Highpoint controller info

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cyberjock

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What do you mean by one of the channels being "soft reset"? I'm not understanding what you mean...

Right now the controller to get for FreeNAS is the M1015 reflashed to IT mode. It's less than $100 and has 8 ports.

Highpoint has some issues to work out IMO. No SMART support is a bad thing for a server.
 

TnT

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This is what I'm talking about with Channel Soft Resets.
Code:
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 0] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 0] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 0] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 3] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 0] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 0] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 1] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 2] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1 3] Command completion error, flag(a0)
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: start channel [0,1]
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] Start channel soft reset.
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: [0 1] PM Vendor ID 1095 Device ID 3726 Rev 17 SpecRev 6 Ports 6
Mar 27 17:35:04 seraph kernel: hptrr: channel [0,1] started successfully


I managed to get SMART readings using:
Code:
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/1/1 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/1/2 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/1/3 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/1/4 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/2/1 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/2/2 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/2/3 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/2/4 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/3/1 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/3/2 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/3/3 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/3/4 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/4/1 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/4/2 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/4/3 /dev/hptrr
smartctl -a -d hpt,1/4/4 /dev/hptrr


Plus I can run a SMART test using (for example):
Code:
smartctl -t short -d hpt,1/1/2 /dev/hptrr


As for a card, I need something that supports a SATA port multiplier, as that's what my enclosures rely on, and I didn't see any mention of it supporting a port multiplier with the M1015. Thanks for the suggestion though!
 

cyberjock

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The only thing I see about that error is to check your SATA cables and SMART data for your drives. :/

As for port multipliers, I've never used one. But I've read plenty of horror stories involving those and I'll never use them. Support for port multipliers on SATA controllers is very mixed(as you mentioned on the M1015) and all I can say if you want to use them is "good luck". There's only a few people that use them, and 1 of them has serious server issues that he still hasn't completely identifed, but the port multipliers are on the list of potential causes.
 

SnurrDass

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i have the 2340 card with 1.4 bios.
the hptrr driver is reconiced all the drive if i make arrays by the card not in FreeNAS.

my setup:
4x 750GB raid5
4x 1000GB raid5
4x 1000GB raid5
4x 750GB raid5

all this arrays is created in the RR bios. i then formated the 4 arrays i zfs.
that way i get no problem whit the partition that i need to be on the HDDs.
and the card is doing the work and not the cpu. i have logged 250mb/s speeds r/w whit this setup. if i ever gonna need that :P

i run S.M.A.R.T test cron jobs and the card is reporting this:
smartd[2586]: Device: /dev/hptrr [hpt_disk_1/3/1], 231 Offline uncorrectable sectors so.
no now iu have to find the correct drive to swap. the number 1/3/1 is pointing to which disk? but it dont say more. so card 1, array 3, disk 1 ?

it would be helpfull if the WebGUI can be installed so i can monitor the drives by HTTP directly on tha HPRRcard

http://www.highpoint-tech.cn/BIOS_Driver/HRM/FreeBSD/WebGUI-FreeBSD-v1.4-4-061507.tgz

can i manually install this feture? if so, a little help. still a r00key at BSD :o

Now i get this in FreeNAS:

WARNING: The volume Storage2 (ZFS) status is UNKNOWN: One or more devices has experienced an unrecoverable error. An attempt was made to correct the error. Applications are unaffected.Determine if the device needs to be replaced, and clear the errors using 'zpool clear' or replace the device with 'zpool replace'.
WARNING: The volume Storage1 (ZFS) status is UNKNOWN
 

cyberjock

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If you read the manual on FreeNAS, it specifically says using ZFS with hardware RAID is very bad. You are just asking for trouble by trying to do exactly what the manual says is not recommended. I hope you are doing good regular backups, because more than likely you're going to find yourself in a situation where you suddenly need them someday.

As for the WebGUI, you should add in a "+1" comment to https://support.freenas.org/ticket/1932. That ticket is to install the WebGUI. If you read this whole thread(and that link in the first post) you'd know that it is non-trivial to install and get the WebGUI to work in FreeNAS.
 

craigyb

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I have just compiled a FreeBSD 8.3 driver from the supplied source code from HighPoint support.

This driver is for the DC7280 data center HBA with 32 channels on 8 SCA connectors.

I can now see my Seagate 4TB drives in Freenas 8.3 for the first time after failures with Adaptec RAID and HP controllers.
 

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cyberjock

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Craigyb,

Great job! I don't have that controller, but here's what you should do.

