IBM M5015 experiences

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mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Another 2x 60GB OCZ Solid3 SSD's arrived in the mail today.
Making the total I have 4 now, bought 2 more to test how RAID 5 and 6 perform on the M5015

First impressions are very impressive.
RAID 6 in ATTO does 650MB/s write and 1800MB/s read (bursts as high as 2300MB/s)
RAID 5 in ATTO does 950MB/s write and 1900MB/s read (bursts as high as 2500MB/s)
RAID 0 in ATTO does 1250MB/s write and 1850MB/s read (burst as high as 2500MB/s)

This is on M5015 with adv feature key (M5000) Card flashed with latest FW 12.12.0-0077 and SBR set to M5015
Now to test if the M5000 Adv feat key works with a different SBR
[UPDATE]
Flashing down to v12.13.0-0104 and setting SBR to LSI2108.
RAID 6 happily works, meaning that Adv feature card is enabled.
The alarm does not sound with this either, I think the latest FW's enable the Alarm if a mismatch occurs with SBR

RAID 5/6 settings best seems to be:
Read ahead off
Writeback with BBU (without BBU about the same)
Direct I/O
Diskcache Policy any setting will do makes no difference

Keeping in mind the above is best for RAID 5/6 RAID 0/1 will no doubt be better with Write through

Any tests you guys would like done while the SSD's are not being used other than test let me know.
 
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Falloutboy

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Oct 23, 2011
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If you are trying to run the intel Rapid Response tech or what ever you call it then you need an SSD and a mechanical drive and follow this.
Setup intel controller for raid mode
Boot onto Windows OS CD and install windows on mechanical drive.
Setup the Rapid Response Size to what you want, initialize it and the disable it.
Shutdown computer, disable mechanical drive connection.
Restart computer boot onto windows cd and go through the setup process, if you cant see your ssd as a drive to put windows on as part of the install then give it a cd/disk/usb stick - whatever that has the intel chipset drivers
Now you should be able to see the SSD
Install windows as normal
Boot to OS
Install the RST software
Reboot machine and add SSD as 2nd drive
Go into os after repowering machine and restart the RST - tada all done.

NOTE: Through this entire process leave intel under the bios in RAID mode. otherwise EPIC FAIL.
 
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mobilenvidia

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Intel SSD key turned up today.
It doesn't work as it knows there is a different OEM card it's installed on.

One thing I need to test is setting FW with Intel SBR.

If any body has an Intel RS2BL080 or even any intel LSI based RAID card I could really do with the SBR from it.

But I have a feeling the encrypted chip on the key is tuned to its counter part on the RAID card.
These will probably be OEM specific and where the FW reads what actual OEM device it is.
As the M5015 even with clearing the FW and SBR still knows its a M5015
 
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mobilenvidia

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Started a firmware flashing page of for the SAS2108 controller.
IBM have just released a new FW 12.12.0.0085, newer than LSI.
Hopefully it fixes my BBU issues.

You can grab the Firmware over here

Can't wait to try it, I sooooo need more PCie 8x slots :(
 
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pablocool

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Hello

@mobilenvidia

If You want I could send You SBR to Intel SRCSASPH16I controller (controller based on 84016E). Is there option to attach files on this forum?

Regarding Your test I am actually fighting with Fujitsu RAID Ctrl SAS 6G 5/6 512MB (D2616). I want it to rebrand to LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i.
I performed such action:

All with megarec application:
1. I backed up original SBR
2. I flashed LSI SBR
3. I cleared firmware
4. I restarted Pc
5. I flashed newest 12.12.0-0090 LSI firmware

Card started up discovered HDDs, Virtual Drives etc. However there is one problem. During boot up I face error: "Invalid SAS address present in SBR please contact your system support. Press any key to continue with default SAS address."

So I risked and flashed back original SBR. Error does not exist any more. Virtual drives are discovered and everything is fine. After that I performed little test. I tried to update once more 12.12.0-0090 LSI fw with MSM this time on original fujitsu SBR and... operation was successfull.

My question is why I could flash back original SBR while you said that on newest bioses it is disabled?
And why I could flash LSI fw on fujitsu SBR?
There is one more question Whatever I did with this controller it is discovered as RAID Ctrl SAS 6G 5/6 512MB (D2616). I thought vendorid and subvendorid are in SBR, but it looks like not, right? Is there any chace to successfully rebrand oem card so it was discovered as LSI original card?
Regarding your test, what was the best firmware from branded firmwares for your IBM?
Could You send/attach all SBRs you've got?
Now I know that SAS address must be set to the original during crossflashing. Did you faced SAS address problem?
 
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mobilenvidia

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Give one of these apps a try from this post
They may give more luck with the sasaddress issue.

SBR issue normally occurs after the reboot of a new Firmware version
Then when you try to reflash a different FW an error comes up.
Only way round this is to cleanflash, then flash FW then SBR update then reboot
 
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pablocool

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I will try this way with cleanflash. However I wonder if sas2flsh.exe checks controller by SBR/FW or by VENDOR ID. As I see only this app can change SAS address but this tool cannot see my branded Fujitsu controller:/
 
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mobilenvidia

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Use MegaOEM this should work, it's from Supermicro

MegaOEM -AdpSetSASA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -aN

Fujitsu may have fiddled with their FW, so this may be stopping you.
Very hard to tell
 
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pablocool

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It is very strange stuff. I tried many versions of Sasflash from lsi and supermicro with no effect - cannot change SAS address. I also tried many dos and windows versions of megacli - the same no effect. Megacli throws: Exit Code: 0x01. However I tried MegaOEM with FULL SUCCESS! It changed my SAS address. I do not think that fujitsu touched FW was the case, because as I said in earlier post I was able to crossflash original newest LSI 12.12.0-0090 FW and that LSI's FW was in adapter during my tries.

How the hell Sasflash/megacli are checking that it isnt LSI controller? Were are vendorid subvendorid stored and if I can change them?
 
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mobilenvidia

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Added Cache Cade supported FW v 12.12.0.0091

Added Windows driver package v5.2.112

Can be found here

FW also now supports card with more than 8 ports (no longer a seperate download)
 
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pablocool

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Thank You for answer regarding sub/vendorid. Hmm regarding cachecade did you have any experience with it? It is unlocked via key or I must only upgrade FW and can use it?
 
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mobilenvidia

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You need a key AND you need the special Firmware to enable it.

I have a key but for an Intel card, it doesn't work on the IBM M5015 :(
What I really want is Fastpath to speed things up, it comes with the CacheCade key
 
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pete_c

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Feb 15, 2012
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Anyone redo the cooling of the IBM M1015 yet? I'm looking to add or modify it a bit for the new NAS box that I am building as it just barely clears the top of the case. It does get pretty warm.
 
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