Ibm m1015 or SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

What is preferred? Running latest rc..

I'd vote m1015, it's supported better by other software like ESX and I believe it's got more bandwidth.

So, I just went through a halcious amount of time with MV8 vs. M1015.  I have two working MV8s and was having a very hard time adding a third.  I finally added a M1015 instead.  I have no idea why I balked at using the M1015 out of the gate - flashing it is inconvenient.

But, I can tell you that I have two MV8s and 1 M1015 and at least in my setup (x9scm-f-o, esxi, unraid as virtual machine) the M1015 is faster.  I get consistent 120 m/sec vs. 65-80 m/sec out of the MV8s.  If I had it to do over again I would have gone M1015 + SaS Expander. 

I'm trying to make the same decision myself. I had all but settled on the MV8 after reading of so many people using it successfully on here, and it being mentioned in the unRAID Hardware wiki.

Recently I have been reading into ESXi, where I see lots of people are using the M1015.  Though I notice this card is not mentioned in the wiki.

As I'm yet to complete my first unRAID build, please forgive me for what may be a stupid question... will a M1015 + SAS Expander work with unRAID, outside of an ESXi environment?

EDIT: Just want to be sure before I part with any cash!!

I'm trying to make the same decision myself. I had all but settled on the MV8 after reading of so many people using it successfully on here, and it being mentioned in the unRAID Hardware wiki.

Recently I have been reading into ESXi, where I see lots of people are using the M1015.  Though I notice this card is not mentioned in the wiki.

As I'm yet to complete my first unRAID build, please forgive me for what may be a stupid question... will a M1015 + SAS Expander work with unRAID, when it isn't being run from an ESXi VM?

What is ESXi? 

ESXi is virtualization software made by VMware.

It's being used by a fair few members of the forum to host multiple instances of server operating systems on a single physical server.

Eg. You can have a Windows Home Server, unRAID & Ubuntu Server all running simultaneously, on the same hardware. Except they are not aware of the presence of one another as they each run in what is called a VM (Virtual Machine).

I'm just not sure if passing the M1015 and an expander through ESXi to unRAID, is presenting it in a different manner to if it were done without the ESXi layer.

Hoping someone out there is using an M1015 + expander without ESXi and can confirm one way or the other. As I'm no unRAID expert, and even less of an ESXi expert!! Have some a few forum searches but not found anyone who uses this setup.

Hope that demystifies my post somewhat!!

Also apologies for asking a slightly off topic question in your thread, it just looked the best place to ask, especially as the other two replies above mentioned ESXi in relation to this card!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

ESXi is virtualization software made by VMware.

 

It's being used by a fair few members of the forum to host multiple instances of server operating systems on a single physical server.

 

Eg. You can have a Windows Home Server, unRAID & Ubuntu Server all running simultaneously, on the same hardware. Except they are not aware of the presence of one another as they each run in what is called a VM (Virtual Machine).

Why would you want to run 3 different server software at the same time?

Save electricity + hardware costs - instead of running three physical servers for each O/S, you just run one!

I love the idea personally, but think I'd be going a bit out of my depth trying to learn that and unRAID at the same time

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

Save electricity + hardware costs - instead of running three physical servers for each O/S, you just run one!

 

I love the idea personally, but think I'd be going a bit out of my depth trying to learn that and unRAID at the same time

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah but why do you need servers for each O/S, what point is there?

Sorry, I misread your question there!

You could want to use the servers I  mentioned in my above example for these purposes:

unRAID - Media/Document Storage

WHS - Manage PC Backups

Ubuntu Server - Run Plex & TVHeadend.

Some people also prefer to separate the software used in unRAID plugins onto separate servers so they can run more recent versions of the software and/or avoid having a situation where their unRAID array will not start due to a problem with a plugin.

Hope that makes sense!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

Nice now i understand !

Just in case anyone else is interested, I got an answer to my question in an ESXi related thread.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.msg209973.msg#209973

Since a M1015 + expander will work without ESXi, my vote in relation to the OP's question also goes to M1015. Definitely gives more options for further expansion in the future over the MV8.

Will be getting one myself

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks, jack0w! I was also interested in this question.

No problem!

There is one caveat to my previous statement, you will need to be running a 5.x release of unRAID, as 4.7 has no drivers for the M1015.

Once again, I cannot take credit for this - was mentioned in the ESXi related thread.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.msg210010#msg210010

Hoping someone out there is using an M1015 + expander without ESXi and can confirm one way or the other. As I'm no unRAID expert, and even less of an ESXi expert!! Have some a few forum searches but not found anyone who uses this setup.

I am using an M1015, flashed with the V14 firmware for an LSI9210-8I in IT mode. IT mode is necessary--it removes the software-RAID that is built into the IR versions of this firmware.

It requires a late versiono of UnRAID. I'm not sure exactly which of the betas or release candidates incorporated it, but 5.0-rc8a provides the necessary driver for the LSI controller. 4.7 does not.

Rick "who crossed this bridge last week" Denney

Rick "who crossed this bridge last week" Denney

lol 

Thanks for the additional info and reassurance!

I am running ESXi with two MV8 and 1 M1015, but no expander.  I have 18 drives in UnRaid and then four others for ESXi datastores and OS pass-through drives.  I have Win7, Ubuntuu, MineOS, and UnRaid running 24x7 on this ESXi box.

I've got Raid Controller LC3124i Rev 6.0 and need to upgrade to a 8 port but can't decide on Controller LCS3X8E Rev 2.0 or the IBM one.

http://www.leaf-computer.de/#ec34pe