First FreeNAS build, and needing advice before dropping the $$$ on hardware

[diedrichg]

Not for this board you don't need that...

AH! My bad, I was thinking of a different board.

 

[DJCounter]

Would this card:
LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i)
allow for connecting eight drives via a breakout cable? It looks as though it would be plug and play (in the appropriate PCIe slot).

 

[diedrichg]

Have you seen

1GbE LAN, 8 SAS, 6 SATA
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSL-CF.cfm

10GbE LAN, 8 SAS, 8 SATA
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSH-CTF.cfm


And check out this guy's build log.
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=62748&share_fid=68622&share_type=t

 

[Chris Moore]

Would this card: LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i) allow for connecting eight drives via a breakout cable? It looks as though it would be plug and play (in the appropriate PCIe slot).

If that was supposed to be a link, it didn't work. The system board we were talking about has SAS built-in. Why are you looking at a card?

This is the kind that I use in both of my servers except this one was made OEM for HP. Mine is just LSI and I had to flash the firmware myself where this one is all set and ready to use.

HP H220 6Gbps SAS PCI-E 3.0 HBA LSI 9207-8i P20 IT Mode for ZFS FreeNAS
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...0-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162862201664

Yes. This card needs forward breakout cables instead of the reverse breakout cables we talked about for the system board. This is what I have used:

Lot of 2 Mini SAS to 4-SATA SFF-8087 Multi-Lane Forward Breakout Internal Cable
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-M...-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/371681252206

 

[DJCounter]

If that was supposed to be a link, it didn't work. The system board we were talking about has SAS built-in. Why are you looking at a card?

It wasn't supposed to be a link. It was too early in the day for links - I just copied and pasted. The system board I mentioned was the X11SSM-F, not the X10SL7-F so an onboard controller wasn't included, and finally I ask because I 'inherited' two of those cards :)
If I went with the X11, and used two of the SATA ports up with mirrored boot drives, I just wanted to ensure that I would still be able to fully populate the ten drive spaces that exist in the case I am looking to get. Call it 'being proactive.' That would be a first for me...

 

[DJCounter]

Thanks for your help Chris, I think I'm decided now (with the help of various people in these forums) what will be in my final build. Now comes the 'justification' stage...

 

[Inxsible]

Now comes the 'justification' stage...

That's the tough part....especially if the justification is for the spouse ;-)

 

[DJCounter]

That's the tough part....especially if the justification is for the spouse ;-)

...You got it right there :)

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks for your input everyone - and as one last (and I promise, it IS last!) request, what are the implications of this mobo:

Supermicro X10SL7-F - what would the implications of having effectively an LSI2008 (I think) on the MOBO? would I just flash it into IT mode and connect SATA drives as usual?

Sorry, that question made me think that was the board of choice.