Adaptec 8805 support

[Spacirek]

Hello,

I have question about Adaptec Raid 8805 support.

I know, that any kind of raid isn't good for FreeNAS. However, if I set this card to HBA mode, it should work as standard HBA adapter, right?? The card also has its own cache, but I do not plan to use it. Any help with configuration of 8805??

Anyone has any experience with it??

Thank you

 

[Chris Moore]

However, if I set this card to HBA mode, it should work as standard HBA adapter, right??

Not reliable, that's why we don't suggest using them.

This is a much better option :

Drive Controller: Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode
https://www.ebay.com/itm/162834659601
Price: US $56.55

 

[Spacirek]

I already have 2 8805 cards and I just wonder if someone expect a critical error with 8805??
The server will not be deployed in the production environment, just home storage.
I have lots of Adaptec Raid cards at work in HBA mode act as HBA card for non-storage systems (Windows and openSuse). And for long time without issue.
Is the FreeNAS so sensitive about card pretending to be HBA?? Or, is not the system tested under these conditions, with this card, so is not recommended to use it??
FreeBSD is the new world to me, so I just ask.

to Dell H310 - shipping of that card is more than price of card itself :D

ps: At work I use Dell systems all day and I know how unsupported hw work - we don't test it, it doesn't work :D

 

[Chris Moore]

I already have 2 8805 cards and I just wonder if someone expect a critical error with 8805??

joeschmuck, jgreco, any direct experience with the subject card.

I have lots of Adaptec Raid cards at work in HBA mode act as HBA card for non-storage systems (Windows and openSuse). And for long time without issue.

Those scenarios don't appear to include FreeBSD Unix, which relies on different hardware drivers. Also, in those applications, are you able to access the drive SMART data through the Adaptec card? That is often one of the problems with hardware RAID cards is that they don't pass SMART data from the drive even when used in HBA mode.

to Dell H310 - shipping of that card is more than price of card itself :D

It is an example. I am sure you can obtain a card we would recommend from a vendor that is geographically local to you.

These are the main recommended SAS HBA Controllers

LSI SAS 9211-8i
- 8-port, 6Gb/s SAS/SATA, PCI-e 2.0
LSI SAS 9207-8i
- 8-port, 6Gb/s SAS/SATA, PCI-e 3.0
IBM / Lenovo M1015/M115
- Same as LSI SAS 9211, must be crossflashed to IT mode
Dell H200
- Same as LSI SAS 9211, harder to crossflash
LSI SAS 9300-8i
- 8-port, 12Gb/s SAS / 6Gb/s SATA, PCI-e 3.0
LSI SAS2008
- Used in LSI SAS 9211 and many motherboards
LSI SAS2308
- Used in LSI SAS 9207 and many motherboards
LSI SAS3008
- Used in LSI SAS 9300 and many motherboards

The SAS 9300 are 12Gb/s and there is no need for that with mechanical drives.

 

[Chris Moore]

ps: At work I use Dell systems all day and I know how unsupported hw work - we don't test it, it doesn't work :D

It is a little different in this environment because we have users that will try something and report back how catastrophic the failure was and we try to keep track of what works and what doesn't. Usually, the things that we recommend are known to work reliably.

 

[jgreco]

joeschmuck, jgreco, any direct experience with the subject card.

No, but there've been lots of trouble with the Adaptec stuff in recent years. Which is a shame, as Adaptec was the go-to card back in the days of the AHA-1542, etc.

Not expected to work {well, correctly, at all}. Pick one.

Those scenarios don't appear to include FreeBSD Unix, which relies on different hardware drivers. Also, in those applications, are you able to access the drive SMART data through the Adaptec card? That is often one of the problems with hardware RAID cards is that they don't pass SMART data from the drive even when used in HBA mode.

Yeah, and there are a bunch of vendors who confuse "HBA" (which means direct attachment without intermediary) with "JBOD" (which is typically a virtual disk that maps to a physical disk, passed by a RAID controller). So usually if the device is capable of supporting RAID5, or always if the device has a battery, or cache, it is *NOT*AN*HBA* and *IS*A*JBOD*.

If the device presents to the OS as "Raidcard Mfr Virtual Disk" or some other clearly-not-a-HDD-mfr string, it is ABSOLUTELY a JBOD or RAID virtual disk, and this is Bad For FreeNAS. Check the "dmesg" output.

If the device presents to the OS as "Seagate ST4000DM000" or "WD WD80EFAX-68L" it is *likely* an HBA. Not actually guaranteed though.

Now the thing about HBA's is that they can be twitchy. Even the LSI's we recommend are twitchy, but if you follow the guidance, they're rock solid. And FreeNAS with ZFS will push these things, far harder than they get pushed in most other environments. The LSI HBA's when flashed to IT with the proper matching firmware have billions of aggregate run hours under FreeNAS so we have confidence that they will work.

Now, after having been told all this, of course you're free to go do what you want. At least speaking for myself, I expect that you understand that even the recommended stuff isn't guaranteed, and that you get to own any failures. Much of the stuff I've written for this forum, hardware suggestions, PSU sizing, burn-in stuff, heavy testing, is all about being paranoid in a direction that leads to a better chance of success.

 

[Spacirek]

Thanks for help :)
I just found more than 10 Dell Perc H310 in work :D The colleague throws them out of the workstations and replaces them with 8805 cards :D
Flashing them to IT mode was kind of easy and now just working fine
We consider them to be garbage, and throw them straight for re-selling :D

Sorry for bothering you all with 8805

And thanks for opening my mind about Dell Perc ;)