|
LSI 9201-16i SAS 6Gbps HBA
Over the past couple
years, we've looked at a few SAS/SATA RAID
controllers and HBAs from Adaptec and LSI.
Performance varied amongst models, but that was only
IF the card was identified and enumerated by the
system. Getting this new generation of
controllers to show their ROMs upon boot has become
more and more difficult, as ROM sizes and
motherboard BIOS sizes continue to occupy more
memory, motherboard makers choose to integrate more
features, and reduce compatibility testing with
third-party storage cards.
This compatibility
problem with storage cards is more prevalent with
consumer-grade motherboards, not enterprise
workstation or server boards. As many of us
readers utilize consumer motherboards for our small
server or workstation builds, we began our search
for an HBA that plays nice with a common consumer
chipset -the Intel H67. We tried at least half
a dozen different HBAs and RAID cards made by HP,
Dell, LSI, Adaptec, Promise, and Highpoint
Technology. These cards would either not be
detected, or not enumerate its ROM at boot, causing
the attached drives to be inaccessible by the OS.
Emails to manufacturers resulted in typical
responses such as "update the firmware or BIOS" or,
finger pointing as the culprit.
Luckily, LSI
released the 9201-16i, a 16-port SAS / SATA HBA
which showed itself as the MOST COMPATIBLE HBA in
our tests. Regardless of which consumer
chipset or motherboard we tried, the ROM happily
showed up each time, identifying all the drives, and
booting into Windows 7 properly and without a single
complaint. Windows 7 even installed built-in
drivers, and allowed us to setup the drives using
the OS to stripe or mirror drives. That was
wonderful, but does it stand the test of time?
|
SPECIFICATIONS |
| IO Controller |
LSISAS2116, Fusion MPt
2.0 |
| Ports |
16 internal, via 4x
Mini-SAS SFF-8087 |
| Connectivity Standard |
SAS 2.0, 6 Gbps |
| SAS Bandwidth |
600 MBps per lane |
| Host Connector |
PCI Express 2.0 x8 |
| Dimensions |
4.2" x 6.6" |
| Power Consumption |
16W nominal |
| Max Device Support |
512 devices non-RAID
|
| MTBF |
> 2M hours |
| Warranty |
3 years |
After 6 months of heavy use as a
file server using automated file copy, delete,
reboot and other sequences, coupled with
automatic OS and motherboard BIOS updates, the
LSI 9201-16i still chugs away, showing its ROM
during each boot, and not dropping a single
drive after hundreds of restarts, reboots, and
"accidental" power losses. We even
performed a firmware update on the 9201-16i, and
same result - no issues whatsoever.
In the end, we are happy to see
we have found an HBA that plays well even with
low-end consumer chipsets and motherboards.
The next challenge now is to have the ability to
spin down drives - something motherboard SATA
connectors natively allow, when the OS tells
drives to spin down to save energy. And as
of mid-2012, even the great SAS9201-16i does not
pass those spin down commands from the OS to the
drives. Not YET at least...
|
