Dell T20 Storage Controller Question

[jochen]

I'm intending to build my new home server based on a T20 with a Xeon E3 CPU.

Storage configuration:
2*SSD boot device (RAID 1). I'm intending to run FreeNAS on ESXi. I want to use VT-d for the NIC and storage controller.
4*4TB WD Red managed by FreeNAS.

I have two options regarding the storage controller:

1. attach the 4 WD drives to the onboard, Intel based storage controller and attach the 2 SSDs to basic SATA controller (any recommendations?).
2. install a LSI 9240-4i (JBOD) and connect the 4 WD to it. The 2 SSDs would then be connected to the onboard SATA controller.

Now my questions:

1. Which of the configurations would perform better?
2. Is the LSI 9240 powerful enough for the 4 WDs?
3. Any concerns regarding stability with any of the possible configurations.

Thanks for your help!
Jochen

 

[cyberjock]

RAID for boot device is stupid. Waste of time, money, and you'll figure out that it just won't work. ;)

VT-d hasn't worked well for NICs. Not sure why, and I'm not sure if I'm just unlucky like that. Storage controllers may or may not work. But, if you are planning to do VT-d, you can expect zero support from the forum if you have a problem. We do not support or condone FreeNAS in a VM. If you don't have the experience and knowledge to handle FreeNAS in a VM yourself you shouldn't be doing it.

VT-d usually doesn't work fro SATA controllers that are on-board. There's some exceptions, but I don't know what they are.

1. Either will perform the same
2. Yes.
3. Virtualization is seriously dangerous unless you are an ESXi pro. The fact that you mentioned VT-d but didn't use the word virtualization tells me you may not be experienced enough to understand what you are doing.