Headless: Flashing my LSI 2308 controller (ASRock e3c224d4i-14s) to IT mode

[intelligence]

Hey!

So finally got around to building my first FreeNAS rig. So far it's been smooth sailing (expect that the e3c224d4i-14s does not fit the U-NAS NSC800, but I knew that before hand).

I need to get my SAS controller to IT mode, and it seems a small problem has appeared. I have no display at home as we only have laptops. I rather solve this without moving the NAS to work or obtaining a display. So I wonder if it's possible to flash it via IPMI or some other nifty solution? I was trying to install FreeNAS via IPMI yesterday but had trouble access the .iso image via my osx share. So if it's possible to do via IPMI, I'd be very glad if someone could point me in a direction so I can get the "images redirection" up and running (it demands ip, source path, username, password and domain name to setup the redirection).

Any other ideas are very welcome!

P.S. Is this the correct image?
http://www.lsi.com/Pages/user/eula....t/pages/download-results.aspx?keyword=9211-8i

Thanks

 

[Linkman]

I don't have the same board (SuperMicro X10SL7) but I flashed that board's on-board LSI controller via IPMI with no issues. Quoting one of my earlier posts...

(1) Using the info found on these forums, I've flashed the built-in LSI card on my X10SL7 to IT mode, version 16 (IPMI is fantastic, server boards rule! Mounted the ISO through IPMI from my desktop Ubuntu box, then used the IPMI interface to boot to EFI mode to flash the firmware from the mounted iso.)​

If I recall correctly, I used the virtual storage option in the IPMI virtual display app, and just pointed it at the ISO file on my desktop box. Didn't need IP, source path, etc. for that.

 

[Ericloewe]

Hey!

So finally got around to building my first FreeNAS rig. So far it's been smooth sailing (expect that the e3c224d4i-14s does not fit the U-NAS NSC800, but I knew that before hand).

I need to get my SAS controller to IT mode, and it seems a small problem has appeared. I have no display at home as we only have laptops. I rather solve this without moving the NAS to work or obtaining a display. So I wonder if it's possible to flash it via IPMI or some other nifty solution? I was trying to install FreeNAS via IPMI yesterday but had trouble access the .iso image via my osx share. So if it's possible to do via IPMI, I'd be very glad if someone could point me in a direction so I can get the "images redirection" up and running (it demands ip, source path, username, password and domain name to setup the redirection).

Any other ideas are very welcome!

P.S. Is this the correct image?
http://www.lsi.com/Pages/user/eula.aspx?file=http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Host%20Bus%20Adapters/Host%20Bus%20Adapters%20Common%20Files/SAS_SATA_6G_P16/9211_8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip&Source=http://www.lsi.com/support/pages/download-results.aspx?keyword=9211-8i

Thanks

Yes, of course you can use IPMI. Anything you can do locally, you can do through IPMI (as long as no jumpers are involved - like they are with ME flashes).

The Java IPMI viewer thingy should have an option to mount ISOs, which works as it should (unlike the webGUI option).

You might want to use ASRock's firmware, though. I'm not sure if anyone has actually done this on the E3C224D4i-14S with LSI's firmware (i.e. - no guinea pigs yet).

 

[intelligence]

You might want to use ASRock's firmware, though

Know where I can pick that up? I've seen some people with this board mentioning that they've flashed, but haven't seen much details about it.

 

[Linkman]

Try Asrock...
http://www.asrockrack.com/support/ipmi.asp#LSI2308

They even label it "for FreeNAS"

 

[intelligence]

Jeez. My googling efforts turned up nothing. Thanks.

 

[Ericloewe]

Hey, that's cool. They actually made a short tutorial. Surprised it works in DOS, though.

 

[intelligence]

Ha. jviewer of course refuse to work: "Video Socket Error: Abnormal Termination"

 

[Ericloewe]

Ha. jviewer of course refuse to work: "Video Socket Error: Abnormal Termination"

Probably a Java error. That's the Achilles' heel of IPMI - the reliance of the viewer software on Java.

 

[intelligence]

Yeah. Probably – which leads to, can I get it sorted with the web gui? Not sure how I can get the gui to see the image on my shared folder from os x 10.9.5.

 

[Ericloewe]

Yeah. Probably – which leads to, can I get it sorted with the web gui? Not sure how I can get the gui to see the image on my shared folder from os x 10.9.5.

You definitely need the viewer to interact with the computer. Java 8 update 45 works fine for me.

 

[intelligence]

That's what I'm on already. Tried to install Win7 in VBox to test a different environment, but that failed aswell. It's simply not meant to be :)

 

[pttymuth]

Headless mode is the reason why I keep null modem cables around. Before IPMI was invented, this is how they'd to it.

Example: https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Connecting_to_the_Serial_Console#Client_Software

It doesn't make sense to me why servers need video adapters at all when FreeBSD, FreeNAS, Linux, and even Illumos all support headless operation through a null modem / serial connection.

 

[pirateghost]

Headless mode is the reason why I keep null modem cables around. Before IPMI was invented, this is how they'd to it.

Example: https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Connecting_to_the_Serial_Console#Client_Software

It doesn't make sense to me why servers need video adapters at all when FreeBSD, FreeNAS, Linux, and even Illumos all support headless operation through a null modem / serial connection.

But with ipmi we get all the functionality remotely....

 

[Darren Myers]

intelligence i would really like to see completed build photos of your U-NAS 800 i was considering one to do replication too of my primary.