PCIe SATA HBA for ZFS on -STABLE

[Artem Belevich]

On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 7:31 AM, Freddie Cash <fjwcash at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.

+1 for LSI1068(e) controller + mpt driver. It's cheap and it works.
Those LSI controllers are often hiding behind other brands. SuperMicro
mentioned above is one. Intel would be another -- search for Intel
SASUC8I. Tyan also sells one as TYAN P3208SR. LSI-branded controllers
tend to be a bit more expensive than rebranded ones, though
functionality is the same and you can often cross-flash firmware.

Keep in mind that HBAs based on LSI1068(e) can't handle hard drives
larger than 2TB and will truncate larger drive capacity to 2TB.

As for the SSD, you may want to hook them up to on-board SATA ports.
In my not-very scientific benchmark Intel's X25-M SSD connected to
on-board SATA port on ICH10 was able to deliver ~20% more reads/sec
than the same SSD connected to LSI1068 based controller.

--Artem