On 11/24/20 9:28 PM, Alex wrote:
Hi,
If plan to use addon cards, please consider LSI SAS9211-8i cards. Well
supported and reliable.
Oh yes, how quickly I forgot. I actually have one of these in another
server, but I think it's too long to physically fit in the case. Just
to be sure, this is the card you're referencing, right?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-SAS-9211-8i-8-port-6G-IT-Raid-Card-ZFS-JBOD-HBA-SAS-SATA6-0-2008-8I/143735992677
Yes. Any one of those that mentions this controller and preferably IT
(just HBA) firmware instead of IR (Raid) firmware as your raid will be
implemented as SW mdraid over JBOD.
Thanks so much for your help. Are there other similar LSI cards that
are also well supported?
This looks like a 4-port version of the same card that would certainly fit.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-H1110-81Y4494-SAS-2-6Gbps-HBA-LSI-9211-4i-P20-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/143488380023
And here's a 1GB cache version?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-MegaRaid-SAS-9270CV-8i-1G-Cache-PCI3-0-6Gb-s-Raid-Card-SAS-Controller/143780173461
I am not an expert by any means. I have purchased just one 9211 card and
it is working well so far. Yes, there are several. I think PCIe version
may be newer with higher numbered cards, but not sure. In any case,
vanilla simple 9211 will be more than enough for spinning disks.
I could not figure out if the cache version you list above is meant to
do HW raid. I was told by those knowledgeable here that HBA or JBOD
cards are more suitable for mdraid.
Like others have said, this is unlikely to speed up your disk access as
spinning disks are too slow compared to PCIe/SATA line/cable rates. Buy
RAM/SSD or do something more fancy like bcache/lvm cache, if
performance is a real need vs. feel good state.
Regards
Ramesh
