It is possible to run SMART commands through to individual drives on 3ware cards, even if you set the drives up as a hardware RAID array (making them non-addressable otherwise). I'd read up on 'smartmontools' (the linux SMART protocol implementation) and get ready to set up smartd to scan the drives at least once a week. I do a short scan once a day and a full one once a week. Also, 3ware has their own daemon that exports all array status via a website if you do a hardware array. You'll need to monitor that somehow or have it send you mail to make sure you know when the array goes degraded. tw_cli sounds like a non-web version of that, that could help That's all focused on reliability though (job #1, imho). Your main concern seems to be around performance. The only thing I've seen that looked interesting there on this list had to do with setting read-ahead parameters at all the different layers - filesystem, software raid, and block devices. You can find good advice and some scripts for trying combinations in the archives. Don't forget hdparm -Tt on a JBOD config to check things at the start for basic hardware baseline, and bonnie++ at the filesystem level once you think things are working. That's where I start and end, anyway Good luck... -Mike Tom Peters wrote: > > Hi, brand new newbie (is that redundant?) here, who soon to be the proud > owner of a 3ware 8506-4 RAID card, on its way in the mail. I'm running > an old P3 on SuSE 9.2 and would like to know what to read to get up to > speed on setting this card up and maintaining it once I do. I'm pretty > new to linux and get a lot of advice that is pitched just slightly above > my level of understanding, so please go slow. > > I'm currently using a Compaq SmartArray 3200 with 8 drives and I've > about given up getting any kind of reasonable performance out of it. > That, plus the outrageous cost of SCSI drives, is the reason for the > switch to SATA. I can borrow a pair of 300 GB drives for a while to > prove the concept (the 3ware card wasn't that pricey) and if I can get > it to work reasonably well, buy some drives. I think there's some voodoo > in the BIOS of a real Compaq server that makes it work properly; for me > it's a dog and writes unbelievably slow. > > I've been reading this group for a few weeks and hear some hints and > intimations about things I should probably learn about. For example, > someone just mentioned tw_cli maint verify, is that a 3ware thing or a > ext3 thing? And the fact that there is a 3ware knowledgebase (e.g. > http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=13247 should help. > > So what else do I need to know? > > -T > > > > > > > [Philosophy] There is nothing that somebody, somewhere, will not > consider immoral. --Jan.Six@xxxxxx > --... ...-- -.. . -. ----. --.- --.- -... > tpeters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (remove "nospam") N9QQB (amateur radio) > "HEY YOU" (loud shouting) WEB ADDRESS http//www.mixweb.com/tpeters > 43° 7' 17.2" N by 88° 6' 28.9" W, Elevation 815', Grid Square EN53wc > WAN/LAN/Telcom Analyst, Tech Writer, MCP, CCNA, Registered Linux User > 385531 > > > > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
