Question about zfs and the dell perc h310

[archip]

Hi, so I was wondering if the dell perc H310 is compatible with the Poweredge R710? And I was also wondering, could I flash the H310 to IT mode in order to run a zfs array safely? Thanks.

[Godlygamer23]

Physically, yes. But you need to make sure drivers are available for the OS that you plan on using.

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Physically, yes. But you need to make sure drivers are available for the OS that you plan on using.

I did a check on dells website and while I could find the product, under its drivers and downloads tab there were no drives. would you happen to know where I could find drivers? also I plan on running ubuntu server.

[Godlygamer23]

I did a check on dells website and while I could find the product, under its drivers and downloads tab there were no drives. would you happen to know where I could find drivers? also I plan on running ubuntu server.

I found this: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R743M

 

It's a Linux driver.

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I found this: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R743M

 

It's a Linux driver.

Thanks and just to clarify, by physically, yes, do you know for certain that H310 could be flashed to IT mode and still run a zfs array with its full feature set? Thanks.

[Godlygamer23]

Thanks and just to clarify, by physically, yes, do you know for certain that H310 could be flashed to IT mode and still run a zfs array with its full feature set? Thanks.

No idea.

[alpenwasser]

Thanks and just to clarify, by physically, yes, do you know for certain that H310 could be flashed to IT mode and still run a zfs array with its full feature set? Thanks.

Is your question if this controller can be flashed to IT mode at all, or if

ZFS will work with it flashed to IT mode? The first one I can't answer as I'm

not familiar with the controller, but if that works and you have a driver for

Linux, then I don't see any obvious reasons why ZFS would refuse to work

with it. As long as your system sees the HDDs, ZFS should work, and it prefers

to work with physical devices (IT mode) instead of virtual ones (IR mode).

[archip]

Is your question if this controller can be flashed to IT mode at all, or if

ZFS will work with it flashed to IT mode? The first one I can't answer as I'm

not familiar with the controller, but if that works and you have a driver for

Linux, then I don't see any obvious reasons why ZFS would refuse to work

with it. As long as your system sees the HDDs, ZFS should work, and it prefers

to work with physical devices (IT mode) instead of virtual ones (IR mode).

I was mostly wondering that if I flash it to IT mode, would zfs work the way it should? Thanks

[leadeater]

I was mostly wondering that if I flash it to IT mode, would zfs work the way it should? Thanks

 

Yes any LSI based card can be flashed to the firmware of the equivalent LSI HBA card. You just have to make sure you are using the correct firmware. I have flashed my IBM M1115 to IT firmware which is based off the same LSI chipset as the Dell H310, LSI SAS 2008.

 

The only issue you will find is compatibility between the server bios/firmware and the RAID/HBA cards if you need to run multiple of them like I do. In my IBM x3500 M4 it would not boot with an LSI 9361-8i and the IBM M1115-IT, I had to use the IBM firmware on the M1115 to use both cards. Fortunately the IBM firmware supports high queue depth and proper JBOD anyway unlike the Dell H310. Running multiple cards in IT mode 'shouldn't' be an issue, even if they were originally different brands/manufacturer.

[handruin]

The reality is most Dell perc controllers are some variation of LSI adapters.  In the case of the perc H310 it should be the equivalent of the LSI SAS 2008 (B2).  If you can flash the card from the dell perc back to the LSI you might have a greater chance at support under various versions of linux.  I had done the same years ago for my dell perc 6. 

 

Here is a reference to flashing the Dell Perc H310 to IT mode which basically converts it to the LSI.  I have not tried this so please read through it carefully.