ITmode Card ZFS for HP servers?

killmasta93

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Hi,
I was wondering if someone else has had any experience with HP server proliant ML370 G6 and currently have the G6 which could not get it to work with HBA as reading it does not support it, I was also reading that LSI 9207-8i flashed IT mode might work for it but not sure, i was wondering any success stories?

Thank you
 

HoneyBadger

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An IT mode flashed HBA will work there; however, the presence of an additional PCIe card may cause the idle fan speed to increase slightly.

I have an ML350 G6 that works fine with a Dell PERC H310 flashed to 9211-8i.

The HP OEM card is the HP H220; it will still benefit from the crossflash to LSI firmware though as the OEM cards are usually a few versions behind.
 

killmasta93

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Thanks for the reply so
Dell PERC H310 flashed to 9211-8i.
would work great no issue there? what about the cables?
As for the HP OEM card seems to be old from what i understand?
what about Dell H200 6Gbps SAS HBA

Thank you
 

HoneyBadger

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The HP H220 is actually newer, despite the model number being lower. The 9207-8i is a PCIe 3.0 card and has a slightly newer chipset. No SAS 3.0 support still but improved performance especially with SSDs.

Cables will be the same SFF-8087 but you may need to investigate the length and angle options for the connector.
 

HoneyBadger

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The H220 reflashes to an LSI 9207-8i - the H240 however is a custom HP/MicroSemi controller with very poor FreeBSD support (Linux has the hpsa driver, BSD doesn't)

If you really need the SAS3 12Gbps support, look for an LSI based card. Honestly I'd suggest those on general due to the billions of operating hours accrued on that hardware.

But unless you plan to run all-flash vdevs and/or SAS3 devices, the reflashed H220 should be more than enough.
 

killmasta93

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so h200 flashed would be enough to replace the p440ar which is on the HP dl380 working currently as HBA mode and would it be equal or better?
Thank you
 

HoneyBadger

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so h200 flashed would be enough to replace the p440ar which is on the HP dl380 working currently as HBA mode and would it be equal or better?
Thank you

If you have set your P440AR to HBA mode via the EFI SmartArray config, and you are not seeing any issues related to stability or performance, I would suggest you keep it as-is. The LSI cards are definitely more "battle tested" but they aren't the only HBAs out there.
 

killmasta93

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Thanks for the reply, correct but i have it on Legacy mode but even as is it wont boot (proxmox) on ZFS i guess thats why im looking at the LSI cards
 
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