From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jul 26 22:56:03 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 766EC106566B for ; Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:56:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from qmta09.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (qmta09.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net [76.96.62.96]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2246B8FC19 for ; Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:56:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from omta06.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.51]) by qmta09.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id Cmvd1h00416LCl059mw3ba; Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:56:03 +0000 Received: from koitsu.dyndns.org ([67.180.84.87]) by omta06.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id Cmvy1h01K1t3BNj3Smw08K; Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:56:03 +0000 Received: by icarus.home.lan (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 26331102C36; Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:55:57 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:55:57 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick To: Freddie Cash Message-ID: <20110726225557.GA97184@icarus.home.lan> References: <20110725093432.GI1202@home.opsec.eu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: Kurt Jaeger , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SATA 6g 4-port non-RAID controller ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:56:03 -0000 On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 01:42:07PM -0700, Freddie Cash wrote: > On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 2:34 AM, Kurt Jaeger wrote: > > > What kind of SATA 6g 4-port non-RAID controller is currently suggested > > for use in 8/9 setups with large RAM (64G) setups with ZFS ? > > > > SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i > > PCIe controller with 2 multi-lane connectors (SFF-1087) supporting 8 > SAS/SATA ports. Supports two firmwares: > IR mode enables RAID0, RAID1, RAID10 and a couple of other modes (no > RAID5+) > IT mode enables straight HBA mode > > Supported by the mps(4) driver in FreeBSD 9-CURRENT, and I believe has been > MFC'd into 8.2-STABLE. > > Sure, it's 8-ports, but for under $300 CDN, you really can't do much better. It's important to note that this device -- despite not being mentioned anywhere on their site or in the user manual (!) -- appears to use a PCI Express x8 connector, and will work on PCIe 1.0 or PCIe 2.0. http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-USAS2-L8i.cfm?TYP=I What's confusing about this card is that the web page states "Compatible UIO Motherboards". UIO is Supermicro's proprietary slot type (Universal I/O) which can work with UIO-only cards, OR, using a riser/adapter, can be made into a PCI, PCI-X, or PCIe x{1,2,4,8} slot. So the web page wording and description of this device is really sub-par. And before someone asks: in most cases you *cannot* use this card in a PCIe x16 connector on a motherboard. Most generic motherboard manufacturers at this point have special one-offs that assume their PCIe x16 slots are for video cards only. If you aren't sure, you'll need to ask your motherboard manufacturer/vendor if you can use a non-VGA-adapter in their PCIe x16 slot. Some Supermicro boards do have PCIe x16 slots that can be used by non-VGA adapters, but I haven't seen this on, say, Asus/Gigabyte/Dell/Intel motherboards. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, US | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP 4BD6C0CB |