LSI RAID Controller - HBA Equivalency Mapping

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SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
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No problem Patrick, I'm glad I could chip-in. Mind you, this thread seems to be very interested (4.356 views), so I wonder if you ever considered a "sticky" page of some sort ? It would provide an invaluable source of info for all of us who seek quality HBAs with price tags attractive to "ordinary people", especially for those with Linux softare RAID in mind. There's a bunch of cards that haven't been mentioned yet, like LSI SAS3442E-R and 3442X-R, HP SC44GE (based on LSI 3442E-R), IBM 46M0907 (based on LSI 9212-4i4e), to name but a few. I can help you with various info I've gathered through my own research, just give me a buzz.

Kind regards,

Sebastian
 

Ssdstephen

New Member
May 9, 2011
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SSD on H200

I purchased an h200 to run my new single (non-raid) vertex 3 6gb ssd and i cannot get windows to see the drive. Confirmed that the drive works by installing windows on it using Native Intel ich10r, and it runs great. The card will see another ssd and a platter drive without any hiccups. Win7 64-bit has the needed drivers for this card, so no need to F6. Any Suggestions????

Also it is running the latest dell firmware, hesitant to brick the card if i try LSI firmware as i purchased it used.
 

DJ_Datte

New Member
Apr 12, 2011
9
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Win7x64 has really ancient drivers for that card, perhaps try downloading the latest LSI drivers (use the 9211-8i) and use the "load drivers" option ? ;)
 

SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
26
7
3
No problem Patrick, I'm glad I could chip-in. Mind you, this thread seems to be very interested (4.356 views), so I wonder if you ever considered a "sticky" page of some sort ? It would provide an invaluable source of info for all of us who seek quality HBAs with price tags attractive to "ordinary people", especially for those with Linux softare RAID in mind. There's a bunch of cards that haven't been mentioned yet, like LSI SAS3442E-R and 3442X-R, HP SC44GE (based on LSI 3442E-R), IBM 46M0907 (based on LSI 9212-4i4e), to name but a few. I can help you with various info I've gathered through my own research, just give me a buzz.

Kind regards,

Sebastian
Just a brief follow-up; I managed to get the latest Firmware/BIOS Update files for IBM SAS HBAs 25R8060/8071 and 44E8700/8701, sent with e-mail by some nice people on IBM forums. If anyone is interested, or has experienced similar problems with downloading as I have, just let me know. You can PM me if you wish, and I'll send you the files - executable .bin + .chg, .xml and readme.txt.

Kind regards to everyone,

Sebastian
 

Ssdstephen

New Member
May 9, 2011
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Already tried loading newer drivers. Im told that the problem is that the firmware on the drive does play nicely with a lot of raid/HBA cards. I know that dell at one times locked out the use of non-dell drives on there cards. How difficult is it to flash with lsi firmware, and if it doesnt fix the issue to be able to flash back to dell firmware?
 

DJ_Datte

New Member
Apr 12, 2011
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Yes, you can swap around both versions (older/newer) and LSI/dell/whatever. I've posted some info in this thread about how you go about doing it.
 

willko

New Member
May 17, 2011
4
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LSI 3444E flash procedure

First post :) I joined after a search for info on the illusive LSI 3444E HBA (or IBM SAS HBA 25R8060) and found all the info I need to flash the controller via previous posts from enlightened members - THANKS!!! I thought I'd post a brief synopsis of the procedure just to clarify for anyone else who may find themselves needing to update the BIOS and firmware.

First I downloaded the update files from IBM here:
http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?brand=5000008&lndocid=MIGR-5075059
(file to grab = ibm_fw_mptsas_sashba-2.72_windows_32-64.exe)
Then I extracted the files from this archive with WinRAR in order to get the 3 files necessary to flash the controller from DOS (allows FW upgrade migration from 1MB to 2MB, windows and Linux do not)
The 3 needed files are:
bios_6.30.00.rom
uefi_3.16.00.05.rom
win_2d11_b1_01.30.05.fw

The included sasflash.exe is a windows executable and will not function in DOS (which is necessary to achieve FW upgrade given migration limitation)

Next step get the DOS version of sasflash.exe from here:
http://www.lsi.com/lookup/License.a...me=LSI SAS 3442E-R&subType=Firmware&locale=EN
It’s a file called "Installer_p20_for_Windows.zip" and contains various versions of sasflash - we need the DOS based one.

Put these 4 files on a bootable USB (using DOS of course) and run these commands in this order:

sasflash.exe -b bios_6.30.00.rom
sasflash.exe -b uefi_3.16.00.05.rom
sasflash.exe -f win_2d11_b1_01.30.05.fw
(The final FW upgrade resets the controller and needs a complete power off reboot to enable the LSI post screen configuration utility)

This worked for me using the 3444E installed on an ASUS P5E3 WS Pro and all is working very well.

