{"id":8251,"date":"2022-05-29T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T10:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/?p=8251"},"modified":"2022-05-30T13:18:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T11:18:55","slug":"how-to-flash-a-hba-host-bus-adapter-to-it-mode-step-by-step-general-guidelines-using-lsi-sas-3008-ibm-m1215-as-an-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/how-to-flash-a-hba-host-bus-adapter-to-it-mode-step-by-step-general-guidelines-using-lsi-sas-3008-ibm-m1215-as-an-example\/","title":{"rendered":"How to flash a HBA (Host Bus Adapter) to IT mode; step-by-step general guidelines using LSI SAS 3008 (IBM M1215) as an example"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

This will make an LSI HBA card originally in “IR” mode<\/strong> (full RAID functionality<\/strong>) run in IT (Initiator Target) mode with the correct firmware revision matched to your FreeNAS software and will make it act as an HBA passthrough so the OS sees the drives.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Tekmart Africa Enterprise Support Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(portions of the original post courtesy of Patrick Kennedy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

IBM M1215 LSI SAS3008 HBA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are looking to get a new host bus adapter (HBA) the LSI SAS3008<\/a> controller is perhaps the most popular 12gbps SAS controller on the market. It supports features such as the LSI DataBolt which lets you utilize higher bandwidth uplinks with compatible SAS expanders and 6gbps drives. It also features significantly better performance than the SAS2008 and SAS2308 generations when using the HBA with 8x SSDs. Although there are many \u201cRAID\u201d enabled (IR) SAS 3008 controllers out there, oftentimes what you want is a simple HBA. For applications with software managing redundancy such as ZFS, md raid, and Ceph you will want IT firmware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT firmware essentially allows the controller to present attached disks to the system and stops the hardware controller from getting in the way.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For this guide, we are going to use the IBM\/ Lenovo M1215 adapter. These are popular OEM SAS HBAs that have SAS 3008 controller chips onboard. They are usually flashed to IR mode so they do need to be updated to the latest firmware. Although they are essentially equivalent to the LSI SAS9340-8i and functionally equivalent to the LSI SAS 9300-8i save for different connector orientation, they are much less expensive. We commonly find the IBM M1215 for under $100 while the SAS 9340-8i and 9300-8i commonly sell for over $260. In systems where you are using three cards per chassis, that is a $450 savings for completing these simple steps that will take under 5 minutes per card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning:<\/strong> Before proceeding, do note that this is a risky process. Issues with firmware flashes can render your card \u201cbricked\u201d and unusable\/ unrecoverable. We will not be held responsible if this happens to your card. By following this guide, you accept all risks of damaging your card.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Getting the Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Currently, we are using the Broadcom\/ Avago\/ LSI P13 firmware for our HBAs which is the latest available. Many users prefer P10 firmware due to it being older and better known. You can simply replace P13 with P10 if you want to flash P10 firmware instead. Since LSI was acquired by Avago which merged with Broadcom, the download pages seem to change often. If the download links change, you should look for the SAS 9300-8i downloads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n