The worst is OEMed white box stuff
We bought a couple of HP JBOD-HBAs - they are rebranded LSI 9207i models.
I would need a newer revision of the firmware - which is available from LSI, but not for OEMed cards.
HP doesn't care (obviously).
I should have bought the original 9207 cards right from the beginning...
At a previous (very previous) job, we had a ADIC tape library OEMed by Siemens.
At some point, while on the phone and confirming with an ADIC engineer, a firmware-update was installed, which instantly bricked the unit.
ADIC replaced it under warranty, luckily. I just wonder who had to eat the costs ;-)
With OEMed stuff, you generally get less and pay more. The OEMs - to paraphrase Scott McNealy - add about the same amount of value to a product as someone reselling bananas: just additional bruises.
As for those cards - I've now bought an original card (as a spare) and will try to flash the HP OEM card with the original LSI firmware, turning it into an LSI-card. A procedure for this is available somewhere on the FreeNAS forums.
If it fails, I'll use the original card. If it works, we can still decide if we buy 1500 bucks worth of LSI cards to replace the HP cards or just re-flash the HP cards.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
