NetApp DE6600 disk shelf as regular JBOD?

[BLinux]

Does anyone know about the NetApp DE6600 disk shelf units? These are the units with 5 drawers that pull out and you can install 12 3.5" HDDs in each drawer. Can they be used as regular JBODs with an LSI SAS controller or do they only operate when connected to a NetApp head/controller unit?

 

[kapone]

They are rebranded Dell 3060e chassis'. I haven't used these, but I have used the Dells. At worst, you should be able to swap out the SAS modules with Dell ones, and then it can be used as a regular JBOD.

That said..these are not exactly quiet...

 

[cesmith9999]

Actually the dell 3060e is a rebrand netapp de6600. Netapp bought Engenio.

NetApp Completes Purchase of Engenio External Storage Systems Business from LSI Corporation | NetApp

Chris

 

[MiniKnight]

I like that design better than the top loaders. I'm always wary of NetApp though.

 

[BLinux]

ok. so this was a product built by "Engenio", that at one point was part of LSI? And then got bought by NetApp, but seems to be sold "re-branded" by a lot of places, including Dell? I've seen Symantec branded units too...

So, @kapone as far as you know, the "Dell branded" version of these might work with just any LSI SAS controller? MDVideosGirl says MD3060e is not compatible with older MD1200 series...

I've seen these with different controller units... older units have SFF-8088 connectors, while I've seen newer ones with SFF-8644. I wonder if the trays are just direct connect and the expander chipset is just in the EMM? If so, swapping of EMM might upgrade these from SAS2 to SAS3 perhaps? All speculation...

Wish someone knew more about these...

 

[kapone]

ok. so this was a product built by "Engenio", that at one point was part of LSI? And then got bought by NetApp, but seems to be sold "re-branded" by a lot of places, including Dell? I've seen Symantec branded units too...

So, @kapone as far as you know, the "Dell branded" version of these might work with just any LSI SAS controller? MDVideosGirl says MD3060e is not compatible with older MD1200 series...

I've seen these with different controller units... older units have SFF-8088 connectors, while I've seen newer ones with SFF-8644. I wonder if the trays are just direct connect and the expander chipset is just in the EMM? If so, swapping of EMM might upgrade these from SAS2 to SAS3 perhaps? All speculation...

Wish someone knew more about these...

The Dell versions work just fine with LSI controllers. I'm not sure where the MD1200 thing is coming from though...

Yes, the expanders are in the EMM modules (Most JBOD chassis like these are that way) and swapping the EMMs upgrades them from SAS2 to SAS3, but...the SAS3 EMMs by themselves are generally more than the chassis...

 

[BLinux]

The Dell versions work just fine with LSI controllers. I'm not sure where the MD1200 thing is coming from though...

Yes, the expanders are in the EMM modules (Most JBOD chassis like these are that way) and swapping the EMMs upgrades them from SAS2 to SAS3, but...the SAS3 EMMs by themselves are generally more than the chassis...

are you sure about this? i ask because I found a picture of the drawer internals:


if you look at the back of the drawer, there are two SFF-8087 connectors, which is only 4x SAS lanes, so I suspect the chipset under that silver heatsink is an expander, probably 4x SAS lanes to 12x HDDs, the dual connections providing dual paths to each SAS HDDs. i'm guessing there must be a flexible/retractable SAS cable connecting the trays to board that connects to the EMMs... Does the EMM serve as another expander in front of the 10x expanders from each of those 5 drawers? either way, if the expander on the drawer is SAS-2, upgrading EMM only to SAS-3 may not work.

i'm also seeing EMM units with SFP connections labeled iSCSI/FC. I wonder if some EMMs provide a NAS functionality instead of just a DAS/JBOD?

 

[kapone]

This is the side of the EMM that connects to the "internals" of the chassis. What does it tell you?

 

[BLinux]

This is the side of the EMM that connects to the "internals" of the chassis. What does it tell you?

Hmm.... just a guess.... i see:

1) the metal with the big round hole is probably an alignment guide, so the other side probably has a pin that goes into that to make sure the alignment is correct so the small pins in the beige connectors don't get bent.

2) the black connector with the wide pins is probably power?

3) the beige box connectors each have columns of 9 pins, with 6 columns in each box. i'll assume each of the sets of 3 boxes is for each side of the drawer's expander chipset/SFF-8087 connection. looking only at a single side, that's 9x6x3=162 pins. SFF-8087 connections have 36pins each, with 5 drawers, that would need 36x5=180 pins, so > 162 pins, and not enough at first glance. But of the 36 pins, 8 pins are for sideband signaling which is optional. If you take out sideband, you really only need 28 pins for the 4 SAS lanes of each 8087. If using 28 pins x 5 drawers = 140 pins which is < 162 pins, with 22 pins left over for other signalling purposes. those beige boxes have enough pins to send 4x SAS lanes to each of the 5 drawers on each side, with 22 pins left over for potentially other uses. So, definitely not enough pins to send individual SAS lanes to each of the 12x HDD on each drawer. conclusion is that there's definitely 2 expander chipsets on each drawer.

 

[BLinux]

found some photos of how the cables connect to each drawer:

 

[gregsachs]

Hmm.... just a guess.... i see:

1) the metal with the big round hole is probably an alignment guide, so the other side probably has a pin that goes into that to make sure the alignment is correct so the small pins in the beige connectors don't get bent.

2) the black connector with the wide pins is probably power?

3) the beige box connectors each have columns of 9 pins, with 6 columns in each box. i'll assume each of the sets of 3 boxes is for each side of the drawer's expander chipset/SFF-8087 connection. looking only at a single side, that's 9x6x3=162 pins. SFF-8087 connections have 36pins each, with 5 drawers, that would need 36x5=180 pins, so > 162 pins, and not enough at first glance. But of the 36 pins, 8 pins are for sideband signaling which is optional. If you take out sideband, you really only need 28 pins for the 4 SAS lanes of each 8087. If using 28 pins x 5 drawers = 140 pins which is < 162 pins, with 22 pins left over for other signalling purposes. those beige boxes have enough pins to send 4x SAS lanes to each of the 5 drawers on each side, with 22 pins left over for potentially other uses. So, definitely not enough pins to send individual SAS lanes to each of the 12x HDD on each drawer. conclusion is that there's definitely 2 expander chipsets on each drawer.

FWIW, I just pulled a Netapp IOM6 from the DS2246,
and it looks exactly like the above picture.

 

[NaCl]

Does anyone know about the NetApp DE6600 disk shelf units? These are the units with 5 drawers that pull out and you can install 12 3.5" HDDs in each drawer. Can they be used as regular JBODs with an LSI SAS controller or do they only operate when connected to a NetApp head/controller unit?

Pardon the exhumation of this thread here, but I have been searching for an answer to this as well. Can a stock DE6600 be hooked up w/its IOMs (sff8644/sff8088 ports) to a typical lsi/avago/broadcom 9305-16e (for instance) and the HBA will see all 60 disks in a fully populated shelf?

If new IOMs are required, any link to the an exemplar of the requisite model would be swell. Thanks!