Go to support.freenas.org and request that DC7280 drivers be added to FreeNAS. Prrovide the source you used and where you got it from. I just looked at http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/DC7280_download.htm and FreeBSD isn't listed. Their site is so hosed lately.. :( Anyway, the .ko file won't do any good for FreeNAS 9.1 which is likely the next version, so the source is preferred to the compiled binary.

With a little luck(and the fact that you provided the source) you have a very good chance of having the driver included automatically with the next build of FreeNAS.
 

craigyb

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Yes I actually sent the controller back after being so disappointed that the freeBSD drivers were not on the supplied disk and not on the web. But the day I returned it Highpoint support sent me source code and a 9.0 driver. Of course the driver was 32 bit and didn't work in 8.3 or 9.1.

I was trying to compile on the freenas server, but realised I had no source code, so I built a an X64 BSD 8.3 system from a release and compiled the driver. I guess I can also build a 9.1 version, but I will supply the source code into the freenas project.
 

darkmatter68

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Great to see v9.1.1 supports the dc7280 out-of-the-box - at last!

My question is is anyone any closer to working out how to retrieve disk serial numbers?
 

cyberjock

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Great to see v9.1.1 supports the dc7280 out-of-the-box - at last!

My question is is anyone any closer to working out how to retrieve disk serial numbers?

That will require a developer to have access to the controller at the least. It will also require the controller to passthrough disk info via smart. Are you able to get any smart data from your disks with smartctl?
 

Peter Li

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...

Do you have any experience with a HighPoint RocketRaid 644L? I am finding these online for ~$100-$120 and they might be a good replacement for my RR 2314. Edit: On further investigation it looks like these cards are not supported on FreeBSD. What card would you recommend?

Just bought the RocketRaid 644L (Not Rocket 644L), it doesn't work on my freenas 9.3.stable. :-(

I get this first:

Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahci0: AHCI v1.00 with 4 6Gbps ports, Port Multiplier supported with FBS
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich0: <AHCI channel> at channel 0 on ahci0
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich1: <AHCI channel> at channel 1 on ahci0
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich2: <AHCI channel> at channel 2 on ahci0
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich3: <AHCI channel> at channel 3 on ahci0

Then this:

Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich0: Timeout on slot 0 port 15
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich0: is 00000001 cs 00000000 ss 00000000 rs 00000001 tfd 50 serr 00000000 cmd 00710017
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe0:ahcich0:0:15:0): READ_BUFFER/PM. ACB: e4 00 00 00 00 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe0:ahcich0:0:15:0): CAM status: Command timeout
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe0:ahcich0:0:15:0): Error 5, Retry was blocked
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich1: Timeout on slot 0 port 15
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas ahcich1: is 00000001 cs 00000000 ss 00000000 rs 00000001 tfd 50 serr 00000000 cmd 00710017
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe1:ahcich1:0:15:0): READ_BUFFER/PM. ACB: e4 00 00 00 00 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe1:ahcich1:0:15:0): CAM status: Command timeout
Apr 28 22:32:12 freenas (aprobe1:ahcich1:0:15:0): Error 5, Retry was blocked

I am thinking of loading the freebsd 9.0 driver to /boot/kernel to see if that will work.

Anyone else has better luck ?

Thanks
 

cyberjock

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I am thinking of loading the freebsd 9.0 driver to /boot/kernel to see if that will work.
It won't work. And considering the info in this thread, I find it somewhat disheartening that you'd still try to use the card. But, good luck to you in any case.
 

Peter Li

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Was finally able to get it to work. First, I had to contact Highpoint customer support via web,
they do respond within 1 day of submitting the request. Good for them.

Eventually, they send me a driver based on FreeBSD 9.3
(RR64xl_FreeBSD_9.3_v1.2.0_15_03_26), once I got it into /boot/kernel
and set up the freenas tunable to load it. Then the card was recognized and was able to
attach my sata port multiplier disk rack. (Yes, these are not the best solution, but it was
much cheaper than purchasing a real RAID card)

Ran couple of zpool scrub through the card, it worked as expected. No errors yet.

Fingers crossed.
 

cyberjock

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...(Yes, these are not the best solution, but it was
much cheaper than purchasing a real RAID card)

Ran couple of zpool scrub through the card, it worked as expected. No errors yet.

Fingers crossed.

Well, considering you don't need to buy a real RAID card, the cheaper solution is to simply use an HBA.

And hey, if you are going to put your data on it, good luck to you. If my evidence wasn't enough to convince you that you shouldn't be using it to store your data, you'll likely have your own evidence someday when your data is lost to the ether. But, good luck to you.. again.

