* Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
@ 2009-11-10 16:54 Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-10 17:53 ` Richard Scobie
2009-11-11 7:01 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
0 siblings, 2 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: Kristleifur Daðason @ 2009-11-10 16:54 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-raid
Hi,
I'm looking to replace a problematic Marvell PCIe SAS JBOD controller
from Supermicro, type AOC-SASLP-MV8. (mdadm freaks out on it and the
controller drops the drives - there has been discussion of the problem
on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver problem but seems to surface
only under mdadm use.)
It's a nice controller, but we have to get an array going, so I'm
shelving the Marvell card and getting a new one. I'll be using mdadm
raid5 / raid6 over the controller.
This one, LSI SAS 3081E-R, looks good with eight SAS ports for around $200:
http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/internal/sas3081e-r/index.html
I can't find anything concrete regarding Linux, but I did find a
known-good confirmation for Solaris/ZFS here:
http://jmlittle.blogspot.com/2008/06/recommended-disk-controllers-for-zfs.html
Can anyone confirm/deny that the PCIe JBOD controllers from LSI work
on Linux out of the box? Or give other recommendations for 8 port
controllers in the $150-$200 range? (Or thereabouts. It'd be great to
know about any known-good 4-port controllers for even up to $250.)
Thanks!
-- Kristleifur
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-10 16:54 Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs? Kristleifur Daðason
@ 2009-11-10 17:53 ` Richard Scobie
2009-11-11 7:04 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-11 7:01 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
1 sibling, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Richard Scobie @ 2009-11-10 17:53 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kristleifur Daðason; +Cc: linux-raid
Kristleifur Daðason wrote:
> Can anyone confirm/deny that the PCIe JBOD controllers from LSI work
> on Linux out of the box? Or give other recommendations for 8 port
> controllers in the $150-$200 range? (Or thereabouts. It'd be great to
> know about any known-good 4-port controllers for even up to $250.)
You should have no problem at all. I have used a number of the:
http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/combo/sas3442e-r/index.html
controllers.
The only thing to watch out for, as has been discussed in the last few
days, is that use of smartmontools to monitor disk health on these 1068
based cards, wll cause drives to be offlined, when used with recent kernels.
Regards,
Richard
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-10 16:54 Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs? Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-10 17:53 ` Richard Scobie
@ 2009-11-11 7:01 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-11 11:09 ` Kristleifur Daðason
1 sibling, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Fjellstrom @ 2009-11-11 7:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kristleifur Daðason; +Cc: linux-raid
On Tue November 10 2009, you wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking to replace a problematic Marvell PCIe SAS JBOD controller
> from Supermicro, type AOC-SASLP-MV8. (mdadm freaks out on it and the
> controller drops the drives - there has been discussion of the problem
> on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver problem but seems to surface
> only under mdadm use.)
>
> It's a nice controller, but we have to get an array going, so I'm
> shelving the Marvell card and getting a new one. I'll be using mdadm
> raid5 / raid6 over the controller.
>
> This one, LSI SAS 3081E-R, looks good with eight SAS ports for around
> $200:
> http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas
> /internal/sas3081e-r/index.html
>
> I can't find anything concrete regarding Linux, but I did find a
> known-good confirmation for Solaris/ZFS here:
> http://jmlittle.blogspot.com/2008/06/recommended-disk-controllers-for-zfs
> .html
>
> Can anyone confirm/deny that the PCIe JBOD controllers from LSI work
> on Linux out of the box? Or give other recommendations for 8 port
> controllers in the $150-$200 range? (Or thereabouts. It'd be great to
> know about any known-good 4-port controllers for even up to $250.)
>
> Thanks!
Not really an answer to your question, I got a snapshot of the in
development driver that seems to work just fine. I haven't run smartctl on
the controller much mind you, as it seems to freak out my onboard controller
too (AMD SB750). I could attempt it, but I've recently just switched over to
that hardware for my main server, and I'm reluctant to try running smartctl
on the array, as it'd probably require a reboot to get which ever disk back
that might get dropped.
I might try it later, but I don't even have smartmontools installed.
> -- Kristleifur
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
--
Thomas Fjellstrom
tfjellstrom@shaw.ca
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-10 17:53 ` Richard Scobie
@ 2009-11-11 7:04 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-11 18:03 ` Richard Scobie
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Fjellstrom @ 2009-11-11 7:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Richard Scobie; +Cc: Kristleifur Daðason, linux-raid
On Tue November 10 2009, Richard Scobie wrote:
> Kristleifur Daðason wrote:
> > Can anyone confirm/deny that the PCIe JBOD controllers from LSI work
> > on Linux out of the box? Or give other recommendations for 8 port
> > controllers in the $150-$200 range? (Or thereabouts. It'd be great to
> > know about any known-good 4-port controllers for even up to $250.)
