New to FreeNAS - Just bought a new system

[SBS219]

Just bought a Think Server TS440 with a Xeon E3 proc. Instead of buying all 8 drives at once, is it possible to buy a few at first then grow the array as I add more?

Also, I saw someone said they put their RAID 500 controller in "IT mode"; What exactly is "IT mode" and how do you do that?

Anything I should be aware of that may become an issue with this system in the future?

 

[Ericloewe]

You'll want to read cyberjock's guide, which answers your questions:

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

 

[SBS219]

Thanks for that.

Any idea about the RAID controller or what IT mode is?

 

[anodos]

Thanks for that.

Any idea about the RAID controller or what IT mode is?

IT mode stands for "initiator target". It presents each drive individually to the host, which is what you want when you are using ZFS. Read the above-linked presentation.

 

[jmatt3685]

Hey anodos,
I've read that guide backwards and forwards and I still have the same question as the OP... any idea on how I set up the IT mode? My google-fu hasn't helped me find anything clear :(

 

[marbus90]

crossflashing to LSI 9211. and you're clearly confused about that LSI card. (hint hint)

 

[jmatt3685]

lol... I am! Mainly because there isn't any pci card in my 440. I was also wondering why I couldn't just change the "configure sata as" in the bios to achi???

 

[Ericloewe]

lol... I am! Mainly because there isn't any pci card in my 440. I was also wondering why I couldn't just change the "configure sata as" in the bios to achi???

Because that has nothing at all to do with the SAS controller.

Do you even have an LSI controller? Doesn't sound like you do.

 

[jmatt3685]

I don't know if I do??? I've built tons of pc's before, but this is my first working with a server and I'm googling stuff like crazy but this part I can't seem to figure out. The 440 doesn't have any PCI cards and so I thought that the RAID controller was supposed to be there.

However, I'm probably going to be sending this version (9UX) back and getting the YUX version as it comes with the 8 bays installed. It's only about $100 more and the bay itself is $130!!!! If that has the RAID card, I know that I'll need to flash it.

 

[anodos]

I don't know if I do??? I've built tons of pc's before, but this is my first working with a server and I'm googling stuff like crazy but this part I can't seem to figure out. The 440 doesn't have any PCI cards and so I thought that the RAID controller was supposed to be there.

However, I'm probably going to be sending this version (9UX) back and getting the YUX version as it comes with the 8 bays installed. It's only about $100 more and the bay itself is $130!!!! If that has the RAID card, I know that I'll need to flash it.

The Lenovo raid-500 card is an optional add-on for the 4-bay server. I'd assume that the 8-bay one comes with it by default since most motherboards don't have 9 SATA ports. Just read the detailed specifications for the model you are purchasing.

 

[marbus90]

4 disk bays = no PCIe RAID card (9UX)
8 disk bays = with PCIe RAID card (YUX)

 

[DJ9]

I think the card that comes with the 8 bay version is a LSI 9240-8i, which can be flashed.