Ran Out of Sata Ports

[masonvanmeurs]

Hey all. I've got a system running FreeNAS-11.2-U7 (Build Date: Nov 19, 2019 0:4). My mobo has 6 sata ports total and I have a problem. 2 years ago I didn't plan for the future very well and installed 3 drives and one boot drive. So I currently I have 2 sata ports open. I would like to install an additional 3 drives to run raid z1 on them. I think I have two options regarding what I can do to make this work:

Option 1:
Backup the config and boot to a USB thumb drive and restore the config, freeing up a sata port.

Option 2:
I'm not sure how this would work because I know ZFS requires any drives to be connected directly to the mobo. Could I somehow plug in my new drives into my raid card (That I'm not using currently) and somehow configure the card to allow the mobo to 'see' the drives on 'virtual' mobo sata ports? Is there an PCI express card I could buy to do this if my raid card wouldn't work?

 

[Jasse Jansson]

If you can configure your raid card to expose the disks just as raw disks (jbod), then you can add disks to that card and let zfs do it's magic.

 

[masonvanmeurs]

If you can configure your raid card to expose the disks just as raw disks (jbod), then you can add disks to that card and let zfs do it's magic.

Hmmm. I will look into it. My only concern is that this is a pretty old raid card (about 12 years old). My entire server was used in my college's old super computer. When they got a new one, I got this server for free. I"m not sure if I trust that raid card with my data considering how old it is. What does everyone think? (I'm going to be using the new drives for a Plex media server. So lots of reads and not many writes)

 

[jgreco]

If you can configure your raid card to expose the disks just as raw disks (jbod), then you can add disks to that card and let zfs do it's magic.

No, absolutely do frickin' NOT do this.

FreeNAS needs its disks to be on a very well-supported driver, and needs a controller that won't fall over when placed under immense strain. Most RAID cards fail not only one but both of these points.

Install a standard LSI 9211-8i style HBA that has been cross-flashed to IT mode and firmware 20.00.07.00 and call it a day. This setup has billions of aggregate problem-free run hours on it and works well for everyone, and LSI HBA's are cheap and readily available on the used market. Dell H200 and H310 are particularly popular.

Confused about that LSI card? Join the crowd ...

A recent post prompted me to think, there's a lot of confusion regarding LSI HBA/RAID cards. If you're confused, it is probably understandable... it can be a bit complicated! ZFS users on FreeNAS should avoid using hardware RAID cards. ZFS and FreeNAS work best when the drive is managed...

www.ixsystems.com

 

[Jasse Jansson]

What's the difference between "IT mode" and JBOD ???

 

[Jasse Jansson]

Hmmm. I will look into it. My only concern is that this is a pretty old raid card (about 12 years old). My entire server was used in my college's old super computer. When they got a new one, I got this server for free. I"m not sure if I trust that raid card with my data considering how old it is. What does everyone think? (I'm going to be using the new drives for a Plex media server. So lots of reads and not many writes)

Can you replay with manufacturer and model number here instead of just refering to it as a old raid card.

 

[jgreco]

What's the difference between "IT mode" and JBOD ???

"JBOD" is a RAID card's "idiot mode." In general you are still using the RAID card's hardware, maybe its cache, definitely its driver, and often still hiding the actual disk behind a "virtual disk" abstraction.

"IT mode" is where an HBA is simply proxying communications to the drives. This is still reliant on the RAID firmware, but we know that the LSI P21 driver and the LSI P20.00.07.00 firmware are fine for this.

 

[masonvanmeurs]

No, absolutely do frickin' NOT do this.

FreeNAS needs its disks to be on a very well-supported driver, and needs a controller that won't fall over when placed under immense strain. Most RAID cards fail not only one but both of these points.

Install a standard LSI 9211-8i style HBA that has been cross-flashed to IT mode and firmware 20.00.07.00 and call it a day. This setup has billions of aggregate problem-free run hours on it and works well for everyone, and LSI HBA's are cheap and readily available on the used market. Dell H200 and H310 are particularly popular.

Confused about that LSI card? Join the crowd ...