Many thanks again to the previous poster's foresight and info, and I hope this helps someone.
 

fblittle

New Member
Apr 5, 2011
19
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1
Gridley, CA (near Sacramento)
ReadMe file

I used the first file you listed (one with SATA 1.5/3.0G support) and it worked fine on my BR10i.

This is just a guess, but the only thing I figure out about why they have two different firmwares is that maybe there's some kind of compatibility problem in this chipset with SATA 6.0Gbps devices. So if you want to connect a 6Gbps SATA drive, the second firmware must contain some kind of workaround. Furthermore, this hypothetical workaround must also disable compatibility with 1.5G devices, so you can either mix 1.5G and 3G SATA devices, or 3G and 6G devices on one controller, but not all three at once. Of course, any 6G device would still run at 3G or lower since I'm pretty sure the LSI 1068e doesn't do 6Gbps.
Metaluna:
You are correct for the SATA Drives the readme file next to the driver download states this. For SAS drives all speeds will work with either driver.
 

SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
26
7
3
LSI 3444E flash procedure - cont.

First post :) I joined after a search for info on the illusive LSI 3444E HBA (or IBM SAS HBA 25R8060) and found all the info I need to flash the controller via previous posts from enlightened members - THANKS!!! I thought I'd post a brief synopsis of the procedure just to clarify for anyone else who may find themselves needing to update the BIOS and firmware.

.....................


This worked for me using the 3444E installed on an ASUS P5E3 WS Pro and all is working very well.

Many thanks again to the previous poster's foresight and info, and I hope this helps someone.

Greetings everyone,

Feels good to see this thread maintaining a good steady flame, and just when it seems it's gonna cool down, someone new comes around and blows the "embers" to keep it alive ;-)

Nice work willko ! Few questions for you, if I may :

- Any particular reason why you chose to flash the .fw and .ROM files separately ? LSI is very specific about this, recommending to flash both with a single run of sasflash, though I don't think it really matters if yo use the correct files – matched pairs of .fw and .ROM.

- Why using both, BIOS and uEFI ? They were not exactly meant to complement each other, more like a choice, to use one or the other.

- Can you please tell me if there's any BIOS setting to run the SAS3444E in non-RAID mode ?

When I had first discovered this SAS HBA, I was really excited about it's perfect layout of internal ports (I only need three, and 7-pin SATA cables are readily available), and the bargain price seen every now and then. Given the model designation – SAS3444E (without ''-R'' suffix), I was assuming it's a non-RAID card, relying on LSI's coding system for discerning non-RAID and IR RAID HBAs. Bottom line - I completely overlooked the »Integrated RAID 0,1,1E« text in IBM's Quick Specs.

Furthermore; according to IBM's documentation, RAID 0,1,1E in IR-mode on 25R8060 HBA is only available in conjunction with System x3105 and x3455 Servers, so the questions is – how does this HBA see the disks when used with other, non supported xServers or any other, non-IBM machine ?

I've been digging through piles of IBM documentation, and browsed through all the relevant forums (IBM's included), but for the life of me I couldn't find anything about pass-through IT-mode, or any other option for non-RAID mode, to enable 25R8060/SAS3444E to see the disks as JBOD. If setting the SAS/SATA disks as RAID 0 with single disk is the only option, then I'm definitely abandoning the SAS3444E route for my Linux MDADM RAID-to-be.

My own search for original LSI fw/BIOS files for SAS3444E ended up in several dead-end streets, like LSI and SGI Tech Support, but I did find a source of what could be pretty old original LSI fw/BIOS files (2006), well hidden on third party web site, with archived files for Intel S5000PAL firmware updates.

If anynone is brave enough to try those instead of IBM files from 2010, just let me know. I would much prefer to receive the latest files from LSI, but ... they claim they never released them, and only provided the »silicon« SAS3444E to IBM, Intel, SGI and others. Go figure. If that was the truth, then how could they test their ''silicon'' SAS3444E, before offering the card to OEM vendors ???

Kind regards,

Sebastian
 

PeterB

New Member
May 21, 2011
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Tagum, Philippines
Hi all .. this is my first post!

I have recently purchased a Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8i (LSI 2008 based card) for use in my unRAID file server, which is Intel DH55TC/i3-530 based.

The L8i comes with IR firmware loaded ... no problem, I'll just download the IT firmware from the Supermicro site, and reflash it.

However, as soon as I run sas2flsh, irrespective of what switches I apply (even -list), I get an error message: 'Failed to initialize PAL ....'.

