Best Storage Controller for BPN-SAS-216A

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Baxtmann

New Member
Aug 27, 2019
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Hi, I have just got a SuperChassis 216A-R900LPB, with the BPN-SAS-216A backplane, and I need to get a storage controller for said chassis & backplane. I am looking for suggestions for raid cards, never had to get a raid card for a server, so Idk what exactly to get.
The chassis is 24 bay, but right now I will only have 12 drives in it, so I only need a 12 port storage controller at the moment. So,essentially I need a 3 or 4 port card for the 4 sas cables to plug into. I'm looking for something less than 200$ CAD (so pretty much 150$ USD). If anyone knows of good & cheap cards, I'd appreciate the help. If you need anymore info, just lmk.
Cheers.
 

nthu9280

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2016
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San Antonio, TX
Are you looking for SW raid (likes of ZFS, unraid etc) or HW raid with cache and BBU?

Since you have 216A, assuming you will be using SSDs in the mix.

SW Raid: LSI SAS3008 based cards.
 

BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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My suggestion would depend on what type of storage devices you plan to use? HDD or SSD? SATA-3, or SAS-2, or SAS-3? What kind of system board? Will it be an older PCIe 2.0? Or PCIe 3.0?

One of the benefits of the "A" backplane is that it will work with SAS-3.
 

Baxtmann

New Member
Aug 27, 2019
3
0
1
My suggestion would depend on what type of storage devices you plan to use? HDD or SSD? SATA-3, or SAS-2, or SAS-3? What kind of system board? Will it be an older PCIe 2.0? Or PCIe 3.0?

One of the benefits of the "A" backplane is that it will work with SAS-3.
I'm planning on using hdd's. That are SATA-3. System board is Supermicro X8DAH+-F Which is only PCIe 2.0
Also, I only need software raid (dont need the extra performance of hardware raid). Will be running win10 straight on top of the box, no virtulization.
If you need anymore info, just lmk

EDIT: Also, just want to add, that the backplane cables are the full size sas cables, and not the mini ones, and I can't seem to find any cards that have full SAS connectors on them.
 
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BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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Since you're using SATA-III HDDs and limited to PCIe 2.0 on the motherboard, your best choice is probably a dual port SAS2008 based HBA card. Something like the 9201-8i/9211-8i or a crossflashed Dell H310. Since you have 6x SFF-8087 ports on the backplane, to fully control the backplane you'll need 3x dual port HBAs, but you can start with just 2 if you're not using all 2.5" slots.