IBM M5015 experiences

[pezosandor]

Hi every one.


I just received the card ... IT was Fast .. Payed id Monday at 12 , and the card arrived today about 12 and we bout needed to cross 3 country's
IT was fast, faster then me.. I arrived just 4 hours a go...


And I found something new for me after I installed the controller ..
The Advanced Software Options...
Is the Raid 5 , and Raid 6 is enabled unlimitedly .. in every card ?
If I change the SRB will it disappear, I did not revived any activation key to it so I do not wish to loose the Raid 5 option.
In other SRB what kind of stuff is activated if the activation is stored there?
the "LSI LSI00247 MegaRAID FastPath Software" would be very interesting for me


pablocool

I'm sorry I could not see any Green sticker on the card with the SAS adress, I need to dig it form the card first ..

 

[mobilenvidia]

RAID 5 is always there on the M5015 as it's standard.
The Advanced options key enables RAID6
I've flashed the card with various SBRs and the key always worked.

The key I'm pretty sure is keyed to the card with hardware, not to the Firmware.
So the key will only work on IBM SAS controllers (as it also works on a M1015)
BUT other keys ie Intel or LSI will not work on the IBM cards !!
The IBM key will also not work on Intel/LSI cards.

The sas address you can get from MSM, or other apps like sas2flsh.exe

 

[pezosandor]

Truly there is 2 kind of key, one is a HW key, and one is SW key .. depending on the model ...
By 9261-8i can not be used the HW key, because there is no pin at proposal.
So they created a SW and HW activation key ..

LSI™ MegaRAID® Fast Path Software
Software License Ordering PN LSI00266 - Compatible with MR SAS 9260/9261/9265/9266/9280/9285 series
Physical Key Ordering PN LSI00247 - Compatible with MR SAS 9260 (-4i, -8i, -16i, CV-4i, CV-8i), 9280 (-4i4e, -16i4e, -24i4e)

I would be glad to put my hand on one of the Fast Path SW key ..

Still , the question is the compatibility issue wit the different bands.. I Asked the Fujitsu support regarding the Upgrade key ... WI ill see What they gone say about the activation key.
My plan is to make a RAID 0 from 2 of the OCZ Aggility 3 60 Gb SSD for OS (where the Fast Path would be weary helpful to reaching the 150,000 IOPS as it should be by default), and create a 3X 3Tb WD Raid 5 array

Oor I just request a Trial key to see if its working.
hopefully it will after I receive a trial key .

I received the email from LSI
If someone wish to try out software The Advanced Software Options...
Hi needs need to contact a local reseller to get a demo key of FastPath.
You should be able to find one from this link, http://www.lsi.com/about/contact/pages/contact-sales.aspx.

LSI Rulez

 

[mobilenvidia]

Basically the LSI SAS2108 controllers have HW keys
The LSI SAS2208 controllers have SW keys

The Fujitsu key will most likely not work with LSI or Intel or IBM controllers

I would love to get my hands on a Intel or even LSI SAS2108 based controller so I can use my Intel CC with FP key

 

[pezosandor]

I requested a LSI key as in the link from LSI
As the LSI 9261-8i, so the Fujitsu D2616 need only SW key, and can not be used HW key because the is no pin for the HW key on the cards. ... and both are build on LSI SAS2108 controllers..
So may be the LSI SW key gone work just fine to
Actuality the "Fast PATH Software License Ordering PN LSI00266 key" can be used alsow for the LSI 9260 as earlier I wrote.
you can find the compatibility list for Fast Path here under specification :

As I think, the compatibility with other vendors gone deepen, how deep the vendor changed the FW...
I meen What??? I requested a free trial key, it will be worth to try .. not ? it's for free theoretically.. What can I loose. ?
A trial key ?

All the cards use the same WEB BIOS...same basiks rulez , same server, same protocol......
Wit out chaning SRb , I can user the MSM fom LSI with the Fujitsu card.

 

[mobilenvidia]

Will be interesting to see what happens with the trial key.

 

[pablocool]

SAS address is easily obtainable via MSM. Regarding RAID5/6 those options won't disappear during whichever machinations with this controller. I think it is sown deep in some kind of unaccessible eeprom memory. I've also ordered casecade trial key.

 

[pablocool]

I ordered trial activation key to 4 features:

MegaRAID CacheCade Pro 2.0 for Read/Write Caching on HDD arrays using SSDs
MegaRAID Fast Path for I/O acceleration of SSD arrays
MegaRAID Recovery for rapid data recovery
MegaRAID SafeStore for data security

I received email with this key after few hours. I didnt activated it yet but before pressing apply in MSM I saw that key is valid and those 4 option will be valid through next 30 days. I wonder how controller checks how long this code has been used.

