best solution to install on HP dl180 g6 with P410 raid controller

[ggp]

where to install: usb? an internal CF adapter? ssd?

for storage, is it better to use daN raid volumes created by P410 or ZFS RAID? e.g. I have some doubts regarding disk management (a disk belonging to a daN with failed sectors could cause weird problems if FreeNAS cannot access it directly

TIA
ggp

 

[chrisb915]

Did you ever hear back on this post? I'm trying to utilize a similar box (14 sata on P410) I get the feeling that this raid card will make recovery of a failed disk a nightmare if I use zfs.

 

[survive]

Hi chrisb915,

I think your best plan might be to just ditch the P410 and replace it with an LSI SAS 9207-8i.

Might be worth a call to HP & see if there's any way to dumb the P410 down into something useful, but I wouldn't count on it....the LSI can be had for ~$250.00.

-Will

 

[cyberjock]

Personally, I don't think I was around in May like I am now. I lurk the forum trying to answer questions when I get bored. It keeps my mind sharp and I get to see what problems people are having regularly so I can avoid them.

I don't know if I would have answered this question. The OP provided no information except for the hardware he wants to use.

Where to install is in the manual. Why wouldn't you read the manual and instead just post on the forum? I'm sure if he had used the search button he would have also found answers to one of his questions(USB 99% of the time).

Whether to use a P410 or ZFS RAID is definitely answered in the manual. I'd bet it stated in at least 3 places that you should avoid hardware RAID whenever possible. I'm betting the manual states why too! Again, he probably didn't do a forum search :(

I just don't feel compelled to help someone that hasn't at least tried to answer their own questions. Anyone posting to the forum should have read the manual and at least tried to search the forum before posting. Instead he got one post and no answer. I'm not surprised.

But if you have done your searches and you're trying to understand something and it looks like you even made a conscious effort to figure out the answer, I'll try my best to help you. I've written quite a few posts that took more than 20 minutes to write because someone asked a question and they definitely did their homework.

It's all about if you're trying to feed yourself or if you are expecting me to feed you. I don't like having to feed people. If it was my job and I was getting paid, that's a totally different story. Now that I have written that presentation I point more people to the presentation because it seems about 75% of all noob mistakes are made in the presentation. So now, you should have used the forum, the manual, and the presentation. I can't force feed it to them...

 

[chrisb915]

Thanks Will

I was trying to find out if anyone had a way of creating JBOD on the P410 so that I could use zfs on this box.
Your answer was helpful.

 

[chrisb915]

After looking at the slides https://dl.dropbox.com/u/57989017/Fr...uide PPT.zip I think the best way to use the P410 might be to create 14 Raid 0 volumes with one disk each. I could then create vdevs from each of these volumes and then RaidZ-2 several pools from these devices. That way if one of the drives fails, I lose one (replaceable) vdev from a pool which I can quickly replace by swapping out the bad drive. Won't be 'hot swap' but it should be easy to trouble shoot. Am I missing something here?

 

[cyberjock]

You do. If you ever lose a vdev, you lose your zpool. The redundancy keeps a vdev working when a drive fails. If you did 2 vdevs of 7(which is not the optimal configuration... but anyway) on a RAIDZ2 and you lost a disk you would not lose a vdev. You'd lose a vdev when you've lost the equivalent of the number of parity drives plus 1 additional(3 for RAIDZ2).

Controllers that use RAID0 single drives often will NOT inform FreeNAS of the failure. FreeNAS will never warn you that you have a failed drive until you reboot. You will likely only be able to determine a drive has failed if you do a zpool status and see a drive with millions of errors.

 

[survive]

Hi chrisb915,

Making a bunch of RAID0 devices is what you have to do when you are dealing with a proper hardware RAID card. It is not an ideal situation and I stand by my advice to bin\hock the P410 and get a "real" zfs controller for your system.

-Will

 

[chrisb915]

Going with the LSI card

Ok, so now i'm 'getting' it. Those cards are a little above $300 most places, found one for $290 on E-bay.

I wasn't trying to 'force' the issue with the P410, it's just what I inherited and you know what it's like to get someone else to cut a check.

 

[DoulosGeek]

P410 here too. Dang it. Looks like best option is to scrap it. It's up and running but scary situation with 14 RAID 0's. I've tested by removing a drive or two...FreeNAS never gives me any indication anything is wrong.

If I purchase an LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i) will it allow me to address all 14 drives through the HP SATA backplane?

Thanks.

Newb out.