TrueNAS on Cisco C460-M4 Server Questions about optimal setup

[AlexMercer]

So I have 2x C460-M4 servers that are doing absolutely nothing at the moment. The following hardware is available :

- 4x E7-8880 v4
- 256GB DDR4 RAM

And I have the following options for controllers ( as far as I understand it a RAID controller is a no-go with TrueNas) :

- LSI MegaRAID SAS 9361CV-8i RAID controller - not really an option ( ? )
- Cisco 12G SAS 9300-8e HBA for external JBOD attach - I guess this is my best option

So my questions are the following:
- is the 9300-8e a good option for TrueNas - will it play nicely with it ?
- how do I go to supporting 12 HDDs ? Since this HBA supports 8 only and the server has 12 slots ?
- Are the 4 processors and 256GB DDR an overkill ? The machine will be used as NFS storage for ESXI cluster and maybe a backup server - again with NFS. I would like to take advantage of deduplication and nice features like that.
- To those with experience using Cisco Servers - there is an internal SD card - could I use that to boot the TrueNas and not stick a USB drive ?

Thank you for the support!

 

[Ericloewe]

- is the 9300-8e a good option for TrueNas - will it play nicely with it ?

Yes, but you probably want something with internal ports...

how do I go to supporting 12 HDDs ? Since this HBA supports 8 only and the server has 12 slots ?

Presumably the backplane has an expander.

- Are the 4 processors and 256GB DDR an overkill ? The machine will be used as NFS storage for ESXI cluster and maybe a backup server - again with NFS. I would like to take advantage of deduplication and nice features like that

Dedup is not a nice feature. It's pretty terrible overall and not worth the cost.

- To those with experience using Cisco Servers - there is an internal SD card - could I use that to boot the TrueNas and not stick a USB drive ?

Nominally yes, but SD cards sit below USB flash drives on the quality ladder. Not a good idea.

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

I just retired my C240-M4 servers, and replaced them with C240-M5's. I used the UCSC-SAS12GHBA controllers in my M4's and they worked great. I am not familiar with C460's, but it seems likely they would have the same kind of special controller slot. If not, an LSI 9300-8i would work great.

 

[AlexMercer]

Per specification the C460-M4 supports :

- LSI MegaRAID SAS 9361CV-8i RAID controller

- UCSC-MRAIDC460 + UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB Cisco 12G SAS Modular 12-port RAID controller (JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10,
50, 60 supported) - the UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB is a Flash-Backed Write Cache, which I have no idea if will be supported on TrueNas ( probably not ? )

- UCSC-SAS9300-8E Cisco 12G SAS 9300-8e HBA for external JBOD attach ( supports external JBOD using x4 and x8 wide SAS ports )

Those are the specifications, however I do have a spare UCSC-SAS12GHBA laying around and I would try it in the C460 and report here if it works ( might be helpful for someone, especially considering that the prices of those servers are dropping )

I did not realize that the 9300-8e has external ports - yeah it would not be a good design decision to route the cables out of the server just to plug them back in ...

 

[Ericloewe]

Unless they're doing crazy aggressive whitelisting, I'd expect any generally-suitable HBA to work in those machines. Say a stock SAS 9300-8i, for instance, or whatever slight variant works best with your cabling.

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

Per specification the C460-M4 supports :

- UCSC-MRAIDC460 + UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB Cisco 12G SAS Modular 12-port RAID controller (JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10,
50, 60 supported) - the UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB is a Flash-Backed Write Cache, which I have no idea if will be supported on TrueNas ( probably not ? )

The UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB uses the same kind of slot as the UCSC-SAS12GHBA, so that ought to work. I know those worked great for me in my C240-M4. I am sure a 9300-8i would work too, but you might need different internal SAS cables. I had to do that in my C240-M5. The problem wasn't that the HBA didn't work. It didn't like the SMART responses from the Western Digital 2TB WD Red SA500 NAS SATA SSD's I put in it. The CIMC misinterpreted that as the drives operating at a temperature of a million degrees (not joking), so it jacked the fans up to maximum speed. I used a 9300-16i for the slots I where I had the WD SSD's, and that worked, but the stock internal SAS cables didn't reach. I ordered replacement ones from Amazon and that is working fine. Quite annoying though.

