January 14, 201313 yr I've got two Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-e controllers in my unRAID server (I'm currently using unRAID 5.0-rc8). Most of my drives are 1.5TB with a 2TB parity drive, one 2TB data drive, and a couple of 750GB drives (20 drives total). At some point I expect to start upgrading to 3TB drives. The thing is, I'm confused about 3TB compatibility vs. the firmware version of the SATA controllers. Both cards currently have the .15 firmware version, which I've read is supposed to be the most stable for unRAID use. OTOH, I've also read that these cards will support 3TB drives with the .21 firmware. What confuses me even more is that I've read that the .21 firmware can cause unRAID not to boot in some situations. 1. Will these cards support 3TB drives with the .15 firmware? 2. Do I need to upgrade the firmware to .21 to support 3TB drives? 3. Will I have issues using the .21 firmware? 4. If I can't use 3TB drives with these cards, what are my options?
January 14, 201313 yr I'm using 3TB drives with these cards. Not sure which firmware mine have, I'll check later if you can see the firmware version without rebooting.
January 14, 201313 yr Author Thanks. If you don't mind, please post which version of unRAID you're using.
January 14, 201313 yr captain_video I'm running .21 on my card and the same version of unRAID you are and it boots just fine. When I spoke with Rajahal a while back he was telling me that "older" versions of unRAID running .21 had issues. Of course I'm not trying to put Rajahal on the spot or anything, but what he told me seems to work just fine.
January 15, 201313 yr Author captain_video I'm running .21 on my card and the same version of unRAID you are and it boots just fine. When I spoke with Rajahal a while back he was telling me that "older" versions of unRAID running .21 had issues. Of course I'm not trying to put Rajahal on the spot or anything, but what he told me seems to work just fine. Great. I'll look into upgrading my firmware and give it a try. I'll also see about backing up the .15 firmware just in case it goes south. I've had good luck with the Supermicro SATA controllers and I don't want to invest in something new if I don't have to.
March 13, 201313 yr Finally rebooted my server for the first time since replying here and both my cards are running .15 firmware
March 13, 201313 yr I've had recent - and very perplexing experience with just this problem. You can see the details here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26391.0 My conclusion was that ultimately there was some problem with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H) but the broader points may be relevant. I have two of the Supermicro cards (with the .15 firmware) running in a Norco 4224 case. The case has six rows of drive trays with 4 drives per tray controlled by an SAS controller. I had been running 4.7 without problem. I upgraded to rc11 in order to use 4 TB drives. Inserting the 4 TB drive into a port connected to an onboard SATA slot worked just fine, as did connecting the drive to any of the eight ports connected to the Supermicro card in the pci-e x16 slot. I could also successfully attach the drive to one of the two connectors on the other Supermicro card connected to a pci-e x4 slot. But if I put it on the other side of that card the system would hang during the post process as it didn't recognize the drive. I'll spare you the details of my troubleshooting process. (It's available in the above link) but part of that process was installing the .21 firmware. Doing so got me past the posting process (the drive was clearly recognized by the Supermicro card) but the system would hang at the end of the post process as it would say it was trying to install some kind of RAID functionality. The point: It depends on your motherboard. With mine I have a choice between having some drive slots unable to use 4 TB drives using the .15 firmware or unable to function at all with the .21 firmware. Your results can and almost certainly will vary. Trial and error is probably the only way to find out. Should you need either firmware or be unable to save the .15 firmware currently on your card, I can post them from my Dropbox if you need them including the files necessary to create a DOS bootable flash. Harry
March 20, 201313 yr I'd like the firmware files if you wouldn't mind posting them. Update instructions would be great too! Thanks John
March 20, 201313 yr I'd like the firmware files if you wouldn't mind posting them. Update instructions would be great too! Thanks John John, Here are links to both versions of the firmware: .15 version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6577979/3.1.0.15n.zip .21 version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6577979/Firmware_3.1.0.21.zip First you need to create a DOS bootable Flash drive. Here is a link to how to do that: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html Then just extract the contents of the zip file for the firmware version you want to the root of the USB drive, then boot your server to DOS using the USB drive you just created and execute the batch file (smc-N.bat in the .15 zip) or (smc.bat in the .21 zip) Hope it helps.
March 20, 201313 yr FYI Supermicro just responded to me and sent me a link to the latest firmware for these cards. ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS1/Driver/ Alternatively: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5155002/SASPL%20Card/SASPL%20Cards.zip It seems that the latest firmware is 3.1.0.7. However, I don't know how to select the right files from this to update from DOS. In the meantime, I'll update to .21... thanks!
March 20, 201313 yr I'm very far from an expert but I think these are drivers for various OS's, not firmware for the cards. Don't know for sure, but they certainly aren't structured like the firmware files.
March 21, 201313 yr I'd like the firmware files if you wouldn't mind posting them. Update instructions would be great too! Thanks John John, Here are links to both versions of the firmware: .15 version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6577979/3.1.0.15n.zip .21 version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6577979/Firmware_3.1.0.21.zip First you need to create a DOS bootable Flash drive. Here is a link to how to do that: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html Then just extract the contents of the zip file for the firmware version you want to the root of the USB drive, then boot your server to DOS using the USB drive you just created and execute the batch file (smc-N.bat in the .15 zip) or (smc.bat in the .21 zip) Hope it helps. Thanks for this.
March 21, 201313 yr I'm very far from an expert but I think these are drivers for various OS's, not firmware for the cards. Don't know for sure, but they certainly aren't structured like the firmware files. You very well may be correct. I'm going to use your firmware.
April 6, 201313 yr Just to add to the thread, if you want to get it straight from the Supermicro site, go here: SASLP-MV8: ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/Driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS1/Firmware/ SAS2LP-MV8: ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/Driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS2/Firmware/
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