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Date:      Wed, 9 Sep 2020 10:57:26 +0200
From:      Guido Falsi <mad@madpilot.net>
To:        Mel Pilgrim <list_freebsd@bluerosetech.com>, freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Is an HP P812 (ciss(4) RAID) usable for ZFS?
Message-ID:  <3031306c-ac32-2718-929b-209edd7fe7f8@madpilot.net>
In-Reply-To: <d7122cfb-3d63-899c-a1cb-0737e7700b79@bluerosetech.com>
References:  <d7122cfb-3d63-899c-a1cb-0737e7700b79@bluerosetech.com>

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On 09/09/20 04:12, Mel Pilgrim wrote:
> [Posting this here as this list gets seen by many ZFS-aware eyeballs,
> but if there is a better list please tell me.]
> 
> I've gotten my hands on a couple of HP Smart Array P812 RAID
> controllers, but I can't tell if they'll work for ZFS.
> 
> I know they're supported by ciss(4), but queries have gotten me
> conflicting answers about HBA/JBOD capability, including that HBA mode
> might be OS-dependent. These do support creating single-disk RAID0
> plexes, but I'd rather not have RAID logic in the path at all if I can
> avoid it.
> 
> Does anyone know if these will work as HBAs for ZFS on FreeBSD? If not,
> has anyone used the stated workaround and gotten good results?

I have used such controllers around 6-8 years ago.

The only viable solution I found was configure them as single drive
RAIDS and then configure ZFS on those.

It does work, but I can't say if it affects performance or not. It sure
affects the ability to mount such a ZFS pool on another machine with a
different controller.

If you can get a real HBA in place of it it would be better. My
experience, though, is that HP technicians and salesmen will do ANYTHING
to prevent you not using their smartarray technology and have a sincere
dislike for software RAID solutions (less lockin I guess).

-- 
Guido Falsi <mad@madpilot.net>



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