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MRSAS(4)	       FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual		      MRSAS(4)

NAME
     mrsas -- LSI MegaRAID 6Gb/s and 12Gb/s SAS+SATA RAID controller driver

SYNOPSIS
     To	compile	this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your
     kernel configuration file:

	   device pci
	   device mrsas

     Alternatively, to load the	driver as a module at boot time, place the
     following line in loader.conf(5):

	   mrsas_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION
     The mrsas driver will detect LSI's	next generation	(6Gb/s and 12Gb/s) PCI
     Express SAS/SATA RAID controllers.	 See the HARDWARE section for the sup-
     ported devices list.  A disk (virtual disk/physical disk) attached	to the
     mrsas driver will be visible to the user through camcontrol(8) as
     /dev/da? device nodes.  A simple management interface is also provided on
     a per-controller basis via	the /dev/mrsas?	device node.

     The mrsas name is derived from the	phrase "MegaRAID SAS HBA", which is
     substantially different than the old "MegaRAID" Driver mfi(4) which does
     not connect targets to the	cam(4) layer and thus requires a new driver
     which attaches targets to the cam(4) layer.  Older	MegaRAID controllers
     are supported by mfi(4) and will not work with mrsas, but both the	mfi(4)
     and mrsas drivers can detect and manage the LSI MegaRAID SAS
     2208/2308/3008/3108 series	of controllers.

     The device.hints(5) option	is provided to tune the	mrsas driver's behav-
     ior for LSI MegaRAID SAS 2208/2308/3008/3108 controllers.	By default,
     the mfi(4)	driver will detect these controllers.  See the PRIORITY	sec-
     tion to know more about driver priority for MR-Fusion devices.

     mrsas will	provide	a priority of (-30) (between BUS_PROBE_DEFAULT and
     BUS_PROBE_LOW_PRIORITY) at	probe call for device id's 0x005B, 0x005D, and
     0x005F so that mrsas does not take	control	of these devices without user
     intervention.

     Solid-state drives	(SSD) get ATA TRIM support with	mrsas if underlying
     adapter allows it.	 This may require configuring SSD as Non-RAID drive
     rather then JBOD virtual mode.

HARDWARE
     The mrsas driver supports the following hardware:

     [ Thunderbolt 6Gb/s MR controller ]
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9265
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9266
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9267
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9270
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9272
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9285
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9286
     o	 DELL PERC H810
     o	 DELL PERC H710/P

     [ Invader/Fury 12Gb/s MR controller ]
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9380
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9361
     o	 LSI MegaRAID SAS 9341
     o	 DELL PERC H830
     o	 DELL PERC H730/P
     o	 DELL PERC H330

CONFIGURATION
     To	disable	Online Controller Reset(OCR) for a specific mrsas driver in-
     stance, set the following tunable value in	loader.conf(5):

	   dev.mrsas.X.disable_ocr=1

     where X is	the adapter number.

     To	change the I/O timeout value for a specific mrsas driver instance, set
     the following tunable value in loader.conf(5):

	   dev.mrsas.X.mrsas_io_timeout=NNNNNN

     where NNNNNN is the timeout value in milli-seconds.

     To	change the firmware fault check	timer value for	a specific mrsas
     driver instance, set the following	tunable	value in loader.conf(5):

	   dev.mrsas.X.mrsas_fw_fault_check_delay=NN

     where NN is the fault check delay value in	seconds.

     The current number	of active I/O commands is shown	in the
     dev.mrsas.X.fw_outstanding	sysctl(8) variable.

DEBUGGING
     To	enable debugging prints	from the mrsas driver, set the
     hw.mrsas.X.debug_level variable, where X is the adapter number, either in
     loader.conf(5) or via sysctl(8).  The following bits have the described
     effects:

	   0x01	   Enable informational	prints.

	   0x02	   Enable tracing prints.

	   0x04	   Enable prints for driver faults.

	   0x08	   Enable prints for OCR and I/O timeout.

	   0x10	   Enable prints for AEN events.

PRIORITY
     The mrsas driver will always set a	default	(-30) priority in the PCI sub-
     system for	selection of MR-Fusion cards.  (It is between
     BUS_PROBE_DEFAULT and BUS_PROBE_LOW_PRIORITY).  MR-Fusion Controllers in-
     clude all cards with the Device IDs - 0x005B, 0x005D, 0x005F.

