LSI 9271-8i settings not sticking

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renderfarmer

Member
Feb 22, 2013
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Hi all.

I just set up my LSI 9271-8i and it seems that everytime I power off or restart my file server the settings for both of my Virtual Disks revert to their factory default settings which suck.

I want both of my arrays to be: No Read Ahead, Write Through, Direct IO (according to LSI this is optimal)

Instead, they constantly revert to: Always Read Ahead, Write Back with BBU, Direct IO.

I've trie dconfiguring the arrays both through the BIOS Ctrl+H page and through the LSI Megaraid Manager in Windows and it always gets reset.

Any ideas on what's going on? Might background initialization have anything to do with it?
 
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mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
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use megacli.

I have seen cross-flashed and improperly flashed boards (or jumpered boards) fail to flash. Defective. Have to be rma'd unless you have a bus pirate or bus blaster and know how to use it ;
 

renderfarmer

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Feb 22, 2013
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New Jersey
Thanks for the tip. So you're saying this is a symptom of a firmware issue? I updated the firmware using the Megaraid management app but it all appeared to go as expected.

I just ran MegaCli -AdpAllInfo -aALL and it all seems in order. I'll try deleting and recreating my virtual disks using megacli and see if that works. If it doesn't then I gues sI'lkl have to contact LSI support.
 
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supermacro

Member
Aug 31, 2012
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use megacli.

I have seen cross-flashed and improperly flashed boards (or jumpered boards) fail to flash. Defective. Have to be rma'd unless you have a bus pirate or bus blaster and know how to use it ;
You can cross-flash SAS2208 based cards? I think the OP actually has the genuine LSI 9271-8i which is 9270-8i with connectors at the end of it.

I have had 9270-8i cards before and I don't recall having this issue but do you have a BBU? Perhaps the card recognizes the BBU and assumes "write back with BBU" for some reason but I would think you can set it to whatever you want. If you have the BBU then you want that "write back with BBU" the difference is night and day.

I do have an Intel version of 9270-8i so I'll try it on Monday and see what happens.
 

mobilenvidia

Moderator
Sep 25, 2011
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You cannot crossflash SAS2208 cards as megerec doesn't recognise them = no ability to change the SBR

But you can flash any SAS2208 Firmware to any card.
I'm getting the opposite to you renderfarmer on my LSI9266-8i
I want to have Always Writeback but after reboot it always goes back to Writethrough mode.
I even deleted the array and set it up again, but still it reverts back to writethrough

Try in the WebBIOS (CTRL+H at boot) to do a factory reset
Then reboot and try again to set it.

I wonder it there is an issue with newer Firmware and its ability to change settings
 
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supermacro

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Aug 31, 2012
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Hmmm... Interesting... I didn't give much thought on this and assumed whatever I set was there. I'm going to have to check on this on Monday.
 

renderfarmer

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Feb 22, 2013
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I think the OP actually has the genuine LSI 9271-8i which is 9270-8i with connectors at the end of it.
Yes I do. I didn't even know cross flashing was possible with Megaraids.

I have had 9270-8i cards before and I don't recall having this issue but do you have a BBU? Perhaps the card recognizes the BBU and assumes "write back with BBU" for some reason but I would think you can set it to whatever you want. If you have the BBU then you want that "write back with BBU" the difference is night and day.
I don't have the BBU but I do have a Cyberpower UPS and redundant PSUs in that system. I wanted it to be Write Through only because LSI say so in their LSI_Benchmark_Tips.pdf. Ironically enough, I just noticed that the LSI BIOS was posting that my BBU is missing, damaged or not fully charged and my affected Vdisks would be set to Write Through to prevent data loss in case of power failure... Not sure what's up with that since then in MegaraidManager I would see it as Write Back with BBU...

I just turned on Always Write Back and got a gigantic boost in Crystal Mark on my HDD RAID-5! My SSD RAID-0 showed a 33% boost in sequential write but a 50% drop in Random Write 4k - QD=32. Since these arrays will both be doing mostly sequential workloads I'll leave them both to AWB from now on. Thanks for the tip.

I do have an Intel version of 9270-8i so I'll try it on Monday and see what happens.
Please do and let me know. My FW package: 23.11.0-0021 and Version: 3.230.05-2100
 
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renderfarmer

Member
Feb 22, 2013
249
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New Jersey
I'm getting the opposite to you renderfarmer on my LSI9266-8i
I want to have Always Writeback but after reboot it always goes back to Writethrough mode.
I even deleted the array and set it up again, but still it reverts back to writethrough
Now I want AWB as well, since I tested it out as per supermacro's suggestion. If I were you, I'd take a look at what the LSI BIOS posts during boot, you may be getting the same BBU warning I am which would default your writes to Write Through. This may be LSI's way of telling us to buy the damn BBU...

Try in the WebBIOS (CTRL+H at boot) to do a factory reset
Then reboot and try again to set it.
I'll give that a try.

I wonder it there is an issue with newer Firmware and its ability to change settings
Is it posisble to flash the FW to an older version?
 

supermacro

Member
Aug 31, 2012
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The BBU missing warning is normal and so is the VD is affected due to blah, blah, blah... I think I've seen these two messages when I set the RAID with BBU on and when I take out the BBU I would get these messages.

I think I need a iBBU09 for 9270 which I don't have (only have iBBU07 & iBBU08) so I couldn't be 100% sure but those messages always appeared with my 9260 cards.

Did you get the card as a second hand? I'm thinking maybe the card had a BBU before and now detached...
 

renderfarmer

Member
Feb 22, 2013
249
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New Jersey
Did you get the card as a second hand? I'm thinking maybe the card had a BBU before and now detached...
No, it's brand new from compsource.com. I got it without the cachecade/fastpath key or BBU because honestly I didn't know if they were worth the added expense. But now I have a cachecade/fastpath key on order and am thinking maybe the BBU isn't a bad idea either. What's another $150...
 

mobilenvidia

Moderator
Sep 25, 2011
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Don't get a BBU, I think you'd be better off with Cachevault
Tempted to get this my self.

Since when did LSI make the 'Always write back' with SAS2208 only available with BBU's
What is the point of this feature, if you had a BBU you would not use the 'Always WB' the whole point of getting a BBU is for maximum data retention and you should use 'WB with BBU'
So what is the point of 1GB cache that you cannot use to it's full potential.
The option to 'Always use WB' works properly on SAS2108 controllers, even works on my IBM M5016, but this has Cachevault.
So why change it on SAS2208 controllers to not work.

Its just naff
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
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batteries die after 3 years (less if run too hot). The super capacitor cachevault last 10+ years.

Mobilenvidia: I need to roll my own lsi nytro - ever seen the ability to pull power to run 2 SSD's off a PCI-E slot but be able to wire in to my lsi controller?? Most of the setups i've seen are drive in pci-e slot with no power, or drive in PCI-E slot with power and controller(sata junk).

Was thinking of fitting 4 SSD for cachecade on two PCI-E slots and running fan-out to controller.

Then the other internal wire could go to the DAS slower 15K SAS drives.

Ever seen a card that sucks power off the PCI-E bus for two normal SSD, then let me connect up? I was thinking of this apricorn idea, but i'd have to desolder the drive data connectors and not sure it would work.

Basically need a circuit that robs power from PCI-E to SSD sata.

4 cachecade drives and 4 LFF drives in 1U

or 24 SFF drives and 8 cachecade in 2U

or 4 cachecade drives and 8 LFF in 2U :)

LSI Nytro we can agree costs far more than LSI with cachecade.

The grand finale would be 48 SSD in 2U server ;) or 16 SSD in 1U server with fastpath but the M5014/M5015's have a dirty little secret (no fastpath working).