[OpenIndiana-discuss] paging any HP xw8600 users.. or knowledgeable others

[Alexander Lesle]

Hello Harry,

when you want to connect SATA drives it is recommend to use only
4 drives per SFF8087-SAS-connector and not more. When you use SAS
drives you can use up to 256 HDDs but you need the corresponding
hardware like backplane or/and expander.

I prefer this card and you have the possibility to connect 8 HDDs:
http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9211-8i.aspx
LSI 2008 SAS controller, 6Gb/s
the LSI1068 have 3Gb/s and is EOL.

http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9211-8i.aspx#tab/tab5
Here you can see what cables you need.
The red cables CBL-SFF8087OCF-XXM are only for SATA without a backplane.
Attention dont buy this one CBL-SFF8087OCR-XXM its a reverse cable
https://store.lsi.com/index.cfm/Clearance/Internal-Multi_Lane-Cables/CBL-SFF8087OCR-10M/
I had done this. :'(

or the equal from supermicro:
AOC-USAS2-L8i or AOC-USAS2-L8e
http://www.supermicro.com/products/nfo/storage_cards.cfm

The SM AOC-Card is cheaper and the only thing that is different to the
LSI card is the back bracket. You have to modify it to fix the card in
a non SM case.
140 Bucks to 300 Bucks. today price from newegg.com :) Thats a lot.

or the IBM Serveraid M1015
http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/ibm-serveraid-m1015-90y4556-a815389.html

All three have the LSI 2008 SAS controller inside.

In each case you have set the card to IT-Mode and all is fine.
9211-8i_Package_P19_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip

> Is the big brother of the above device more appropriate?

> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsJyfBRC729Oy5Pf26ekBEiQAYtd9QSnU5Y0ObEPMFYeXsJhx8rT4KCwHypodSscs5OAWwqcaAjN78P8HAQ&Item=N82E16816118133&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Controllers+%2f+RAID+Cards-_-N82E16816118133&ef_id=U9g1pQAABU0QZGhN:20140810220043:s

This card have 4 internal SATA Ports and one SFF-8088 multi-lane
connector to a SAS drive enclosure.

Hope it helps.

On August, 11 2014, 12:25 <Harry Putnam> wrote in [1]:

> Re-iterating the basic hardware involved:
> HP xw8600 with 2x CPU 5470 3.33Ghz and 32 GB of RAM

> Is this the kind of thing folks are thinking of when suggesting a SAS
> card:

> (not sure what mail encoding might do, but this should be all one line)

> http://www.serversdirect.com/Components/RAID__HBAs/id-DC7125/LSI_SAS_HBA_9211-4i?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsJyfBRC729Oy5Pf26ekBEiQAYtd9QR6E11DYPDk3igwN6YRQhEptdXPnYXPOGVopqtjurmMaAnCq8P8HAQ

> Can anyone offer a clue what the marketers of this device might be
> talking about under Marketing Information:

>    The LSI SAS 9211-4i host bus adapter provides the greatest
>    available throughput to internal server storage arrays through four
>    internal 6Gb/s ports, driving up to 256 SAS and SATA physical
>    devices. This HBA offers dynamic SAS functionality including
>    dual-port drive redundancy and SATA compatibility. Utilizing one
>    internal x4 SFF8087 Mini-SAS connector, the low-profile SAS 9211-4i
>    is an excellent fit for 1U and 2U servers.

> I'm pretty confused about the write up... 

> The bit about "driving up to 256 SAS and SATA physical devices", in
> particular

> Am I right in thinking this would add 4 internal SAS/SATA ports? Or
> is this something else entirely?
> -------       -------       ---=---       -------       ------- 

> Is the big brother of the above device more appropriate?  

> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjwsJyfBRC729Oy5Pf26ekBEiQAYtd9QSnU5Y0ObEPMFYeXsJhx8rT4KCwHypodSscs5OAWwqcaAjN78P8HAQ&Item=N82E16816118133&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Controllers+%2f+RAID+Cards-_-N82E16816118133&ef_id=U9g1pQAABU0QZGhN:20140810220043:s

> Or am I missing the ball altogether?
-- 
Best Regards
Alexander
August, 12 2014
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[1] mid:x4lhqvjpbv.fsf at newsguy.com
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