Discussion:
LSI SAS HBAs (mps) utility
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Borja Marcos
2014-03-11 16:20:11 UTC
Permalink
Hi

I don't think it has been covered in this list. Searching for the Holy Grail of disk identification I stumbled upon this:
https://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Host%20Bus%20Adapters/Host%20Bus%20Adapters%20Common%20Files/SAS_SATA_6G_P12/SAS2IRCU_User_Guide.pdf

There is a FreeBSD command for the following LSI Logic controllers:


LSISAS2004
LSISAS2008
LSISAS2108
LSISAS2208
LSISAS2304
LSISAS2308


The program is called sas2ircu, and it can be downloaded doing a search for HBAs, LSI SAS9211-8i, all asset types,
and it can be found under "Miscellaneous", it's called SAS2IRCU_P18.

There are commands to show a list of controllers, show the configurations, etc.

Interestingly, the utility seems to be oriented to "IR" cards, *but* it can poke my "IT" card without issues. At least it can show me
a list of drives, together with the slots where the drives are plugged. *BUT* it doesn't seem to find the real slots. sigh.

Any other interesting utility I should be aware of?

Thanks!






***@pruebassd:~ # sas2ircu list
LSI Corporation SAS2 IR Configuration Utility.
Version 18.00.00.00 (2013.11.18)
Copyright (c) 2009-2013 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved.


Adapter Vendor Device SubSys SubSys
Index Type ID ID Pci Address Ven ID Dev ID
----- ------------ ------ ------ ----------------- ------ ------
0 SAS2008 1000h 72h 00h:43h:00h:00h 1028h 1f1ch
SAS2IRCU: Utility Completed Successfully.
***@pruebassd:~ # sas2ircu 0 display
LSI Corporation SAS2 IR Configuration Utility.
Version 18.00.00.00 (2013.11.18)
Copyright (c) 2009-2013 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved.

Read configuration has been initiated for controller 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controller information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controller type : SAS2008
BIOS version : 7.35.00.00
Firmware version : 18.00.00.00
Channel description : 1 Serial Attached SCSI
Initiator ID : 0
Maximum physical devices : 255
Concurrent commands supported : 3432
Slot : 3
Segment : 0
Bus : 67
Device : 0
Function : 0
RAID Support : No
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IR Volume information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Physical device information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initiator at ID #0

Device is a Hard disk
Enclosure # : 1
Slot # : 0
SAS Address : 4433221-1-0300-0000
State : Ready (RDY)
Size (in MB)/(in sectors) : 488386/1000215215
Manufacturer : ATA
Model Number : OCZ-VERTEX4
Firmware Revision : 1.5
Serial No : OCZ1NFHW58H59644U7Y
GUID : N/A
Protocol : SATA
Drive Type : SATA_SSD