>
> You should have no problem at all. I have used a number of the:
>
> http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/
> combo/sas3442e-r/index.html
>
> controllers.
>
> The only thing to watch out for, as has been discussed in the last few
> days, is that use of smartmontools to monitor disk health on these 1068
> based cards, wll cause drives to be offlined, when used with recent
> kernels.
>
> Regards,
Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8 controller likes
to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive. at least with the main
kernel drivers. But then the main kernel mvsas drivers decide to give up if
you even attempt to start a raid array on them. The controller locks up and
you have to reboot. Most of the time a reboot even fails when it tries to
sync the block devices, so a hard reset is in order.
But as I mentioned in a previous message, the driver snapshot I got from a
nice fellow seems to work fine now. I hope it gets into the kernel sometime
soon.
> Richard
> --
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> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
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>
--
Thomas Fjellstrom
tfjellstrom@shaw.ca
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-11 7:01 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
@ 2009-11-11 11:09 ` Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-11 11:47 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Kristleifur Daðason @ 2009-11-11 11:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tfjellstrom; +Cc: linux-raid
On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 7:01 AM, Thomas Fjellstrom <tfjellstrom@shaw.ca> wrote:
> On Tue November 10 2009, you wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm looking to replace a problematic Marvell PCIe SAS JBOD controller
>> from Supermicro, type AOC-SASLP-MV8. (mdadm freaks out on it and the
>> controller drops the drives - there has been discussion of the problem
>> on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver problem but seems to surface
>> only under mdadm use.)
>>
>>...
>
> Not really an answer to your question, I got a snapshot of the in
> development driver that seems to work just fine. I haven't run smartctl on
> the controller much mind you, as it seems to freak out my onboard controller
> too (AMD SB750). I could attempt it, but I've recently just switched over to
> that hardware for my main server, and I'm reluctant to try running smartctl
> on the array, as it'd probably require a reboot to get which ever disk back
> that might get dropped.
>
That's quite interesting.
Did you discuss this on a mailing list somewhere and have a link to
that discussion? Or would you be willing to forward a message to
honorable mr. driver guy? I'd love to try the patch before buying a
new controller.
Thanks!
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-11 11:09 ` Kristleifur Daðason
@ 2009-11-11 11:47 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
0 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Fjellstrom @ 2009-11-11 11:47 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kristleifur Daðason; +Cc: linux-raid
On Wed November 11 2009, Kristleifur Daðason wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 7:01 AM, Thomas Fjellstrom <tfjellstrom@shaw.ca>
wrote:
> > On Tue November 10 2009, you wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I'm looking to replace a problematic Marvell PCIe SAS JBOD controller
> >> from Supermicro, type AOC-SASLP-MV8. (mdadm freaks out on it and the
> >> controller drops the drives - there has been discussion of the problem
> >> on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver problem but seems to surface
> >> only under mdadm use.)
> >>
> >>...
> >
> > Not really an answer to your question, I got a snapshot of the in
> > development driver that seems to work just fine. I haven't run smartctl
> > on the controller much mind you, as it seems to freak out my onboard
> > controller too (AMD SB750). I could attempt it, but I've recently just
> > switched over to that hardware for my main server, and I'm reluctant to
> > try running smartctl on the array, as it'd probably require a reboot to
> > get which ever disk back that might get dropped.
>
> That's quite interesting.
> Did you discuss this on a mailing list somewhere and have a link to
> that discussion? Or would you be willing to forward a message to
> honorable mr. driver guy? I'd love to try the patch before buying a
> new controller.
There seems to be something seriously wrong with the kernel.org mailing
lists. They seem to miss a bunch of messages that get sent out. Its happened
on several occasions now with not only my messages, but others as well, on
several different mailing lists, including lkml, linux-raid, linux-ide, and
linux-scsi.
The best I can do is a link to my reply to Andy Yan's message, since Andy
Yan's message is mysteriously not in any of the archives. And I'm pretty
sure I didn't get two copies so the one sent to the list's just disappeared.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/10/14/76
> Thanks!
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
--
Thomas Fjellstrom
tfjellstrom@shaw.ca
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-11 7:04 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
@ 2009-11-11 18:03 ` Richard Scobie
2009-11-11 18:51 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Richard Scobie @ 2009-11-11 18:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tfjellstrom; +Cc: Kristleifur Daðason, linux-raid
Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
> Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8 controller likes
> to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive. at least with the main
> kernel drivers. But then the main kernel mvsas drivers decide to give up if
> you even attempt to start a raid array on them. The controller locks up and
> you have to reboot. Most of the time a reboot even fails when it tries to
> sync the block devices, so a hard reset is in order.
