AVAGO 9300i-8i + Intel DC P4510s? Please help

[beneliezer]

Hi Folks, I'm new to this area of storage hardware, and am trying to build a home file server.
I purchased Fujitsu D3307-A12 D3307-A12 CP400i 12GB RAID HBA Card SAS3008 9300-8I from eBay
to attach my 2x Intel SSD DC P4510 drives, but they do not appear in the BIOS of the card.
This is all going into a Dell Precision Tower 5810.

Is everything here compatible? Having a world of trouble. Any advice would be appreciated. I've googled any which variation I can but with vary little success?
I also have no idea if the card is flashed in IT mode or not, or if this is even required. I am simply planning to set these two drives in a RAID 0 for performance storage over my 10G network.

Thanks!

 

[HoneyBadger]

Hello!

2x Intel SSD DC P4510

These are PCIe SSDs - while the connector looks similar to standard SAS, it is actually the "U.2" connector, an the drives are attempting to communicate via NVMe. Your controller is only capable of speaking with SAS/SATA devices.

You would either need to obtain a "tri-mode" HBA such as the LSI 9400 series, that supports the NVMe protocol, or use a card that will pass through the PCIe lanes from the slot into individual connectors, such as the Dell GY1TD or P31H2.

Your workstation does support PCIe bifurcation, so inserting one of the Dell cards into an x16 slot should allow it to be split into x4x4x4x4 with four lanes going to each of the connectors.

 

[beneliezer]

Hello!



These are PCIe SSDs - while the connector looks similar to standard SAS, it is actually the U.2 attempting to communicate via NVMe. Your controller is only capable of speaking with SAS/SATA devices.

You would either need to obtain a "tri-mode" HBA such as the LSI 9400 series, that supports the NVMe protocol, or use a card that will pass through the PCIe lanes from the slot into individual connectors, such as the Dell GY1TD or P31H2.

Your workstation does support PCIe bifurcation, so inserting one of the Dell cards into an x16 slot should allow it to be split into x4x4x4x4 with four lanes going to each of the connectors.

Thank you so much for the reply, thank you for clearing that up. Would the Dell GY1TD replace the 9300-8i I purchased? or run in addition to?

 

[HoneyBadger]

The Dell GY1TD is NVMe-only connection card, and it's limited to four devices - if you just plan to add two more DC P4510 or similar devices, then it would "replace" the 9300-8i in that sense.

The LSI card will be useful only if you plan to add SAS/SATA - although you also have some ports on your motherboard that can be used as well.

 

[Etorix]

The GY1D will further require suitable cables: MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) to U.2 (SFF-8639). One for each of the four drives.
If you only need one DC P4510 and have a full height slot, forget the GY1D and get this adapter instead:

Adapter, U.2 to PCIe - 2.5' U.2 NVMe SSD - Drive Adapters and Drive Converters | Hard Drive Accessories | StarTech.com

U.2 to PCIe Adapter for 2.5' U.2 NVMe SSD - SFF-8639 - x4 PCI Express 4.0

www.startech.com

 

[beneliezer]

The Dell GY1TD is NVMe-only connection card, and it's limited to four devices - if you just plan to add two more DC P4510 or similar devices, then it would "replace" the 9300-8i in that sense.

The LSI card will be useful only if you plan to add SAS/SATA - although you also have some ports on your motherboard that can be used as well.

The Dell card won't provide RAID, though, right? Id need a 9400-8i for that? what's a good choice for this functionality?

 

[HoneyBadger]

The Dell card won't provide RAID, though, right? Id need a 9400-8i for that? what's a good choice for this functionality?

Your "RAID" functionality is delivered by ZFS itself on the software level - you don't need (and in fact are encouraged to avoid) hardware that does its own RAID.

Once the drives are connected, you would add them both to a pool, and configure it in ZFS as a "stripe" if you want a RAID0 equivalent.

I would recommend reading a bit of the excellent Introduction to ZFS resource written by @Ericloewe

Introduction to ZFS

This is a short introduction to ZFS. It is really only intended to convey the bare minimum knowledge needed to start diving into ZFS and is in no way meant to cut Michael W. Lucas' and Allan Jude's book income. It is a bit of a spiritual...

www.truenas.com

Also, as mentioned above by @Etorix you will need to consider additional cables. Consider the overall cost of the adaptor card with cables vs. the individual in-slot cards like the StarTech alternative, but also try to determine if you're likely to expand beyond the two drives you have now.

 

[beneliezer]

Your "RAID" functionality is delivered by ZFS itself on the software level - you don't need (and in fact are encouraged to avoid) hardware that does its own RAID.

Once the drives are connected, you would add them both to a pool, and configure it in ZFS as a "stripe" if you want a RAID0 equivalent.

I would recommend reading a bit of the excellent Introduction to ZFS resource written by @Ericloewe

Introduction to ZFS

This is a short introduction to ZFS. It is really only intended to convey the bare minimum knowledge needed to start diving into ZFS and is in no way meant to cut Michael W. Lucas' and Allan Jude's book income. It is a bit of a spiritual...

www.truenas.com

Also, as mentioned above by @Etorix you will need to consider additional cables. Consider the overall cost of the adaptor card with cables vs. the individual in-slot cards like the StarTech alternative, but also try to determine if you're likely to expand beyond the two drives you have now.

Thanks, I already have those cables, that's why i tried connecting to the AVAGO 9300.. I'll grab one of these Dell cards, thanks for the help everyone.