LSI SAS2008 mps driver preferred firmware version

[Slawa Olhovchenkov]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 01:19:55PM -0800, Freddie Cash wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Slawa Olhovchenkov <slw at zxy.spb.ru> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 11:40:12AM -0800, Freddie Cash wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 11:36 AM, Kevin Oberman <rkoberman at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > > As already mentioned, unless you are using zfs, use gpart to label you
> > file
> > > > systems/disks. Then use the /dev/gpt/LABEL as the mount device in
> > fstab.
> > > >
> > >
> > > ​Even if you are using ZFS, labelling the drives with the location of the
> > > disk in the system (enclosure, column, row, whatever) makes things so
> > much
> > > easier to work with when there are disk-related issues.
> > >
> > > Just create a single partition that covers the whole disk, label it, and
> > > use the label to create the vdevs in the pool.​
> >
> > Bad idea.
> > Re-placed disk in different bay don't relabel automaticly.
> >
> 
> ​Did the original disk get labelled automatically?  No, you had to do that
> when you first started using it.  So, why would you expect a
> replaced disk

Initial labeling is problem too.
For new chassis with 36 identical disk (already installed) -- what is
simple way to labeling disks?

> to get labelled automatically?

Consistency keeping is another problem.

> Offline the dead/dying disk.
> Physically remove the disk.
> Insert the new disk.
> Partition / label the new disk.
> "zfs replace" using the new label to get it into the pool.​

New disk can be inserted in free bay.
This is may be done by remote hand.
And I can be miss information where disk is placed.


> > Other issuse where disk placed in bay some remotely hands in data
> > center -- I am relay don't know how disk distributed by bays.
> >
> 
> ​You label the disks as they are added to the system the first time.  That
> way, you always know where each disk is located, and you only deal with the
> labels.
> 
> Then, when you need to replace a disk (or ask someone in a remote location
> to replace it) it's a simple matter:  the label on the disk itself tells
> you where the disk is physically located.  And it doesn't change if the
> controller decides to change the direction it enumerates devices.
> 
> Which is easier to tell someone in a remote location:

"Replace disk in bay with blinked led"

Author: bapt
Date: Sat Sep  5 00:06:01 2015
New Revision: 287473
URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/287473

Log:
  Add a new sesutil(8) utility
  
  This is an utility for managing SCSI Enclosure Services (SES)
  device.
  
  For now only one command is supported "locate" which will change the
  test of the
  external LED associated to a given disk.
  
  Usage if the following:
  sesutil locate disk [on|off]
  
  Disk can be a device name: "da12" or a special keyword: "all".
  
>   Replace disk enc0a6 (meaning enclosure 0, column A, row 6)?
> or
>   Replace the disk called da36?​
> ​or
>   Find the disk with serial number XXXXXXXX?
> or
>   Replace the disk where the light is (hopefully) flashing (but I can't
> tell you which enclosure, front or back, or anything else like that)?
> 
> The first one lets you know exactly where the disk is located physically.
> 
> The second one just tells you the name of the device as determined by the
> OS, but doesn't tell you anything about where it is located.  And it can
> change with a kernel update, driver update, or firmware update!
> 
> The third requires you to pull every disk in turn to read the serial number
> off the drive itself.

Usaly serial number can be read w/o pull disk (for SuperMicro cases
this is true, remote hand replaced disk by S/N for me w/o pull every disk).

> In order for the second or third option to work, you'd have to write down
> the device names and/or serial numbers and stick that onto the drive bay
> itself.​
> 
> 
> > Best way for identify disk -- uses enclouse services.
> >
> 
> ​Only if your enclosure services are actually working (or even enabled).
> I've yet to work on a box where that actually works (we custom-build our
> storage boxes using OTS hardware).
> 
> Best way, IMO, is to use the physical location of the device as the actual
> device name itself.  That way, there's never any ambiguity at the physical
> layer, the driver layer, the OS layer, or the ZFS pool layer.​
> 
> 
> > I have many sites with ZFS on whole disk and some sites with ZFS on
> > GPT partition. ZFS on GPT more heavy for administration.
> >
> 
> ​It's 1 extra step:  partition the drive, supplying the location of the
> drive as the label for the partition.
> 
> Everything else works exactly the same.
> 
> I used to do everything with whole drives and no labels.  Did that for
> about a month, until 2 separate drives on separate controllers died (in a
> 24-bay setup) and I couldn't figure out where they were located as a BIOS
> upgrade changed which controller loaded first.  And then I had to work on a
> server that someone else configured with direct-attach bays (24 cables)
> that were connected almost at random.

All currently used by me servers have some randoms in detecting and
reporting controllers and HDDs. No problem for ZFS and/or replacing by
remote hands (by S/N).