OK, I did not know the Marvell controller also has a problem with
smartmontools.
In his original post he mentions it having problems with mdadm:
"(mdadm freaks out on it and the controller drops the drives - there has
been discussion of the problem on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver
problem but seems to surface only under mdadm use.)"
Regards,
Richard
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-11 18:03 ` Richard Scobie
@ 2009-11-11 18:51 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-13 18:03 ` Kristleifur Daðason
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Fjellstrom @ 2009-11-11 18:51 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Richard Scobie; +Cc: Kristleifur Daðason, linux-raid
On Wed November 11 2009, Richard Scobie wrote:
> Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
> > Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8 controller
> > likes to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive. at least with
> > the main kernel drivers. But then the main kernel mvsas drivers decide
> > to give up if you even attempt to start a raid array on them. The
> > controller locks up and you have to reboot. Most of the time a reboot
> > even fails when it tries to sync the block devices, so a hard reset is
> > in order.
>
> OK, I did not know the Marvell controller also has a problem with
> smartmontools.
Given the state of the in kernel drivers, its probably a driver issue.
> In his original post he mentions it having problems with mdadm:
>
> "(mdadm freaks out on it and the controller drops the drives - there has
> been discussion of the problem on the list. Seems to be a mvsas driver
> problem but seems to surface only under mdadm use.)"
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
--
Thomas Fjellstrom
tfjellstrom@shaw.ca
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-11 18:51 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
@ 2009-11-13 18:03 ` Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-13 18:59 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Kristleifur Daðason @ 2009-11-13 18:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tfjellstrom; +Cc: Richard Scobie, linux-raid
On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 6:51 PM, Thomas Fjellstrom <tfjellstrom@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
> On Wed November 11 2009, Richard Scobie wrote:
> > Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
> > > Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8 controller
> > > likes to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive. at least with
> > > the main kernel drivers. But then the main kernel mvsas drivers decide
> > > to give up if you even attempt to start a raid array on them. The
> > > controller locks up and you have to reboot. Most of the time a reboot
> > > even fails when it tries to sync the block devices, so a hard reset is
> > > in order.
> >
> > OK, I did not know the Marvell controller also has a problem with
> > smartmontools.
>
> Given the state of the in kernel drivers, its probably a driver issue.
>
Thanks for the replies, all.
I'll bet it's the driver - it doesn't feel quite right that a random
external command can easily drop drives off the controller, be it
smartmontools or mdadm.
Thomas, I tried sending a private email to Andy Yan. I haven't got a
reply, which kind of isn't surprising in this world of spam. Can I ask
you for a referral - could you send him an email asking him if I can
have the patch and how to test it?
Also, to list-dwellers: I'd greatly appreciate further tips on PCIe SAS HBAs.
Thanks!
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-13 18:03 ` Kristleifur Daðason
@ 2009-11-13 18:59 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-12-14 14:51 ` Konstantinos Skarlatos
0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Fjellstrom @ 2009-11-13 18:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kristleifur Daðason; +Cc: Richard Scobie, linux-raid, andy yan
On Fri November 13 2009, Kristleifur Daðason wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 6:51 PM, Thomas Fjellstrom <tfjellstrom@shaw.ca>
wrote:
> > On Wed November 11 2009, Richard Scobie wrote:
> > > Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
> > > > Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8
> > > > controller likes to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive.
> > > > at least with the main kernel drivers. But then the main kernel
> > > > mvsas drivers decide to give up if you even attempt to start a raid
> > > > array on them. The controller locks up and you have to reboot. Most
> > > > of the time a reboot even fails when it tries to sync the block
> > > > devices, so a hard reset is in order.
> > >
> > > OK, I did not know the Marvell controller also has a problem with
> > > smartmontools.
> >
> > Given the state of the in kernel drivers, its probably a driver issue.
>
> Thanks for the replies, all.
>
> I'll bet it's the driver - it doesn't feel quite right that a random
> external command can easily drop drives off the controller, be it
> smartmontools or mdadm.
>
> Thomas, I tried sending a private email to Andy Yan. I haven't got a
> reply, which kind of isn't surprising in this world of spam. Can I ask
> you for a referral - could you send him an email asking him if I can
> have the patch and how to test it?
He seems to be a busy guy, but I've CCed him on this. The actual driver I
got is a full copy of the driver, builds out of tree.