I've searched the net and the only reference I can find to this error is on the LSI knowledge base where it offer, rather unhelpfully, "... you will need to flash in a different system/motherboard".

Since I only have two, almost identical mobos, I seem to be stuck at this point. Can anyone offer any insights as to why this error should occur and whether there might be any way to make the flash work in my motherboard?
 

SantaSCSI

New Member
May 22, 2011
20
3
3
Hi all, I stumbled onto this forum in my search for RAID/HBA controllers for my upcoming nas.

Has anyone managed to get the H700 to work on a non-dell system and/or flash it to LSI firmware? I am betting on one at ebay only to find out about the compatibility after i set the autobidder :p. Apparently someone at OC.net managed to get it to work in an ASUS motherboard.

http://www.overclock.net/raid-controllers-software/803773-perc-h700-compatibility.html
 

willko

New Member
May 17, 2011
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1
Hi SebastianMWS, hope all is well - I'll try an answer your questions as best I can.
- Any particular reason why you chose to flash the .fw and .ROM files separately ? LSI is very specific about this, recommending to flash both with a single run of sasflash, though I don't think it really matters if yo use the correct files – matched pairs of .fw and .ROM.
Not really :eek:, the IBM process seems to be batched in a similar way so I just copied the methodology. TBH, I'm sure you're correct re: single run and it sounds as if you know a heck of a lot more than me on the matter! :) I've always felt better about flashing in a DOS environment, less "busy", perhaps the LSI recommendation is to minimize potential for interruption if performed via Windows or Linux? Apparently neither windows nor Linux support commands that take the controller offline or firmware download of boot loader... Anyway, call it beginner's luck, but I've now flashed 3 of these with no problems.

Why using both, BIOS and uEFI ? They were not exactly meant to complement each other, more like a choice, to use one or the other.
Another case of just copied the IBM method, their program flow executes both BIOS and uEFI...? I read this at uefi.org, "UEFI does not specify how POST & Setup are implemented and UEFI is an interface. It can be implemented on top of a traditional BIOS (in which case it supplants the traditional "INT" entry points into BIOS) or on top of non-BIOS implementations" :confused: Again, beginner's luck?

Can you please tell me if there's any BIOS setting to run the SAS3444E in non-RAID mode ?
Errr, I've not had an issue with just throwing disks at it for JBOD...? Its quite hot swap friendly (I use this handy util) - I've also installed the LSI MegaRAID storage manager software (I used this: MSM v2.92-02 for LSI SAS3442E-R ) and this installs & works really well in windows (WSS2K8R2), no issues finding HBA and all disks - easy to create, manage, delete arrays etc.. and free ;)

You've probably already seen these but this user guide and also this one at least mention the SAS3444e and the 1068E chipset which I found helpful.

I have played with the removable media support via advanced adapter props and boot support settings for BBS and an issue with a supermicro board not booting (set to enabled OS only worked). Other than that I've used just the defaults.

Currently I have 8x2TB disks attached to the HBA in the Asus P5E3 WS pro, 4 internal all JBOD and 4 external in a NAS device as 1E RAID, all setup via the Megaraid management software while in windows. previous to the RAID setup, all 8 disks were JBOD.

When I had first discovered this SAS HBA, I was really excited about it's perfect layout of internal ports (I only need three, and 7-pin SATA cables are readily available), and the bargain price seen every now and then. Given the model designation – SAS3444E (without ''-R'' suffix), I was assuming it's a non-RAID card, relying on LSI's coding system for discerning non-RAID and IR RAID HBAs. Bottom line - I completely overlooked the »Integrated RAID 0,1,1E« text in IBM's Quick Specs.

Furthermore; according to IBM's documentation, RAID 0,1,1E in IR-mode on 25R8060 HBA is only available in conjunction with System x3105 and x3455 Servers, so the questions is – how does this HBA see the disks when used with other, non supported xServers or any other, non-IBM machine ?
Nothing IBM about the Asus rig, and I have a RAID 1E of 4x2TB WD drives in external NAS (performs well) , can also hotswap the 4 internal SATA drives as JBOD via 5.25" caddies no problem.

I've been digging through piles of IBM documentation, and browsed through all the relevant forums (IBM's included), but for the life of me I couldn't find anything about pass-through IT-mode, or any other option for non-RAID mode, to enable 25R8060/SAS3444E to see the disks as JBOD. If setting the SAS/SATA disks as RAID 0 with single disk is the only option, then I'm definitely abandoning the SAS3444E route for my Linux MDADM RAID-to-be.
No problems with JBOD here...? Maybe I'm missing your point? I think you know more about this than me but I can tell you I have 4x2TB in 1E and 4x2TB as JBOD and all work as expected.