     The mfi(4)	driver will set	a priority of either BUS_PROBE_DEFAULT or
     BUS_PROBE_LOW_PRIORITY (depending on the device.hints setting) in the PCI
     subsystem for selection of	MR-Fusion cards.  With the above design	in
     place, the	mfi(4) driver will attach to a MR-Fusion card given that it
     has a higher priority than	mrsas.

     Using /boot/device.hints (as mentioned below), the	user can provide a
     preference	for the	mrsas driver to	detect a MR-Fusion card	instead	of the
     mfi(4) driver.

	   hw.mfi.mrsas_enable="1"

     At	boot time, the mfi(4) driver will get priority to detect MR-Fusion
     controllers by default.  Before changing this default driver selection
     policy, LSI advises users to understand how the driver selection policy
     works.  LSI's policy is to	provide	priority to the	mfi(4) driver to de-
     tect MR-Fusion cards, but allow for the ability to	choose the mrsas
     driver to detect MR-Fusion	cards.

     LSI recommends setting hw.mfi.mrsas_enable="0" for	customers who are us-
     ing the older mfi(4) driver and do	not want to switch to mrsas.  For
     those customers who are using a MR-Fusion controller for the first	time,
     LSI recommends using the mrsas driver and setting hw.mfi.mrsas_en-
     able="1".

     Changing the default behavior is well tested under	most conditions, but
     unexpected	behavior may pop up if more complex and	unrealistic operations
     are executed by switching between the mfi(4) and mrsas drivers for	MR-Fu-
     sion.  Switching drivers is designed to happen only one time.  Although
     multiple switching	is possible, it	is not recommended.  The user should
     decide from Start of Day which driver they	want to	use for	the MR-Fusion
     card.

     The user may see different	device names when switching from mfi(4)	to
     mrsas.  This behavior is Functions	As Designed and	the user needs to
     change the	fstab(5) entry manually	if they	are doing any experiments with
     mfi(4) and	mrsas interoperability.

FILES
     /dev/da?	  array/logical	disk interface
     /dev/mrsas?  management interface

SEE ALSO
     cam(4), mfi(4), pci(4), device.hints(5), camcontrol(8)

HISTORY
     The mrsas driver first appeared in	FreeBSD	10.1.

     mfi Driver: mfi(4)	is the old FreeBSD driver which	started	with support
     for Gen-1 Controllers and was extended to support up to MR-Fusion (Device
     ID	= 0x005B, 0x005D, 0x005F).

     mrsas Driver: mrsas is the	new driver reworked by LSI which supports
     Thunderbolt and onward products.  The SAS+SATA RAID controller with de-
     vice id 0x005b is referred	to as the Thunderbolt controller throughout
     this man page.

     cam aware HBA drivers: FreeBSD has	a cam(4) layer which attaches storage
     devices and provides a common access mechanism to storage controllers and
     attached devices.	The mrsas driver is cam(4) aware and devices associ-
     ated with mrsas can be seen using camcontrol(8).  The mfi(4) driver does
     not understand the	cam(4) layer and it directly associates	storage	disks
     to	the block layer.

     Thunderbolt Controller: This is the 6Gb/s MegaRAID	HBA card which has de-
     vice id 0x005B.

     Invader Controller: This is 12Gb/s	MegaRAID HBA card which	has device id
     0x005D.

     Fury Controller: This is the 12Gb/s MegaRAID HBA card which has device id
     0x005F.

AUTHORS
     The mrsas driver and this manual page were	written	by Kashyap Desai
     <Kashyap.Desai@lsi.com>.

TODO
     The driver	does not support alias for device name (it is required when
     the user switches between two drivers and does not	want to	edit
     /etc/fstab	manually).

     The mrsas driver exposes devices as /dev/da?, whereas mfi(4) exposes de-
     vices as /dev/mfid?.

     mrsas does	not support the	Linux Emulator interface.

     mrsas will	not work with mfiutil(8).

FreeBSD	13.0		       February	4, 2021			  FreeBSD 13.0

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | HARDWARE | CONFIGURATION | DEBUGGING | PRIORITY | FILES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | AUTHORS | TODO

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