Device is a Hard disk
Enclosure # : 1
Slot # : 1
SAS Address : 4433221-1-0200-0000
State : Ready (RDY)
Size (in MB)/(in sectors) : 488386/1000215215
Manufacturer : ATA
Model Number : OCZ-VERTEX4
Firmware Revision : 1.5
Serial No : OCZ5JAHC862Y945IB7L
GUID : N/A
Protocol : SATA
Drive Type : SATA_SSD
Alan Somers
2014-03-11 16:35:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Borja Marcos
Hi
https://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Host%20Bus%20Adapters/Host%20Bus%20Adapters%20Common%20Files/SAS_SATA_6G_P12/SAS2IRCU_User_Guide.pdf
LSISAS2004
LSISAS2008
LSISAS2108
LSISAS2208
LSISAS2304
LSISAS2308
The program is called sas2ircu, and it can be downloaded doing a search for HBAs, LSI SAS9211-8i, all asset types,
and it can be found under "Miscellaneous", it's called SAS2IRCU_P18.
There are commands to show a list of controllers, show the configurations, etc.
Interestingly, the utility seems to be oriented to "IR" cards, *but* it can poke my "IT" card without issues. At least it can show me
a list of drives, together with the slots where the drives are plugged. *BUT* it doesn't seem to find the real slots. sigh.
What do you mean, it doesn't find the "real" slots? What are you
expecting to see? Do you have a SAS expander in this system? If so,
you have some hope of seeing useful information about the physical
position of a drive. If not, then you won't get much better than
knowing which SAS port is connected to a drive.
Post by Borja Marcos
Any other interesting utility I should be aware of?
Thanks!
LSI Corporation SAS2 IR Configuration Utility.
Version 18.00.00.00 (2013.11.18)
Copyright (c) 2009-2013 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved.
Adapter Vendor Device SubSys SubSys
Index Type ID ID Pci Address Ven ID Dev ID
----- ------------ ------ ------ ----------------- ------ ------
0 SAS2008 1000h 72h 00h:43h:00h:00h 1028h 1f1ch
SAS2IRCU: Utility Completed Successfully.
LSI Corporation SAS2 IR Configuration Utility.
Version 18.00.00.00 (2013.11.18)
Copyright (c) 2009-2013 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved.
Read configuration has been initiated for controller 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controller information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controller type : SAS2008
BIOS version : 7.35.00.00
Firmware version : 18.00.00.00
Channel description : 1 Serial Attached SCSI
Initiator ID : 0
Maximum physical devices : 255
Concurrent commands supported : 3432
Slot : 3
Segment : 0
Bus : 67
Device : 0
Function : 0
RAID Support : No
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IR Volume information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Physical device information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initiator at ID #0
Device is a Hard disk
Enclosure # : 1
Slot # : 0
SAS Address : 4433221-1-0300-0000
State : Ready (RDY)
Size (in MB)/(in sectors) : 488386/1000215215
Manufacturer : ATA
Model Number : OCZ-VERTEX4
Firmware Revision : 1.5
Serial No : OCZ1NFHW58H59644U7Y
GUID : N/A
Protocol : SATA
Drive Type : SATA_SSD
Device is a Hard disk
Enclosure # : 1
Slot # : 1
SAS Address : 4433221-1-0200-0000
State : Ready (RDY)
Size (in MB)/(in sectors) : 488386/1000215215
Manufacturer : ATA
Model Number : OCZ-VERTEX4
Firmware Revision : 1.5
Serial No : OCZ5JAHC862Y945IB7L
GUID : N/A
Protocol : SATA
Drive Type : SATA_SSD
_______________________________________________
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-scsi
Borja Marcos
2014-03-11 16:45:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Alan Somers
What do you mean, it doesn't find the "real" slots? What are you
expecting to see? Do you have a SAS expander in this system? If so,
you have some hope of seeing useful information about the physical
position of a drive. If not, then you won't get much better than
knowing which SAS port is connected to a drive.
I just notice that, since I flashed the card (A Dell H200) to so-called "IT Mode" it doesn't show the expanders.

This is what I saw before flashing the card:
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0 at mps0 bus 0 scbus0 target 3 lun 0
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: <DP BP12G+ 1.00> Fixed Enclosure Services SCSI-5 device
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: 150.000MB/s transfers
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: Command Queueing enabled
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: SCSI-3 ENC Device

And now, same hardware, different firmware, I don't see the "ses0" expander, odd.

Anyway, I pulled one of the disks (physical slot 4) and it wasn't the disk identified by sas2ircu as connected to "1:4" but
a different one.

That I mean. Chaos... ;)




Borja.
Alan Somers
2014-03-11 16:59:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Borja Marcos
Post by Alan Somers
What do you mean, it doesn't find the "real" slots? What are you
expecting to see? Do you have a SAS expander in this system? If so,
you have some hope of seeing useful information about the physical
position of a drive. If not, then you won't get much better than
knowing which SAS port is connected to a drive.
I just notice that, since I flashed the card (A Dell H200) to so-called "IT Mode" it doesn't show the expanders.
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0 at mps0 bus 0 scbus0 target 3 lun 0
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: <DP BP12G+ 1.00> Fixed Enclosure Services SCSI-5 device
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: 150.000MB/s transfers
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: Command Queueing enabled
Feb 12 10:01:33 pruebassd kernel: ses0: SCSI-3 ENC Device
And now, same hardware, different firmware, I don't see the "ses0" expander, odd.
Surprising. What does "camcontrol devlist" show you?
Post by Borja Marcos
Anyway, I pulled one of the disks (physical slot 4) and it wasn't the disk identified by sas2ircu as connected to "1:4" but
a different one.
What do you mean by "physical slot 4"? The HBA doesn't know anything
about physical positions. Even the SES expander probably isn't
numbering the slots in the order that you expect.
Post by Borja Marcos
That I mean. Chaos... ;)
I'm having trouble understanding your English. What does this sentence mean?