 

[mobilenvidia]

It may have stored the info in the NVRAM on the card where it keeps all the other variable settings (RAID parameters etc)

If you get a key all the lower features get added as well.
ie the CacheCade v2 key is the highest level (and most costly) and all the features below it will also activate

Then RAID 5/6 are built into the feature set (unlike IBM M5015 wihich needs a key for RAID6), this will always stay, no matter what keys you apply
Anyway keep in touch with any findings.

 

[mobilenvidia]

Added FW 12.12.0-0111
Added latest unsigned driver.
Added back in SUN/Oracle 0048 FW only known FW with active spindown
Tidied up old FW

See first post for link

 

[daff]

Hello. I have a few questions concerning the M5015.

1. Which firmware is the best for the following needs:
* fast boot
* power saving for configured drives

2. Is there a way to read the SMART-properties of the disks via MSM?

3. Is it possible to read out the temperature of the controller?

 

[mobilenvidia]

1. Only Firmware with both is the SUN/Oracle 0048 that I have in the download in first post.
You will need to set the SBR to anything but IBM (LSI is probably best)
Remember RAID controllers = no fast boot, setting the SBR to non IBM means faster boot, not fast

2. No

3. MSM has the battery temp, but the SAS2108 is designed to run hot and in an enclosure with airflow, if you cram it in a case with no flow then it will heat up everything around it.

 

[F5BJR]

*
If you have a problem similar to not enough space for option rom

-> You can use if that is not important an old PCI graphics card ( not PCI Express )

Or as me a good PCI graphic card with recent chipset : a HD4350 Club 3D PCI edition with a good performance for Seven 32 / 64 bits

http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/radeon-hd-4350-pci-edition.html

I can use all the ports with my ASUS P5E-WS PRO in Raid mode ( Intel ICHxx + Marvell 88SE6145 + 2 * IBM M5014 )

Pierre

 

[Patrick]

Now that I'm playing with these, I think we need to make this an easy to use guide for the M5015 and M5014.

 

[BigXor]

New Question

What is the exact procedure for using megaoem/rec/cli for flashing sas2flash.efi file using DOS?

I want to try P13 but I don't have an UEFI motherboard.


Thanks in advance.

 

[mobilenvidia]

Pretty sure you need a UEFI capable mobo to do the below.
Trying to get my head around EFI, what a mess, nothing is easy.
I'm still getting my head around it, will be back with a how to if I can get this working

Installation:
=============
Use SAS2Flash.efi to install the SAS2 BSD HII Driver binary.
The SAS2Flash utility is included in the package zip file.
UEFI version of SAS2Flash can be downloaded from the Support & Downloads section of www.lsi.com.

The command line installation instruction to flash the UEFI SAS2 BSD HII Driver is:

1. Run 'drivers' command under uefi shell
2. Locate the driver handles for existing SAS2 MPT Drivers
3. unload <dh>
where <dh> is the driver handle for already loaded driver.

4.sas2flash -c <n> -b ebcsas2.rom (for EBC compatible supported platforms)
or
sas2flash -c <n> -b x64sas2.rom (for X64 platforms)

where <n> is the controller number (starting with zero (0)).

If you need further help, please contact the LSI FAE associated with your Organization.

Notes:
1) UEFI BSD with or without HII does not require Legacy BIOS to be loaded on to the controller.
2) A latest Firmware either IR or IT version with proper NVData is required.
3) To load the images for testing under shell only:
a. load ebcsas2.efi
or
loadpcirom ebcsas2.rom
or
load pcirom x64sas2.rom

 

[Patrick]

Yea I ended up putting your latest SAS 2008 and SAS 2108 folders in an ISO with the X9SCM-F BIOS and then didn't even need to use EFI.

 

[daff]

I want to change my M5015 from the original firmware to the one from SUN (0048). Is the procedure to do this the same as for the M1015 as described here or is there something different?

 

[Patrick]

Just a note: LSI just released a Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 signed driver. Worked immediately on my test bed. http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/MegaRAID Common Files/5.2.135_Signed_Windows_Driver.zip

 

[mobilenvidia]

Just use Megarec in DOS
Or
Use MSM, but you may have issues with FW after 0098 as LSI are getting more cunning with crossflash blocking, you will then have to use Megarec

New driver, cool, I check there every few days