RAID being annoying (like usual)

[shovenose]

So I was building myself a dedicated server.
I used the following parts:
-2U case
-250W Lite-on PSU from an HP
-c_hegge's favorite motherboard
-Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz CPU
-PCI SATAII RAID Card (this one, but I go it used for $5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816124003 )
-2x WD Scorpio Blue, one 500GB, one 640GB, in RAID 1, yes I only had 500GB capacity but I don't mind.

Now, Neither Ubuntu Server 12.04 nor Debian would install on it. So I (with many regrets) installed Windows Sever 2008 R2 on it (I used a Flash Drive for the RAID drivers during the install)... that worked fine, just took fucking FOREVER...
I ran an HDTune benchmark showed why - my disk throughput was shit and was going up and down crazy, and my seek time was like 30ms.

Now, what could be causing this? Mismatched HDs? They're the same models except for different capacities, and one came out of my lenovo laptop (640) and one brand new (500)...

At this point I hate this server with a passion and am going to use the Dell PowerEdge with the nVidia chipset because at least it fucking works!!!

If we don't get this figured out soon I will just use the Dell.
P.S. bonus points c_hegge for figuring out which motherboard is in the 2U.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Originally Posted by shovenose

Now, what could be causing this? Mismatched HDs?

I would try making smaller RAID slices.

[shovenose]

Originally Posted by RJARRRPCGP

I would try making smaller RAID slices.

How?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Originally Posted by shovenose

How?

You're gonna have to go to the RAID card BIOS.

[shovenose]

Originally Posted by RJARRRPCGP

You're gonna have to go to the RAID card BIOS.

LOL I did... there is no option. Remember, it's a cheap RAID card.

[Uranium-235]

try a firmware update on the card

[shovenose]

Originally Posted by Uranium-235

try a firmware update on the card

That's not a bad idea...

Now my other RAID array (not for my server, it's a server going to be used for Windows Shared Hosting), is being slow. I'm installing Windows Server 2003 Enterprise on a P4 3.06HT with 4GB of RAM, with WD Caviar Blue 160GB drives in RAID 1.
It's taking forever for the copying files... part of setup.
Then again it might have something to do with the fact that I nLited the drivers for the RAID controller into the 2003 CD because I don't have a floppy disk/drive...
This RAID controller is a FastTrak TX4 S150 and it shuldn't be so slow!!!
Maybe it's because I'm using Caviar Blue drives?

[Topcat]

that cheap ass RAID card would get my vote. 2 mismatched drives as long as they're the same size should be ok...the bottleneck will be the slower of the two drives, but will otherwise be completely functional. Two different size drives in a mirror, the RAID will be set to the size of the smaller drive. There's no replacement for a good RAID controller....buy an LSI/3ware or an adaptec next time.

Will fit a 2u:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMCC-3WARE-9...item27c7562993

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

that cheap ass RAID card would get my vote. 2 mismatched drives as long as they're the same size should be ok...the bottleneck will be the slower of the two drives, but will otherwise be completely functional. Two different size drives in a mirror, the RAID will be set to the size of the smaller drive. There's no replacement for a good RAID controller....buy an LSI/3ware or an adaptec next time.

Will fit a 2u:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMCC-3WARE-9...item27c7562993

Agreed. I have never had good luck with cheap RAID controllers... Maybe you could find a 3ware 9500 for cheap... yeah, its only SATA 1, but with those HDDs, it won't be a bottleneck.

[shovenose]

I fixed the issue by replacing every single component in the server. Promise RAID controller now.

[c_hegge]

I don't know whether you're being sarcastic or not in saying the board is my favourite one. If so, then it's probably an ECS G31 board. Otherwise, an Intel or Gigabyte board.

[Mad_Professor]

PCI bus is the issue, alot of the core2 or 775 boards in this case have poor PCI bus optimization in the bios. I had this trouble with two different board using cheap pci raid cards, promise, rocketraid, syba, startech.

If you have pci-e, get a pci-e sata card, doesn't have to be fancy just enough ports for you to play with then install linux and do mdadm raid array. Unless windows can do the software raid as well do that too. I prefer mdadm since I can recover the array and pull data should it fail.

[shovenose]

Originally Posted by c_hegge

I don't know whether you're being sarcastic or not in saying the board is my favourite one. If so, then it's probably an ECS G31 board. Otherwise, an Intel or Gigabyte board.

Correct. it was the ECS.

I've completely redone my server. It's not as good in some ways, in some ways it's better. I'll upgrade my server when I start making some money. But it'll save me like $10/month I spend in hosting with the Gators...

New specs:
P4HT 3.06GHz HyperThread
4GB RAM
2x160GB Caviar Blue in RAID 1 on a Promise S150 TX4 RAID controller
250W Lite-on PSU
2U case
CentOS 6.2 32-bit (yeah, I'm wasting a bit of RAM, too bad lol)

We're going to use a different machine for Windows Shared. Linux Shared is going to be on our Supermicro servers, the Dell PowerEdge, and the huge HP workstation. Then of course there's Mac Shared which runs on Power Macs...
The IBM and the custom builds are going to be for the internal network

Cisco core network, ZyXel and SMC connectivity equipment...

Pretty epic really!

[Uranium-235]

intel ICHR is actually one of the better fakeraid systems. IMO. My ICH10R on my i7 is pretty damn snappy. and the software is really well built

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Uranium-235

intel ICHR is actually one of the better fakeraid systems. IMO. My ICH10R on my i7 is pretty damn snappy. and the software is really well built

I agree with that. my main rig has the same controller, it was very snappy and the drivers/software were very stable.....but I'm just the pessimist with softRAID's.....and got a 3ware anywya....but I did experiment with it and had no real gripes.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

I agree with that. my main rig has the same controller, it was very snappy and the drivers/software were very stable.....but I'm just the pessimist with softRAID's.....and got a 3ware anywya....but I did experiment with it and had no real gripes.

Same here, why use fakeraid when one can use HW raid?

[Topcat]

^
My thoughts exactly.... the ICH10R was ok...but there aint nothing like the real thing!!

[Uranium-235]

I would, if I had any extra pci-e channels

[Uranium-235]

onh yeah and money too