My own search for original LSI fw/BIOS files for SAS3444E ended up in several dead-end streets, like LSI and SGI Tech Support, but I did find a source of what could be pretty old original LSI fw/BIOS files (2006), well hidden on third party web site, with archived files for Intel S5000PAL firmware updates.

If anynone is brave enough to try those instead of IBM files from 2010, just let me know. I would much prefer to receive the latest files from LSI, but ... they claim they never released them, and only provided the »silicon« SAS3444E to IBM, Intel, SGI and others. Go figure. If that was the truth, then how could they test their ''silicon'' SAS3444E, before offering the card to OEM vendors ???
Go figure indeed!, its as if the 3444E is a lovechild they choose to ignore - I'd be worried if the card behaved badly but so far so good. ;)

I hope my limited ability to answer your questions has been of some help... All in all I'm very happy with the card's performance and cost ( 3 for £100). The cards all flashed without problems and 2 are in use with no issues ( an ASUS board and a Tyan), the third is awaiting a home. PS - I also replaced the chipset cooling with a proper heatsink and fan - these suckers run hot!
 
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p3x-749

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May 27, 2011
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sovking

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Jun 2, 2011
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Yes. But it's tricky as hell. You can't flash the Dell-IR fw with LSI-IT directly and make it work. I have found a Dell IT firmware (Using the firmware from their 6GBPS SAS HBA update file). You also can't flash the LSI fw if you do a erase on the Card (then when flashing the LSI fw, you get a "flashing MfgPage2, validating failed, erroring out". What you can is flash Dell-iR > Dell-IT, then Dell-IT>Lsi-IT. It works. But I am getting a strange bug, when the disks get detected, and it prints its "LSI MPT2 Bios Installed" or some such, computer freezes there. I don't know if its a M/B issue, or it is the fact that the LSI IT firmware isn't "perfectly" compatible. But I assume the Dell-IT firmware will be good enough (will have to confirm that the Dell-IT firmware does not have the freeze, if it does, I may assume its the M/B and test another M/B).

I can say I was scared at first when I couldnt reflash the LSI firmware after erasing the card in DOS, as LSI States "If you reboot at this point, your card will be ruined". Which was not true. The card fails, but the flash tool works fine to detect the card, so you can continue experimenting even after reboot. All my flashing is done in DOS from a booted USB stick.

Quite a fun ride, after the scare.
Hi, I'm running a DELL Poweredge R515 with DELL H200 card.
I've just flashed the firmware with the IT firmware and now it show me:
"Invalid PCIe card found in Internal Storage slot!"
Any suggestion about to solve it ?

Thanks in advance.
 

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
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I am a little confused and thought I'd ask here.

Does anybody know about the HP sas/sata card p/n 447430-001 aka LSI SAS3042EL-HP?

Does it have an LSI equivalent?
I have searched and cant find any product on LSI site.

Thanks
 

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
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It seems more like a LSI SAS 3041E-R but without the 4xsata connectors more like a SFF-8484 connection.
 

sovking

Member
Jun 2, 2011
84
9
8
Hi, I'm running a DELL Poweredge R515 with DELL H200 card.
I've just flashed the firmware with the IT firmware and now it show me:
"Invalid PCIe card found in Internal Storage slot!"
Any suggestion about to solve it ?

Thanks in advance.
Problem solved. DELL provided me longer calbles to install the H200 in another PCIe slot, which is not restricted to run DELL branded firmware.
Now the card is working with DELL IT firmware (of DELL 6GB SAS HBA card - it correspond to P7 firmware of LSI).
 

sovking

Member
Jun 2, 2011
84
9
8
DELL H200 and firmware issues.

Problem solved. DELL provided me longer calbles to install the H200 in another PCIe slot, which is not restricted to run DELL branded firmware.
Now the card is working with DELL IT firmware (of DELL 6GB SAS HBA card - it corresponds to P7 firmware of LSI).
Update!

I've flashad the card with the following LSI firmwares:
P8 - Card work, but card bios is not accessible due "read error of non volatile data"...
P9 - Card show multiple times the same disks attached to different slots (compatibility problem with backplane ?) - OS see multiple times the same disk.

Now I'm back to 6GBSAS firmware.


Any Suggestions ?
Thanks!
 

matt_garman

Active Member
Feb 7, 2011
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LSI 1068e based ... approximately 10w of power consumption
SAS2008 based ... approximately 9w of power consumption
Does anyone happen to have more detailed power consumption info on these or any other HBAs?

Certainly there ought to be a typical power range, e.g. from idle to cranking out parity calculations. In particular, if one uses them as "dumb" SATA ports (for e.g. OS-based software RAID), then 9--10 watts seems rather high.

I'm also wondering if flashing to IT firmware makes any difference in power consumption?