No PERC4 for PowerEdge 2650?

[James Thornton]

I am considering a PowerEdge server for a Web database application 
running Redhat Enterprise Linux 3, and I want to run RAID 10 so the 
PowerEdge 1750's three disk limit eliminates it as an option.

I have been reading that the PERC4 controllers perform much better than 
the PERC3 controllers, but it appears that PERC4 isn't available via the 
online configuration utility for the PowerEdge 2650; however, it is 
available for the PowerEdge 1750. The 2650 specifications say that the 
PERC4-DC controller is available so why isn't it an option in the online 
configuration utility?

 From what I have read in these forums, it appears that software RAID on 
Linux performs better than hardware RAID for reads and almost as good 
for writes, but you have to manually execute some commands before you 
can hot swap a drive. Does the Dell RAID monitoring still work with all 
the features if you run SW RAID instead of HW RAID? Are there other 
drawbacks to running software RAID vs hardware RAID with the PERC3/PERC4 
controllers?

Thanks.
-- 

  James Thornton
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Internet Consultant, http://jamesthornton.com