Just a forewarning; I am new to servers, though , have four towers in my house just to learn with . If I had the spare time , I would really like to test out software RAID , to see for myself its limitations . I am really just considering it for a failover secondary server and potentially for a home LAB . I would not consider using RAID one in a production primary server environment . The idea is: I will be deploying WIndows Server 2016 with just HyperV role , the HyperV role server is installed on the RAID 1 array and the VMS on a RAID 10 . I will then have one server replicated to another , in case of failure .
While technically it is possible to buy dedicated RAID cards for all the servers I have . Some of the spare raid cards only support up to 4 connections, while I can replacement RAID cards , I have considered saving a few coins and use the Fake Software Raid . though this thought process is ’ Frowned upon ’ in many, many threads - just how bad is it ?
I mean , if its just for a back up server , why do I need true RAID on more than one volume . For example , if I deployed a Hyper V replication server , the second server has software raid for the host , the first has true RAID (Raid 1 for Host and Raid 10 for VMS on both servers)
Some of the things I noted , correct me if I am wrong
I understand that software raid creates extra work , and needs resources from CPU/RAM but , just how much are we talking where it is considered a burden ?
I understand that a RAID rebuild could take longer but, how much longer in comparison to True RAID ?
I understand that there is no Hotswapping with software RAID but , how often would you really need to hotswap ?
I suspect that Software RAID may not be able to be migrated to other hardware ; e.g When motherboard dies , moving it to another controller .
I understand that software raid creates extra work , and needs resources from CPU/RAM but , just how much are we talking where it is considered a burden ?
With the power of today’s cpus the burden is very minimal.
I understand that a RAID rebuild could take longer but, how much longer in comparison to True RAID?
It depends on the algorithm/raid you’re using sometimes it can even be faster
I understand that there is no Hotswapping with software RAID but , how often would you really need to hotswap ?
Where’d you hear this? I’ve been able to successfully hotswap mine.
I suspect that Software RAID may not be able to be migrated to other hardware ; e.g When motherboard dies , moving it to another controller .
Actually quite the opposite, depending on the software you are using it can be migrated to almost any host. Recently at my job we had a controller die that was was a new model controller and we only had older generations. We also couldn’t just swap a newer one in because the raid cards weren’t compatible with the server we were using. With software raid you generally have to just have the same version.
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THanks for your reply , I will try to elabourate furter in hope to understand the limitatations of the potentail configruations . * Though I am note sure if this helps bring clarity or muddies the water* I wanted to run a handful of Hypervisors with different hardware ( for backup and replication ) - HyperV role, within WIndows server 2016 . I have a various potential server Builds, I wanted two have two Arrays for each server one RAID ‘1’ ( For Hypervisor/host) & one RAID ‘1+0’ ( for Appliances ) all builds will have a Dedicated RAID with at least one True RAID 1+0 For the Virtual Appliances . However a few of the servers only have four SAS RAID ports on the RAID cards and limited space, meaning I have to use the onboard Sata Ports if I want more than two Arrays, or get better RAID cards . Some of the potential motherboards have regular consumer Chipsets , such as Z270 Chipset and another spare server has B120i Fake Raid Controller . I understand with the B120i , there is a firmware which creates the volume before the OS is loaded . Whereas the 270 Motherboard works differently, somewhow ? I allways struggled getting software RAID working on Consumer Level Motherboards .
Furthermore I understand you cant just migrate a volume to a different built within the B120 to another different machine with different hardare ? For example B120i to z270 chipset , If I am not mistakedn , the chipset needs to match Whereas you can migrate a Hardware RAID to another Matching RAID card or Similar model .
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So you can unplug one drive and rebuild within the OS ? Isnt this dependant on the motherboard controller , or something that can be done within the OS ?
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Interesting , I guess I need to do some experimenting . Though before I had stuggled using consumer level Software RAID ( On MSI/ ASUS Motherboards ) , it was something that was done before the OS loaded within a a text based window . Is this still the case . or Can we just use the OS to build the RAID ? I have much preffered using Hardware RAID ,they have their own GUI OS , much easier to use .