Need Help with Cisco C240 M4SX RAID Controller and Fan Issues!

[ServerNewbie]

I recently got my hands on a Cisco C240 M4SX with 24 drive bays. It’s equipped with a Cisco 12G SAS Modular RAID Controller, but I’ve run into an issue I can’t seem to solve.

From what I’ve read, using a non-Cisco PCIe adapter causes the system fans to stay in high-power mode. However, in my case, I am using a Cisco controller, so I’m unsure why the fans are still running at full speed.

I’ve searched everywhere, but it seems like no one has a clear solution. If you’ve dealt with this or have any advice, I’d love to hear:

• Debugging steps I can take?
• Any potential fixes or workarounds?
• Is reflashing the controller firmware worth trying?

I’m open to all suggestions—please share your expertise!

TL;DR: Cisco C240 M4SX fans stuck in high-power mode even with a Cisco 12G SAS Modular RAID Controller. Any advice on fixing this?

[fakebizprez]

This is concerning, I own three of these servers (and an M5). I just purchased one Cisco UCSC-SAS12GHBA for an M4 that I am using as a 24 SAS HDD TrueNas server. Every once in a while the machine would have issues finding the two-disk RAID1 array that I was using as a boot drive. My research led me to believe this is because JBOD mode does not suffice for TrueNas.

After receiving the card the HBA, at first glance I noticed the only difference between it and the original RAID card was the piece that connects to the cable which leads to the battery. The only other other difference I noticed was the different model number on the rear.

I installed the card. I turned the machine on, and it booted to TrueNas with no issue, but a few hours later one of the drives was throwing an error. I powered down the machine, I turned it back on and noticed the fans sounded louder and the machine did not audibly sound healthy. After logging in CIMC, I discovered the same error that the OP found regarding the fan changing to max speed regardless of how we want it set.

Is there any evidence that this is problem has been solved? I understand this product is EOL and this is not a security issue, so it probably never will be patched by the Cisco team. It is aggravating, though, because this is not third-party hardware. It is also unsustainable, as I went from averaging 150W use while using TrueNas, to averaging 336W while idling in the UEFI shell at the present moment.

[ServerNewbie]

Hi,
I have not had any issues so far. I am running proxmox though with ZFS. My
drives are working fine and I am actually booting off of the SD cards.

The HBA card with the battery is what I've had this whole time.

[fakebizprez]

I'm a bit confused now.
1. What is the model # of your card?

2. Are you still receiving the same error message regarding fan speed in CIMC?

I have attached actual photos of the UCSC-MRAID12G & the UCSC-SAS12HGBA for reference.

FWIW, Proxmox is much more forgiving on RAID cards in JBOD mode than TrueNas is. Regardless of OS, ZFS performance will be impacted negatively if there is a RAID card. I run Ceph exclusively, except for on a 4-NVMe Raspberry Pi NAS, and a GPU workstation that's running BTRFS. ZFS is great, it's stable, but it's rigidity is annoying.

[Elliot Dierksen]

I realize I am spouting the TrueNAS/FreeNAS party line here, but the UCSC-SAS12HGBA is what you want for something running ZFS. Just because Proxmox will let you do it with a RAID card in JBOD mode doesn't make it a good idea. Have I used a RAID card in JBOD mode? Yes, I have. It was only in a test system. It MIGHT be ok, but MIGHT isn't good enough with a NAS. The LSI HBA cards have literally millions of production hours on them. The RAID cards in JBOD mode do not, both on the RAID card firmware side and driver on the OS side. Everything could be fine until one day, it is NOT. YMMV, but that is not a risk I would take with data that isn't disposable or super easy to recreate.

[fakebizprez]

@Elliot Dierksen I think there is a misunderstanding here. I had the MRAID12 card, but I undersand that you need a true HBA card for TrueNas. I use the M4 as a TrueNas server in JBOD, so I decided it's time to get the UCSC-SAS12HGBA. I got two for each M4 I own. I have only installed one and now the fan will not come out of the highest setting, it's in override mode.

My power consumption has doubled. This isn't sustainable. I have found a couple other posts of people who have had this issue but there are no solutions. Every piece of firmware has been updated. I'm using Cisco parts. I'm running out of ideas.

[Elliot Dierksen]

I understand what you are saying. I still have one of my retired M4 FreeNAS systems buried somewhere, so let me see what I did with it. All these run in my home office, so the noise is non-trivial concern to me. It make take me a while to get to this.

[ServerNewbie]

Hey!

This is the exact model/card I bought

uscs mraid12g-1gb

Tbh I just don't know enough about ZFS or CEPH to be helpful.
But yeah this ended up removing my error.

Any specific reason for CEPH vs ZFS?

[fakebizprez]

Ohhh...so I am replacing USCS MRAID12G with USCS-SAS12GHBA. 

[ServerNewbie]

Hmm I don't want to lead you down the wrong path
This is the exact name of the ebay listing I bought from
"Cisco UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB 12Gb/s SAS RAID Controller 74-12862-02 card w/
Battery"

Since replacing the original card with this, the warning has been gone.

[fakebizprez]

I own that card and I did not have a warning with it. The problem is that's not an HBA card, that's a RAID card.

[Elliot Dierksen]

It looks like you have the controller and cables to be replaced correctly. Longer mini-sas cables are what you will need. I did not see a riser card for the PCIe cards you are talking about buying. You will need at least one of those if you don't already have that. I would suggest getting the riser card that is closest to the MRAID slots which I believe is riser 1. If you do need the longer mini-sas cables, try to get flat ones. There are several cable guides along the inside of the case where the cable run up to the ports on the SAS expander. You will have to fully remove the fan tray to route the cables properly. You may need different lengths as the ports on the SAS expander may be in different places. Take a LOT of detailed pictures before you start to take everything apart. That will be very helpful when you start putting it back together.

[Elliot Dierksen]

Also, download the maintenance and service manual if you haven't already. I forgot that there are only 2 SAS data cables going to the controller in the M4. That means you could use an LSI 8=9300-8i instead of the 16i. The 8i might be cheaper. The 16i will work, but you would have 2 unused ports.

[ServerNewbie]

I see, I have to do some research just to make sure I understood all of
that!

Are there any specific brands you recommend? I just don't want to end up in
a situation where I buy $100+ of hardware that is not returnable and then
the server rejects those as well.

Especially considering the Raid card in there by default is Cisco branded
and the server is still angry haha

[Elliot Dierksen]

I don't have a brand preference on cables. The Frankenstein thing with the NAS box is the only time I have needed that. I wouldn't touch anything but an LSI (now Broadcom, sigh) card. The 9300 series is the best bet for a SAS HBA that supports SAS 12G speeds.The LSI 9300 cards are what Cisco sells for an SAS HBA to support external drive shelves.

[ServerNewbie]

I spoke to some other people on reddit with the same server that were NOT having the same issue.

We checked and it looks like I have the UCSC-SAS12GHBA card while they have UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB
I might try to purchase that card and replace mine first.
That's a much cheaper purchase than the PCIe controllers

Thanks so much for the help so far, I'll keep you updated!