NASLite Network Attached Storage

I know that the Controller is not mentioned in the Hardware-Guide. But I've seen on the webpage from Adaptec there are driver for different Linux-Distributions.

Is it possible that the controller works?
Are the Linux-Kernel used by NASLite older then the kernel mentioned by Adaptec?
Is it possible it works in the future?

Does anyone of you use this controller?

Why I ask:
I only have a Mini-Nas (one HD). I'd like to have a mirror of this HD. What is better then a raid 1 configuration. I don't need more than 2 Ports.
Raid-Controller out of the Hardware-Guide I found on ebay costs min. 120,- Euro (second hand). For my Mini-NAS this is to expensive.

schmicki

Hi,

this should do what you want.

http://www.serverelements.com/phpBB2/vi ... 9b721#5711

ask len for more info, i am sure he tell you if the card is any good.

Isn't the SIL680 a software RAID card and really doesn't support hardware RAID?

its software, not ideal, but it will mirror the one disk fine.

But software RAID does not work with NASLite....or am I really missing something here...

Hi gaiden,

this is one of the cheap raid-chipsets you can find on ebay.

Thank you for the tip.

I'll ask lencuff about configuration.

schmicki

Let me try to explain -

There is hardware RAID in which all of the RAID functionality is handled by the RAID card, which will have it's own processor, etc. - with this type of RAID the operating system is completely insulated from the RAID processing and is not aware that there are multiple physical disks - all it sees is the logical disk as presented by the RAID controller.

There are two types of software RAID, one in which the RAID functionality is provided completely by the operating system - for the sake of clarity, I like to call this "OS-driven RAID" - and a second in which the RAID functionality is provided by the driver, without the operating system being aware - which I call "driver-based-RAID".

Cards that provide driver-based-RAID will typically not provide any RAID levels other than 0 & 1 regardless of the number of drives they support

With OS-driven RAID, the operating system has to be aware of the multiple physical disks, since it is managing them - with driver based RAID, the operating system only sees the logical disk, in exactly the same manner as hardware RAID.

As I understand it, NASLite does not provide any RAID functionality of it's own, so "OS-driven <software> RAID" would not be possible.

On the other hand, perusing the lists of supported RAID controllers in the documentation, I have seen both true hardware RAID controllers as well as "driver-based-RAID" chipsets so it would appear that it is capable of using driver based software RAID.

I should point out here, that it is quite possible to have a RAID card with a chipset that is capable of providing driver-based-RAID and RAID not be available - as this is a function of the driver and sometimes the BIOS on the card.

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification.

But, does this answer the question about this card?

Does NASLite support this card (being Driver-RAID driven, I assume) in a Raid-0 or Raid-1 configuration? How about Raid 0+1

If it supports Raid-1, then will it support two Raid-1 sets, since it supports 4 devices?

I'm interested in this answer too.

schmicki

As an addendum to my previous post, in which I said, and standy by -



I'd like to quote From the NASLite-2 Hardware Reference Guide

.

"Fake RAID" is a derogatory term for driver-based-RAID

The Hardware Reference Guide does list the Adaptec 1210SA under the heading of "SATA Controller Devices" which includes the following note



so it seems that the card is supported but RAID using that card is not - as I mentioned in my earlier post, this lack of RAID functionality was a possibility dependent on the driver used .

I guess I gave the wrong info regarding that card. I should have checked with Len to see if it had it running in Raid mode before I posted. I'll send him a pm to see if he did infact run the card in raid.