I've got the above mentioned server in a particularly strange configuration right now. This is the 12×3.5" drive configuration model of the 180. From the backplane, the drives go into an HP Smart Array controller.
Problem: I'm not interested in the hardware RAID provided by this controller. I just want the drives to be passed through, raw, to the operating system for me to manage there.
This doesn't appear to be possible, from looking at some other questions. There's no JBOD mode on these controllers, and the workaround of just setting each individual volume to a single logical raid0 works, but means downtime for failures as the drives can't be swapped online.
So there are no doubt a boatload of SATA HBA's out there. I don't dare ask for recommendations at the risk of getting this question closed (but if the answer to this question is affirmative, feel free to throw a model number or two at me..), rather, I'm a bit more interested in if the backplane and system board support arbitrary HBAs. Can I plug any random SATA HBA in and have it work with this machine, or is there some special HP sauce that limits me to a tiny handful of first party controllers. Do these even exist?
Best Answer
There may be more to the design of the solution you're trying to build. But for your use case, if you are trying to use a software-defined-storage solution like ZFS or a software RAID setup, buy a simple SAS HBA.
The LSI 9211-8i will work well for this server chassis.