Firmware version P21?

[a-freenas-user]

Unless they subsequently skip P21 and go to P22 with their next firmware then how can we be confident that todays version of the P21 drivers works with a future firmware version P21?

Also given that there are multiple sub-versions of the P20 firmware can we get confirmation which of these is recommended, the 20.00.04, 20.00.07, some other version?

 

[jpaetzel]

When they release a new driver and/or firmware I'll cross that bridge when it happens. Hopefully we won't run in to these sorts of timing issues again that resulted in the "alert that isn't". As far as which subversion is recommended, Broadcom/Avago/LSI recommends you run the latest version available. 20.00.00 and 20.00.02 had fairly significant bugs, but IIRC they affected IR volumes, which FreeNAS doesn't use. We've been using 04 for quite a while now and haven't had issues with that.

 

[Kuro Houou]

So the official word is to ignore the alert, is that what I am hearing?

 

[George777]

My contact at Broadcom (who I've been working with since she was at 3Ware in 2009) was on vacation, and I had no reason to suspect anything was changing, and why pull the firehandle over this when it would've delayed several real fixes from getting out to people....

Would it have been possible to release these fixes in FreeNAS without pulling in the P21 drivers, until you had a chance to confirm what was going on?
Were you aware of the mismatch error before this post and decided to go ahead and release despite it, or was this post the first iXsystems saw it?

It's possible the current situation of v21 driver and p20 firmware has not gone through their internal regression test suite. I'm working on verifying that at this point.

I'm still hopeful we'll get confirmation that the current situation has gone through the internal regression test suite, and that this FreeBSD committer didn't just risk everyone's data because he/she had access to commit directly.

 

[Haptizum]

Just built out my FreeNAS system and I have cross flashed a Dell PERC H200 to LSI 9211-8i P20. Can someone say for sure that my data will be safe with this alert popping up? Maybe I should just use a FreeNAS approved HBA card to be safe?

 

[Fritzolio]

Wow, my confidence has been shaken. How the hell can someone reference a firmware version that does not exist? From now on there will be no more updates for me unless there is an issue that I am experiencing AND said update specifically addresses it.

 

[TXAG26]

I'm satisfied with the explanation of how this issue arose and that it has no effect on the stability of our data. Everyone should take a deep breathe. At the end of the day, LSI/Avago/Broadcom are responsible for the schizophrenic way these drivers and firmware have developed. The FreeNAS development team has done a commendable job working with the cards they have been dealt.

 

[wblock]

How the hell can someone reference a firmware version that does not exist?

Because for the last umpteen years, driver and firmware version have been tied together. That relationship was overlooked this last time when the driver was updated by Broadcom. You can bet Broadcom has heard about it and will hear about it more, as we've heard about it and keep hearing about it here.

 

[WTM]

Any idea when there will be an update available installable via the GUI ? And if I read this thread correctly, I can ignore the flashing yellow light in the GUI asking for an firmware update ? :-/ ?

 

[cyberjock]

This is problematic. How was this release considered stable and something this significant not detected? I think we all dodged a bullet on this one that the driver mismatch didn't create any data corruption errors, but this lack of quality control is concerning. Also that someone reported the issue and was basically questioned on why he was using the nightlies, instead of logging it as an issue to look in to.

Thank you cyberjock for the full background. I'll be waiting even longer before accepting updates from FreeNAS in the future.

I don't think that's a fair assessment. Remember that FreeNAS is designed to run on whatever hardware you decide to use. The iXsystems team cannot possibly test all possible hardware configurations, so they cannot be expected to find all possible problems. That's what the bug ticket system is for. You think you found something nobody else has run into, file a bug ticket on it.

As for the discussion about him using nightlies, I won't even dive into that one. Everyone here says the same thing with regards to nightlies:

1. If you aren't an expert on FreeNAS, you shouldn't be running nightlies.
2. If you aren't going to file bug reports on stuff in nightlies that you know is wrong, you shouldn't be running nightlies.
3. If any of this is confusing, you shouldn't be running nightlies.

If you want to wait "even longer" because iX cannot test your specific hardware, go for it. I'll continue upgrading as normal. :P

 

[EvanVanVan]

If you want to wait "even longer" because iX cannot test your specific hardware, go for it. I'll continue upgrading as normal. :p

Ironically, every time I update I remember one of your posts where you advise holding off upgrading for a while after an update just to make sure any unknown bugs that may have slipped through testing won't risk your data. I usually try to follow that, until I get fed up with the nightly email notifications regarding an available update.

