Re: zootle Re: Peter Campbell asdf mousepads...
"..... ZFS doesn't need it and works best with JBOD...." So you're basically admitting it still can't, because ZFS demands direct control of the disk down to the lowest level. And as for 'not needing it', hardware RAID takes a load of the CPUs and memory, freeing them up for the really important stuff like actual user applications. That is why ZFS does need hardware RAID, or rather why it needs to get to work with hardware RAID. The additional RAM bill for ZFS alone is reason enough to avoid it (and just wait for the usual Sunshine about 'RAM and CPU are cheap' - <yawn>).
"....but it works perfectly well with hardware RAID...." So why would you suggest a JBOD then? Because it doesn't work with hardware RAID. Seriously, you need to go check with those actually using it, they are all running their HBAs in JBOD mode for a reason - ZFS does not work with hardware RAID.
"....All hardware RAID gives you is another potential source of firmware bugs in the drive path..." Nothing exposes your lack of experience more than that statement. Hardware RAID is tried, tested and trusted in such challenging arenas as five-nines enterprise computing, whereas ZFS simply is not. One of the reasons to use hardware RAID with a proper HBA is the option of a battery-backed cache, which will save you and your data in situations ZFS will simply barf and die. I suggest you read here (http://www.zfsbuild.com/2012/12/17/zfsbuild2012-write-back-cache-performance/) to see how important write cache is to improving ZFS's performance, just don't skip the comment about what happens if you lose power on your ZFS system - you lose the write cache contents.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