-Alan
Post by Borja Marcos
Borja.
Borja Marcos
2014-03-11 17:18:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Alan Somers
Post by Borja Marcos
And now, same hardware, different firmware, I don't see the "ses0" expander, odd.
Surprising. What does "camcontrol devlist" show you?
It shows this:
***@pruebassd:~ # camcontrol devlist
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 0 lun 0 (pass0,da0)
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 5 lun 0 (da1,pass1)
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 7 lun 0 (pass2,da2)
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 9 lun 0 (pass3,da3)
<SEAGATE ST9146853SS YS08> at scbus0 target 12 lun 0 (pass4,da4)
<SEAGATE ST9146853SS YS08> at scbus0 target 13 lun 0 (pass5,da5)
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 15 lun 0 (pass6,da6)
<ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 1.5> at scbus0 target 16 lun 0 (pass7,da7)
<Dell Internal Dual SD 1.:> at scbus2 target 0 lun 0 (da8,pass8)

The ses0 device is gone. Full story follows below the "I can't understand your English". ;)
Post by Alan Somers
Post by Borja Marcos
Anyway, I pulled one of the disks (physical slot 4) and it wasn't the disk identified by sas2ircu as connected to "1:4" but
a different one.
What do you mean by "physical slot 4"? The HBA doesn't know anything
about physical positions. Even the SES expander probably isn't
numbering the slots in the order that you expect.
Yes, that´s what I mean. I was hoping to be able to determine the slot for a given disk, but it's clear that I am wrong.
Post by Alan Somers
Post by Borja Marcos
That I mean. Chaos... ;)
I'm having trouble understanding your English. What does this sentence mean?
Sorry, I wasn't explicit at all. Full story follows.

I'm building a storage server and I'll probably build several ones. It's based on ZFS of course, and I'm using SSDs for now.

Due to the insistence of several manufacturers such as Dell or IBM, I had several "RAID" cards, which, of course, we don't want
in such a configuration. Turns out some of them (the ones sold by Dell as H200 and the cards sold by IBM as M1015) can be
turned into simple HBAs by replacing their firmware by what LSI Logic calls "IT Mode" firmware.

I did it using the latest firmware version I found on the LSI Logic website. The cards work, the performance is very good, and I
don't need to battle "JBOD" pseudo disks and such. The SSDs receive the TRIM commands perfectly, etc.

So far so good, but of course I need to make sure that an operator can identify a failed disk without confusion. And that's where the fun
is. Even being substantially cleaner with the "IT mode" firmware, these cards are stilll a puzzle to use.

What I am looking for is a way to identify a physical disk. I guess I will end up printing paper labels with the serial numbers, but it would
be incredibly clumsy and error prone. Looking at the downloads section on the LSI Logic website I found this tool, which seems to be a rough equivalent of mfiutil(8).

I didn't see this program mentioned on this list (or I don't remember) and, as I have seen mentioned that there is no equivalent to mfiutil(8) for the "mps" cards, well, I thought that it could be useful to someone, even though it doesn't serve the purpose I hoped to achieve: identifying the physical slot for a disk. That's why I pointed out that the "enclosure:slot" information is useless.

I hope it's more clear now.;)

Sorry if I was so vague. I've been playing with this for two weeks, trying to find a solid configuration (and, for me, the definition of "solid" includes "the operator can identify a disk without confusion") and just now I notice that, after flashing the HBA, the enclosures have disappeared in two machines :/

Cheers,





Borja.

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