Which SAS card will be the best? I need a card that will support a large number of drives and will have a 12Gb/s transfer. I need internal punishment. I found the Dell MegaRAID SAS 9460-16i 12Gb/s, DELL LSI MEGARAID SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 9361-8i 0MM445. Will they work with TrueNas?
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Which SAS card will be the best?
- Thread starter adam23450
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blanchet
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The best SAS HBA is LSI 9300. Actually iXsystems uses them in their FreeNAS certified servers.
It exists in internal and external versions, depending on your needs.
Neither MegaRAID 9460-16i nor MEGARAID 9361-8i are recommended for TrueNAS, because they are RAID controllers and ZFS really prefers HBA.
It exists in internal and external versions, depending on your needs.
- https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9300-8i
- https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9300-8e
Neither MegaRAID 9460-16i nor MEGARAID 9361-8i are recommended for TrueNAS, because they are RAID controllers and ZFS really prefers HBA.
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Would this card be good too?
Host Bus Adapters
Broadcom Host Bus Adapter (HBA) cards can enable an easy, long-term storage growth strategy in practically any direct-attached storage scenario.
blanchet
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I do not own the SAS 9305-16i, but according to ServeTheHome, this SAS controller should work with FreeNAS.
www.servethehome.com
I cannot tell you if the card is already flash in IT mode, you have to see with the vendor. But you do not have to worry: flashing in IT mode is easy because TrueNAS comes with the Broadcom utility
Another option to connect a lot of disks is using a SAS expander, like in SuperMicro servers. In this case you need only one SFF8643 connector per expander.
Most servers have only 2 SAS expanders, one in the front, and one in back, so a LSI 9300-8i with 2x SFF8643 is enough to connect all the disks.
Top Picks for FreeNAS HBAs (Host Bus Adapters)
We have our top picks for getting fast and reliable FreeNAS HBAs (host bus adapters) for SAS and SATA, using proven options for FreeNAS and ZFS
www.servethehome.com
I cannot tell you if the card is already flash in IT mode, you have to see with the vendor. But you do not have to worry: flashing in IT mode is easy because TrueNAS comes with the Broadcom utility
sas3ircu.Another option to connect a lot of disks is using a SAS expander, like in SuperMicro servers. In this case you need only one SFF8643 connector per expander.
Most servers have only 2 SAS expanders, one in the front, and one in back, so a LSI 9300-8i with 2x SFF8643 is enough to connect all the disks.
How such a SAS expander works. What do you recommend?I do not own the SAS 9305-16i, but according to ServeTheHome, this SAS controller should work with FreeNAS.
Top Picks for FreeNAS HBAs (Host Bus Adapters)
We have our top picks for getting fast and reliable FreeNAS HBAs (host bus adapters) for SAS and SATA, using proven options for FreeNAS and ZFS
I cannot tell you if the card is already flash in IT mode, you have to see with the vendor. But you do not have to worry: flashing in IT mode is easy because TrueNAS comes with the Broadcom utilitysas3ircu.
Another option to connect a lot of disks is using a SAS expander, like in SuperMicro servers. In this case you need only one SFF8643 connector per expander.
Most servers have only 2 SAS expanders, one in the front, and one in back, so a LSI 9300-8i with 2x SFF8643 is enough to connect all the disks.
