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Planning to rebuild my 20TB WHS Flexraid server: Information requested. - Page 9

post #241 of 916
12/5/12 at 5:43pm
Quote:
So then I should use UEFI as my first choice? Or default to it if it fails the other first ?
I wouldn't do UEFI unless you read up on it more. You have plenty of motherboards to try it on. And all these guides and directions are for DOS
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So I disable all the boot devices in bios ? Like optical, HDD, LAN and USB ???
I would turn off your Sata controller and NIC, anything that can load a rom.
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What is the difference between IR mode and IT mode ?
LSI9211-IT = Straight pass through no RAID, best for ZFS file system etc
LSI9211-IR = Pass through as in IT mode, but you also have RAID options (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1e and RAID 10), better for RAID 0 Windows boot SSDs etc, and possibly run Software RAID 5 on the other drives.
LSI9240 = default mode, only really useful feature this mode has is RAID1/ RAID 10, drives have to be set to JBOD (single) or RAID to be seen by OS, can be annoying when adding removing drives often.
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post #242 of 916
12/5/12 at 5:47pm
Quote:
Also you keep mentioning "unraid batch files" and I just want to make sure this is not specific for unraid software- but the unraid of the card as in conversion from RAID to just a SATA port card. Am I correct on that?

Sorry to confuse you. I was referring to the guides and downloads on the unraid forum.
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post #243 of 916
12/5/12 at 5:49pm
Just a little note. That 2600k isn't a good chip for ESXi since it doesn't support virtualization. You can either overclock or virtualize. I guess Intel doesn't think you should be able to do both.
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post #244 of 916
12/5/12 at 5:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_Steb View Post

I wouldn't do UEFI unless you read up on it more. You have plenty of motherboards to try it on. And all these guides and directions are for DOS



UEFI being the modern Bios interface. So either exit that to EFI or use an older motherboard first shot. Right ??

Quote:

I would turn off your Sata controller and NIC, anything that can load a rom.

You mean on board or sata card ? on board NIC or add on card ? Should I use my new good Asus Z77 board then ? Is there a chance I might damage it- and so I should use an older board I don't care about ?

The PC needs to be hooked up to a monitor ??? I assume to use DOS. So that makes it a bit tricky. I guess I can use an old PC I am not using.

How would I turn off an integrated NIC ? is there even an option for that in bios ?

Quote:
LSI9211-IT = Straight pass through no RAID, best for ZFS file system etc
LSI9211-IR = Pass through as in IT mode, but you also have RAID options (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1e and RAID 10), better for RAID 0 Windows boot SSDs etc, and possibly run Software RAID 5 on the other drives.
LSI9240 = default mode, only really useful feature this mode has is RAID1/ RAID 10, drives have to be set to JBOD (single) or RAID to be seen by OS, can be annoying when adding removing drives often.

So which should I use ??? I want to just throw in drives I buy into hot swap bays and assign them as DRU or PRU and go. I don't want to mess with jumpers and stuff and I won't do hardware RAID.
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post #245 of 916
12/5/12 at 5:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

Just a little note. That 2600k isn't a good chip for ESXi since it doesn't support virtualization. You can either overclock or virtualize. I guess Intel doesn't think you should be able to do both.

You mean I can use it but I can not overclock ?? Or I can not use it at all because it is a K series ?
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post #246 of 916
12/5/12 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

UEFI being the modern Bios interface. So either exit that to EFI or use an older motherboard first shot. Right ??
yes
Quote:
You mean on board or sata card ? on board NIC or add on card ? Should I use my new good Asus Z77 board then ? Is there a chance I might damage it- and so I should use an older board I don't care about ?
I highly doubt it will damage your motherboard. If things go bad you can turn your IBM card into a paperweight.

Remove any add on cards. Disable onboard sata and Nic. Most motherboards have the Nic boot rom turned off as a default, but it cant hurt.
Quote:
The PC needs to be hooked up to a monitor ??? I assume to use DOS. So that makes it a bit tricky. I guess I can use an old PC I am not using.
How would I turn off an integrated NIC ? is there even an option for that in bios ?
So which should I use ??? I want to just throw in drives I buy into hot swap bays and assign them as DRU or PRU and go. I don't want to mess with jumpers and stuff and I won't do hardware RAID.

You want IT mode. with a disabled rom or no rom at all.
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post #247 of 916
12/5/12 at 6:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

You mean I can use it but I can not overclock ?? Or I can not use it at all because it is a K series ?