Unless they're doing crazy aggressive whitelisting, I'd expect any generally-suitable HBA to work in those machines. Say a stock SAS 9300-8i, for instance, or whatever slight variant works best with your cabling.

They don't blacklist anything, but the BMC (CIMC in Cisco speak) will jack up the fans sometimes on cards it doesn't recognize. Not an issue generally in a data center, but it is one for me since my servers are in my home office.

 

[latexyankee]

I just retired my C240-M4 servers, and replaced them with C240-M5's. I used the UCSC-SAS12GHBA controllers in my M4's and they worked great. I am not familiar with C460's, but it seems likely they would have the same kind of special controller slot. If not, an LSI 9300-8i would work great.

Hello first post

I've been reading for a few weeks and searching my options. I have 2 C240 M4s I just inherited, they came with the raid card. As I've been looking at HBA cards and my spec sheet this post caught my eye.

You say the UCSC-SAS12GHBA worked perfectly? That would be incredible they're down to $15 on ebay. For that price if they work I'll order 2 and have a backup. I know another LSI would work but cisco is also picky with pcie and there's a danger of the fans spinning up to 100% at least that's what I hear. I'd LOVE to stick with Cisco parts if I can.

Only issue, did they need flashed or upgraded? I can upgrade them via HUU, last week I just took the servers from the FLASH based CIMC to the latest release, that was a chore due to adobe flash. For the IT mode I have no idea but I assume it would be more difficult with the Cisco card just because Cisco makes everything difficult. There a way and theres the Cisco way lol am I right?

If I have to upgrade or flash the card to IT mode I'm sure I can do it, just need pointed in the right direction. If you see this can you confirm any of my concerns? I would TRULY appreciate it . These are my first ever severs so I been reading and tinkering and learning ALOT these past few weeks. I literally had a $80 card in my cart and decided to look one more time and found this thread, please let me know! And if you have any other advice with Truenas and these servers I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm still torn between Truenas and Unraid since both offer ZFS now. I cant wait to get started!

thank you!

 

[latexyankee]

Hello first post

I've been reading for a few weeks and searching my options. I have 2 C240 M4s I just inherited, they came with the raid card. As I've been looking at HBA cards and my spec sheet this post caught my eye.

You say the UCSC-SAS12GHBA worked perfectly? That would be incredible they're down to $15 on ebay. For that price if they work I'll order 2 and have a backup. I know another LSI would work but cisco is also picky with pcie and there's a danger of the fans spinning up to 100% at least that's what I hear. I'd LOVE to stick with Cisco parts if I can.

Only issue, did they need flashed or upgraded? I can upgrade them via HUU, last week I just took the servers from the FLASH based CIMC to the latest release, that was a chore due to adobe flash. For the IT mode I have no idea but I assume it would be more difficult with the Cisco card just because Cisco makes everything difficult. There a way and theres the Cisco way lol am I right?

If I have to upgrade or flash the card to IT mode I'm sure I can do it, just need pointed in the right direction. If you see this can you confirm any of my concerns? I would TRULY appreciate it . These are my first ever severs so I been reading and tinkering and learning ALOT these past few weeks. I literally had a $80 card in my cart and decided to look one more time and found this thread, please let me know! And if you have any other advice with Truenas and these servers I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm still torn between Truenas and Unraid since both offer ZFS now. I cant wait to get started!

thank you!

I also meant to say I am only using the 16 2.5 drive bays for now with SAS 10k drives.
Cheers

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

The Cisco HBA modules are IT mode only. If you want RAID functionality, you have to use a RAID module. You flash them from HUU just like any other system component which is nice. I'd give you more details, but I am travelling at the moment.