October 25, 20187 yr I'm looking at getting a new Server to act as a SAN as I'm having issues with the number of drives I'm able to have on my current server (lack of space and in-compatible controller card). The server I'm looking at getting second hand has a Tyan S7012 Motherboard and a AMCC 9650se-12ML Controller card. Are there any possible known issues with this configuration at the moment? Thanks heaps.
October 25, 20187 yr At first glance it looks like that controller is RAID only, no IT mode. If it doesn't have IT mode, it's no good for unraid. Unraid needs direct access to the disks, without RAID firmware getting in the way. RAID only cards don't work properly.
October 25, 20187 yr 7 hours ago, jonathanm said: RAID only cards don't work properly. I have no issues with my LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 2008. Not when disks are in RAID nor in JBOD mode. True I did experience a performance hit if they are array members. But it does work. I also own a TYAN S7012 but not with the RAID chip on it. it works too. /Alphahelix
October 25, 20187 yr 1 minute ago, Alphahelix said: I have no issues with my LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 2008. Not when disks are in RAID nor in JBOD mode. True I did experience a performance hit if they are array members. But it does work. I also own a TYAN S7012 but not with the RAID chip on it. it works too. /Alphahelix Do you get smart reports and temperature displays when in IR mode?
October 25, 20187 yr No I don't. But for me it is more important to use the RAID card as the manufacturer intended. Between having SMART data or messing with a cards firmware with all the risks it involves. I choose not having the SMART data directly accessible from unRAID. I still have access to SMART data from the RAID-card's web interface. Again this is my choice, I am not saying it is for everyone. /Alphahelix
October 25, 20187 yr That is the whole point of what I was saying about RAID cards and Unraid. Without the built in SMART reporting being able to give you a heads up on disk issues, it becomes a much more hands on management thing to stay on top of your disk health. If you don't keep healthy disks in your server, you will lose data. Unraid goes to great lengths to help you keep up with your server with SMART notifications and temperature monitoring, if you cripple that by using a RAID card, you are defeating much of the purpose of a data server, that is to help keep your data safe. I would call that not working properly.
October 25, 20187 yr According to this site: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-checking-sas-sata-disks-behind-adaptec-raid-controllers/ you can extract it (true manually) from terminal/SSH. I would not call it not working properly, as it sounds like it will corrupt data or not being able to see disks or read/write data. But I can agree to not alerting properly.
October 25, 20187 yr The other big issue is that your disks are no longer natively migrateable to standard controllers. Unraid tracks the position and identity of disks by the serial number, and with that info not being passed in standard format, you can run into problems recovering from equipment failure. If you try to move your RAID JBOD disks to the motherboard port, or a different controller, they will be detected as a foreign disk and unraid won't be able to automatically recognize it as the correct disk for the slot. If you are trying to recover from a bad drive, that can be very bad, as unraid won't be able to emulate the data until you manually set things up correctly. That CAN lead to data loss, if you don't keep good records as to which physical disk is assigned to the logical slot. With a standard HBA, unraid keeps track of all that for you automatically.
October 25, 20187 yr Author Thanks heaps for all the replies guys. Judging by the conversation, would it be better to change that controller card to something else? Would this be ok to use? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-LSI-Internal-SAS-SATA-9211-8i-6Gbps-8-Ports-HBA-PCI-E-RAID-Controller-Card/131968907370?epid=628080266&hash=item1eb9f5b86a:g:q1MAAOSwZJBX~v9z Edited October 26, 20187 yr by Badams
October 26, 20187 yr 2 hours ago, Badams said: Thanks heaps for all the replies guys. Judging by the conversation, would it be better to change that controller card to something else? Would this be ok to use? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-LSI-Internal-SAS-SATA-9211-8i-6Gbps-8-Ports-HBA-PCI-E-RAID-Controller-Card/131968907370?epid=628080266&hash=item1eb9f5b86a:g:q1MAAOSwZJBX~v9z That model is ok, but that specific card has a high chance of being counterfeit, with possible issues. Much better to find a used server pull than a new card that ships directly from China.
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