non-raid HBA for my Test lab

[fred974]

Hi,

I want to start playing with some cool hardware that I acquired very cheaply..
I have 2 PowerEdge r610 and 2 PowerVault MD1200..
I want to connect everything together but also want to use ZFS.. The Perc6 that come with the R610 do not have SAS connection or JBOD settings.....
So my question is: what SAS card can you guys advise me to get in order to connect the R610 to the MD1200 that is a non-raid HBA to use for zfs?

Thank you in advance

 

[Snurg]

Need also a sas card that is supported well (max. 4 drives)
Any good suggestions what cheap used ones from ebay are recommendable?

 

[Phishfry]

The IBM OEM LSI cards are what I use.
https://www.servethehome.com/ibm-m1015-part-1-started-lsi-92208i/

There are newer versions with 12.0Gb interfaces.
For external disk arrays there are external port versions.

For Snurg:
OEM HP LSI 9212-4i

 

[leebrown66]

fred974 -- you can probably re-flash that Perc controller with a standard HBA LSI "IT" firmware image. I recently got a dell R330 + MD1420 and this is what I did.
I think this thread may help you get going.

 

[ralphbsz]

LSI cards are the best choice (they may be branded Avago or Broadcom, LSI was acquired multiple times). Good performance, few bugs, very common, widely supported. Find one of the simple HBA models, make sure you don't get the RAID version (those are harder to use and set up).

I just looked it up: The MD1200 has SFF8088 connectors, and seems to run at 6gig SAS speed. EDIT: No, it actually says 12gig! So find a LSI card with those connectors. For best performance, you want to probably dual-port the enclosure, so buy an extra cable.

And a warning: If you buy an OEM-branded card (like an IBM or HP or Dell one), they will sometimes not accept generic LSI firmware. And with some OEM vendors, you can't get firmware updates unless you have a service contract. Either check this carefully before you buy used cards, or just stick to generic LSI/Avago/Broadcom cards.

 

[fred974]

Thank you all for all the good advise

 

[SirDice]

The Perc6 that come with the R610 do not have SAS connection

Sure it does. All you need is a SFF8087 to 4xSATA cable. Pretty much all LSI based SAS cards (That includes Dell's Perc) also support SATA. You just need the right cables or disk enclosures.

I just looked it up: The MD1200 has SFF8088 connectors, and seems to run at 6gig SAS speed. EDIT: No, it actually says 12gig! So find a LSI card with those connectors.

SFF8087 and SFF8088 are the same, SFF8088 is used for external connections, SFF8087 for internal. You can buy SFF8087 cables with a SFF8088 external bracket. So all you really need is a card with enough ports that are fast enough. If you can find a card with internal SFF8087 connectors you can make them "external" with the mentioned cable/bracket.