also built using older equipment, you'd end up with a server held back by poor IO performance.

The 5i is based on a RAID controller that Dell stopped using in favor of the LSI SAS1078 in the 6i, which was in turn obsoleted by the LSI SAS2008 which has now been eclipsed by yet another generation of LSI chips. That's three generations behind.

Here is my dilemma. I have three 512gb plus bbu dell perc 5/i's. Building my windows server 2012 datacenter development server. Contemplating raid 5 on the reused percs then putting windows storage spaces over volumes or maybe just use windows ss's. I am a bit worried about whether batteries will last as long as the server.

Plan to be using 3tb wd red drives.

Advice?

 

[utnorris]

Just an FYI, the PERC5i does not recognize more than 2.1TB on a 3TB drive. My suggestion would look at the IBM M1015 for RAID1,0 or 10, or the M5015 which adds RAID5 and battery backup.

 

[PaulOlave]

which means slow, hot, and inefficient. Throw a ton of fast drives at a 5i and you'll still get no more than 250-300MB/S writes and 500MB/S reads under ideal circumstances. Unless the rest of the server is also built using older equipment, you'd end up with a server held back by poor IO performance.

 

[Jeggs101]

good comment above so not sure if it is spam. i decided against the perc 5i. maybe the m5014 is a better idea.