Looking for SuperMicro backplane BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8

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SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
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Anyone using the BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8 backplane?

I have not been able to find anyone who sells the backplane and every reseller I have reached out to has never seen the backplane or chassis it belongs to.


The manual is here: https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8.pdf

Systems that ship with this backplane:
SuperServer 8049U-E1CR4T 8049U-E1CR4T | 4U | SuperServers | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.
SuperServer 6049GP-TRT 6049GP-TRT | 4U | SuperServer | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.
 

BeTeP

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
653
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Nevermind. You are looking for the hybrid backplane with NVME support. Good luck.
 
Last edited:

JustinTeim

New Member
Jun 25, 2019
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I have not been able to find anyone who sells the backplane and every reseller I have reached out to has never seen the backplane or chassis it belongs to.
Any authorized reseller (i.e. who buys directly from Supermicro) can order a replacement part.

If you contact Supermicro directly, by e-mail or telephone, the sales dept or tech support should be able to help you:

Contact Us | Supermicro
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
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Any authorized reseller (i.e. who buys directly from Supermicro) can order a replacement part.

If you contact Supermicro directly, by e-mail or telephone, the sales dept or tech support should be able to help you:

Contact Us | Supermicro
I had reached out to two resellers and they both said they did not have that part. I heard back from Wired Zone that they do not stock that part but they were able to confirm that SuperMicro has stock. Just waiting to hear back on pricing.
 

azev

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2013
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please let us know when you find out pricing for this backplane.
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
152
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please let us know when you find out pricing for this backplane.
SuperMicro responded that they will not sell the part separately. I will update when I hear back from WiredZone. I am going to reach out to every SuperMicro vendor I can find. Maybe someone keeps a small parts depot.
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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Supermicro pretty much won't sell any NVMe related parts on their own (HBAs and cables aside), therefore you won't be able to get them from any distributor either. For the most part, they're only sold in fully assembled servers and you can't even buy the barebone on its own. Likely, your only chance of finding it will be if some reseller decides to part out one of these systems, but given how new/uncommon they are, I wouldn't expect to be able to find one anytime soon.
 

amalurk

Active Member
Dec 16, 2016
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Supermicro pretty much won't sell any NVMe related parts on their own (HBAs and cables aside), therefore you won't be able to get them from any distributor either. For the most part, they're only sold in fully assembled servers and you can't even buy the barebone on its own. Likely, your only chance of finding it will be if some reseller decides to part out one of these systems, but given how new/uncommon they are, I wouldn't expect to be able to find one anytime soon.
Why? Is there a parts shortage here so it makes sense to maximize profit by reserving for expensive full systems? Or just corporate idiocy?
 
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BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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Why? Is there a parts shortage here so it makes sense to maximize profit by reserving for expensive full systems? Or just corporate idiocy?
It's not idiocy at all. Supermicro, like any company, is doing everything it can to maximize profits. The enthusiast community is not who they cater to and they have little to gain by selling proprietary parts like that. You may not like their choice, but it's not really any different from other OEMs. They have full discretion to dictate how their hardware is sold on the primary market.
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
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Supermicro pretty much won't sell any NVMe related parts on their own (HBAs and cables aside), therefore you won't be able to get them from any distributor either. For the most part, they're only sold in fully assembled servers and you can't even buy the barebone on its own. Likely, your only chance of finding it will be if some reseller decides to part out one of these systems, but given how new/uncommon they are, I wouldn't expect to be able to find one anytime soon.
This is a real bummer. I wanted to do some proof of concept work for school.
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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This is a real bummer. I wanted to do some proof of concept work for school.
I've seen some of the 2U 12 port backplanes with 4 NVMe ports on eBay if you can make due with that.
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
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I've seen some of the 2U 12 port backplanes with 4 NVMe ports on eBay if you can make due with that.
Not currently. I have four SC846 chassis using SAS2-EL1, SAS3-EL1, and a SAS3-EL2. The only concept I could not build utilizes NVMe.

