Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:18:57 +0100 From: Borja Marcos <borjam@sarenet.es> To: Alan Somers <asomers@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org Subject: Re: LSI SAS HBAs (mps) utility Message-ID: <497D8998-02B5-434B-AFF2-1A7C6873C3E0@sarenet.es> In-Reply-To: <CAOtMX2hH9YY=dBjCF6uYnyE76NZZb5QJj7ptk-RN5AeyaORYFw@mail.gmail.com> References: <2336CAA2-7FC0-41EC-AE1D-0592A9E1E8E0@sarenet.es> <CAOtMX2gYWZQ8Zzp5jf7WdWusoKuXe2%2BX55Hzosbo%2Btjt6uUCtQ@mail.gmail.com> <ECCE30CC-4B40-44F8-BFCD-5B7574D732AC@sarenet.es> <CAOtMX2hH9YY=dBjCF6uYnyE76NZZb5QJj7ptk-RN5AeyaORYFw@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mar 11, 2014, at 5:59 PM, Alan Somers wrote: >> And now, same hardware, different firmware, I don't see the "ses0" = expander, odd. >=20 > Surprising. What does "camcontrol devlist" show you? It shows this: root@pruebassd:~ # camcontrol devlist <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 0 lun 0 (pass0,da0) <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 5 lun 0 (da1,pass1) <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 7 lun 0 (pass2,da2) <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 9 lun 0 (pass3,da3) <SEAGATE ST9146853SS YS08> at scbus0 target 12 lun 0 (pass4,da4) <SEAGATE ST9146853SS YS08> at scbus0 target 13 lun 0 (pass5,da5) <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 15 lun 0 (pass6,da6) <ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 16 lun 0 (pass7,da7) <Dell Internal Dual SD 1.:> at scbus2 target 0 lun 0 (da8,pass8) The ses0 device is gone. Full story follows below the "I can't = understand your English". ;) >> Anyway, I pulled one of the disks (physical slot 4) and it wasn't the = disk identified by sas2ircu as connected to "1:4" but >> a different one. >=20 > What do you mean by "physical slot 4"? The HBA doesn't know anything > about physical positions. Even the SES expander probably isn't > numbering the slots in the order that you expect. Yes, that=B4s what I mean. I was hoping to be able to determine the slot = for a given disk, but it's clear that I am wrong. >>=20 >> That I mean. Chaos... ;) >=20 > I'm having trouble understanding your English. What does this = sentence mean? Sorry, I wasn't explicit at all. Full story follows. I'm building a storage server and I'll probably build several ones. It's = based on ZFS of course, and I'm using SSDs for now. Due to the insistence of several manufacturers such as Dell or IBM, I = had several "RAID" cards, which, of course, we don't want in such a configuration. Turns out some of them (the ones sold by Dell = as H200 and the cards sold by IBM as M1015) can be turned into simple HBAs by replacing their firmware by what LSI Logic = calls "IT Mode" firmware.=20 I did it using the latest firmware version I found on the LSI Logic = website. The cards work, the performance is very good, and I don't need to battle "JBOD" pseudo disks and such. The SSDs receive the = TRIM commands perfectly, etc.=20 So far so good, but of course I need to make sure that an operator can = identify a failed disk without confusion. And that's where the fun is. Even being substantially cleaner with the "IT mode" firmware, these = cards are stilll a puzzle to use.=20 What I am looking for is a way to identify a physical disk. I guess I = will end up printing paper labels with the serial numbers, but it would be incredibly clumsy and error prone. Looking at the downloads section = on the LSI Logic website I found this tool, which seems to be a rough = equivalent of mfiutil(8). I didn't see this program mentioned on this list (or I don't remember) = and, as I have seen mentioned that there is no equivalent to mfiutil(8) = for the "mps" cards, well, I thought that it could be useful to someone, = even though it doesn't serve the purpose I hoped to achieve: identifying = the physical slot for a disk. That's why I pointed out that the = "enclosure:slot" information is useless. I hope it's more clear now.;)=20 Sorry if I was so vague. I've been playing with this for two weeks, = trying to find a solid configuration (and, for me, the definition of = "solid" includes "the operator can identify a disk without confusion") = and just now I notice that, after flashing the HBA, the enclosures have = disappeared in two machines :/ Cheers, Borja.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?497D8998-02B5-434B-AFF2-1A7C6873C3E0>