Need Mobo/cpu combo for quality but entry level TrueNAS core build.

[Etorix]

I do not say that the card is genuine because I have no skills in spotting fake cards. I do not say it is fake, for the very same reason.
I say I do not see anything obviously suspicious in the eBay listing. The lack of "typical LSI markings" is to be expected for a HP-branded card.
And, since the seller has several items, the card is the picture is probably not the very one you'll get anyway.

I have no personal experience with this seller. I see he only lists recycled server parts, including several models of SAS HBA and matching cables. No obvious red flag for me.
If I were in the UK and looking for a HBA pre-flashed in IT-mode (at its all important cables!), I could consider buying one his cards—the cheapest model with the connectors in the place which best suits my case. But this is not an endorsement: My lawyer and my doctor strongly advise against providing any endorsements or guarantees to an avowed paranoid.

 

[jgreco]

Can someone advise (or better still link) to a business or an eBay/Amazon seller in the UK that can be trusted?

You can do this research yourself, if you like.

Hardware Buying Guide - some tips for not getting ripped off

I've been giving this information out piecemeal for years, and should maybe have it summarized in one place. There's been a lot of people who are wary of secondary market sources for hardware, such as eBay, due to bad experiences with other...

www.truenas.com

 

[jgreco]

a PCIe to SATA card, apart from the cabling and connectors?

10 Port SATA 3.0 to PCIe X1 Expansion Card PCI Express SATA Adapter SATA3 S6I2 | eBay

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">10 Port SATA 3.0 to PCIe X1 Expansion Card PCI Express SATA Adapter SATA3 S6I2.</p> <br> <p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Used, removed from working computer</p> <br> <p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Adding...

www.ebay.co.uk

The 10 port PCIe x1 card will be the thing I warn against in my article

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use port multipliers, and use cheap SATA controllers only after extensive research. SATA controllers and SATA...

www.truenas.com

which also, I believe, talks about some of the problems associated with them.

 

[Ericloewe]

The 5 SATA cables might be worth more than the actual controller.

 

[jgreco]

The 5 SATA cables might be worth more than the actual controller.

Jeez, people used to have the decency to warn C&C before saying stuff like this. How the world has changed, and not for the better.

 

[jackdinn]

The 10 port PCIe x1 card will be the thing I warn against in my article

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use port multipliers, and use cheap SATA controllers only after extensive research. SATA controllers and SATA...

www.truenas.com

which also, I believe, talks about some of the problems associated with them.

NO, i was never going to buy the pcie X1 10 SATA cards, it was just an example when asking what the difference was.

I have been watching "Art of Server" videos and reading other "how to avoid fake HBA's" and reading items that turned up in a search here.

I have just watched a Z400 "build a TrueNAS" video and the chap on there says he is going to use 2 SSD's in RAID 1 as the boot/OS of his TrueNAS? I didn't think it was even possible to present a RAID pool as a drive to TrueNAS https://youtu.be/K2Gh7mbwZP4?t=421 I mean the Z420 has a built in RAID controller, if i can use that to mirror together at least a couple of SSD's for the TrueNAS OS then that would save me the sata ports for the 6 storage drives that i would like and i wouldn't need a HBA card at all?

I will do my best and take a shot, it's all i can do.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I was not able to find out how many SATA ports this Z400 (HPE, right?) brings. Frequently it's all or nothing: enable RAID mode in BIOS or AHCI. You definitely want the latter for TrueNAS. If you have enough ports for 6 Storage drives and two boot drives you can mirror the boot drives with ZFS.

If this is a really unusual configuration with a separate RAID controller for booting and 6x SATA/SAS HBA, then yes, for booting RAID is considered ok. I use ZFS mirroring throughout, though. No RAID hardware anywhere but my Microserver running ESXi.

 

[jackdinn]

I was not able to find out how many SATA ports this Z400 (HPE, right?) brings. Frequently it's all or nothing: enable RAID mode in BIOS or AHCI. You definitely want the latter for TrueNAS. If you have enough ports for 6 Storage drives and two boot drives you can mirror the boot drives with ZFS.

If this is a really unusual configuration with a separate RAID controller for booting and 6x SATA/SAS HBA, then yes, for booting RAID is considered ok. I use ZFS mirroring throughout, though. No RAID hardware anywhere but my Microserver running ESXi.

Ok so after a lot of digging i have found info on the mobo i have brought (HP Z420 V2). I also find myself out of my depth with some of the tech on the system. I am left to wonder what all these SATA/SAS/SCU/AHCI stuff is.

There are SATA ports all over the place (10 according to the tech spec's), and a coupe SAS connections.

Will i be able to use 2 SSD's and 6 HDD all in standard SATA ports without needing to mess around with the RAID?

Im going to have to find a pdf/manual that explains how this board & its BIOS works, because other than just plugging things into SATA's I'm quite lost.

