Switching NAS to FreeNAS with RocketRaid 2680

[BurntTech]

So i've read the cheaper rocketraid aren't supported very well. I've got a system that is a 24 drive running on multiple rocketraid 2680s. Its been windows server, openmediavault, and linux installations over the years. I would like to use FreeNAS but not sure FreeBSD is going to be as easy for these cards. I found the source code for the FreeBSD drivers for this model. I realized going through the instructions to compile this with FreeBSD kernels that it might cause FreeNAS not run correctly if the kernel for FreeNAS is already different from the base source. Is building FreeNAS from source with the drivers a valid option? I don't have a budget to replace the rocketraid cards and understand they are cheap.

 

[wblock]

It's not that they are cheap or not, it's that they are hardware RAID cards, which prevents ZFS from working properly. ZFS really needs direct access to the drives, which is generally provided by an HBA adapter, or "JBOD".

It is possible but not practical to build your own drivers for FreeNAS. It would have to be repeated each time there is an update to FreeNAS (roughly every two months or so). Various versions of the well-supported LSI 9211-8i are available starting at around $50 for rebranded Dell or IBM cards. It's just not worth the hassle to go to so much effort to use other controllers, let alone risking data. It might be possible to sell those RocketRaid cards, too.

 

[Chris Moore]

I've got a system that is a 24 drive running on multiple rocketraid 2680s.

Definitely sell those Rocketraid cards on eBay and buy a proper HBA.
These are the ones I use, they just need to be flashed to IT mode: http://www.ebay.com/itm/3G0NX-Dell-PERC-H310-RAID-Controller-Card-UCSA-801-03G0NX-/172890791882
Or, you can get them already flashed to the latest IT firmware: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H310-6...-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID-/162661388939
If you use a SAS Expander, you can run all 24 drives from one controller.
What kind of chassis do you have?

 

[Ericloewe]

All hacking aside, their drivers have historically been pretty horrible. The Rocket 750, which was the most promising card of theirs, was found to be unusable due to a very crappy firmware - after having them issue a few supposedly fixed versions. You can find the specifics somewhere on the forum.

 

[BurntTech]

I'm running a chenbro case with 6 of 4x sas daughter boards. I've been running 2x the two port sas cards and two sata(4 port each) to sas combiner to last two daughter boards

 

[Chris Moore]

I'm running a chenbro case with 6 of 4x sas daughter boards. I've been running 2x the two port sas cards and two sata(4 port each) to sas combiner to last two daughter boards

Not sure where you are going with that. You could replace all of those cards with one SAS HBA and a SAS Expander card, you would just need to replace the forward breakout cables you are using on the SATA cards with cables like this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151078
The for the SAS Expander, you could use a card like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/487738-001-...ofile-Expander-Raid-Card-4XCord-/161696131154
It even comes with the cables you would need. You take the I/O from the SAS HBA and run that into the expander card then run the cables from the expander card ports to all your drive backplanes.
The only potential problem I see is that this older model card might not recognize large drives, above 2TB.

Did you ever give a rundown on the hardware you are using, other than the drive controllers? I don't know what size drives you have.
Please understand that despite the fact that the "FreeNAS" operating system is free, it is the development channel for the TrueNAS operating system that runs on iXsystems enterprise grade gear. They are not spending a lot of development time to support hardware they will never use.

 

[BurntTech]

I misspoke as it appears we didn't get the Chenbro its a NORCO RPC-4224 and also thinking the wording around expander is wrong too and more like a reverse breakout cable for the bottom two boards. Most of the HBAs seem to come in at the same price as the expander :) EDIT there is 2x 16x pcie, I'll compare the LSI and the HP to see if they would work

8x 2TB WD ENT
2x 3TB HSGT
2x 150gb WD 10k Raptor
4x 2TB ES.2
2x 450gb 15k SAS, forgot the brand

Using SATA from MB to SAS backplanes
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-Mini-SAS-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC

Here is a video of some guy opening it up in public sorta interesting. Sas board is at 5:22 but my guess is this is a pass-through as it doesn't appear to have any chipsets on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=tf2lYw5jCA8

 

[Chris Moore]

Here is a video of some guy opening it up in public sorta interesting.

That, 'some guy,' is Linus Sebastian of Linus Media Group.
This card: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-RES2S...TA-2x-SFF8087-Cables-2-port-bad-/112559058490
Does not actually need to plug into a slot. It can get power from the MOLEX power port on the top edge of the card. It connects in much the same way as the other.

 

[Chris Moore]

It would be helpful if you gave the rundown on all the parts used in your system.
Here are some recommendations: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/updated-forum-rules-4-11-17.45124/

 

[danb35]

Here is a video of some guy opening it up in public sorta interesting.

That "some guy" is Linus of Linus Tech Tips. For the love of all that is good and decent, don't pay any attention to anything he says, unless as an example of how not to do things.