Test Setup

I'll be testing the RocketRAID 3120 on a newly constructed server, which specifications can be found below. Components in the server were carefully picked for optimal Linux compatibility as well as performance. The host hard drive is connected to the motherboard, but I'll be utilizing the RocketRAID 3120 and a RAMdisk for this review.

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be performing all benchmarks in Gentoo Linux 2008.0.

Hardware Installation

Physical installation of the RocketRAID 3120 was rather simple. It involved plugging the card in to an available PCI-Express slot and securing it with a screw.

After the card was secured, I ran SATA cables from my hard drives to the card. Hardware installation complete.

The tricky part of installing the RR3120 was the software installation. After Linux has booted, I needed to recompile my kernel to include the hptiop module, which was found under Device Drivers -> SCSI device support -> SCSI low-level drivers. Many SATA RAID modules are found under this section rather than the SATA device section, but it wasn't too hard to find.

After compiling the module (make sure to configure it as a module), I loaded it and found a new hard drive device in /dev. I mounted it as /mnt/raid and moved on to setting up my RAID through the WebGUI.