A recent post prompted me to think, there's a lot of confusion regarding LSI HBA/RAID cards. If you're confused, it is probably understandable... it can be a bit complicated! ZFS users on FreeNAS should avoid using hardware RAID cards. ZFS and FreeNAS work best when the drive is managed...

www.ixsystems.com

Comment taken... I'm looking at one of those on newegg and I see it has two sas ports. I have Sata drives... What can I do to get this to work with my drives. I also think Id rather just ditch my ssd and boot via usb, and purchase one of those LSI cards at a later time. I'm a bit stretched with money right now...

 

[jgreco]

It actually has 8 SAS lanes, four are present on each SFF8087 connector. If you can, find someone specializing in IT recycling on eBay and you can often get the Dell or IBM branded cards in the range of $30-$40.

Your option 1 might be the better path if you can't swing that, but FreeNAS does like to kill USB thumb drives, which are generally not meant for the abuse of running an OS off of them.

 

[masonvanmeurs]

It actually has 8 SAS lanes, four are present on each SFF8087 connector. If you can, find someone specializing in IT recycling on eBay and you can often get the Dell or IBM branded cards in the range of $30-$40.

Your option 1 might be the better path if you can't swing that, but FreeNAS does like to kill USB thumb drives, which are generally not meant for the abuse of running an OS off of them.

I don't understand. How do I convert over to Sas or Sata from a SFF8087 connector. I'm a noob to this type of thing

 

[danb35]

How do I convert over to Sas or Sata from a SFF8087 connector.

Don't be afraid to be SAS-sy ... a primer on basic SAS and SATA

With the introduction of SAS 12Gbps, seems like "it's time" to do a braindump on SAS. Work in progress, as usual. History By the late '90's, SCSI and PATA were the dominant technologies to attach disks. Both were parallel bus multiple drop topologies and this kind of sucked. SATA and Serial...

www.ixsystems.com

 

[jgreco]

https://www.ixsystems.com/community...-sas-sy-a-primer-on-basic-sas-and-sata.26145/

Is it just me or does the new "link preview" thing seem to dissuade people from actually following links?

 

[masonvanmeurs]

It actually has 8 SAS lanes, four are present on each SFF8087 connector. If you can, find someone specializing in IT recycling on eBay and you can often get the Dell or IBM branded cards in the range of $30-$40.

Your option 1 might be the better path if you can't swing that, but FreeNAS does like to kill USB thumb drives, which are generally not meant for the abuse of running an OS off of them.

LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode for ZFS FreeNAS unRAID Dell H200 H310 6Gbps SAS HBA... | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode for ZFS FreeNAS unRAID Dell H200 H310 6Gbps SAS HBA... at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Which model do I want?

 

[Jasse Jansson]

Your option 1 might be the better path if you can't swing that, but FreeNAS does like to kill USB thumb drives, which are generally not meant for the abuse of running an OS off of them.

I have 3 servers booting from a mirrored pair of USB sticks for at least 4 years.
They have lasted way longer than I expected, only one or two have failed so far.
On the other hand, I had 2 failed (=dead) SATA SSD's last year in two different computers, so I'm voting for mirrored USB sticks for realibility.
I boot from Kingston metal sticks, they are the only ones that easily fits in two adjacent USB ports.

 

[Redcoat]

Is it just me or does the new "link preview" thing seem to dissuade people from actually following links?

NAH! "If it ain't a link to a YouTube video it can't be any good!" (Anons).

 

[masonvanmeurs]

So I got the card in and installed it. If I boot the NAS without the card seated, it boots fine. But if I boot with the card installed it gets stuck. See the attached photo. My system is on 11.2-U7 with dual E5420s and 16Gigs of ram. Here's a link to the manual for my server.

 

[jgreco]

Well that looks broken.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Boot a different OS? Try a fresh install of freenas on a USB stick just for testing. You can probably disconnect all your drives just to make sure your don't mess up your pool.

 

[masonvanmeurs]

Well that looks broken.

Would you recommend disconnecting all my drives and then a fresh install of freenas if that doesn't work?

 

[jgreco]

I don't think an install is going to be any help, though it can't really hurt. That looks like something's wrong with the controller. Try disconnecting everything from it and then see if it works. Add one device back at a time.