Re[2]: [WBEL-users] WB crash and Dell OMSA

[Mickael Maddison]

Hello Scott,
I will concur - 3Ware has been a rock for me.  MegaRaid has been good too, but I did have a problem with a controller that kept 'failing' drives that were perfectly healthy.  It may have been fixed with the flash update though.

I have a couple machines that use the on-board promise in non-raid configs (SATA) and so far they are working fine under fairly heavy loads, but other than that, I've had terrible experiences with promise RAID and Linux.

Mike

Friday, April 23, 2004, 8:08:43 AM, you wrote:

SH> I too have had many issues with SCSI Adapters not being well supported under
SH> many Linux Distro's.  I've had very good luck with the MegaRaid adapter -
SH> have 6 production Dual-XEON servers running with that adapter (non-Dell).
SH> I've had great luck with most of the PERCs under WB Linux as well... even
SH> older servers like the Poweredge 6300 and 2400 units.  Depending on which
SH> MegaRaid card you have, most have at least 2 channels and many from Dell
SH> have 3 channels.  You may be best off to try an alternate channel on the
SH> same card.  As for your freeze up... it has been my general experience that
SH> an absolute FREEZE under Linux as well as Windows 2000/20003 (sorry but I
SH> think it's true) is usually caused by a hardware
SH> failure/driver/compatibility.  

SH> On a side note, the Promise IDE RAID Controllers are a nightmare, especially
SH> the 4000 and SX 6000 lines.  The cards themselves crash under load.  The
SH> 3-Ware cards are MOST excellent and run great under load.  We swapped out 5
SH> 3-ware cards for 5 promises and each of the servers went from crashing 4-6
SH> times a month to 0 crashes since the switch.  Sometimes, the promise card
SH> would cause the Linux OS to just freeze, other times, it would provide
SH> erroring.

SH> Thanks

SH> Scott


SH> -----Original Message-----
SH> From: Romeo Ninov [mailto:rninov@mailbg.com]
SH> Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 4:24 AM
SH> To: whitebox-users@beau.org
SH> Subject: Re: [WBEL-users] WB crash and Dell OMSA


SH> This is good idea (about reproduction of the problem)
SH> But about cheap cards IMHO is not good idea, because of linux support,
SH> drivers, compatiblity.
SH> In general attach tape drive on other channel or better on other 
SH> controller is good idea.

SH> Alex Georgiev wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> first try to get to a stable reproduction of the problem,
>> then try steps 1 to 4. I would start from 4. I heard that
>> cheep SCSI cards bought for tape drives are a usual reason.
>> 
>> sasoon
>> 
>> Romeo Ninov wrote:
>> 
>>> few ideas:
>>> 1. check drivers for extra SCSI controller (for LTO tape)
>>> 2. try to install manufacturer driver for extra SCSI controller
>>> 3. unplug extra SCSI and attach tape unit to buildin controller and
>>> test again
>>> 4. if is possible change extra SCSI with other controller (same model)
>>> or with other model or with other manufacturer
>>>
>>> Karl-König Königsson wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have used the standard megaraid drivers; seems to work OK with my
>>>> setup.
>>>>
>>>> I have three 36 GB SCSI drives configured as a RAID 5 device using
>>>> the built in RAID controller which I have the subsequently 
>>>> partitioned as part of the WBEL installation. I also have an extra
>>>> SCSI card to connect the external tape device to the computer; the
>>>> recommendation from the Dell technician whom I spoke to prior to 
>>>> purchase recommended this sollution in favour of connecting the tape
>>>> drive to the built in SCSI card.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers!
>>>>
>>>>    Karl-Koenig Koenigsson
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Romeo Ninov wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Are you install drivers from DELL for SCSI controller or use a 
>>>>> standart instalation drivers?
>>>>>
>>>>> Karl-König Königsson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I have a Dell PowerEdge 2600 on which I am running WhiteBox. I am
>>>>>> still in the configuration stage as this box is to replace an old
>>>>>> Mandrake installation that has been in service for four years.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I had the most interesting crash the other day which scared me: I
>>>>>> was backing up the system to a LTO tape drive and all of a sudden
>>>>>> went the machine totally limb. I don't know what happened, there
>>>>>> were no traces in the logs; it just died on me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyway, I was thinking about getting the Dell OMSA package 
>>>>>> installed and wanted to see if anyone else is using this on their
>>>>>> servers. Any tips on installation and suchlikes are most welcome.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, and if anyone can help me shed som light on the crash I'd be
>>>>>> more than thankful. Ample compensation, like insane wealth, virgins
>>>>>> or promises of firstborns can be discussed... :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Karl-Koenig Koenigsson
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Whitebox-users mailing list
>>>>> Whitebox-users@beau.org
>>>>> http://beau.org/mailman/listinfo/whitebox-users