So after purchasing several new drives, I decided that I wanted to set them up in ZFS. My problem is that my Supermicro RAID Controller is… a RAID controller. Yeah, ZFS does not like to play nicely with hardware RAID, and especially those with cache, as ZFS prefers to have direct access to drive information. So I have drives, I have my AOC-USAS2-L8A-IS018 (LSI SAS2008 based), but none of those drives attached to the RAID controller are usable in proxmox .
In comes a solution: firmware flashing, or more specifically, flashing to a passthrough (IT) firmware, as opposed to the RAID (IR) firmware on the cards by default. After doing as all good enthusiasts do (consult Google), I found a lack of support or clear guidance for my particular model.
Before you get started, I am obligated to warn you that performing a firmware flash does come with risks, including the possible bricking of the RAID controller.
1. Download files & Prep
There are four essential files you will need: firmware, card BIOS, SMC2308T, and the sas2flash utility. I would also recommend a copy of your current firmware, or the closest IR version you can find, in case you need to and can still back out.
You can grab those files here or from this site
Optionally, you can remove all SAS cables from the controller. This will help later on when you need to identify your USB drive in the EFI shell
2. Place the files onto a USB drive
The files do not have to be at the USB drive’s root, but it makes life a little simpler.
3. Boot into the built in EFI shell
Now this varies from board to board, but usually you can use the boot menu or the BIOS menu.
Then
4. Run SMC2308T & sas2flash
We will need to run some commands, now that we are in the EFI shell.
First, you should identify and go to your USB drive. Then we will need to clear the old firmware from the card.
SMC2308T.NSH
Afterwards, it is likely you’ll need to flash the firmware again.
sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
then enter the SAS address (WWID)
sas2flash.efi -o –sasadd “Controller SAS address”
5. verify all settings BEFORE rebooting the server
I will say this part is important, verify your flash. Check to see that you have the IT version firmware, and that the SAS address is populated with a valid value
sas2flash.efi -list
once you are happy with the results, reboot the node, an enjoy one RAID controller that is no longer flashed as a RAID controller.