Question Raid Controller Recommendations

AJAshinoff

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Feb 18, 2019
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Old school, Adaptec was RAID. Today things have changed and Adaptec appears marginalized in the market, and quite pricey.

LSI seems to be the way to go except it appears the company has changed hands a number of times and today Broadcom owns it. Amazon and other sites are flooded with various models, some quite old.

I've used an LSI 9361-i8 in a Windows Datacenter 2019 server and was/am impressed.
I attempted to use an LSI 9260-8i in another server and was severely disappointed (failed after 2 days, its BIOS was reminiscent of DOS and was poorly worded).

In any event, I need personal recommendations for additional quality brands.

What I am in need of is a 4 Port RAID controller card with throughput of 12Gb/s or 6Gb/s. I need something reliable since it will be installed into a 2019 server and placed in a colo.

Cost, I'd like to stay between $100-$200 but am somewhat flexible when it comes to quality. Again, if I can get a personal recommendation from someone with experience I have no problem taking a chance on a brand unknown to me.

Thanks!
 
I have a few HP servers at work, gen 9 runs off a p440ar, gen 8 runs a P420i, 2 gen 7's run a P410i, & 2 gen 6's running P410i. All HP raid cards..... i know shocking isnt it.

I build a server at home using a supermicro motherboard and used a LSI SAS 9211-8i 8-port and the HP cards are far easier to use.
 
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AJAshinoff

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Feb 18, 2019
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What type of raid?
For example the LSI 9211 does not do raid 5 well at all and cannot do raid 6. Its very good at raid 0, 1, 10, or as just an HBA.
I'm mainly looking for Raid 5 but, of course, it's never bad to have options. This system will have a virtual machine running MSSQL, fault tolerance more than speed is required.
 
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AJAshinoff

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Feb 18, 2019
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I'd suggest raid 6 then.
I'd suggest one of the Hp cards mentioned earlier as well.

Tbh, I'm not overly keen on Raid 6. If memory serves, while you do get an addition parity block you take a performance hit when it come to writes adding to CPU cycles. It has been some time since I considered RAID 6 so I can be mistaken. RAID 5 may not give you that additional block but it also doesn't take that hit. Besidea I have only 3 drives (because of the lack of bays) to work with.