Adaptec 51245 2268100-R and ZFS

[lithiumion]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone have experience with Adaptec 51245 2268100-R SATA/SAS 16-port card?

http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/sas-51245/

I can get this card at a close to zero $ and want to implement it in a ZFS storage box containing 8 drives Seagate Enterprise SAS Constellation ES

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Enterprise-Capacity-Constellation-ST4000NM0023/dp/B00A45JFJS/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1390938132&sr=1-17&keywords=sas+drive


Thanks

 

[Zedicus]

i have used the 5 series card in RAID modes and they are very good cards for that. they do support JBOD but i have never implemented them in that manner. last time i did any research i know they required a additional driver to be used in *BSDs. i was looking into using my old 5 series in ZFS at the time. also there are reports of them working with solaris but i had no plans to go that route at the time and have zilch for comments there.

the cards with more then 8 usable connections in the 5 series are essentially a 5805 with an onboard expander. in theory it should all work splendidly in JBOD with ZFS. and if the card is dirt cheap i do not see a problem with getting it and seeing what you could make work.

 

[lithiumion]

Hello Zedicus,

Thanks for your input

On Adaptic's website there are Solaris, Linux, and BSD drivers which gives some hope. It is just that there is not a single hint about its pass-through capabilities which ZFS likes best.

As you mentioned-since the card would cost me almost nothing-I should just get it anyway and try my luck. I was just hoping for some good news.

 

[Zedicus]

they say JBOD support which is passthrough mode. i have seen them used that way, but never done any testing myself like that. and remember that the 51245 has an onboard expander so it may or may not hav issues with low end sata drives if you were to try and use some.

 

[lithiumion]

Thanks Zedicus.

The drives I'm going to use are entry-level NL-SAS drives. I'm also considering the WD4000F9YZ drives. Both have good reputation.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Enterprise-WD4000F9YZ-Frustration-Free/dp/B00CYSYYU8/ref=sr_1_26?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1390779845&sr=1-26&keywords=RAID+controller

 

[neotokyo]

Hi all,

Just thought I would issue a warning to all who seek a cheap SAS HBA. I have found the Adaptec 3000 series cards do not support true drive pass through. The arcconf utility returns 'unsupported' when you try to set JBOD. I read somewhere that the 5000 series may support true pass through, but I don't have one to confirm.

 

[dexvx]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone have experience with Adaptec 51245 2268100-R SATA/SAS 16-port card?

I can get this card at a close to zero $ and want to implement it in a ZFS storage box containing 8 drives Seagate Enterprise SAS Constellation ES

Is there someone selling this card at near zero $?