ZFS Install with LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i RAID-10 and JBOD HBA Mode Firmware IT Mode

martink

Renowned Member
Jun 17, 2011
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We want to make a zfs storage system with RAID 10.



Attached to the MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i Controller are six disks with JBOD

We have installed the MegaRaid Tools from

http://hwraid.le-vert.net/wiki/LSIMegaRAIDSAS

Code:
root@srv002:~# megaclisas-status
-- Controller information --
-- ID | H/W Model                | RAM    | Temp | BBU    | Firmware     
c0    | LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i | 0MB    | N/A  | Absent | FW: 20.13.1-0240

-- Array information --

-- Disk information --

-- Unconfigured Disk information --
-- ID   | Type | Drive Model                                     | Size     | Status | Speed    | Temp | Slot ID  | LSI Device ID
c0uXpY  | SSD  | PHWL502001WR240NGN INTEL SSDSC2BB240G4 D2010370 | 223.0 Gb | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 23C  | [64:0]   | Unknown
c0uXpY  | HDD  | SEAGATE ST4000NM0023 0004Z1Z72DZ2               | 3.637 TB | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 36C  | [64:1]   | Unknown
c0uXpY  | SSD  | PHWL502001XQ240NGN INTEL SSDSC2BB240G4 D2010370 | 223.0 Gb | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 22C  | [64:2]   | Unknown
c0uXpY  | HDD  | SEAGATE ST4000NM0023 0004Z1Z729PR               | 3.637 TB | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 34C  | [64:3]   | Unknown
c0uXpY  | HDD  | SEAGATE ST4000NM0023 0006Z1ZA3RCV               | 3.637 TB | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 36C  | [64:6]   | Unknown
c0uXpY  | HDD  | SEAGATE ST4000NM0023 0004Z1Z72AN8               | 3.637 TB | JBOD   | 6.0Gb/s  | 38C  | [64:7]   | Unknown

root@srv002:~#

The MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i SAS controller is using the latest firmware FW: 20.13.1-0240

We have installed Proxmox 4.2 root installation into the zfs 10 system.

Code:
root@srv002:~# df
Filesystem        1K-blocks    Used  Available Use% Mounted on
udev                  10240       0      10240   0% /dev
tmpfs              26396756    9316   26387440   1% /run
rpool/ROOT/pve-1 7229590272 5042944 7224547328   1% /
tmpfs              65991888   40560   65951328   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs                  5120       0       5120   0% /run/lock
tmpfs              65991888       0   65991888   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
rpool            7224547456     128 7224547328   1% /rpool
rpool/ROOT       7224547456     128 7224547328   1% /rpool/ROOT
rpool/data       7224547456     128 7224547328   1% /rpool/data
rpool/zfsdisks   7224547456     128 7224547328   1% /rpool/zfsdisks
cgmfs                   100       0        100   0% /run/cgmanager/fs
tmpfs                   100       0        100   0% /run/lxcfs/controllers
/dev/fuse             30720      16      30704   1% /etc/pve
root@srv002:~#

parts of dmesg :

Code:
 2.661178] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: controller type    : iMR(0MB)
[    2.661186] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: Online Controller Reset(OCR)    : Enabled
[    2.661190] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: Secure JBOD support    : No
[    2.661198] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: megasas_init_mfi: fw_support_ieee=67108864
[    2.661203] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: INIT adapter done
[    2.661280] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: Jbod map is not supported megasas_setup_jbod_map 4941

Code:
2.709149] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: pci id        : (0x1000)/(0x0073)/(0x1000)/(0x9240)
[    2.709153] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: unevenspan support    : no
[    2.709154] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: firmware crash dump    : no
[    2.709156] megaraid_sas 0000:0b:00.0: jbod sync map        : no
[    2.709159] scsi host0: Avago SAS based MegaRAID driver

Now we want to take this server into production, but we are unsure about this configuration.

Is it safe to use this controller in this constellation with this firmware for zfs ?

We did not find any firmware for this controller with IT Mode / Target Initiator ?


Regards

Martin
 
Q: Is it safe to use this controller in this constellation with this firmware for zfs ?
A: Probably. If your ok with downtime then yes; if you're not then ZFS on IR firmware is the least of your concerns; you should be looking at a cluster. In any case- backup backup backup.

Q: We did not find any firmware for this controller with IT Mode / Target Initiator ?
A: http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/. Google is full of information on this procedure.
 
That blog post is 6 years old... any recommendation you would take from it is really out of date. There is nothing inherently wrong with your LSI HBA; if you really want a new one, you can get a 12G HBA instead if your backplane supports it (also you'll need to replace your cables.) Otherwise, just flash your HBA with IT firmware and call it a day.
 
yeah that'll work if you're machine has UEFI boot capability. I dont actually like doing it that way because UEFI consoles tend to be slow and unforgiving (no tab completion, etc.)

a more flexible way would be using a DOS thumbdrive. This looks like a complete guide (apologies, I havent done this in some time so I cant vouch for it, but if memory serves it looks right)

http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/
 
We have a Supermicro mainboard H8DGU/H8DGU, BIOS 3.5a 02/10/2015 128 GB RAM

the four connected Seagate SAS harddrives have 4 TB each

with flashing the controller we can loose the 4 TB support
 
Do not worry, alexskysilk, I think the Nexenta HCL (Hardware Compatibily List) should be a good reference for hardware generally used with every zfs OS
 

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