Dell Perc H200A

Discussion:

Dell Perc H200A

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Paul Schmehl

2012-09-08 19:34:56 UTC

I tried to install FreeBSD 9.0 Release on a Dell R410 with Perc H200A
today. When I tried ran the new installer it failed. So I switched to
sysinstall, but it couldn't recognize the disk.

I googled and found out that there's been a problem with no driver for that
controller. If I understand it correctly, the mps driver works, but you
had to use something called JBOD mode. I have no idea what that is or how
to set it up. I'm not real knowledgeable about RAID and controllers and
the like.

All I want to do is install FreeBSD on this box. Is there a version of
FreeBSD that will work with the Perc H200A? If so, how do I get it?

Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell

Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu

2012-09-09 06:55:59 UTC

Permalink

On Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:34:14 -0500

Post by Paul Schmehl
I tried to install FreeBSD 9.0 Release on a Dell R410 with Perc H200A
today. When I tried ran the new installer it failed. So I switched
to sysinstall, but it couldn't recognize the disk.
I googled and found out that there's been a problem with no driver
for that controller. If I understand it correctly, the mps driver
works, but you had to use something called JBOD mode. I have no idea
what that is or how to set it up. I'm not real knowledgeable about
RAID and controllers and the like.
All I want to do is install FreeBSD on this box. Is there a version
of FreeBSD that will work with the Perc H200A? If so, how do I get
it?

I don't know if this is still the case, but there was a time when you
could use LSI2008 (the chipset) cards only with IT firmware (JBOD
mode) in FreeBSD.

To flash the H200A with the IT firmware, you had to go through some
hoops, as switching modes for this kind of cards is not done in one
step:
http://kb.lsi.com/KnowledgebaseArticle16266.aspx

And as this is a rebranded 9211-8i controller, you also had to use an
older version first. I remember using firmware directly from LSI to be
able to get from IR to IT (p7 with the WinXP sasflash.exe, as the other
ones all reported errors), then upgraded to the lastest version the
usual way. (I don't know if it will work with the PowerEdge 6Gbps SAS
HBA firmware - Dell's version of this card in IT mode).

I was then able to use my discs with software raid, with massive
performance improvements, as this card does not have any on-board cache
and the Dell IR firmware forces disc write-cache off.

You are of course doing all of this at your own risc, your warranty
will be void etc.

Post by Paul Schmehl
Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell

--
Theo

Paul Schmehl

2012-09-10 03:22:11 UTC

Permalink

--On September 9, 2012 9:54:12 AM +0300 Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu

Post by Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu
On Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:34:14 -0500

Can anyone confirm that this is still the case? Does the mps driver
support this controller? Is it included in 8.3 RELEASE? Or am I going to
have to jump through hoops to get FreeBSD installed on this box?

Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell

Vincent Hoffman

2012-09-10 10:53:31 UTC

Permalink

Post by Paul Schmehl
--On September 9, 2012 9:54:12 AM +0300 Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu

Post by Theodor-Iulian Ciobanu
On Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:34:14 -0500

If you are happy to use the integrated RAID (IR) mode and let the
driver/card handle RAID then
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=231679
brought in support for this and
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=237876
a new version of the driver.
A 9.1-RC1 install iso should pick it up fine.

No idea if you want to use software RAID over JBOD (Just a bunch of
disks) mode though.

Vince

Paul Schmehl

2012-09-10 14:42:26 UTC

Permalink

--On September 10, 2012 11:52:48 AM +0100 Vincent Hoffman

Post by Vincent Hoffman
If you are happy to use the integrated RAID (IR) mode and let the
driver/card handle RAID then
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=231679
brought in support for this and
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=237876
a new version of the driver.
A 9.1-RC1 install iso should pick it up fine.

Thanks, VIncent. Does 8.3 also have the support? Just wondering in case
9.1 RC1 is flaky on this particular box.

Post by Vincent Hoffman
No idea if you want to use software RAID over JBOD (Just a bunch of
disks) mode though.

I would have thought hardware RAID would be better than software RAID. No?
--
Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell

Vincent Hoffman

2012-09-10 15:26:53 UTC

Permalink

Post by Paul Schmehl
--On September 10, 2012 11:52:48 AM +0100 Vincent Hoffman

Thanks, VIncent. Does 8.3 also have the support? Just wondering in
case 9.1 RC1 is flaky on this particular box.

svnweb says yes
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/releng/8.3/sys/dev/mps/mps.c?view=log

Post by Paul Schmehl

Post by Vincent Hoffman
No idea if you want to use software RAID over JBOD (Just a bunch of
disks) mode though.

I would have thought hardware RAID would be better than software RAID. No?

Hard to say here honestly. I've a few running as RAID under linux and
they seem to perform well enough. However I know some people prefer
using software RAID be it zfs or geom based RAID over hardware RAID.

LSI decribes the LSI 9211 its based on as " 6Gb/s SATA+SAS HBA with PCIe
2.0 host interface and basic RAID" (they come under HBA on LSI's website
not under RAID controllers.)
Dell's info says the h200 has no onboard cache or battery backup unit.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/pvaul/topics/en/us/raid_controller?c=us&l=en&cs=555
and that it disables the onboard cache on the drives (a good thing for
data integrity bad for performance)
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/Storlink/H200/en/UG/HTML/features.htm

So the gain here is only really offloading the minimal CPU used for RAID
management and that it gives you less admin overhead when changing disks
(hotswap and go vs manually adding into software RAID) in this case.

Vince

Paul Schmehl

2012-09-12 20:24:57 UTC

Permalink

--On September 10, 2012 4:26:08 PM +0100 Vincent Hoffman

Post by Paul Schmehl
Thanks, VIncent. Does 8.3 also have the support? Just wondering in case
9.1 RC1 is flaky on this particular box.
svnweb says yes
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/releng/8.3/sys/dev/mps/mps.c?view=log

Thanks for your help, Vincent. 8.3 is installed, and I'm working on
setting up the server now.

Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell