LSI SAS3442E and LSI SAS3442X

[starcat]

I have this card and would like to ask if it will be supported in the future, otherwise if not I would like to sell it. Please let me know.

I also volunteer to test it with newer unRAID versions if necessary or the status is unknow... Thanks!

[BRiT]

1) Is it supported by the Linux kernel already?

2) If so, which kernel version?

3) If so, which driver is required?

 

 

 

[BRiT]

Did some quick searching, and it seems LSI provides a set of separate drivers for Linux that have NOT been updated for the current kernel.  Driver Version: mptlinux-4.18.00.00-1, for kernel 2.6.18.x. I do not know if it's been included in newer kernels.  [ http://www.lsi.com/DistributionSystem/AssetDocument/README_418.txt ] / [ http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/lsisas3442er/index.html ]

[erikatcuse]

Check out my thread here.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3109.0

 

I've been using the MPT fusion drivers with some minor hiccups (no smart, no temps).  Tom sent me an updated version of unraid with some changes.  As we speak my server is upgrading parity with 3 drives on the LSI card.

 

I'm sure Tom would love a second tester.  Just email him and let him know you have a LSI SATA/SAS card that uses the MPT Fusion driver and see if he is willing to let you test 4.5.1-sastest3 version of unraid.

 

The one thing you willl need to do is flash your cards bios to make it Initiator-Target instead of Raid.  Looking on LSI's site the newest bios will allow you to choose IT instead of Raid.

 

[starcat]

Would the external SAS connector work on the LSI SAS3442ER and do you know when we expect to see more than one array supported by unRAID? I am waiting to attach a second case holding a second array via a Chenbro SAS expander, the standard chip. Thanks much!

[starcat]

Guys, here a post about an HP OEM expander card which is actually pretty cheap available on ebay and works rock solid with the LSI SAS3442E-R. It is a future proof SAS2/SAS3 expander card and can really VERY cheaply add a LOT of drives (also in an external case) to an unRAID server! We just need the SAS and multiple Volume support from Tom!

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=18005435&postcount=5288

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1484614&page=1

[starcat]

Guys, any news on this card? There is also a PCI-X version of it, the SAS3442X.

 

Looks like the LSI SAS3081E-R, SAS3801E, SAS3041E-R and SAS3442E-R, etc (http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/index.html) use all the same MPT-Fusion Linux driver. "E" stands for PCIe based cards, there are also "X" versions which stands for PCI-X, "R" stand for RAID version. They support in general up to 122 drives per SAS port and the RAID versions can be run in Initiator-Target mode, i.e. without RAID allowing the kernel and unRAID to see the drives directly. I think integrating those cards would be of great value to unRAID as they are cheap, lots of them are available and in variuos physical versions.

 

LSI SAS3801E

8-port external, PCIe

http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/external/lsisas3801e/index.html

 

LSI SAS3801X

8-port external, PCI-X

http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/external/lsisas3801x/index.html

 

LSI SAS3081E-R

8-port internal, PCIe

http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/internal/lsisas3081er/index.html

 

LSI SAS3442E-R

4-port internal, 4-port external, PCIe

http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/combo/lsisas3442er/index.html

 

LSI SAS3442X-R

4-port internal, 4-port external, PCI-X

http://www.lsi.com/channel/products/hba/sas_sata_hbas/combo/lsisas3442xr/index.html

 

 

 

[Kaygee]

I have a Dell SAS 5/e non raid (LSI 1068) which also uses the mptsas driver.

 

In addition Dell Sas 5i, 5iR, SAS 6i and 6iR

LSI SAS1064 and SAS1064E, SAS1068 and SAS1068E, SAS1078.

VMWare SAS controller

Fujitsu and Intel both make cards based on LSI1068 as well.

 

 

[starcat]

Kaygee, have you managed unRAID to see the drives through these card and to use them with unRAID? What is your overall experience? Thanks much for reporting!

[Kaygee]

LSI driver loads with the Dell card, I'm awaiting an external sas cable arriving to try with some drives, have the ext/int interface board installed (SFF8470 to SATA).

 

 

 

 

[starcat]

Kaygee, do you have some pictures? Do you mean SFF8470 to SATA or SAS? Or do you mean something like this http://www.satacables.com/assets/images/sata-pci-multilane-adapter-bracket-2.jpg

 

Here lot of adapters: http://www.satacables.com/sata_multilane_SAS_cables.html

[Kaygee]

Two cables awaiting delivery: From the page you psoted third item down.

External SAS 4X to 4X Cable

High Quality Infiniband Multilane cable, SFF-8470 to SFF-8470, Thumbscrews on both ends.

 

Two adaptors, already here, same as these:

http://www.satacables.com/assets/images/sata-pci-multilane-adapter-bracket-2.jpg

 

For testing I'll put these on my unraid server. When used in real life they'll be fitted to my 5 bay 5.25 external case giving me an additional 8 drives in a separate case. 

[stoner]

Hey guys,

 

I just got a LSI 3041X-R. Emailed Limetech for the sastest version but no response for the last 2 weeks. Any kind soul here can upload a copy somewhere for me to download? Thanks in advance!

 

[starcat]

Is it for sure that the stock version would not recognize the SAS cards?

[Kaygee]

Same here, no reply from Limetech on the SAS test version, cant comment on whether shipping version works yet, since the adaptor plates are the wrong versions (host not target). The correct ones should be here this week, got a couple of loan SAS drives lined up too for next weekend. Cables are here.

 

The mptsas driver is in shipping (4.5.3) but I dont know what changes went into sas version to make it work, or what changes went into shipping to make it work with the Supermicro SAS card and what effect they will have on LSI SAS support.

 

SCST support looks interesting and hopefully a simple way to integrate more hardware support requests and iSCSI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[starcat]

I talked to Tom and he said that the cards must be recognized in the shipping version and if not, to post the model number of the card. I am not sure but I do think that the testsas version isn't required anymore.

[stoner]

The card is recognized by 4.5.3 and the drives do show up in the menu for assignment. However, I am getting a "HDIO_GET_IDENTITY" error in the syslogs and I am unable to run both smartctl and hdparm on the drives connected to the card. Is this also the same behavior for the sastest version?

 

 

[WeeboTech]

The card is recognized by 4.5.3 and the drives do show up in the menu for assignment. However, I am getting a "HDIO_GET_IDENTITY" error in the syslogs and I am unable to run both smartctl and hdparm on the drives connected to the card. Is this also the same behavior for the sastest version?

 

Does hdparm and smartctl work with the current revs of slackware?

[Kaygee]

New port adaptor arrived. :-)

Now reports errors when scanning the SAS drives: :-(

I think this is down to the naming of the SAS drives with the LSI card. I was kinda hoping this was fixed since the SM SAS card is now working.

 

From devices page

SAS ID string:

pci-0000:02:08.0-sas-phy5:1-0x1221000005000000:5-lun0 host1 (sdb) ST3500630AS_9QG3T4FE

SATA ID string:

pci-0000:00:0d.2-scsi-1:0:0:0 host7 (sdg) WDC_WD3200AAJS-00L7A0_WD-WMAV2A128528

 

Trying to run smartctrl & hdparm results in

 

Apr 21 20:11:40 Tower ata_id[3027]: HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed for '/dev/block/8:16'

Apr 21 20:17:09 Tower ata_id[3355]: HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed for '/dev/block/8:16'

 

In unmenu/disk management the drive is identified as _

 

The disk is however accessible (I think) It appears to be rebuilding at 75MB/s and says 100 mins to complete (500Gb Seagate 7200rpm drive). I'll see what happens when I put some data on it tomorrow.

[starcat]

Can't you do some linking and add standard names to the SAS devices?

[Kaygee]

No idea, if you have any smart or even dumb ideas I'm willing to try them, it's just some test data on the drive currently.

 

Temp control doesnt appear to work but could well relate to the naming of sdb.

 

Apr 22 05:55:57 Tower kernel: mdcmd (6225): spindown 7

Apr 22 05:55:57 Tower kernel: md: disk7: ATA_OP_STANDBYNOW1 ioctl error: -22

 

Apr 22 05:56:48 Tower emhttp: disk_temperature: ioctl (smart_enable): Invalid argument

 

However it looks like the HDD can be read and written sucessfully. I copied over 60 GB earlier and all is well.  Can watch movies from it without issue. Performance is slightly lower than the MB (MCP55 nVIDIA) and slightly better than the PCI-X controller (Marvell MV88SX5081) with Seagate 500GB drives.

[purko]

...or even dumb ideas I'm willing to try them

Make a unRAID with udev-151 from slackware-current.

 

[Kaygee]

Bought a couple of those Dell 5i cards from ebay in US, LSI 1068 based PCIe cards with Intel PCIe to PCI-X bridge chips to a PCI-X LSI 1068. Dont work in my Asus M2N32 WS main unRAID servers PCIe slots, tried in a couple of other motherboards and they do work. Will shutdown the main server and try them under unraid in another rig once the internal SAS/SATA breakout cables arrive. I expect them to be the same as the external Dell 5e, work but with issues. They use the same chips as the 5e but wont boot in this motherboard, weird.

 

I can confirm XFX 8300 (RS480L 760G chipset) supports x8 SAS/SATA cards in it's x16 slot. So you guys running 760G based chipsets should be able to run with one of these for seriously cheap and fast ten or twelve (SIL3132 or a JMB362) drive PCIe based system.

 

I paid $9.99 each for mine. $3.59 for the sas/sata breakout cables SFF-8484 to 4 x sata. I would say they are refurbished stock but for that sort of money you can't complain.

 

 

[BRiT]

Kaygee, did you try the fix for Intel chipsets on your Dell 5i? (http://www.overclock.net/raid-controllers-software/359025-perc-5-i-raid-card-tips.html)

 

These cards are known to have some compatibility issues with Intel chipsets. However, they are known to work with NVIDIA motherboards fine. The issue stems from a System Management Bus (SMBus) conflicting with the motherboard's memory detection. SMBus is simple signal to provide the motherboad some basic device information and control. Symptoms of the conflict includes improperly reported RAM sizes and POST errors.

 

The trick is just to physically disable the SMBus signal. It is composed of just two pins B5 (SMCLK, SMBus clock) and B6 (SMDAT, SMBus data). These two pins need to be covered by tape or nail polish. On the top side of the card, they are the 5th and 6th PCIe pins from the left. You can see the pins covered as seen below

 

[Kaygee]

Interesting find, the Asus motherboard has a nVidia chipset though not an Intel chipset. It does have smbus controller, so a bit of tape might be worth a try. What amazes me is the Dell 5e uses the same LSI 1068 and Intel PCIe to PCI-X bridge and works no problem.