Thank you - I must have downloaded .11 package by mistake. HBA updated to .12 f/w & immediately noticed reduction in OS load time. Possible I was having issues with SATA drives mentioned in .11 f/w notes.
I appreciate the expert guidance, marking this "solved"
TrueNAS-01 (backups)
VMware ESXi, 7.0.3, 21930508
Head unit:
Supermicro X10SRL, E5-2699V4, 256gb ram, Intel 82599 10g nic
Intel NVME P3605 1.6tb vm boot storage
LSI 9305-16e hba dual-connect passthrough to TrueNAS VM
Disk shelf:
Supermicro SC847 45-drive ext chassis
integrated SM SAS2 backplanes
VM config:
TrueNAS 13.0-U5.2
8 cpu cores, 72GB ram, 60GB provisioned boot drive, VMXNET3 virtual nic
pool_01 32x HGST HDN724040AL z1
(3x 9-drive vdev +1x 5-drive vdev)
pool_02 9x HGST HUH721008AL4200 z1
pool_03 4x Samsung MZ7KM960 z1
TrueNAS-02 (fileserver)
same head unit
LSI 9300-8i hba dual-connect passthrough to TrueNAS VM
integrated SM SAS3 backplane
VM config:
TrueNAS 13.0-U5.2
8 cpu cores, 72GB ram, 60GB provisioned boot drive, VMXNET3 virtual nic
pool_01 12x Samsung PM1643 SAS3 SSD
(2x 6-drive vdev z2)