Best LSI HBA Designs for OmniOS / Napp-IT

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madison437

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May 3, 2013
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I'm about to experiment with a Napp-IT installation, and am going to upgrade my current LSI Logic HBA from a 3801E using the SAS1068E contoller, which works great with an old OpenSolaris 2009.06 installation.

I was considering the 9200-8e, because it uses the SAS2008 as mentioned on the Napp-IT website, and I've seen mentioned favorably in some posts here.

There are of course other newer chipsets as well, for example, I was considering the following card:
92016-16e, which has the controller chip: SAS 2308. It would be great if I could have the 16 ports, which would free up a slot on my hardware.

All of the above mentioned chipsets show up as supported hardware on the OmniOS / Illumnos hardware compatibility list.

However, are there any chipsets from LSI that are much better than others, or ones to avoid?

Many thanks for any advice.

Best,

-- madison437
 
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gea

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2010
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If you look at Host Bus Adapters you see the LSI HBAs.
You can use them all. The SAS2308 requires newer Illumos builds and will be the next mainstream line.

If you look for proven stability, go LSI 2008 (LSI 9211, 9201) or the legendary IBM 1015 reflashed with LSI 9211 firmware (internal).
In any case, use IT (Initiator-Target, dumb HBA controller without Raid) firmware, not IR (integrated Raid) firmware

I would avoid only the older 1068 ones (lower performance and no support for disks > 2TB)
 
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madison437

New Member
May 3, 2013
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gea said:
If you look at Host Bus Adapters you see the LSI HBAs.
You can use them all. The SAS2308 requires newer Illumos builds and will be the next mainstream line.

If you look for proven stability, go LSI 2008 (LSI 9211, 9201) or the legendary IBM 1015 reflashed with LSI 9211 firmware (internal).
In any case, use IT (Initiator-Target, dumb HBA controller without Raid) firmware, not IR (integrated Raid) firmware

I would avoid only the older 1068 ones (lower performance and no support for disks > 2TB)
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for such a quick reply.

My only follow-up question is about the LSI 9201... according to the LSI site it seems to use a LSI 2116 chipset... is this considered to be on par with "proven stability" as the LSI 2008 chipset?
LSI SAS 9201-16e

Cheers,

-- madison437
 
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gea

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2010
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mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
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Try to avoid cross-flashing - sun raid controllers are the LEAST desirable, probably only less desirable than fujitsu. This means with skillful hunting you can get good deals.

If you need help scoring some - this website is like the SLICKDEALS.net/Fatwallet.com of server deals.

the LSI 10x8 are PCIE 1.0 and 3gbp/s (they can be patched to negotiate with 6/gbps but only speak at 3gbps). Now everyone here knows that unless you are doing a SAS expander situation, or pure ssd, 3gbp/s is fine.

The LSI 2xxx series is PCI-E 2.0 and 6gbp/s native.

I think the king of putting LSI IT controllers in servers has to go to DBA - 11 controllers (14 since he has some dualie's) in a single box! Amazing!

I have some old BR10i ibm controllers, if you want them. They were like $10 so I bought up a bunch, and sold them for $35 and still have a couple from my coin days.

Also with megascu, it may be possible to convert IR megaraid 9260-9285 controllers to do jbod, i see the option, but don't know.

One great option, if possible, pick a nice 6gbp/s to host your ZIL/LOG/L2ARC and host the drives on the cheaper slower controllers.

Unlike windows/esxi - you get to use your server RAM for read/write cache and ssd for read or write cache.

We are very jealous of that storage tiering built in and free ;) seriously.
 
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madison437

New Member
May 3, 2013
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mrkrad said:
Try to avoid cross-flashing - sun raid controllers are the LEAST desirable, probably only less desirable than fujitsu. This means with skillful hunting you can get good deals.

If you need help scoring some - this website is like the SLICKDEALS.net/Fatwallet.com of server deals.

the LSI 10x8 are PCIE 1.0 and 3gbp/s (they can be patched to negotiate with 6/gbps but only speak at 3gbps). Now everyone here knows that unless you are doing a SAS expander situation, or pure ssd, 3gbp/s is fine.

The LSI 2xxx series is PCI-E 2.0 and 6gbp/s native.

I think the king of putting LSI IT controllers in servers has to go to DBA - 11 controllers (14 since he has some dualie's) in a single box! Amazing!

I have some old BR10i ibm controllers, if you want them. They were like $10 so I bought up a bunch, and sold them for $35 and still have a couple from my coin days.

Also with megascu, it may be possible to convert IR megaraid 9260-9285 controllers to do jbod, i see the option, but don't know.

One great option, if possible, pick a nice 6gbp/s to host your ZIL/LOG/L2ARC and host the drives on the cheaper slower controllers.

Unlike windows/esxi - you get to use your server RAM for read/write cache and ssd for read or write cache.

We are very jealous of that storage tiering built in and free ;) seriously.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for such a detailed reply. I managed to find a used LSI branded 9200-8e on Amazon for a reasonable price. I will let you know if I need to take you up on the offer of the BR10i !

Best,

-- madison437
 
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mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
52
48
yeah if you are a deal hunter, not a lot of nerds buying lsi 9211/9200's on the weekend ;)

then again i did score 4 10gb ethernet nic's for $45 each a couple of nights ago ;)

Can't wait to team 4 x 10gb together in windows 2012 and what it can do
 
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