Ubuntu

Ubuntu Server X64 8.04 On Dell 2900 III Server RAID Compatibility

Asked by lochingo

I am planning one Dell Server SMB Edition ( PowerEdge 2900 III ) Which is perfact for my setup. I really want that server is stable because lot many developers will work on it 24x7. I have also wish the Server with RAID Controller with have 4 x 146 GB 10k RPM SAS Drives ( RAID 10 )

Does Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 Server X64 Edition work well with the Server Edition ?

I have to answer after I have purchase the server and Ubuntu doesnt recognize the RAID Controller.

It has PERC6i SAS RAID Controller, which requires full compatibility with Ubuntu OS.

has anyone try it out or can write a review ?

Thanks in Advanced.

- Gaurav.

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Matt Darcy (matt-darcy) said : 		#1

I've never used this dell server with ubuntu directly, but the card should be usable as a jbod with linux software raid which would more than meet your needs.

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lochingo (lochingo) said : 		#2

Thanks a lot Matt,

I am looking for Hardware RAID on Server class machine. So I can utilize the 256 MB cached memory on the controller itself with battery backup which I guess I miss if I use JBOD.

Please suggest.

- Gaurav.

Revision history for this message
Matt Darcy (matt-darcy) said : 		#3

I can find solid information for using the card as a jbod and I can see the card having a supported driver in the kernel, as to how well it performs - I can't comment as I have never used this card.

I personally would buy the server and try it - if the results are not what you want, dropping back to linux software based raid would not be a big deal, only 4 disks, that would be a low overhead to maintain (eg: I run a lower powered machine with an 8 disk raid 5 software raid device - the machine gets battered quite hard, and has no problems.

In my view it would be an acceptable fall back should your hardware raid situation not work as you want

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lochingo (lochingo) said : 		#4

Thanks Matt,

This really appreciate that you consider this server to buy for testing purpose only.

I would go for this server and will perform the operation myself.

Thanks for your kind support.

This really satisfy me a lot and divert my efforts to the Ubuntu community.

I would also be part of it by one or the other way.

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Vitaliy Kulikov (slonua) said : 		#5

so, grub 1.98 works perfect.
u can use deb from here: https://edge.launchpad.net/~ricotz/+archive/unstable

karmic style (BUT, U WOULD BE UPDATED WITH SOME FRESH STUFF ALSO):
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/unstable

also, u can run following command to use default settings:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc