Problem with Resilvering + HDD Swap

[dbesade]

Hardware:

• Dell R410
  • 32GB/RAM
  • SAS6i/R HBA (AHCI Mode)
  • 3 x 1TB HDDs

Software:

• FreeNAS 11.2u6

Problem:

• I am in the process of replacing the 3 x 1TB HDD's with 3 x 2TB HDD's. Following the process in the documentation I replaced da3 and swapped the drives. The resilvering completed, and afterwards the new HDD went offline, camcontrol does not even show the device ID. Only a hard power cycle brings it back and the resilvering process happens and the circle continues. I did try another new drive to see if this was a bad drive and it did not make a difference. Hoping someone can help.

Regards,

David

 

[dlavigne]

Were you able to successfully complete the resilver?

 

[dbesade]

Were you able to successfully complete the resilver?

No. I eventually swapped the original 1TB Drive back in. I honestly have no idea what is causing the issue. However it has highlighted this as an issue with my setup, so I'm building a replacement:

Dell R320
-24G of RAM
-4 x 2TB (Setup in 2 Drive Mirrors)
-1 x Intel DC S3700 (200G) mounted on a PCIe Card (SLOG... this is actually my current slog)
-1 x Intel 4 Port PCIe Card (Low Profile)

My current setup is an older R410 as noted above, I'm wondering if this is a hardware issue related to age, or a firmware incompatibility with the HBA and the new drives.

My workload is primarily vSphere/vCenter thats hosting a mix of traditional VMs (Exchange, AD, DNS) and some small databases (WordPress and SCCM) and a bit file sharing (AppleShare). Based on my understanding of ZFS and ESXi's behavior with NFS, a decent SLOG is almost absolutely necessary if I'm to get decent performance (though I'm limited by my low number of spindles anyhow). I have no problem getting 200MB/SEC via NFS on the R410 and I'll be happy if I can add 30% with the additional spindle on the 320. Only downgrade is the 8G less of memory, which may not be a huge deal.

I had an L2 ARC, however due to a low hit ratio (< 10%) I removed it as I'm getting a 95 - 100% on the ARC. My intentions as noted earlier is to simply use a SLOG to handle my SYNC Writes.

I'd love any feedback on the replacement.

Regards,

David

 

[subhuman]

SAS6i/R HBA (AHCI Mode)

This model is specifically mentioned in a few threads to avoid with FreeNAS.

I'm wondering if this is a hardware issue related to age, or a firmware incompatibility with the HBA and the new drives.

Quite possible. It's been stated several times that this HBA has a limit of 2TB drives. There might be some rounding occurring somewhere, maybe the drives you're having trouble with are just over the HBA's limit?

How do I know this? Google results from these exact forums.

 

[dbesade]

This model is specifically mentioned in a few threads to avoid with FreeNAS.


Quite possible. It's been stated several times that this HBA has a limit of 2TB drives. There might be some rounding occurring somewhere, maybe the drives you're having trouble with are just over the HBA's limit?

How do I know this? Google results from these exact forums.

I won't argue that your wrong, unfortunately its the integrated controller on the R410 platform and I am at a point with that equipment where I don't want to invest any more money into it, which is why I purchased a replacement. I'm aware of the 2TB limit of the SAS6i/R, these drives show up as 1800GB or so. I've been burn-in testing the new setup (minus the SLOG as I'm waiting for a few parts) and all seems well. Any thoughts on the revised setup I've put together (aside from having only 4 spindles).

Regards,

David