More on vinum woes

[Dave Hayes]

Matthew Dillon <dillon at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>     I am going to attempt to reproduce the problem with VN-based disks,
>     but I'm no vinum expert and I can't guarentee anything.  

Any effort at all is appreciated. If you want access to my hardware, I
can work something out too. If there is anything I can do to assist
you let me know...and thanks in advance. :) 

I also got it to crash trying to newfs an initialized raid
partition. Unfortunately my serial port solution refuses to print
lowercase letters on a crash, so I lost the actual panic due to having
to reset the serial line.  It's a page fault, though. The debugger
trace is:

db> trace
dev_dstrategy(ffffffff,d3f41fb8,cb8952c0,2,cb8950c0) at dev_dstrategy+0x31
complete_raid5_write(d3f41e28,cc200000,c2656d80,0,2f290000) at 
complete_raid5_write+0x359
complete_rqe(d3f41e28,d2809cac,0,203,0) at complete_rqe+0x598
biodone(d3f41e28,d3f41e28,246,c05b0350,ff800364) at biodone+0x13e
ad_interrupt(d2677570,c05b0350,d2809d38,c04afe78,c25bf8a8) at 
ad_interrupt+0x3a4
ata_intr(c25bf8a8,c02a08bd,c05b1100,0,a) at ata_intr+0x10a
intr_mux(c05e15c8,0,12fc31,0,168) at intr_mux+0x51
ithread_handler(a,0,0,0,0) at ithread_handler+0x5b
lwkt_exit() at lwkt_exit

and if I need to provide anything else I can reproduce this panic
at will. 

> I far prefer a hardware raid solution (like the 3ware, which we
> support very well).

The problem I have with hardware raid solutions is a subset of the
problem I'm having with operating systems and hardware at the
moment. Hardware moves too fast, like fast food. 5 years from now when
my ultra reliable RAID has a card failure, how can I fix it?

( Obviously, I have to buy three of the hardware RAID cards I use to
make sure I have two hot spares so I can recover my data should the
card die. =/ )

By contrast, software raid lives on, as long as it can read the disks.
It shouldn't (not sure if it actually does in some cases) matter what
the controller is. My RAID is not in need of blinding speed, it's just
for personal and business data for maybe three people. 
------
Dave Hayes - Consultant - Altadena CA, USA - dave at xxxxxxxxxxx 
>>> The opinions expressed above are entirely my own <<<

Do not look at my outward shape, but take what is in my hand.     
                                                       -Rumi