 

[Ericloewe]

The short and sweet version is that you have 10 fairly-normal SATA ports. Some of which nominally support SAS, but that's best disregarded.

Beyond the 3 Gb/s limitation in some ports, just be sure to set everything to AHCI.

 

[jgreco]

I am left to wonder what all these SATA/SAS/SCU/AHCI stuff is.

There are SATA ports all over the place (10 according to the tech spec's), and a coupe SAS connections.

Don't be afraid to be SAS-sy ... a primer on basic SAS and SATA

With the introduction of SAS 12Gbps, seems like "it's time" to do a braindump on SAS. Work in progress, as usual. History By the late '90's, SCSI and PATA were the dominant technologies to attach disks. Both were parallel bus multiple drop topologies and this kind of sucked. SATA and Serial...

www.truenas.com

AHCI is a formal protocol for host-side SATA compliance. You probably want AHCI mode where an option is offered.

SAS is a protocol that can support both SAS and SATA drives. See the link for information on the weird connectors sometimes used. Ask questions if needed.

SCU originally meant SAS Control Unit, but more recently Storage Control Unit, some of which do not do SAS and only do SATA. These are sometimes only 3Gbps instead of 6Gbps, which is fine for HDD's but less ideal for fast modern SATA SSD's.

 

[awasb]

Budget Storage Server 2022! | 84TB NAS

Welcome to my latest video featuring my new 84tb storage server for 2022! Let me know what you think in the comments below!Video sources mentioned:Craft Comp...

youtu.be

From 11:30 on the important settings in BIOS are explained.

Have fun! The Z420 is really a very nice machine.

 

[jackdinn]

I just had to watch the end of the video, lol. I had got into a sidetrack of searching for answers and never got back to finish the video in full. Thx.

Furthermore, I have been searching and found some info.

English Community-Lenovo Community

I think I shall be OK. I shall update the bios and make sure it's all reset to factory default, and it should allow me all the SATA ports I need. Not only that, but I have also found a Z420 user manual, although I wish I could download it https://www.manua.ls/hp/z420/manual?p=1

 

[awasb]

HP Z420 Workstation | HP® Customer Support

Find support and troubleshooting info including software, drivers, and manuals for your HP Z420 Workstation

support.hp.com

 

[jackdinn]

HP Z420 Workstation | HP® Customer Support

Find support and troubleshooting info including software, drivers, and manuals for your HP Z420 Workstation

support.hp.com

O, its working now. Iv tried to go there before but it would not load. Seems ok now though.

405 Not Allowed​

---

nginx

 

[jackdinn]

A HDD cannot saturate a 3 Gb link, so it indeed does not matter.

Im now looking at HDD's, what do you mean by "a HDD can not saturate a 3 Gb link"? Most of the NAS grade drives im looking at are 6Gb/s

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

That's the interface speed. The data won't get on and off the platter that fast.

 

[jackdinn]

That's the interface speed. The data won't get on and off the platter that fast.

Sorry, not sure what you mean. So the sata II is 3Gb/s and the HDD's of the time were 3Gb/s which makes sense. Then the SATA III was 6Gb/s so the newer HDD's started becoming 6Gb/s. This would all make logical sense to me but you are saying no, its not like that?

P.S. Im looking for 6 X HDD's LFF , for NAS but im not really rich and WD red+'s X6 or IronWolf pro's etc we are talking £1K+. I don't mind second hand/refurbished as i'm really just tinkering, but i will also be actually using this setup.

Suggestions for drives and/or places to buy in the UK anyone? Many thx.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

According to Western Digital's official spec sheet a WD Red Pro 16 TB will have a sustained data rate of up to 259MB/s. The interface speed is irrelevant.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Sorry, not sure what you mean. So the sata II is 3Gb/s and the HDD's of the time were 3Gb/s which makes sense. Then the SATA III was 6Gb/s so the newer HDD's started becoming 6Gb/s. This would all make logical sense to me but you are saying no, its not like that?

Think of it like the tyres for a car. Those are rated for a certain maximum speed. Whether or not the car can go that fast in terms of the engine power, is a different matter. The interface has a defined max. bandwidth for transmission. But the HDD speed is a separate thing.

 

[jackdinn]

Think of it like the tyres for a car. Those are rated for a certain maximum speed. Whether or not the car can go that fast in terms of the engine power, is a different matter. The interface has a defined max. bandwidth for transmission. But the HDD speed is a separate thing.

Sure, i understand what is being said. I dont understand why all the HDD's listed in sales or wherever are always listed with the Gb/s, why do they even bother?

Seagate IronWolf, 4TB, NAS, Internal Hard Drive, CMR 3.5 Inch, SATA, 6GB/s, 5,400 RPM, 256MB Cache, for RAID Network Attached Storage, 3 year Rescue Services (ST4000VN006)

Is it just an advertising thing? I mean, they have the acronym SATA there, why not say SATA III and be done with it.