The K series chips don't support the advanced virtualization options of ESXi. This has irritated me. I was going to say always irritated me, but it's only been two generations of chips. Intel made this arbitrary choice. If you buy the K series chip to over clock you can't run Virtualization software on it. So I'm pretty sure the chip you've got now won't run ESXi, and the chip you planned on moving in to it won't run ESXi. I guess you aren't meant to virtualize. At some point you'll probably just have to upgrade to a real server board and a Xeon chip if you want to virtualize. You seem to be going all out with the IBM card and looking at the Norco chassis. Or just stick with WHS.
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post #248 of 916
12/5/12 at 6:57pm
Yup. VT-d support is precisely why I decided to recycle my X58 motherboard and i7 960, for my ESXi build.
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post #249 of 916
12/5/12 at 8:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

. . . . . At some point you'll probably just have to upgrade to a real server board and a Xeon chip if you want to virtualize. . . . ..

Not totally true. I'm using a consumer board, ASRock H77 Pro4-M with a quadcore i5 3550, which both support virtualization and vt-d for passthru, .

It is up and running ESXi 5.1 with an IBM M1015 HBA in IT mode (I did add an Intel PCIe gigagbit ethernet card). As long as you pick MBs and CPUs that support both these features ESXi will run.
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post #250 of 916
12/5/12 at 10:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceD View Post

Not totally true. I'm using a consumer board, ASRock H77 Pro4-M with a quadcore i5 3550, which both support virtualization and vt-d for passthru, .
It is up and running ESXi 5.1 with an IBM M1015 HBA in IT mode (I did add an Intel PCIe gigagbit ethernet card). As long as you pick MBs and CPUs that support both these features ESXi will run.

Yeah I know it isn't strictly necessary. There just comes a point when you decide you just want everything to work. No guessing, or hoping, just knowing that it will function properly. Some consumer boards might work. Some won't. They are notorious for not working right with HBA's in PCI-E slots that were envisioned for graphics cards. They might work with one, even two, but maybe not with three. When your looking at 20 or 24 $100+ hard drives an extra $100 for a Supermicro board starts to make sense. The Xeon doesn't even have to cost much more than a regular chip. That setup gets you ECC ram, server grade Intel NIC's, and proven reliability.

I don't push server grade on everybody. I just think sometimes when your looking at spending a couple grand before you get to the board and chip the small price increase makes sense.
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post #251 of 916
12/6/12 at 5:57am
Thread Starter 
Swapping out a board or a CPU isn't that big a deal IMO... I'm just not there yet
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post #252 of 916
12/6/12 at 8:05am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_Steb View Post


I highly doubt it will damage your motherboard. If things go bad you can turn your IBM card into a paperweight.
Remove any add on cards. Disable onboard sata and Nic. Most motherboards have the Nic boot rom turned off as a default, but it cant hurt.
You want IT mode. with a disabled rom or no rom at all.

LSI9211-IT

Right?
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post #253 of 916
12/6/12 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg121131#msg121131

versus

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/

I am a bit confused as if I should follow one or the other ??
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post #254 of 916
12/6/12 at 8:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post



http://www.files.laptopvideo2go.com/hdd/sas2008.zip

My card appears to be a SAS9220-8i ?? Yes?





I am seeing instructions for 9240. is that a big deal ?????
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post #255 of 916
12/6/12 at 11:12am
9220 is the IBM version
9240 is the LSI version

The guides work on all OEM versions of the card. So no big deal.
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post #256 of 916
12/6/12 at 11:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

LSI9211-IT
Right?

That is correct. the LSI 9240/9220 is a raid card and doesn't have an IT mode. That is why you are trying to convert it into a 9211
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post #257 of 916
12/6/12 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg121131#msg121131
versus
http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/
I am a bit confused as if I should follow one or the other ??

They both will work. Flip a coin.

I would try one with batch files, it may be a little simpler for you.

LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip - 5.87 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key)
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post #258 of 916
12/6/12 at 12:14pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html

Is that the right method to use for the DOS USB ?

Also- which one has batch files ?
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post #259 of 916
12/6/12 at 1:15pm
that looks good for a usb boot disk
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post #260 of 916
12/6/12 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry to be such a pain but I want to make sure I get this right. Here is what I am going to do (please advise if it is wrong)


Step 1 appears to be to make a bootable USB stick that needs to be DOS bootable for the flasher etc to work. This link I found:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html
It appears to explain how to do it:


Step 2 appears I should download the files have compressed over here: http://www.files.laptopvideo2go.com/hdd/sas2008.zip
from: http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/


Step 3 appears I should self Extract the files somewhere, then place onto the USB stick. I have a question how. Do I just unzip them in my download folder then copy to the USB stick ?? And- so I make the USB stick DOS bootable first then just copy paste the unzipped folder onto the USB stick ? Or do I use another stick that is not the same stick I use for DOS?



