Looking for advice on running unsupported Truenas configs

[What_Is_Computer]

So I am trying to consolidate my lab into one device. I currently have a Dell R720, Dell R520, and a custom build server I am running. The R720 is my main server. The R520 is supposed to be my bulk storage, but I haven't used it since I put it together. The custom build server was supposed to be a cold storage backup for the R720. Right now the custom server is my primary storage despite it already being configured incorrectly with a Perc H310 with Dell firmware.

I'm contemplating transitioning to a Dell R730xd with 12 LFF bays. I would prefer to keep using ESXi on my server since I am used to it. I am doing some GPU pass through to a VM. The target config would be dual Xeons, 128GB DDR4, Perc H730, Tesla M40, 8x 3TB HDD, and 6x ~2TB SSD. I would be using it as a NAS, VM test box, video editing machine, PXE boot server, and NVR.

My problem is Truenas can't read drive info unless the controller is in IT mode. Also I know people say don't virtualize Truenas. Although some of that seems to be because it isn't something the devs want to support, and the fact that not everyone is running on server hardware. I am aware of Truenas Core. I am open to other solutions for a NAS that are ESXi friendly.

 

[Sean Ho]

Assuming all the drives for TrueNAS are on the same controller, you could just pass that controller through to the VM. IT/HBA mode should work on the H730, right?

 

[zack$]

Virtualization has been officially endorsed since at least 2015: Yes, You Can Virtualize FreeNAS

 

[What_Is_Computer]

Virtualization has been officially endorsed since at least 2015: Yes, You Can Virtualize FreeNAS

Thanks for that link. I am not sure why but I must have been using the wrong google search terms. Most of the results I was reading were against virtualization of Truenas.

 

[What_Is_Computer]

Assuming all the drives for TrueNAS are on the same controller, you could just pass that controller through to the VM. IT/HBA mode should work on the H730, right?

I need to look into the H730 configuration options. I'm still a bit of a noob at this. I kinda want my SSDs in a RAID 50 under the raid controller. The HDDs I am fine with letting Truenas do its thing if I can pass them through properly.

 

[Bananaboat]

730 configuration options

Sorry I'm late to the party but hopefully this will still help someone down the road.

The h710 and h710p do not support it mode natively, the h310 is the only dell approved raid controller that supports it. That being said you can pick up a h710 that has been flashed with LSI SAS2308 IT firmware. I'm running two of them in a pair of r520's that I'm planning on attempting to get running as a truesnas scale HA cluster with the latest release that came out this week. The down side is that it the drive bay indicators will no longer work, and you will have to rely on the software to tell you about drive issues.

I am in no way affiliated with the seller "theartofserver" but here is a link to his ebay page and he also has a youtube channel where he gets into the flashing process somewhat.

H710 mini monolithic 5CT6D with LSI 9207-8i P20 IT Mode

Dell H710 mini monolithic 5CT6D with LSI 9207-8i P20 IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS unRAID | eBay

I have fully tested them using all 12 SAS HDD slots. They have been cross-flashed to Avago / LSI 9207-8i IT (Initiator Target) firmware version P20 (specifically 20.00.07.00). I've used ZFS for many years.

www.ebay.com

 

[What_Is_Computer]

Sorry I'm late to the party but hopefully this will still help someone down the road.

The h710 and h710p do not support it mode natively, the h310 is the only dell approved raid controller that supports it. That being said you can pick up a h710 that has been flashed with LSI SAS2308 IT firmware. I'm running two of them in a pair of r520's that I'm planning on attempting to get running as a truesnas scale HA cluster with the latest release that came out this week. The down side is that it the drive bay indicators will no longer work, and you will have to rely on the software to tell you about drive issues.

I am in no way affiliated with the seller "theartofserver" but here is a link to his ebay page and he also has a youtube channel where he gets into the flashing process somewhat.

H710 mini monolithic 5CT6D with LSI 9207-8i P20 IT Mode

Dell H710 mini monolithic 5CT6D with LSI 9207-8i P20 IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS unRAID | eBay

I have fully tested them using all 12 SAS HDD slots. They have been cross-flashed to Avago / LSI 9207-8i IT (Initiator Target) firmware version P20 (specifically 20.00.07.00). I've used ZFS for many years.

www.ebay.com

Yeah theartofserver has some good stuff. I ended up virtualizing my main NAS and my main backup. Decided flashing controllers wasn't for me. So far everything has been working good. I just have to remember to keep track of my server alerts. Eventually I will get on it Luckily I am running Intel S4500 drives on my main NAS so no worries about failures there.

 

[andrewbedia]

Late to this, but you really dont want to use H730. You should swap to H330/HBA330. There is a HBA mode for H730, but it doesn't 100% pass all of the drive controls/stats to the system, from my experience.