SuperMicro CSE-848A-R1K62B with Adaptec ASR-72405 - Best Option for HBA Replacement

[sokerstrom]

I have recently received a SuperMicro server that has a 24-bay hot swappable SATA configuration. Unfortunately, it has a pair of Adaptec ASR-71605 or ASR-72405 RAID controllers which I have discovered are not likely going to work with TrueNAS. The configuration documentation says one model in one place and the other in another so I haven't verified which they are yet as it sounds like either are bad for what I want to use the server for.

So, does anyone have any insight as to what a good replacement would be that would work with this server and backplane?


The 2nd question is a setup question once I have hardware that will work with TrueNAS. I currently have another SuperMicro server which is a few years older that I have UnRAID on. It is also a 24-bay hot swap config but I am finding performance is lacking... mostly as I have likely outgrown it. I currently have it filled with 14TB hard drives (except a 5-6 I haven't replaced yet) in a 264TB array.

My plan is to migrate to TrueNAS on this other server and am wondering (besides the hardware issues above), what will be the best way to do this without having to purchase new hard drives. I have a couple of ideas how I can migrate data and drives one-by-one but am curious what others may recommend (and whether they can verify if my idea would work).

I have enough other smaller drives (mostly 2TB or smaller) that I am wondering if I could built the TrueNAS array with and replace one by one as I migrate data. There was something I read that kind of promoted this idea but, knowing how RAID usually works, I question if that would work?

Anyone have any better ideas? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Shawn

 

[jgreco]

Adaptec ASR-71605 or ASR-72405 RAID controllers which I have discovered are not likely going to work with TrueNAS

There's a superfluous "likely" in that sentence.

What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

I believe the ASR's both have four SFF8643's, which supports 16 drives per controller. You didn't identify the backplane in your "Supermicro 24 bay" chassis so my best guess is that you have a "-A" model, which lacks an SAS expander and basically hardwires one SAS lane to each SAS bay, requiring you to have a SAS lane per bay, which explains why you have two ASR's in there (16+16=32, 32>24).

Since you already have the SFF8643 cabling, you are probably best off finding an LSI HBA in the 12Gbps family, but LSI leans heavily into using SAS expanders, so there are not a lot of -16i (16 internal lane) card options. You can get a -16i and an -8i card of some sort and that should work.

built the TrueNAS array with and replace one by one as I migrate data. There was something I read that kind of promoted this idea but, knowing how RAID usually works, I question if that would work?

Yes, that will work. However, the array size will remain the same as when built until all the drives are replaced, at which point your array will suddenly and magically grow in size to its new full capacity.

 

[sokerstrom]

Thanks jgreco. That answer addresses both my questions well.

I've attached the 2 listings I received for the hardware configuration. The one does list the backplane that might help determine the cards I should look at replacing the Adaptecs with as you seem to have a good understanding of these components.

As for the drive replacement plan, that is a key piece of information important to how that would work that wasn't included in the blurb I read. It makes sense though given how RAID typically works. It means that I will have plan for a 2-step migration which really add to the complexity. But thank you for pointing that key distinction out about how that feature works.

Please let me know if that configuration helps at all with narrowing down which HBAs I should specifically look at.

Shawn