SOLVED Can I move disks to a different SATA port?

[Lasse]

Hi,

I have a FreeNAS server with an M1015 controller, and 8 disks attached.
Will it break my zvol if I move the disks from the M1015 controller onto the onboard SATA ports?

 

[Jailer]

Nope

 

[Lasse]

thank you for the swift reply :)

 

[Phil2112]

I am planning to do the same, only in the opposite direction since I plan to migrate my OS from a USB stick to an SSD for stability. I purchased an IBM Serveraid M1015 SAS/SATA Controller 46M0831 and want to move two of my six HDDs to the controller (I'm using all the SATA ports now and need one for the SSD). Do I need to do anything special in FreeNAS before moving the SATA connections or just turn off the machine, move the cables, and then load the OS onto the SSD and then import the volume? I have saved a configuration backup, but not sure I want to use it. I'd rather improve on the mistakes I made the first time starting fresh. I will probably wait until 10 is available in stable form but wanted to make sure there is nothing else that needs to be done before moving things around.

Or, alternatively does it make sense to ad the SSD to the controller?

 

[gpsguy]

If you're using FreeNAS 9.1, you'll need to flash the IBM 1015 to IT mode with the P20 version of the firmware.

 

[Phil2112]

Thank you very much, good to know. Yes, using 9.1.I should receive the controller in a few days, so I can take care of that before the migration. DOS bootable flash drive with the files loaded and ready to go.

 

[jgreco]

Or, alternatively does it make sense to ad the SSD to the controller?

It is more complex to make the system boot from a HBA (do you have the BIOS option ROM flashed on the HBA? Configuring the system BIOS? etc) and the HBA's performance with SSD will be somewhat less than it would be on the mainboard ports, so there are no advantages that I can think of trying to get the SSD to work on the HBA.

 

[Phil2112]

It is more complex to make the system boot from a HBA (do you have the BIOS option ROM flashed on the HBA? Configuring the system BIOS? etc) and the HBA's performance with SSD will be somewhat less than it would be on the mainboard ports, so there are no advantages that I can think of trying to get the SSD to work on the HBA.

Thank you very much. I was hoping to avoid it and you've given me ample reason to do so (just thought I'd ask in case...). Thank you, by the way, for all the good information in this and previous posts about this topic and how to cross flash the IBM 1015 and then upgrade to P20.

 

[Jon K]

Thank you very much. I was hoping to avoid it and you've given me ample reason to do so (just thought I'd ask in case...). Thank you, by the way, for all the good information in this and previous posts about this topic and how to cross flash the IBM 1015 and then upgrade to P20.

Not to play devil's advocate but flashing the BIOS is about 3 more seconds of work and booting from the SSD off of the HBA isn't very complex - not sure on performance, but don't let configuration deter you.

 

[jgreco]

Not to play devil's advocate but flashing the BIOS is about 3 more seconds of work and booting from the SSD off of the HBA isn't very complex - not sure on performance, but don't let configuration deter you.

It depends. We've seen some hardware platforms that don't always play that nice with the LSI BIOS's, and beginners sometimes find the LSI BIOS a little daunting. Given that there's no advantage to booting from the HBA, I usually suggest it be used for data disks, all other things being equal.

 

[Jon K]

It depends. We've seen some hardware platforms that don't always play that nice with the LSI BIOS's, and beginners sometimes find the LSI BIOS a little daunting. Given that there's no advantage to booting from the HBA, I usually suggest it be used for data disks, all other things being equal.

I see - I personally like to flash the BIOS if possible to see firmware version/etc. at boot but I can see that it'd be a hassle if not compatible.

One issue I am having, which I thought flashing the BIOS would help, is that none of the status LEDs on my Dell R510 12-bay are active with an H200 flashed to 9211-8i, with BIOS or without. I can live with it but I do wish it'd work. I am suspecting a backplane incompatibility w/ the non-dell firwmare controller. BIOS didn't help, so if there's known issues I can see why you'd avoid.

 

[jgreco]

Drive activity, or error/location?

 

[Jon K]

Drive activity, or error/location?

"Yes."

Actually, I haven't had a failure so I don't know if that works, but drive activity/presence isn't lit. Did work w/ H200 in standard RAID mode w/ Dell firmware/BIOS. No activity either. I mapped serials to slot #'s and set descriptions, but obviously that's less ideal for less experienced users.

 

[Ericloewe]

Activity is generally handled by the backplane itself, with the controller doing nothing. Either way, the BIOS extension ROM itself wouldn't even be executed with the OS running (it is mapped into memory, but it's just wasting a couple MB of address space, of which there is plenty).

Error LEDs do need controller intervention. There's no documented neat way of doing that, but sas2ircu is your friend.

Did work w/ H200 in standard RAID mode w/ Dell firmware/BIOS.

Dell backplane? Probably some proprietary crap format their firmware uses....

 

[jgreco]

Either way, the BIOS extension ROM itself wouldn't even be executed with the OS running

This would be more of a controller firmware thing, I've definitely seen designs where the controller was managing the drive activity lights, but I can't recall having seen that recently. Though I guess at this point 6Gbps SAS isn't recent. Bleh.

 

[Mirfster]

One issue I am having, which I thought flashing the BIOS would help, is that none of the status LEDs on my Dell R510 12-bay are active with an H200 flashed to 9211-8i, with BIOS or without.

Never seen that issue on C2100/FS12-TY, so I would think that perhaps there may be a jumper that needs setting on the backplane possibly.

 

[jgreco]

Never seen that issue on C2100/FS12-TY, so I would think that perhaps there may be a jumper that needs setting on the backplane possibly.

That's a good idea, but I'll also point out that we've had a number of users over the years experience blowback from Dell when asking for support in crossflashing Dell controllers to IT. It's apparently met with fierce resistance. I don't have any particular recollection of anyone doing so and then saying that the drive activity fails to work, but it does seem like it would be possible that there's a firmware angle to this.

 

[Phil2112]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I got the card yesterday and learned a few new things in the process of cross-flashing and updating to P20 (ran into the 'failed to initialize PAL' problem, quickly sorted with the help of forum search. Everything is working great. Will put the SSD in place once I receive it. Looking forward to release of 10, but it sounds like that is a few months off.

 

[jgreco]

Looking forward to release of 10, but it sounds like that is a few months off.

Probably "at least."