Confused about that LSI card? Join the crowd ...

[bestboy]

I just got my M1015 and I wonder: Is there a way to see which MPS driver version is used in a specific FreeNAS release?

I know that the driver version can be greped from dmesg when the flashed card is installed, but I'd prefer to know the driver version before flashing it to IT mode.
Else I have to flash a random firmware version (let's say P14), check the driver version in dmesg (let's say it's P17) and then do another firmware flashing to match the driver version. That's going to be a lot of work, if it turns out I have to install the card in another computer to do the flashing thanks to the PAL error... :/
I'm currently on 9.1.2.6 (might do the 9.1.2.8 update soon)

 

[Ericloewe]

I just got my M1015 and I wonder: Is there a way to see which MPS driver version is used in a specific FreeNAS release?

I know that the driver version can be greped from dmesg when the flashed card is installed, but I'd prefer to know the driver version before flashing it to IT mode.
Else I have to flash a random firmware version (let's say P14), check the driver version in dmesg (let's say it's P17) and then do another firmware flashing to match the driver version. That's going to be a lot of work, if it turns out I have to install the card in another computer to do the flashing thanks to the PAL error... :/
I'm currently on 9.1.2.6 (might do the 9.1.2.8 update soon)

9.2.1.x is P16

The manual documents the driver version, but I agree that it's not intuitively placed. IIRC, it's near the beginning of the manual.

 

[bestboy]

Yep you're right. It's indeed in the documentation and it's indeed P16.

1.1 What's New in 9.2.1
...
• Updated the LSI 6G HBA driver (mps) to version 16. Users of the mps driver should update
their firmware to phase 16.
...

Thanks Eric!

 

[cyberjock]

9.3 will give you a warning if the firmware version isn't correct. 9.3 is also going to use the p16 drivers unless something changes between today and the day of RELEASE.

 

[pjc]

I think the admonition in the manual is directed to RAID cards, rather than HBAs, since the RAID controllers monitor the health of the drives in ways that FreeNAS currently doesn't.

The latest I've seen on zfsd support in FreeBSD is here: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2014-August/051849.html

 

[kurokage]

i`m new about freenas.
running freenas raid-z2 with 6 hd 3tb.
i got lsi sas 9206-16e from my friend for just 270$ :p
suport jbod mode.
so can i use this for add 2 raidz-2 @6 x 4tb?
any suggestion?

 

[Ericloewe]

i`m new about freenas.
running freenas raid-z2 with 6 hd 3tb.
i got lsi sas 9206-16e from my friend for just 270$ :p
suport jbod mode.
so can i use this for add 2 raidz-2 @6 x 4tb?
any suggestion?

Quite an interesting card you have there. It seems to have two LSI 2308 controllers.

I'm not sure how it works, but if it presents both controllers individually, you can just flash them separately to IT mode P16 and knock yourself out with it.

 

[kurokage]

sorry can u explain why IT mode 16? how about IT mode 19 or 20?

 

[Ericloewe]

sorry can u explain why IT mode 16? how about IT mode 19 or 20?

As has been written many times, FreeNAS uses the P16 driver. Since you must match driver and firmware, you need the P16 firmware.

 

[DrachenComputer]

Hey all can you help me with my LSI 3Ware 9650SE-16ML 16-port SATA Raid Controller PCIe x8? Her is the thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ml-16-port-sata-raid-controller-driver.25299/

 

[cyberjock]

Hey all can you help me with my LSI 3Ware 9650SE-16ML 16-port SATA Raid Controller PCIe x8? Her is the thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ml-16-port-sata-raid-controller-driver.25299/

I'll help you. Get a new card. I had one of those (but the 24 port variant). They work, but are not trustworthy. Do not use them if you value your data and your sanity. A friend had one and sold it on ebay because it almost cost him his data. He was lucky in that he stopped what he was doing and was willing to pay some serious money to unf*ck his setup before it was permanent.

 

[DrachenComputer]

I will Not Buy a new One!! The Data von ne lost i have a Full Backup auf all the Date.


Gesendet von meinem iPhone

 

[Ericloewe]

I will Not Buy a new One!! The Data von ne lost i have a Full Backup auf all the Date.


Gesendet von meinem iPhone

You might want to set autocorrect to English when writing in in English.

 

[marbus90]

I will Not Buy a new One!! The Data von ne lost i have a Full Backup auf all the Date.

And you might want to buy new HBAs. Fuhrerlike ranting doesn't help. Follow ze given orders already.

 

[dustinsterk]

For anyone looking for P16 of the firmware...you can find it here:
http://www.lsi.com/Pages/user/eula.aspx?file=http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Host%20Bus%20Adapters/Host%20Bus%20Adapters%20Common%20Files/SAS_SATA_6G_P16/9211_8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip&Source=http://www.lsi.com/support/pages/download-results.aspx?keyword=9211-8i

All I had to do was copy the 2118it.bin (Firmware folder), mptsas2.rom (sasbios_rel folder), and just to be safe sas2flsh.exe (sas2flash_dos_rel folder) files from the downloaded ZIP into my sas2008 usb boot disk and re-run the commands

sas2flsh -o -f 2188it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
and
sas2flsh -0 sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx

Hope this helps others looking.

 

[xnaron]

A lot to consume in this thread. Two things jump out at me. Be careful of fakes and perhaps an lsi sas 9211-8i can be had for similar price so no need to crossflash. With that in mind I headed over to ebay.

I found this m1015. ebay itm: 291306111966 Looks like it will need to be cross flashed. Not sure if this the correct model but a number of them have been sold and he is at 100% positive feedback

Looked for a 9211-8i. ebay item 151301507057 Feed back is almost 100% and lots of them sold. Not sure if it is a fake or not.

Anyhow has anyone bought either of these cards from these vendors? They are both very close in price. Not sure what the better choice is. Thoughts?

 

[Ericloewe]

You still almost certainly have to flash the card anyway, so there's no reason not to get the M1015 versus the 9211.

 

[marbus90]

The M1015 is a RAID card. The 9211-8i is a HBA. No need to flash a HBA to HBA mode. :P

 

[Z300M]

A lot to consume in this thread. Two things jump out at me. Be careful of fakes and perhaps an lsi sas 9211-8i can be had for similar price so no need to crossflash. With that in mind I headed over to ebay.

I found this m1015. ebay itm: 291306111966 Looks like it will need to be cross flashed. Not sure if this the correct model but a number of them have been sold and he is at 100% positive feedback

Looked for a 9211-8i. ebay item 151301507057 Feed back is almost 100% and lots of them sold. Not sure if it is a fake or not.

Anyhow has anyone bought either of these cards from these vendors? They are both very close in price. Not sure what the better choice is. Thoughts?

I haven't dealt with either of those sellers. Having read that some (many?) of the boards from China (and maybe Hong Kong also, which is now part of China whether the inhabitants like it or not) are knockoffs or boards that failed quality control or were built with components that failed QC, I bought my M1015 from someone who had just one of them for sale, one that was described as having been removed from a working server.

I may be wrong, but I think there is less chance of an IBM-branded one being a knockoff and that the people producing fakes are more likely to make LSI-branded ones.

 

[Ericloewe]

The M1015 is a RAID card. The 9211-8i is a HBA. No need to flash a HBA to HBA mode. :p

On the contrary. It is expected that the firmware and drivers are at the same version - P16 for FreeNAS 9.2 and 9.3. This means you almost certainly have to flash the card, or risk weird quirks that may even result in data loss.