RAID 5 on Dell PowerEdge T110 for CentOS 5.3
 

Hi,
I am going to order a Dell PowerEdge T110 with RAID 5 option. My questions:

Dell PowerEdge T110 provides options for raid5:
-- PERC S100 (Embedded SATA Software RAID) supporting 3-4 Hard Drives – RAID 5
-- Add-in PERC S300 (SAS/SATA Controller) supporting 3-4 Hard Drives – RAID 5

Can somebody tell me which one works well with CentOS 5.3? If both work, which one is more reliable, more stable? Advantages and disadvantages in performance and maintenance (in case of disk failure)?

Thanks a lot!

Harvey

As far as I can see, both are just FakeRAID's meaning that CentOS will have to managed them anyway, and you will not be able to use that RAID on another chipset/motherboard.

My suggestion is to use RAID from CentOS it self (Linux Software RAID), read manuals for CentOS and google for it. Real RAID controllers (hardware) cost ~$200 and they offer same reliability as Linux Software RAID, but Linux RAID offers easier expansion and hardware independence.

Thank you very much!