I just wish people would realize how ill-conceived it is to use this hardware and instead learn the hard way.... by losing their data suddenly and without warning.
 

Peter Li

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Okay. cyberjock is right :smile:. One of the raidz1 had a disk failure
(an old array made of drives > 6 years, kinda expected it),
but the highpoint card disconnected all the drives instead of just
dropping the bad drive. Couldn't fix it with the most recent driver update.
The controller is going back to Amazon. Highpoint still needs work
on their drivers.
 

cyberjock

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Color me shocked. Ok, I wasn't shocked.

Glad you didn't lose your data and wised up before it did happen though. ;)
 

WBos

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Cyberjock, what are your thoughts about the Highpoint Rocket 620A controller to be used to extend a 6bay pool towards a 8bay pool?
Or the Highpoint RocketRAID 2680SGL
 
Last edited:

cyberjock

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I'm not a fan of any highpoint controllers being used with ZFS. I've used Highpoint extensively before going to ZFS, and I find them to be very capable, especially for home/small server use. But for ZFS, I'd never use one.
 

darylsmith

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So I've been experimenting with various Highpoint controllers. There are posts every week or 2 involving people with problems with their Highpoint controllers. In the past Highpoint controllers have been a cost effective hardware RAID. I've put together this post to help people that have the controller family below. This post is the result of 5 days of experimenting with several controllers I own. Use the information below at your own risk.

I have personally experimented with the 22xx, 23xx, 35xx and 43xx series adapters. The adapters I used in particular are the 2220, 2320, 3560 and 4320(yes, I used highpoint controllers for many years as servers for home use and small business). As of FreeNAS build 12037 and newer the entire 35xx and 43xx line of controllers should function properly. Prior to build 12037 there are driver issues I corrected via ticket 1704 for some of the 35xx and 43xx series controllers(thanks delphij!). All builds including and after 8.3.0-BETA1 include the fix for the affected controllers.

Keep in mind that FreeNAS performs most effectively when NOT part of a hardware RAID. My comments below will reflect that philosophy. I will also assume that you will be creating zpools that involve mirrors or parity for reliability.

Note: SMART data and serial numbers are NOT currently working with ANY Highpoint controllers. This is a feature that is being actively pursued by myself and William Grzybowski(developer). Serial and SMART may or may not work ever. The Highpoint CLI doesn't work "out of the box" with FreeNAS as well as other issues that can be resolved, but will be time consuming to implement. It is possible that the 22xx and 23xx will never have support for SMART and serial numbers because they are so old and the development resources needed to make these work are just not worth the effort. I will update this page with more information when I have more solid information. Sorry for not having a firm answer.

Here's a list of limitations and problems with the various families:

22xx & 23xx - These controllers do NOT mount hard drives that are not part of a RAID array as a "Legacy Disk". To be mounted as a "Legacy Disk" they MUST contain a valid partition table with at least one partition. Unfortunately ZFS partitions are NOT identified as valid partitions.

The workaround is to create a partition on the hard drive that is FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS of any size. In my case I created a 100MB partition that is FAT16. If at any time your FAT16 partition table entry is deleted or otherwise corrupted you WILL lose the ability to access your ZFS partition when connected to a Highpoint controller.

Also it should be mentioned that if a disk fails(in my case I tested this by disconnecting the power to a hard drive.. do not do this if you have data on the zpool!!!) you will get the RAID controller audible alarm. FreeNAS will not acknowledge the failed drive since the disk is not "detached" from the controller in the software sense. Presumably this is because these controllers do not support hot swap on FreeBSD. The only way you will be able to acknowledge that a disk is failed is possibly a local LED(one disk does not have any activity while the rest of the drives do), doing a 'zfs status -v' and noticing that one drive has alot of errors, audible alarm or if you reboot the machine. If you reboot the machine the status of the zpool will change to DEGRADED. Note that the zpool status will not change until you reboot, but I'd expect that the audible alarm will get your attention rather quickly. It's very loud and quite annoying. The only way I know of to silence the alarm is to shutdown/reboot the server.

Overall, if you have the audible alarm enabled that should provide sufficient warning that a drive has failed. Since hot-swap is not supported you will need to shutdown the server, insert a new hard drive then power up the server and add the new hard drive to the zpool per the FreeNAS manual.

To perform the workaround you will need to connect each hard disk to a standard SATA controller to create the partition table entry. After the entry is created you can then remove the drive and it will function correctly as a "Legacy Disk" on the Highpoint controller.

