set for a raid system

[Milton Krutt]

Hi, can anyone suggest me a motherboard that is
suitable to set up a small backup server, say 10TB,
using some flavour of RAID (and running coreboot of
course) ?

Thanks

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Milton,

Am Mittwoch, den 11.03.2015, 17:12 -0700 schrieb Milton Krutt:
> Hi, can anyone suggest me a motherboard that is
> suitable to set up a small backup server, say 10TB,
> using some flavour of RAID (and running coreboot of
> course) ?

so, software RAID is fine too?

As you wrote small, I suggest the ASRock E350M1 [1] or the Jetway
NF81-T56N-LF [2].

If I’m right, the chipset can also set up a RAID, but you need the AHCI
firmware for it (see `SB800_AHCI_ROM`). Though in the end that’s also
just a software RAID, so you can use, for example, Linux’ mdraid right
away.

Thanks,

Paul

[1] http://www.coreboot.org/Board:asrock/e350m1
[2] http://www.coreboot.org/Board:jetway/nf81-t56n-lf

[Milton Krutt]

Thanks Paul.
> so, software RAID is fine too?

What about hardware based ones?
> As you wrote small, I suggest the ASRock E350M1 [1] or the Jetway
> NF81-T56N-LF [2].
>
> If I’m right, the chipset can also set up a RAID, but you need the AHCI
> firmware for it (see `SB800_AHCI_ROM`). Though in the end that’s also
> just a software RAID, so you can use, for example, Linux’ mdraid right
> away.

Which proprietary parts do [1] and [2] need to work?

For instance, I saw that VGA works for the Jetaway, but the entry
does not say if I need some proprietary firmware. (While for the ASrock
seems quite obvious that I need the blob).

Bye

[Alexandru Gagniuc]

On Thursday, March 12, 2015 05:55:56 AM Milton Krutt wrote:
> Thanks Paul.
> > so, software RAID is fine too?
>
> What about hardware based ones?

Just do mdraid with linux.

Alex

[Paul Menzel]

Am Donnerstag, den 12.03.2015, 05:55 -0700 schrieb Milton Krutt:
> Thanks Paul.
> > so, software RAID is fine too?
>
> What about hardware based ones?

Sorry, I have no idea if there are boards with a hardware RAID supported
by coreboot.
> > As you wrote small, I suggest the ASRock E350M1 [1] or the Jetway
> > NF81-T56N-LF [2].
> >
> > If I’m right, the chipset can also set up a RAID, but you need the AHCI
> > firmware for it (see `SB800_AHCI_ROM`). Though in the end that’s also
> > just a software RAID, so you can use, for example, Linux’ mdraid right
> > away.
>
> Which proprietary parts do [1] and [2] need to work?
>
> For instance, I saw that VGA works for the Jetaway, but the entry
> does not say if I need some proprietary firmware. (While for the ASrock
> seems quite obvious that I need the blob).

Please read the Wiki page *Binary Situation* [1].

All boards with AMD graphics currently need the proprietary Video BIOS
to work. Alexandru is doing some native graphics initialization work for
the AMD HP laptop in the tree.

You also need a BLOB for USB 3/xHCI support and hardware fan control, if
I am not mistaken. Of the two boards mentioned above, only the ASRock
E350M1/USB3 has an USB 3 port.

Then, proprietary firmware for the System Management Unit (SMU) is also
needed.

At last, don’t forget about microcode updates.

Thanks,

Paul

[1] http://www.coreboot.org/Binary_situation