NASdisks

How to crossflash any LSI SAS HBA to IT mode

Flash a cheap RAID-mode SAS card to plain IT firmware for ZFS and TrueNAS: identify your chipset (SAS2008 / 2308 / 3008), pick the right tool and firmware, and follow the per-card steps for the M1015, H310, H200, H220, N2215 and H330.

The cheapest route to a real HBA is a used RAID-branded card flashed to IT firmware. A $15 IBM M1015 becomes a $60 LSI 9211-8i. A Dell H330 becomes an HBA330. The catch is that "how to flash it" depends entirely on which chip is under the heatsink, and most guides only cover one card. This one covers all of them.

Identify your chipset first

The chipset decides the tool and the firmware. Get this wrong and you either brick the card or waste an evening. Three chips cover almost every crossflashable card:

  • SAS2008 - flashed with sas2flash, target firmware P20 20.00.07.00. Cards: IBM M1015, Dell H310, Dell H200, IR-mode 9211s.
  • SAS2308 - also sas2flash, target P20 (the 9207-8i image). Cards: HP H220, LSI 9217-8i.
  • SAS3008 - a different tool, sas3flash, target P16 16.00.12.00. Cards: Dell H330, Lenovo N2215.

Read the chip label on the card, or check the card model against the IT-mode HBA reference, which lists the chipset and IT target for each one.

The firmware and tool table

Card Chipset Tool IT firmware Becomes
IBM M1015 SAS2008 sas2flash P20 20.00.07.00 LSI 9211-8i IT
Dell H310 SAS2008 sas2flash P20 20.00.07.00 LSI 9211-8i IT
Dell H200 SAS2008 sas2flash P20 20.00.07.00 LSI 9211-8i IT
HP H220 SAS2308 sas2flash P20 (9207-8i) LSI 9207-8i IT
LSI 9217-8i SAS2308 sas2flash P20 (9207-8i) LSI 9207-8i IT
Dell H330 SAS3008 sas3flash P16 16.00.12.00 HBA330 / 9300-8i IT
Lenovo N2215 SAS3008 sas3flash P16 16.00.12.00 LSI 9300-8i IT

One firmware note that matters: on SAS2008, use 20.00.07.00, not the earliest P20 builds (20.00.00.00), which shipped with drive-visibility and hot-plug bugs. 20.00.07.00 has been the boring, reliable target for years.

The universal procedure

Every crossflash is the same four moves, whatever the card:

  1. Boot a flashing environment - either FreeDOS or the UEFI EFI shell, on a plain desktop board (not the server, and not always the board you'll run the card in).
  2. Wipe the RAID identity. MegaRAID-based cards (M1015, H330) won't let the flasher touch them until you clear the onboard config with megarec - megarec -writesbr then megarec -cleanflash. Skip this on a card that needs it and sas2flash/sas3flash simply refuses.
  3. Erase and flash the IT image. sas2flash -o -e 6 (or sas3flash for SAS3) to erase, then flash the .bin IT firmware, optionally with the matching BIOS .rom if you need to boot from the card.
  4. Write a SAS address. Note the card's SAS address before you erase. If you lose it, set a unique one (-sasadd), but never leave it all-zeros or all-Fs - duplicate addresses make drives drop out at random.

Per-card notes

  • IBM M1015 - the classic. megarec SBR wipe first (this is the step everyone forgets), then sas2flash -o -f 2118it.bin. Flashes to a plain 9211-8i.
  • Dell H310 - same SAS2008 chip. Some boards need the -o override because Dell tags the card's vendor ID; a stubborn few need a non-Dell motherboard to flash from at all.
  • Dell H200 - ships Dell A10 firmware (equivalent to LSI P07). Erase and flash to 9211-8i IT the same way.
  • HP H220 - this is a 9205-8i (SAS2308), electrically the same as a 9207-8i. Flash to 9207-8i IT via the EFI shell; the HP card sometimes needs the override flag too.
  • Dell H330 - a MegaRAID SAS3008. Clear it with the correct megarec version, then sas3flash the HBA330 or 9300-8i IT firmware. This one is the most involved of the common cards.
  • Lenovo N2215 - a SAS3008 that ships in IR. Straightforward sas3flash to 9300-8i IT.

The gotchas that brick cards

  • UEFI vs DOS. sas2flash behaves differently under the UEFI shell than under DOS. If the erase succeeds but the flash fails, the card is in a half-flashed state - reflash from the same environment before you reboot, or it may not enumerate.
  • The flashing board. Some server boards won't enumerate the card mid-flash, or lock it behind the OEM BIOS. Flash from a basic desktop board in a plain x8 slot, then move the card to the NAS.
  • Heat during long sessions. Same as running them: these cards want airflow. A hot card mid-flash throws errors that look like a bad image.

Cards you should not try to flash

Not every RAID card converts, and forcing the wrong firmware can leave one unresponsive:

  • Dell H730 / H730P (SAS3108) and HP Smart Array P420 (PMC, not LSI) are hardware RAID controllers with no clean IT-mode path. Don't buy them for ZFS. Buy a real HBA.
  • Dell H710 (SAS2208) can be converted, but only through an involved, board-specific process, and it will not take plain 9211-8i firmware. It's not a beginner card - if you're starting out, spend the extra few dollars on a 9211/M1015 or an HBA330 instead.

If any of this sounds like more project than you want, don't crossflash at all: a Dell HBA330 ships in IT mode from the factory. Otherwise, pick your card from the HBA reference, and the buying guide explains which chipset you actually need before you go shopping.