From owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 20 04:57:38 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8EC13106566B for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:57:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fjwcash@gmail.com) Received: from mail-vx0-f182.google.com (mail-vx0-f182.google.com [209.85.220.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43EAB8FC13 for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:57:38 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vcbfl17 with SMTP id fl17so221386vcb.13 for ; Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:57:37 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; bh=za+tXIIi4rJdVRCL7z/x6cLkFmJUycXZ2zw5ozZk2H4=; b=Yoddo53kt7DeG2Sicap21eBVK4rraV9s8vzj5LchOLctkm41qYAnU7W2b8yK0id91S xAXddMQdG7CwMzNTggwqaanWgrNnpV4dLeW1SGRHJmRM8m6rm3RaXF4DOYH9h6+RwGpz AGWLSISHAQ6A7LfEVyfhN4vCLROgp6DEn0cQ0= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.220.156.195 with SMTP id y3mr4802539vcw.50.1327035457610; Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:57:37 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.220.191.130 with HTTP; Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:57:37 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.220.191.130 with HTTP; Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:57:37 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:57:37 -0800 Message-ID: From: Freddie Cash To: John Kozubik Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: sanity check: is 9211-8i, on 8.3, with IT firmware still "the one" X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:57:38 -0000 On Jan 19, 2012 8:54 PM, "John Kozubik" wrote: > > > Hi Freddie, > > > On Thu, 19 Jan 2012, Freddie Cash wrote: > >> On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 4:08 PM, John Kozubik wrote: >>> >>> We're about to invest heavily in a new ZFS infrastructure, and our plans are >>> to: >>> >>> - wait for 8.3, with the updated 6gbps mps driver >>> - Install and use LSI 9211-8i cards with newest "IT" firmware >>> >>> This appears to be the de facto standard for ZFS HBAs ... >>> >>> Is there any reason to consider other cards/vendors ? >> >> >> We're using the SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i controllers with great >> success, via the mps driver in 8.2-STABLE (originally, when we >> installed the box), now running 9.0-RELEASE. WIth the 9.0 IT >> firmware. Haven't tried the 10.0 firmware yet. >> >> We're currently only using ZFS for storing backups (compression, >> dedupe, and snapshots are perfect for this). But we have plans to use >> similar hardware as these boxes as SAN/NAS boxes for VM servers. > > > > Is the AOC-USAS2-L8i *actually* identical to the 9211-8i, or is it a different implementation of the same chipset ? They're both using the LSI2008 chipset. Isn't the 9200 a RAID controller that can be flashed with the IT firmware to turn it into a 'dumb' SATA controller? The USAS2 is just a SATA controller. No onboard RAM, no BBU, no frills.