Step 4 suggests I should then turn machine off grab the SAS address of the card, (I took a picture already) it's on the back on a green sticker (ie 500605B0xxxxxxxx).
When done- Turn machine ON (with card back in PC) choose USB stick at boot option, for all the below it is assumed you are booted to USB stick in the directory with the files from download.

Quote:
Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IT mode
Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)

Done!



Is that really it? If so seems like I could pull it off. eek.gif
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post #261 of 916
12/6/12 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
for all the below it is assumed you are booted to USB stick in the directory with the files from download.

I think this goes back to my bold questions. I make the USB stick DOS bootable first. Then I place the unzipped folder onto it ? Do I place the entire folder or just the sections I need? Do the files need to be in the folder? Or should they just be on the USB drive ?

the "in the directory with the files from the download" part is what I want to get some clarification on.


So I first do this:



Inside the folder looks like this:



then inside that looks like this:



my question is do I just copy the first folder onto the USB stick---- that has the second folder inside and then the files and folders inside that ? Or do I have to copy the folder contents directly to the USB stick ?
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post #262 of 916
12/6/12 at 2:12pm
Just the contents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post


This is what you want on your Dos USB Boot disk.
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post #263 of 916
12/6/12 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_Steb View Post

Just the contents.
This is what you want on your Dos USB Boot disk.


Ok. Including those two folders in the picture above ?

I should literally just select all--- and copy paste to the thumbdrive right ? The same thumb drive I first make a DOS boot drive. And- The exact picture above's pure contents to the thumbdrive. Not inside a folder. Just on the drive. ??

Thanks again for the advice. The instructions are not specific and I don't want to mess it up.
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post #264 of 916
12/6/12 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IT mode
Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)

Done!

I have questions on this too. It's not explained very specific. I think I know but I want to confirm.

So I assume I boot to DOS and a command prompt right ? By selecting USB stick as my boot device and powering up the PC with the card installed. Right ?

If so- then:

So I type exactly the first line "megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin" and hit enter?

Or do I type out the whole thing and then hit enter ? As in line 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 ? (that seems wrong but it says type exactly)

My DOS experience is limited but I remember and usually understand ENTER to execute the command right ? So each line is a command or action- and I hit enter after each one. I am assuming after I type the first line "megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin" the command does something like empty the Rom so I can flash to the new one. So then the next command would be entered LINE 2 "megarec -cleanflash 0" and I would hit enter after that. It would do it's thing. Then enter line 3 "" and hit enter. and so on.. till I get the last command line.

YES?

Or am I typing all that out exactly at once ?

Sorry to ask such stupid questions. The help is appreciated.
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post #265 of 916
12/6/12 at 2:55pm
Once you have booted successfully to DOS using your bootable USB stick and are seeing C:\

Type: megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin [hit enter]
[The system will do a bunch of things and come back to C:\]

Type: megarec -cleanflash 0 [hit enter]
[The system will do a bunch of things and come back to C:\]

REBOOT MANUALLY and boot back to USB stick

Type: sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed) [hit enter]
[The system will do a bunch of things and come back to C:\]

Type: sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address) [hit enter]
[The system will do a bunch of things and come back to C:\]

REBOOT MANUALLY and boot back to USB stick

Now you're Done!
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post #266 of 916
12/6/12 at 3:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

Cool thanks. That is what I was thinking but I wanted to make sure.
Did you flash your IBM card?
Yup, all 3 of them.

btw...if you see "Error: initializing PAL...." or something similar....come back and we'll go to level 2.smile.gif
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post #267 of 916
12/7/12 at 5:59am
Well any updates on flashing that card?
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post #268 of 916
12/7/12 at 6:56am
Thread Starter 
I am waiting for my new PSU to arrive from new egg. It arrives today so I will flash tonight.

I was tired last night and just watched a movie smile.gif
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post #269 of 916
12/7/12 at 2:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapone View Post

Yup, all 3 of them.
btw...if you see "Error: initializing PAL...." or something similar....come back and we'll go to level 2.smile.gif

When / Where would I see this error ?
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post #270 of 916
12/7/12 at 3:07pm
Thread Starter 
I am making the DOS bootable drive now. Waiting for my 16GB USB stick to format. Taking a long time. I guess I should have just used a 4GB stick
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