He hasn't said I can't send the package to anyone, but I'll wait a little
while before doing so, he might pop up saying not to give it out.
All I can say is: it works well enough for me*.
For a $120 8 port sata card, it really does the trick. I was so glad when I
didn't have to get several crappy 2-4 port jmicron cards.
> Also, to list-dwellers: I'd greatly appreciate further tips on PCIe SAS
> HBAs.
>
> Thanks!
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
* Performance (to me) is outstanding, or at least it will be once the write
back stuff is fixed up, and the io controller stuff is also fixed up, but as
is right now in 2.6.31, its "good enough". Might not get the absolute insane
400-500MB/s I saw with the controller originally, but I do get a good
100-230MB/s off my 5 drive md raid5 array (512KB chunk). I find things that
used to take 30 seconds or more on my old array now happen in a few seconds.
Right now writes are rather bad (60-100MB/s) but that I assume is the write
back stuff, which should hopefully be fixed in 32.
--
Thomas Fjellstrom
tfjellstrom@shaw.ca
--
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs?
2009-11-13 18:59 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
@ 2009-12-14 14:51 ` Konstantinos Skarlatos
0 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: Konstantinos Skarlatos @ 2009-12-14 14:51 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tfjellstrom
Cc: Kristleifur Daðason, Richard Scobie, linux-raid, andy yan
Hello
Any news on the mvsas driver for this card? the MV8 is a ridiculously
attractive card, and proper linux support would be a boon to many people
who want to use it on their fileservers.
On 13/11/2009 8:59 μμ, Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
> On Fri November 13 2009, Kristleifur Daðason wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 6:51 PM, Thomas Fjellstrom<tfjellstrom@shaw.ca>
>>
> wrote:
>
>>> On Wed November 11 2009, Richard Scobie wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thomas Fjellstrom wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thats the problem he was trying to get away from. the MV8
>>>>> controller likes to offline disks when a few smart commands arrive.
>>>>> at least with the main kernel drivers. But then the main kernel
>>>>> mvsas drivers decide to give up if you even attempt to start a raid
>>>>> array on them. The controller locks up and you have to reboot. Most
>>>>> of the time a reboot even fails when it tries to sync the block
>>>>> devices, so a hard reset is in order.
>>>>>
>>>> OK, I did not know the Marvell controller also has a problem with
>>>> smartmontools.
>>>>
>>> Given the state of the in kernel drivers, its probably a driver issue.
>>>
>> Thanks for the replies, all.
>>
>> I'll bet it's the driver - it doesn't feel quite right that a random
>> external command can easily drop drives off the controller, be it
>> smartmontools or mdadm.
>>
>> Thomas, I tried sending a private email to Andy Yan. I haven't got a
>> reply, which kind of isn't surprising in this world of spam. Can I ask
>> you for a referral - could you send him an email asking him if I can
>> have the patch and how to test it?
>>
> He seems to be a busy guy, but I've CCed him on this. The actual driver I
> got is a full copy of the driver, builds out of tree.
>
> He hasn't said I can't send the package to anyone, but I'll wait a little
> while before doing so, he might pop up saying not to give it out.
>
> All I can say is: it works well enough for me*.
>
> For a $120 8 port sata card, it really does the trick. I was so glad when I
> didn't have to get several crappy 2-4 port jmicron cards.
>
>
>> Also, to list-dwellers: I'd greatly appreciate further tips on PCIe SAS
>> HBAs.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> --
>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
>> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>>
>>
> * Performance (to me) is outstanding, or at least it will be once the write
> back stuff is fixed up, and the io controller stuff is also fixed up, but as
> is right now in 2.6.31, its "good enough". Might not get the absolute insane
> 400-500MB/s I saw with the controller originally, but I do get a good
> 100-230MB/s off my 5 drive md raid5 array (512KB chunk). I find things that
> used to take 30 seconds or more on my old array now happen in a few seconds.
> Right now writes are rather bad (60-100MB/s) but that I assume is the write
> back stuff, which should hopefully be fixed in 32.
>
>
--
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2009-12-14 14:51 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 11+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2009-11-10 16:54 Known-good LSI PCIe SAS HBAs? Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-10 17:53 ` Richard Scobie
2009-11-11 7:04 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-11 18:03 ` Richard Scobie
2009-11-11 18:51 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-13 18:03 ` Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-13 18:59 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-12-14 14:51 ` Konstantinos Skarlatos
2009-11-11 7:01 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
2009-11-11 11:09 ` Kristleifur Daðason
2009-11-11 11:47 ` Thomas Fjellstrom
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