Hi,
I would like to ask whether the (HPE MR216i-o Gen11 OCP SPDM, without cache) controller is recommended for this ZFS configuration, or if you would recommend a different controller from HPE instead.
the Server is HPE DL345 Gen11 8LFF.
I would appreciate your guidance.
Best regards,
Boaz
If I’m not mistaken, the HPE MR216i-o Gen11 is a MegaRAID-based RAID controller.
While it likely does provide a passthrough / JBOD mode, this is not a true IT (HBA) mode.
Because of this additional abstraction layer, ZFS does not get full, direct access to the physical drives, which can be problematic, especially for error handling, SMART data, drive timeouts, and proper fault management.
It may work in practice (until it doesn’t …), but this configuration is generally discouraged for ZFS/TrueNAS.
For best reliability, it is recommended to use a true HBA in IT mode and give ZFS full control over the disks.
