Dell Server - PERC H710, Convert to IT Mode or Use SAS-9211i Controller?

[theprez]

Hi All -

Which of these two controllers are preferred and why - LSI 9211-i in IT mode or reflashing the PERC H710 to IT mode? I believe both are hardware-based controllers, but I am unsure which TrueNAS prefers or which offers best performance.

Thanks

 

[jgreco]

The 9211-8i is much older with a lot of information out there on how to make various cards into a 9211-8i.

The H710 is essentially an LSI 2108, so it will have cache and usually a battery. The main issue is that if you lobotomize it, who knows what will happen to the battery. Patrick Kennedy warned awhile back of RAID battery failures causing fires and exploding inside your chassis. As an electronics engineer, I can certainly understand this potential.

So know that the toolsets to flip an H710 to IT mode are relatively new (just a year or two old maybe), and that if you do, you really need to make sure you remove the battery. It also means that the toolsets and remediation if you have problems are less well-documented.

 

[theprez]

Thank you for the detailed reply, the 9211-8i is based off the LSI/Avago 2308 chipset from what I recall, if the H710 uses the LSI 2108, is there a preferred chipset?

A quick google search seems to show the 9211-8i with that 2308 chipset is preferred as it's a PCI 3.0 card - not sure if any of that applies to FreeNAS performing or preferring one over the other.

Thanks again

 

[jgreco]

The 9211-8i is based on the 2008.

 

[theprez]

Just a quick update in case it helps anyone else, the conversion to IT mode worked fine, and here's the output of my PERC H710. only odd thing on boot is that it says: cannot find firmware file with prefix mps_SAS9207-8i


root@truenas[~]# mpsutil show adapter
mps0 Adapter:
Board Name: SAS9207-8i
Board Assembly:
Chip Name: LSISAS2308
Chip Revision: ALL
BIOS Revision: 0.00.00.00
Firmware Revision: 20.00.07.00
Integrated RAID: no
SATA NCQ: ENABLED
PCIe Width/Speed: x8 (8.0 GB/sec)
IOC Speed: Full
Temperature: 61 C