Areca ARC-1213-4i or ARC-1223-8i using arc(4) for hardware RAID?

[Richard Johnson]

We're looking at Areca ARC-1213-4i or ARC-1223-8i [1] cards for doing RAID
5, 6 or 10 arrays. http://www.areca.com.tw/products/sas6g_internal.htm

They're not listed on the OpenBSD-current man page for arc(4). They're
reported by some to be essentially the same as the long-discontinued
ARC-1210/1220, however, which is listed as supported.

Is there any particular reason the ARC-1212-4i or ARC-1223-8i will not work
with OpenBSD 5.1 and newer's arc(4) driver? (Will arc(4) deal with Areca's
generically named RAID-on-chip (ROC), listed in specs for the 1213, vs.
their more specific IOP3## RAID processors listed for the ARC-1231ML et al?
Is there actually a significant difference there?)

If you have experience with the ARC-1213 or 1223, what did you find?

Thanks in advance.


Richard

[Benny Lofgren]

Post by Richard Johnson
We're looking at Areca ARC-1213-4i or ARC-1223-8i [1] cards for doing RAID
5, 6 or 10 arrays. http://www.areca.com.tw/products/sas6g_internal.htm
They're not listed on the OpenBSD-current man page for arc(4). They're
reported by some to be essentially the same as the long-discontinued
ARC-1210/1220, however, which is listed as supported.

I believe that is incorrect, unfortunately. See below.

Post by Richard Johnson
Is there any particular reason the ARC-1212-4i or ARC-1223-8i will not work
with OpenBSD 5.1 and newer's arc(4) driver? (Will arc(4) deal with Areca's
generically named RAID-on-chip (ROC), listed in specs for the 1213, vs.
their more specific IOP3## RAID processors listed for the ARC-1231ML et al?
Is there actually a significant difference there?)

I suspect they are equipped with the same ROC controller that the
ARC-1880 series uses. I don't recall at the moment exactly what
controller it is, but it definitely is not the Intel IOP348 that's
in some of the other ARC-1200 series (as well as ARC-1680), and it is
AFAIK *not* presently supported by the arc(4) driver. Which is
unfortunate, since they are excellent controllers with much bang for
the buck.

I actually made a stab at implementing support for the ARC-1880i using
the FreeBSD driver as inspiration, but alas ran out of time on the
project I was intent on using them in, so we had to revert to ARC-1680i
(which are now unfortunately no longer sold).

Post by Richard Johnson
If you have experience with the ARC-1213 or 1223, what did you find?
Thanks in advance.

Regards,
/Benny

[Richard Johnson]

Post by Benny Lofgren

Post by Richard Johnson
Is there any particular reason the ARC-1212-4i or ARC-1223-8i will not work
with OpenBSD 5.1 and newer's arc(4) driver? (Will arc(4) deal with Areca's
generically named RAID-on-chip (ROC), listed in specs for the 1213, vs.
their more specific IOP3## RAID processors listed for the ARC-1231ML et al?
Is there actually a significant difference there?)

I suspect they are equipped with the same ROC controller that the
ARC-1880 series uses. I don't recall at the moment exactly what
controller it is, but it definitely is not the Intel IOP348 that's
in some of the other ARC-1200 series (as well as ARC-1680), and it is
AFAIK *not* presently supported by the arc(4) driver. Which is
unfortunate, since they are excellent controllers with much bang for
the buck.

Thanks. Indeed, this site:

http://www.osslab.com.tw/Storage/Enterprise/SAS%E8%88%87RAID/SAS//SATA//RAID_HBA,_IOP%E5%92%8CIOC%E8%B3%87%E8%A8%8A
suggests that the ARC-1880 RAID-on-Chip (ROC) is based on LSI SAS 2108. It
seems likely that the ARC-1213 & 1223 cards are also based on LSI SAS2108
or something close.

The fact that Areca are being cagey about specifying the processor hints,
at minimum, at their reserving the option to make under-the-hood changes.

Post by Benny Lofgren
I actually made a stab at implementing support for the ARC-1880i using
the FreeBSD driver as inspiration, but alas ran out of time on the
project I was intent on using them in, so we had to revert to ARC-1680i
(which are now unfortunately no longer sold).

I see some lingering ARC-1680s for sale, so that's possibly still an option
for this system, and maybe for lists if I can't find another easier way to
a RAID 6 capable system to offer there.

The ARC-1212 and ARC-1222 are still more readily available from
distributors. They're not listed as explicitly supported by arc(4) man
page, but at least they're Intel (->Marvell) IOP348-based.

However, there's this thread termination from 2010 that suggests the
ARC-1212 may be detected as the ARC-1680, such that bioctl can't report the
array status.
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/openbsd/2010-09/1206.html . I don't
see anything in current sources that shows differentiation/mention of
PCI_PRODUCT_ARECA_ARC1222, but I am not necessarily looking in all the
right places.


Richard