RAID card running as SATA passthrough (RS2WC040)

[Robert Thomspon]

Hey guys... trying to tackle my "slow" problem on my newly built Dell T7500...

I ordered a RS2WC040 RAID controller as it looked to be roughly what I need, with a price point that I liked and didn't care if I nuked it...
And I was going to follow the instructions for RS2WC080, as others have said the two cards are identical save for 4 drive support vs 8 drive support, and others have mentioned that the procedure and used files are the same)...
Anyway, I got it today, plugged it in, hooked up a 5TB drive to it just to see what would happen... lo and behold, it popped up in FreeNAS with the 5TB drive...
Now, I've never flashed IT mode before, so this was to be my experimental card... But, it seems to me that someone may have saved me he trouble...
Having never gone from a RAID IR controller to a RAID IT controller before... What should I look for to know for sure that this thing is in RAID IT mode (I'm not entirely sure the nomenclature... so forgive me if I have it wrong)...

Should I just run with it... or is there a specific need to verify before I implement the card in my working box (it's in my spare machine now... as I don't want to throw it into what is a slow, but otherwise functional machine)...
Also... once flashed to IT mode... should I be able to bring up the controllers interface on boot, or should that have gone away? Again... I've NEVER done this before... and expected to have to go through the steps... didn't expect the 5TB to just show up...
Any help/advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[Zredwire]

A card in IR mode (like a Raid controller) may work in FreeNAS but you will loose the SMART information needed for FreeNAS to detect problems with the drive. You may also be using a less than optimal caching scheme on the card. It is best to run the card in IT mode where all the hard drive info is passed to FreeNAS. In this mode there is no hardware RAID. In FreeNAS what does your system say under Enable SMART (when you view disk in the Storage section)? I would assume it would not say "true" if it could not see the SMART data (though I could be wrong).
As far as erasing the boot bios from the card, I did it on mine as I do not use the same card for booting the operating system. Thus if you don't plan to boot from the card I would leave out the BIOS part when flashing to IT mode.

 

[garm]

IT is actually not a setting or mode per se, but a whole firmware of its own.

the command tool for managing these cards are installed in FreeNAS. All you need to do is to run sas2flash -listall find your card in the list (assuming 0) and then run sas2flash -c 0 -list to get the firmware info on your card. The attribute “Firmware product ID” should state if it’s IT or not.

 

[Robert Thomspon]

ENABLE SMART does show "TRUE"
Did I luck out and get a card in IT mode? Im perfectly fine not having the BIOS on the card, as I really do only want it as a passthrough card, I have 0 interest in the RAID functionality of the card...

BUT! There's a little snag... and again, I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to work or what, as Ive never flashed a card to IT mode before... but, when running the batch files from unRAID's wiki (and the downloaded tools needed)... first step is supposed to create a file containing my card's SAS address... it fails on that step, but seems to correctly create the dump file in step 2... (this is as far as I went, as step 3 erases things :) and I wanted to reach out before going any further...)

Is there a way to remove the bios/boot portion of the controller card if it's already flashed in IT mode... and I don't have the original files I should have had if doing this myself?

 

[Robert Thomspon]

IT is actually not a setting or mode per se, but a whole firmware of its own.

the command tool for managing these cards are installed in FreeNAS. All you need to do is to run sas2flash -listall find your card in the list (assuming 0) and then run sas2flash -c 0 -list to get the firmware info on your card. The attribute “Firmware product ID” should state if it’s IT or not.

OK... well.. this makes it more interesting...
sas2flash -listall kicks back with:

Code:

No LSI SAS adapters found! Limited Command Set Available!
ERROR: Command Not allowed without an adapter!
ERROR: Couldn't Create Command -listall
Exiting Program

 

[Zredwire]

Im not really sure if Enable Smart would be true either way. It would be best to use a method that is for sure, like garm shows above.

 

[garm]

Ark say it’s an LSI2008 so I have no clue why it don’t work.

 

[Zredwire]

OK... well.. this makes it more interesting...
sas2flash -listall kicks back with:

Code:

No LSI SAS adapters found! Limited Command Set Available!
ERROR: Command Not allowed without an adapter!
ERROR: Couldn't Create Command -listall
Exiting Program

If your card does still have the BIOS you should be able to enter the card config when booting up. In there it should tell you the firmware level and whether it is in IT or IR mode. Also if their are options for a RAID setup there then it would not be in IT mode.

 

[Robert Thomspon]

Yes, it still has BIOS, I can still get into the config menu on boot... actually, it's a bit annoying as it stops at the BIOS initilialization screen for the card because "not all previous drives are present" ... so it stops and waits, apparently indefinitely...
Anyway, attached are snapshots of the menu (what I thought might be pertinent info... none of which indicate IT or IR mode)


(Hoping this link works:)

http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o575/rbthompsonv/20180307_142927_zpsyhtpbeop.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o575/rbthompsonv/20180307_142915_zpssy8sy7xn.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o575/rbthompsonv/20180307_142855_zpsd7twuai6.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o575/rbthompsonv/20180307_142851_zpsjyj8gidt.jpg

 

[Zredwire]

From a quick Google search it appears that Firmware 20.5.1-0003 is IR Raid firmware.

 

[Robert Thomspon]

From a quick Google search it appears that Firmware 20.5.1-0003 is IR Raid firmware.

beat me too it :)

 

[Robert Thomspon]

Should I update the firmware then try flashing to IT mode?

 

[Robert Thomspon]

Actually... I wonder.
Does sas2flash require UEFI? Im wondering if the T3500 is using Dell's bastardized EFI console, and not a true UEFI...

 

[Chris Moore]

Detailed newcomers' guide to crossflashing LSI 9211 HBA and variants
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...o-crossflashing-lsi-9211-hba-and-variants.54/

 

[Chris Moore]

Actually... I wonder.
Does sas2flash require UEFI? Im wondering if the T3500 is using Dell's bastardized EFI console, and not a true UEFI...

I used a T3500 to flash all of my cards. It works easy from Free DOS. NO UEFI nonsense.

 

[Chris Moore]

Yes, it still has BIOS, I can still get into the config menu on boot... actually, it's a bit annoying as it stops at the BIOS initilialization screen for the card because "not all previous drives are present" ... so it stops and waits, apparently indefinitely...
Anyway, attached are snapshots of the menu (what I thought might be pertinent info... none of which indicate IT or IR mode)

You will need to clear the old configuration out and clean the firmware out of the card. Since you are going into a Dell system, why didn't you buy the Dell H310. It is the perfect card for this application.

 

[Chris Moore]

And I was going to follow the instructions for RS2WC080, as others have said the two cards are identical save for 4 drive support vs 8 drive support, and others have mentioned that the procedure and used files are the same)...

Where did you see anything about this card?

 

[Robert Thomspon]

Where did you see anything about this card?

On an UnRAID page someone somewhere in these forums posted... it was actually about the RS2WC080... but others had said the RS2WC040 worked the same as it's the same card, minus the SAS B jack...

And I explained my decision earlier... that I had never flashed to IT mode, and preferred a card I didn't care about to do so on first... I picked this one up for about $9...

And I have read the tut on flashing that you linked to above... it doesn't really address the problem I am currently having: sas2flash says I don't have an LSI card installed...

 

[Robert Thomspon]

here is the tutorial I've thus far used for my specific card...

https://lime-technology.com/wiki/Crossflashing_Controllers

 

[Robert Thomspon]

So... sas2flash doesn't work... but MEGAREC.EXE -adpList does indeed kick back correct info...