Afternoon! :)

[Stelly]

Hey guys,

First time poster, a little confused.

I want to use Hardware RAID (LSI 9260-8i) but I don't know how to set this up, should I use ZFS? I know that you strongly don't recommend it but I want to use Hardware RAID and need some advice :)

Thanks,

Stelly

 

[Spearfoot]

Hey guys,

First time poster, a little confused.

I want to use Hardware RAID (LSI 9260-8i) but I don't know how to set this up, should I use ZFS? I know that you strongly don't recommend it but I want to use Hardware RAID and need some advice :)

Thanks,

Stelly

The LSI 9260-8i card is a poor choice for use with FreeNAS because it can't be flashed to 'Initiator-Target' (IT) mode. If for some reason you insist on using it, consider using an alternative to FreeNAS.

Read the "Confused about that LSI card? Join the crowd..." thread for details, but the TL;DR is: use an LSI 9211/IBM M1015/Dell H200 HBA (Host Bus Adapter) with FreeNAS.

The good news is that you can probably sell your 9260, buy a 9211, and have change left over...

Good luck!

 

[Stelly]

Hey :)

Thanks for that... Can I not use it in JBOD? The card that is.... what alternatives would be good to FreeNAS?

Thanks,

Stelly

 

[Spearfoot]

Can I not use it in JBOD? The card that is....

Not that I'm aware of... But even if you could, you'd have a sub-optimal solution. FreeNAS/ZFS really does need direct control of the drives.

what alternatives would be good to FreeNAS?

Depends on what you want to do... LSI provides RAID drivers for a wide range of operating systems: Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, etc.

 

[Stelly]

Hi,

I also have a 9240-8i lying around which I can flash to a 9211-8i and this will work fine in RAID if I understand correctly?

Thanks,

Stelly

 

[Spearfoot]

I also have a 9240-8i lying around which I can flash to a 9211-8i and this will work fine in RAID if I understand correctly?

Yes, the 9240 is a better choice. You can flash it to IT mode and it will work very well with FreeNAS.

What kind of pool design are you contemplating? Have you read the "ZFS Primer" by @dlavigne ? That's a good place to start researching ZFS, along with @cyberjock's "Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC for noobs".