PCIe SATA HBA for ZFS on -STABLE

[Freddie Cash]

On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 5:48 AM, Matt Thyer <matt.thyer at gmail.com> wrote:

> What do people recommend for 8-STABLE as a PCIe SATA II HBA for someone
> using ZFS ?
>
> Not wanting to break the bank.
> Not interested in SATA III 6GB at this time... though it could be useful if
> I add an SSD for... (is it ZIL ?).
> Can this be added at any time ?
>
> The main issue is I need at least 10 ports total for all existing drives...
> ZIL would require 11 so ideally we are talking a 6 port HBA.
>

SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i works exceptionally well.  These are 8-port HBAs
using the LSI1068 chipset, supported by the mpt(4) driver.  Support 3 Gpbs
SATA/SAS, using multi-lane cables (2 connectors on the card, each connector
supports 4 SATA ports), hot-plug, hot-swap.

These are UIO cards, so the bracket that comes with it doesn't work with
normal cases (the bracket is on the wrong side of the card; they're made for
SuperMicro's UIO-based motherboards).  However, these are normal PCIe cards
and work in any PCIe slot.  You either have to remove the bracket, or you
can purchase separate brackets online.

These cards are recommended on the zfs-discuss mailing list.  They are only
~$120 CDN at places like cdw.ca and newegg.ca.

-- 
Freddie Cash
fjwcash at gmail.com