Intel Xserve RAID Support?

The raid has always had an intel chip in the controllers. As far as connecting to the RAID it is encapsulated and the network level. (fiber channel and ethernet)

it is acutally good that it is not embedded. if the controller were to go down and it was embedded, you would have to replace the whole node. with a card, you just swap out the bad one and your back in biz... plus maybe some day Apple will start using other higher speed links than FC, and you would appreciate it then when you can put in one of those cards.

He's referring to RAID on the new Intel Xserve, not the Xserve RAID product itself.

I haven't seen any details on hardware RAID yet one way or another... hopefully we'll have info by the time the Xserve RAID ships in October (?).

Agreed, he is referring to the Hardware RAID PCI card expansion option on the Xserve (required to run the three internal drives in a RAID 5 configuration).

I'm also distressed by the lack of any mention of this option on the product page or spec sheets. Hopefully running the three internal drives in RAID 5 is an option somehow we're just not seeing yet. Otherwise this new machine isn't such a clear cut purchase for us (and we've been waiting 6 months for this puppy).

12 PowerBook (Rev. C) Mac OS X (10.4.7) Manage small Mac network

aah, Sorry I miss read you. Yes ther has been quite a few things that have been consisously un-mentiond. I am glad to see the serail port is still there (or at least in the back picture it is) There are quite a few pcie cards out there it just depends on which one they will bless.

The official XServe page at http://www.apple.com/xserve/ doesn't indicate that the hardware RAID card is an option on the Intel XServe. It does list the Fiber Channel card, dual ethernet and dual SCSI card, so you might be out of luck.

Camelot, yep that is the issue. No mention of the hardware RAID card at all. In my opinion this would be a huge oversight. Maybe the hardware controller is fully integrated and doesn't require an extra expansion card?

Here is to hoping the option still exists and just isn't being mentioned properly at this point.

12 PowerBook (Rev. C) Mac OS X (10.4.7) G5 PowerMac @ work

If anyone hears anymore detail about whether hardware raid will be supported, please post in this thread.
It's pretty vital to our purchasing decision here.

Thanks!

I'm anxiously awaiting the details myself now that we've hit October.

Hahah. You expected that "Coming in October" meant "Coming October 1st"?

I read it as "Coming October 31st".

Next you'll tell me that Leopard's due on March 21st - the first day of "spring" 🙂

Hopefully neither of us are correct about the XServes (well, we already know it's not the 1st, but hopefully it's also not the 31st) 🙂

I sincerely doubt the hardware raid controller is embedded since that would add to the cost of the hardware for something that many people would never use.

I'm guessing the issue somehow relates to the dual format drive bays. Since they support both SATA and SAS there isn't a card around that can handle both, and it would seem counter-intuitive to put a hardware RAID card on the slower SATA drives when SAS is an option.

Camelot, no I didn't expect to be able to place an order on October first, but now that we're within a month I figured the chances of more details coming to light will grow by the day. Hopefully we won't have to wait until they start shipping units to get our answers.

My first batch of Intel XServes have shipped from China. Once they get here I'll be able to tell whether the drive bays use the daughtercard/cable setup that facilitates the Hardware RAID Card as used in the XServe G5. They're due in on Monday...

My first batch of Intel XServes have shipped from
China. Once they get here I'll be able to tell
whether the drive bays use the daughtercard/cable
setup that facilitates the Hardware RAID Card as used
in the XServe G5. They're due in on Monday...

You lucky (and brave early adopter) guy. It would be interesting to know the controller chip on the motherboard, if System Profiler provides that information. There are a few (non-Windows) RAID vendors out there who are doing RAID 5 via driver with certain controller chipsets. Perhaps that's a path. If done right, and with journaling, it could work and be reliable. It would be a processor hit, but with all of those cores floating around, it might be doable as a low-end alternative to an XRAID.

Russ

Xserve G5 2.0 GHz 2 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) Apple Hardware RAID, ATTO UL4D, Exabyte VXA-2 1x10 1u

Apple Sales referred me to highpoint-tech.com for using the internal drives in a RAID 5 configuration. Unfortunately the web site states:

' Data Mode Only - controller and RAID array not bootable into Mac OS X'

I have a call into HighPoint tech support and am waiting for confirmation on whether their cards will work.

This all seems a bit odd, since a $5,000-$6,000 external RAID is not what we need. We just need a little $500 card to connect the existing drives.