I do have a SC216 using a SAS2-EL1 and a CSE-417 with a SAS3-EL1 backplane. I could repurpose one bank of 24 in the 417. I would need to think through adjusting for different motherboards and processors.
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
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If anyone wants to order this part it is $639 + shipping in the US. I will DM you the vendor name in case they are not allowed to sell individually.
 

ipreferpie

Member
May 27, 2018
51
1
8
So thanks to SRussell’s help, I got a BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8. But I’ve encountered a problem where my NVME drives aren’t detected. Here are my specs:

MB: Supermicro X11DPH-T BIOS v2.1
CPU: dual Xeon 8176 ES2 QL1F
RAM: 256GB 2666 DDR4 ECC
Chassis: Supermicro SC846TQ
HBA: Supermicro AOC-SLG3-8E2P 8-port Oculink
Oculink cables: all Supermicro
NVMe drive: Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB
OS: ESXi 6.7u3 host

I’ve been running the setup for 3 years but added the HBA and back plane. The problem is that ESXi won’t detect the Optane attached to the BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8. I have another Optane 905P M.2 380GB has been running w/o problems. My guess is that it may be something related to the jumper settings on the back plane. The AOC-SLG3-8E2P is plugged into a PCIe x16 slot tied to CPU2. In the jumper settings, it says by default the NVMe drives would be tied to CPU1. If I switch around the jumpers, I can have 7 slots tied to CPU2 and 1 tied to CPU1. Haven’t tried it yet, but does anyone have any suggestions or tips to get it working. Supermicro tech support wasn’t helpful at all due to the unsupported configuration. Much appreciated!
 

cadamwil

Member
Jan 16, 2014
52
9
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44
Nashville, TN
So thanks to SRussell’s help, I got a BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8. But I’ve encountered a problem where my NVME drives aren’t detected. Here are my specs:

MB: Supermicro X11DPH-T BIOS v2.1
CPU: dual Xeon 8176 ES2 QL1F
RAM: 256GB 2666 DDR4 ECC
Chassis: Supermicro SC846TQ
HBA: Supermicro AOC-SLG3-8E2P 8-port Oculink
Oculink cables: all Supermicro
NVMe drive: Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB
OS: ESXi 6.7u3 host

I’ve been running the setup for 3 years but added the HBA and back plane. The problem is that ESXi won’t detect the Optane attached to the BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8. I have another Optane 905P M.2 380GB has been running w/o problems. My guess is that it may be something related to the jumper settings on the back plane. The AOC-SLG3-8E2P is plugged into a PCIe x16 slot tied to CPU2. In the jumper settings, it says by default the NVMe drives would be tied to CPU1. If I switch around the jumpers, I can have 7 slots tied to CPU2 and 1 tied to CPU1. Haven’t tried it yet, but does anyone have any suggestions or tips to get it working. Supermicro tech support wasn’t helpful at all due to the unsupported configuration. Much appreciated!
@ipreferpie
I realize I'm replying to a 4 month old post, but did you get it to work? Looking into a similar setup. Also, did you take any pics for the Backplane before install?
 

Eta_Carinae

New Member
Feb 24, 2020
12
2
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40
Perth, Western Australia
I'm also looking to utilize 4*intel 905p u.2 by replacing my Supermicro BPN-SAS3-826EL1 with a SuperMicro BPN-SAS3 826EL1-N4 and wondering if OP ever got them to work with supermicro's nvme HBAs.
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,234
794
113
Denver, Colorado
I'm also looking to utilize 4*intel 905p u.2 by replacing my Supermicro BPN-SAS3-826EL1 with a SuperMicro BPN-SAS3 826EL1-N4 and wondering if OP ever got them to work with supermicro's nvme HBAs.
Obviously these are not the HBA's you are looking for but I will throw this out there in case it lends a clue or something.

I had a heck of a time getting the BPN-SAS3-826-EL1-N4 to behave using qty 2 dual pcie x8 bifurcated to u.2 adapters on an X10SRL-F. Ultimately I removed both CPU nvme jumpers and my issues went away. It was a guess on my part and it may or may NOT have been the root cause of my issues but everything seems to be working reliably now.

In my reading there is a control cable from the SM HBA to the motherboard that I suspect has to do with hotswap control of the NVME's (and therefore the jumpers) the X10SRL-F does not have that header so my guess was to simply removing the jumpers and see what happened. If I was correct on that cable's purpoase then obs I'm giving up nvme hotswap. then again the u.2 adapters were quite inexpensive as was the X10SRL-F
 

haregh19

New Member
Jun 20, 2020
27
8
3
I am also interested in the BPN-SAS3-846EL1-N8.
Does anyone know a vendor who sells this and the price ?
Kindly let me know here or PM !

Thanks!