Dell R730xd with H730 and H830 running 9.10

[Matt Kent]

I'm looking at getting a new Dell server to run Freenas 9.10.
I'm currently looking at the R730xd with both a H730 internal card and a H830 card hooked to an external disk shelf.

The mrsas driver lists both as supported, but I wanted to check the status of the bugs that have been reported for the mrsas drivers with the Dell cards. As far as I can they they have been closed with proper resolution, but I would prefer to hear back if anyone is running this config?

Matt

 

[Dice]

Mr Dell might know more: @Mirfster

 

[Mirfster]

While I am not running these cards, from my understanding they do offer a JBOD mode. Now as to if that is a true JBOD and FreeNas is able to get direct access to the disks (for SMART info, etc) I am unsure.

Even if the mrsas driver is listed as supported that is not a 100% guarantee that is will work flawlessly with FreeNAS.

These do seem like nice cards but mostly for actual Hardware Raid, since if you are running it in JBOD mode I doubt that any of the controller's cache or BBU would be of any benefit.

Hopefully someone else who actually has these cards can chime in, but if it were me I may "tread lightly" here and consider a true LSI instead.

 

[Matt Kent]

Do you have a recommendation for a true LSI card that Dell will support?
The H830 is a standard card, but the H730 would likely be a mezzanine card, so replacing it may be tricky.

 

[Mirfster]

Do you have a recommendation for a true LSI card that Dell will support?
The H830 is a standard card, but the H730 would likely be a mezzanine card, so replacing it may be tricky.

I think you can check to see if there is a H330 Mezzanine available. As far as the H830, perhaps look at "LSI SAS 9300-8e"; Dell even has a model that is "Dell Branded".