Recommended HBA for ZFS, contemporary

[Warren Block]

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016, Karl Denninger wrote:

> I have a number of the Intel 6-port expanders in production servers and
> have never have had any trouble with them; they just plain work.  The
> only note I'll make on the expanders (and these host cards) is to make
> sure you have sufficient airflow in the chassis; they're passive
> heat-sink cooled so airflow matters.  In any sort of proper server
> chassis this is probably not going to be an issue but if you're going
> for something that doesn't sound like an old 707 jet on take-off you
> need to pay attention to make sure there's sufficient cooling airflow.

There is an article on converting the Dell H200/H310 cards to LSI 9211 
where they show a picture of a fan mounted on the heatsink but do not 
discuss it:

https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/updated-sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/

I'm not happy with that article because it says "here is a CD of all the 
firmware and tools you need", but does not list sources to download them 
yourself .  Call me crazy, but that makes me nervous.

Anyway, I tried touching the heatsink of my new/used H200 while the card 
was idle, and yes, it gets surprisingly hot.  Untouchably hot, some 
would say.  A 40mm fan fits perfectly.  The standard trick of using 
screws that just fit between the fins and bite in a little works.  Like 
most, it was a 12V fan, but did not need that much power for this job. 
At 5V, it runs and keeps the heatsink cool enough to touch.

I have another H200 to convert, and mean to document the process.  I 
also have vendor sources for the files required.