 

[Jailer]

Ironically, every time I update I remember one of your posts where you advise holding off upgrading for a while after an update just to make sure any unknown bugs that may have slipped through testing won't risk your data.

I remember that suggestion and have been following it as well. Heck I'm still on 9.3.1

I usually try to follow that, until I get fed up with the nightly email notifications regarding an available update.

Turn off the update notification. Problem solved. :D

 

[EvanVanVan]

I remember that suggestion and have been following it as well. Heck I'm still on 9.3.1


Turn off the update notification. Problem solved. :D

Lol I did have notifications turned off, but was on like 9.3.0 for a long time until I posted about some unrelated issue and Cyberjock said anything below 9.3.7 (maybe?) had some crazy bug and wasn't recommended. At that point I realized how far behind I was and turned notifications on. Now idk what to do lol.

 

[freenas-9207-8e]

a-freenas-user said:

Also given that there are multiple sub-versions of the P20 firmware can we get confirmation which of these is recommended, the 20.00.04, 20.00.07, some other version?

jpaetzel said:

We've been using 04 for quite a while now and haven't had issues with that.

There is only version 20.00.06.00 available in the archive for the 9207-8e:
http://www.avagotech.com/products/s...adapters/sas-9207-8e#tab-archive-drivers3-abc

Would this be more stable than current firmware driver?

 

[cyberjock]

Ironically, every time I update I remember one of your posts where you advise holding off upgrading for a while after an update just to make sure any unknown bugs that may have slipped through testing won't risk your data. I usually try to follow that, until I get fed up with the nightly email notifications regarding an available update.

You'd be correct. I said "as normal" and for me, normal is:

1. Waiting a few days on my "main" system.
2. Upgrading immediately on my FreeNAS Mini. My Mini is a smaller "production" system, but since I have religious backups of the zpool and I have prior boot environments to fall back on, if things go horribly sideways I just go to a prior boot environment or restore from backup. I've never had to restore from backup, but I figure the day will come as statistically everyone will someday have to rely on backups. :P

 

[Liriel]

After reading through this thread, there are several users warning that a mismatch between driver and firmware can be dangerous (although Josh questions this assertion). Given that firmware is not upgraded as part of the OS update process, it seems unavoidable to have a mismatch for at least a little while.

Therefore, what is the recommended procedure for updating firmware: 1) Update OS, then update firmware ASAP if necessary; 0r 2) Check release notes and if there is a driver update, then upgrade the firmware before installing the OS update with the new driver?

The second option seems potentially problematic, since the driver update does not always seem to be mentioned in the change log.

Note that I realize this is moot for the particular instance of the v21 driver, since there is no v21 firmware.

 

[Stux]

Yeah, nobody noticed that at iXsystems (I'm the only employee that reads and understands stuff here regularly, and I've been so busy lately I have gotten behind). A bug report should have been filed on that, but apparently wasn't. The good news is that there is no harm or foul with this. It's an anomaly that only FreeNAS users using the latest version are likely to even notice right now.

To be fair, the guy was lectured for running nightlies, rather than advised to submit a bug report.

If everyone gets lectured for running nightlies, and everyone assumes that it'll be fixed, then it won't be.

 

[freenas-supero]

OK I read thru this thread and with all the blah blah blah and speculation, its difficult at best for a end user (not a dev) to figure if this is serious or not.

Can someone (a dev or better a Freenas maintainer) clearly state that this alert can be ignored and that it wont cause data harm???

 

[wblock]

From @jpaetzel in https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/firmware-version-p21.45130/page-2#post-304626:

It's acceptable to silence the alert for now, the next FreeNAS update won't consider the p20/v21 pair alert worthy.

 

[Chris Moore]

Just built out my FreeNAS system and I have cross flashed a Dell PERC H200 to LSI 9211-8i P20. Can someone say for sure that my data will be safe with this alert popping up? Maybe I should just use a FreeNAS approved HBA card to be safe?

I am using Dell cards also and if you have cross-flashed them correctly, they are functionally indistinguishable from the LSI card of the same chip set. I use them with Windows, Linux and FreeNAS and have no problems at all.
I wouldn't worry.