What are the pitfalls of using software RAID 1 on Linux?

Question

linux

I'm reading this manual and have doubts about software RAID 1? because the author describes "sudden" problems out of the blue. Who has experience with this use?
In the near future, I intend to make a file storage based on Ubuntu 16.04 (this version, don't ask why) and I need to decide: software or hardware RAID 1? Please tell us about your experience.
ps please refrain from questions and comments that do not make sense on the topic.

Answer 1

for several years now, a mirror software raid has been installed on the home server, first on 16.04, no problems have been noticed during use.

Answer 2

Servers have been working for years (a couple of dozen) with a software raid, almost all types of raid 1, 5, 6, 10 have no problems.
Keep track of SMART hard drives, make backups and sleep well.
If you decide to take a hardware raid - do not take a fake raid, look immediately at full-fledged solutions from Adaptec, 3ware, LSI

Answer 3

I am not a professional administrator and my EXPERIENCE should not be relevant to you. But if you ask, then ...
When I rented a dedicated server in the same Hetzner, software RAID was almost always part of the server configuration if mirroring was needed.
For several years, problems with RAID only occurred if there was a problem with the disks on the server. And when this happened, this RAID 1 saved from data loss.
On the home server, it's the same. My RAID 1 failed once, but that happened because I configured it with incremental block device names (like/dev/sdd), and not by UUID identifiers, which do not depend on which connector the disk is connected to, etc. As a result, my RAID on the home server was ruined (half-working) for half a year, and when I noticed it, it was easily synchronized back to normal in a couple of hours.
The last example, by the way, should be a good hint that any RAID without monitoring is not reliable enough.
Here, most likely, everyone will unsubscribe to you that there are no problems with software RAID. If you want to avoid survivorship bias , look for the problems yourself. Preferably in English in Google. Just do not panic and rationally try to assess how likely it is that something will happen to you.

Answer 4

mdadm and other fakeraids are a budget solution, a hardware one is better without any doubt, even if without BBU,
from the experience
of mdadm with mbr at home, the rude update went fine
at work mdadm with gpt when upgrading the system, rude didn’t install - I don’t remember the error already. Spat and installed from scratch on 3ware 9650SE-2LP RAID1

Answer 5

Alexander Chernykh , What is a hardware raid? This is a problem with the complete identity of the disks (after 5 years, you will run around and look for a replacement for a similar disk for the array, but it has long since been removed). This and software problem (firewood, software for Linux)

Answer 6

1.Hardware raid is a hardwired software raid into a piece of hardware, since it is not just a mechanical algorithm, but a software one.
2. Cheap hardware pluses do not have only minuses.
Expensive hardware ones really have pluses, but for home use, buying a controller for 100K are you serious?
and all its pluses are not needed at home, there are no such loads at home.