Note: If you plug in a hard drive that is blank(aka no partition table at all) it will be identified as "New" to the controller. My computer panic'd during bootup anytime a "New" hard drive was attached to my 2220 and 2320. Because of this you MUST connect the hard drive to a different controller(onboard recommended) to setup the partition.

Determine which device your hard drive is assigned to. Use the 'dmesg' command to view the devices. My devices are always adaX or daX. For the following example my hard drive was ada1:

At a console, type the following commands. If you have data on the hard drives make sure you backup the data as these commands will erase all data on the hard drives.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada1 bs=512 count=10k
# gpart create -s gpt ada1
# gpart add -t mbr -s 100M ada1
# newfs_msdos /dev/ada1p1

Because these Highpoint controllers do not work out of the box and require this workaround it is not recommended that you use the 22xx or 23xx series controllers in a production environment. Additionally any hard drive that is ever used on this controller in the future(spares/upgrades,etc) will require this modification before installing in the FreeNAS server if attaching the hard disk to the RocketRAID controller to work properly. Do not expect wide support and assistance if you use these controllers. You are on your own and at your own peril by following the instructions above. I will try to help if you post in this thread, but if you value your data I would not recommend you use these old controllers. Nonetheless I'm sure some people will do it anyway, and I'm writing this post to hopefully once and for all answer the questions people have about these 2 controller families.


35xx & 43xx - These controllers will mount all hard drives as a "Legacy Disk" if the RAID mode is changed to Non-RAID adapter mode. This will allow for proper operation of the hard disks with no changes as listed on the 22xx or 23xx series controllers above.

The optimal configuration is to setup the controller in "Non-RAID adapter mode"in the controller's BIOS. After this is done and a reboot performed the hard drives will be picked up as daX devices.

Also it should be mentioned that if a disk fails(in my case I tested this by disconnecting the power to a hard drive.. do not do this if you have data on the zpool!!!) you will get the RAID controller audible alarm. FreeNAS will not acknowledge the failed drive since the disk is not "detached" from the controller in the software sense. Presumably this is because these controllers do not support hot swap on FreeBSD. The only way you will be able to acknowledge that a disk is failed is possibly a local LED(one disk does not have any activity while the rest of the drives do), doing a 'zfs status -v' and noticing that one drive has alot of errors, audible alarm or if you reboot the machine. If you reboot the machine the status of the zpool will change to DEGRADED. Note that the zpool status will not change until you reboot, but I'd expect that the audible alarm will get your attention rather quickly. It's very loud and quite annoying. The only way I know of to silence the alarm is to shutdown/reboot the server.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that there are ways in which a disk can fail completely and not cause an audible alarm. This means it is possible that a disk can fail and you might never get a warning. So these generations of controllers should be avoided and never used with data that doesn't have thorough backups.


452x - These controllers work fine out of the box with any version after 8.3-RELEASE. I received the controller a little too late to get the changes into 8.3. Any hard drive that is not in a hardware RAID array is a "legacy disk". Everything works fine except SMART and serial numbers in the GUI. These issues are being addressed and hopefully will be supported soon. I will update this posting when I have more information. Edit: It appears that SMART is almost certainly never going to be supported as Highpoint has no way of querying disks on the controller and comparing them to actual devices. So these controllers should be avoided at all costs.

Overall, if you have the audible alarm enabled that should provide sufficient warning that a drive has failed. Since hot-swap is not supported you will need to shutdown the server, insert a new hard drive then power up the server and add the new hard drive to the zpool per the FreeNAS manual.

See ticket https://support.freenas.org/ticket/1932 for outstanding issues with some RocketRAID controllers.

2720SGL - I don't own one of these, but we've had many users that tried to use these. The sound great on the surface, but they aren't great once you have one. One of our users(JohnKnee) has provided a good discussion on various problems with these. In short, don't buy them...buy an IBM M1015 like we already recommend for everyone. If you already have it and can't return read his post here and understand that you are about to have potential serious problems.

------

If you have one of these controllers and are having issues or question I will attempt to provide assistance if I can.

Keywords: Highpoint RocketRAID 2210 2220 2224 2240 2300 2302 2304 2310 2312 2314 2314MS 2320 2322 2340 2522 3510 3520 3522 3530 3540 3560 4310 4311 4320 4321 4322 4520 4522
.i have a highpoint rocket raid 3560 and i changed the password and have done everything i know of to fix.highpoint left me high and dry on help and as far as i know i have don't everthing possible to figure it out.
any help would be amazing.
thanks
 
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