Dell PowerEdge 1950 (PERC 5) + Dell PowerVault MD1000 - FreeNAS can't see disks on GUI interface

[André Magrini]

Hello everybody!
I have FreeNAS 9.3.1 running on a USB drive at a Dell PowerEdge 1950 with a Dell PERC 5/e (LSI SAS1068) Adapter connected to a Dell PowerVault MD1000 by a SAS cable.
All devices are recognized by BIOS and by FreeNAS at the console, but it can't see disks on the web interface.
The command "camcontrol devlist" shows all disks at Dell PowerVault MD1000 (freenas.jgp), but I still can't see them on the web interface (freenas1.jgp), being impossible to create volumes.

Is there any known compatibility problem or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Fuganater]

Dell PERC cards are not recommended F/U/W FreeNAS. It is on the supported list but there are many out there that have issues with these cards.

This is from the Hardware Recommendations thread.

If the controller you want to use is an Adaptec, Dell Perc, Highpoint, or some no-name brand you shouldn't even try to use them. All of these may or may not "work" but you'll find out later they don't properly handle SMART monitoring, SMART testing, passing of errors from the disk to the system, etc. Don't put your data at risk and go with *any* of these brands. You can thank us for saving your data later. They also can cause major performance problems.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Pretty sure the PERC5 series is equivalent to the LSI 8400 series, not the 1068. As @Fuganater says and links, don't use this card.

 

[André Magrini]

Thank you very much, guys.
I'm thinking about LSI SAS 9207-8e (LSI SAS2308 controller) for about U$280, what do you say?
http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9207-8e

It seems to come with IT mode firmware and no RAID support, wich I think is exactly what I need.
Can anybody confirm if this will work with FreeNAS and Dell MD1000?

Thanks again!

 

[André Magrini]

Pretty sure the PERC5 series is equivalent to the LSI 8400 series, not the 1068. As @Fuganater says and links, don't use this card.

It seems to be, but there is a "SAS1068 B0" on the chipset. Anyway, it's a Dell PERC 5, so....not recommended.
Thank you!

 

[BigDave]

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/9.3R/hardware.html
Supported hardware can be found here, as FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD.
If your controller is listed, you have driver support in FreeNAS 9.3

 

[HoneyBadger]

It seems to be, but there is a "SAS1068 B0" on the chipset. Anyway, it's a Dell PERC 5, so....not recommended.
Thank you!

If that's the case, it must be a SAS 5/e (different from PERC 5/e) which is a rebranded SAS1068. Here's a thread of a user on Overclock.net who successfully flashed LSI1068 IT firmware onto a SAS5/i (similar model, but internal SAS ports)

http://www.overclock.net/t/629200/flash-a-dell-sas-5-ir-with-lsi-firmware-not-a-perc

Note that this user had initial difficulties with the LSI ROM BIOS being too large for the Dell ROM chip (at least I believe that was the root cause) - so you may have to modify the flashing procedure.

 

[André Magrini]

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/9.3R/hardware.html
Supported hardware can be found here, as FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD.
If your controller is listed, you have driver support in FreeNAS 9.3

Thank you, man! The LSI SAS2308 controller is listed, I'll get a LSI SAS 9207-8e.

 

[André Magrini]

If that's the case, it must be a SAS 5/e (different from PERC 5/e) which is a rebranded SAS1068. Here's a thread of a user on Overclock.net who successfully flashed LSI1068 IT firmware onto a SAS5/i (similar model, but internal SAS ports)

http://www.overclock.net/t/629200/flash-a-dell-sas-5-ir-with-lsi-firmware-not-a-perc

Note that this user had initial difficulties with the LSI ROM BIOS being too large for the Dell ROM chip (at least I believe that was the root cause) - so you may have to modify the flashing procedure.

Thank you for the tip! I'm a bit confused, but on boot it shows SAS 6/iR for the integrated controller (internal Dell 1950 drives) and PERC 5/e for the PCI-E Dell Adapter. I took some pictures of the adapter and the chipset: