LSI RAID Controller and HBA Complete Listing Plus OEM Models

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Stefan75

Stefan75

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MasterCATZ

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yes I have a 9202-16e but it's old tech and IOPS is low compared to an 9206-16e is this pci-e v2 the only card out there x16 ?

someone was saying the LSI SAS 9301-16e does x16 but I have not found any proof and I can only find 9302-16e

I pretty much need more bandwidth
I max out the card with 4x 24 bay netapp shelves each cable can only do 2GBs so I need at least 8GBs
( 4 port card each controller on the shelves is 6GBs multipathing only gives me a little gain but pretty sure its the number of lanes that is the bottle kneck now )


however, if PCI-e v3 is 985 MB/s per lane then x8 = 7880 MB/s so maybe all of the 12Gb/s cards are x16 ?

things would be easier if I did not accidentally rip out one of my PCI-e slots


think I solved my issue ( apart from maxing out my credit card )

SAS 9302-16e 16 Port, 12Gb/s SAS+SATA to PCI Express Host Bus Adapter Product Brief (221 KB)
pdf says 16 lanes PCB says x16 but needs Aux 6 pin power connector almost 35-watt draw

pouncing on a bulk lot of LSI / Avago 9302-16e 12Gb/s PCIe 3.0 SAS9302-16e 03-25688-00
while I can import some into Australia at a decent price :p

LSI Logic CTR LSI 9302-16e 16-port Sas 12gb/s PCI MFR 03-25688-00 | eBay
a single card to AU costs
USD $160.00 Postage:USD $26.21 Import charges:USD $24.28
each additional card I saved $15 in shipping + had 5% off ebay code


so if anyone in AU is interested I have spares to resell
 
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stilez

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Nov 7, 2016
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Just posting to say, thank you for this invaluable resource thread!

I've crosslinked it from my 92xx/93xx crossflashing resource page over at FreeNAS forums. There's nothing else quite like this thread on the net for those looking for equivalent models. Thanks once again to all, for an amazing page.
 
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nezach

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I wanted to share a spreadsheet that I have compiled over the years and recently updated, maybe some of you will find it useful.

It contains info from OP as well as some additional information. It also contains newer LSI and OEM cards that are not listed in OP. It does not contain OEM RAID cards.

Avago Info Spreadsheet (Google Sheets) v1.1
Avago Info Spreadsheet (Google Sheets) v1.0

There are 3 sheets:
  • Fusion-MPT ICs - lists LSI/Avago ICs; IOCs as well as RoCs (up to date as of Feb 2019)
  • Avago Cards - lists LSI/Avago HBAs and RAID controllers (up to date as of Feb 2019)
  • HBA Equivalents - lists groups of equivalent LSI/Avago HBAs as well as IBM/Lenovo, Dell, HP, SuperMicro and Fujitsu OEM cards

Note: if anyone wants to link to this, please link to this post and not directly to the spreadsheet.
 
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nezach

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Here is a short long intro, basics if you will, into the world of Avago/LSI cards and controllers for new users.


Avago (former LSI) designs and manufactures not just the cards, but also chips (ICs) that power those cards.

Several types of ICs are produced by Avago: SAS/SATA Storage I/O Controllers (IOCs) and RAID-on-Chip ICs (RoCs).
  • IOCs are PCI Express to SAS+SATA controllers that also integrate basic RAID functionality (levels 0, 1, 1E, 10).
  • RoCs are based on the same technology as IOCs, but integrate more advanced hardware based RAID functionality such as hardware acceleration engines for RAID 5 and RAID 6 parity calculations, memory controller, battery and/or supercap backup. They support RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60.
Avago also makes two different types of cards: host bus adapters (HBAs) and RAID controller cards.
  • HBAs always use IOC chip, but come with two types of firmware known as IT (initiator-target) and IR (integrated RAID).
    • In IT mode, card does not perform any processing letting OS take full control of the connected disks (SCSI targets).
    • IR mode firmware allows one to utilize integrated RAID capability of the IOC chip and create RAID arrays at the hardware level.
    A lot of the HBAs support both IR and IT firmware and can be easily flashed to the desired mode if firmware is available.
  • RAID controller cards (MegaRAID) use either IOC or RoC chip.
    • MegaRAID cards targeting entry level market use IOC chips and hardware wise are identical to HBAs using same IOC, except that they come with MegaRAID firmware. They also do not support more advanced features such as battery backup, RAID levels 5, 6, 50 and 60 that are supported by more capable MegaRAID cards. These cards can often be flashed with IT/IR firmware of the corresponding HBA.
    • MegaRAID cards targeting value and higher market use RoC chips and support advanced features such as battery backup, RAID levels 5, 6, 50 and 60, etc. These card run MegaRAID firmware and cannot be cross-flashed to IT/IR firmware.
OEM cards also come in several flavors.
  • Some are simply re-branded LSI/Avago cards. They are manufactured by Avago and are physically identical (sometimes they have small differences) to Avago cards, they sport LSI/Avago logo on the PCB. E.g. IBM ServeRAID M1015 is re-branded MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i.
  • Other cards are custom made, but use Avago's IC. Dell PERC and SuperMicro cards fall into this category.
Each OEM also has their own firmware. Sometimes they provide IT and IR firmware, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you can flash OEM card with Avago "proper" firmware, sometimes you can't. E.g. IBM M1015 can be flashed with LSI SAS 9211-8i IT/IR firmware. This varies from card to card so look for flashing instructions for specific card.
 
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BLinux

BLinux

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nezach said:
  • RAID controller cards (MegaRAID) use either IOC or RoC chip.
    • MegaRAID cards targeting entry level market use IOC chips and hardware wise are identical to HBAs using same IOC, except that they come with MegaRAID firmware. They also do not support more advanced features such as battery backup, RAID levels 5, 6, 50 and 60 that are supported by more capable MegaRAID cards. These cards can often be flashed with IT/IR firmware of the corresponding HBA.
    • MegaRAID cards targeting value and higher market use RoC chips and support advanced features such as battery backup, RAID levels 5, 6, 50 and 60, etc. These card run MegaRAID firmware and cannot be cross-flashed to IT/IR firmware.
Click to expand...
Really appreciate your sharing your knowledge here, it's a great summary and I wish we could post this on the OP or somewhere more visible as it concisely puts a lot of info into a single post.

However, there is at least 1 known exception to your info above. The RoC SAS2208 can run IT firmware from IoC SAS2308. This is confirmed possible, and documented in some thread in STH.

It may also be possible to run SAS2008 (IoC) IT firmware on SAS2108 (RoC), but I haven't seen confirmation of that yet. I may try it with a Dell PERC H700 i have laying around that I no longer need.
 
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nezach

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@BLinux thanks for posting that, I was not aware of it. Though it is not surprising since at least same generation ICs should be compatible. SAS2208 RoC and SAS2308 IoC are both 3rd generation. So it might just be a matter of finding a way to cross-flash firmware.

There is actually at least on Avago HBA that uses RoC instead of IoC. 9400-8i8e uses SAS3516 RoC instead of SAS3416 IoC. Which kind of proves that RoCs can run IoC's firmware.

Of course RAID controllers are usually more expensive than HBAs so I am not sure if there is any practical use to this.
 
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BLinux

BLinux

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@nezach By the way, do you know the TDPs of the processors used in your spreadsheet? I noticed the recent HBAs/RAID cards use ARM A15 and at least with the 530-8i card I have, they seem to run much cooler and I'm wondering if they are more energy efficient?
 
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nezach

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@BLinux I don't have TDPs of the processors, but power usage of cards based on ARM controllers is definitively lower than of cards based on PPC controllers. This might be due to better manufacturing process and not necessarily more power efficient architecture. But the biggest reason why 530-8i runs cooler is probably because it has decent sized heat-sink.
 
BLinux

BLinux

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nezach said:
@BLinux I don't have TDPs of the processors, but power usage of cards based on ARM controllers is definitively lower than of cards based on PPC controllers. This might be due to better manufacturing process and not necessarily more power efficient architecture. But the biggest reason why 530-8i runs cooler is probably because it has decent sized heat-sink.
Click to expand...
i was comparing the 530-8i against SAS3008 based HBAs I have and noticed they seem to run cooler. The SAS3008 cards also have pretty large heatsinks... so not sure heatsink size difference is the main reason for the difference.
 
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nezach

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BLinux said:
i was comparing the 530-8i against SAS3008 based HBAs I have and noticed they seem to run cooler. The SAS3008 cards also have pretty large heatsinks... so not sure heatsink size difference is the main reason for the difference.
Click to expand...
Nominal power usage for SAS3008 based 9300-8i is 13.00W and SAS3408 based 9440-8i is 10.05W so there is a difference there.
 
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brinox

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I recently switched up my homelab Dell T430 server to be running an eBay'ed Dell PERC H740P. I can say with a rather large amount of glee that everything SAS/SATA-related on the H740P works properly, including the controller BIOS (ctrl+R), the Dell "integrated devices" config menu (F2 just after POST) and OMSA in Windows Server 2019.

I haven't tried the third of the "tri-mode" capabilities with this card however, so I'm not sure if any kind of NVMe disks can be hung off this card in the PowerEdge T430. I nabbed it for $140 from a parts reseller, and had to provide my own bracket.
 
funkywizard

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