HP SAS Expander Wiki

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Rudde

Member
Mar 10, 2011
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0
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Hello, I'm loking for a cheap SAS 2.0 controller for this expander with dual-link support, I'm planning to run FreeBSD on the server and I was wondering if LSI 9211-8i is a good choice?
 

Rudde

Member
Mar 10, 2011
49
0
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I heard someone have problems locating 8 drives in FreeBSD, they only get 7 to work and its nothing physically wrong with the HBA and it shows up every other place then FreeBSD, do I have more then one source on this or can anyone confirm no problems with this card as a HBA?

I see LSI SAS3081E-R is listed, but is it checked for dual link support? Do anyone know if it has dual link support?
 
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odditory

Moderator
Dec 23, 2010
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If FreeBSD has problems then its FreeBSD's problem, I know enough people running a SAS2008 card on very latest FreeBSD without issues.

No, the SAS3081E-R doesn't support dual linking. It is a SAS-1 card. Honestly, most people that I see getting hung up on dual linking don't have enough drives nor a usage scenario where it would make a difference. However, AFAIK the SAS3081E-R is solid for FreeBSD.
 
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Rudde

Member
Mar 10, 2011
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Well, don't really care about the speed at home, but I know I will push the server to 500 MB/s longterm load and ofc ~1 GB/s would be nice, will a single link card even support that much?
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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A single link is 12.0gbps using SATA 2/ SAS 1 (4x 3.0gbps) so you can get your ~1GB/s out of it. That is why odditory suggests that you need a lot of hardware to push past a single link.
 

zicoz

Member
Jan 7, 2011
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Currently looking for ways to connect my harddrives to my motherboard, and want to understand this SAS expander thing before I buy it. So let's see if I understand this correctly:

First: Connecting 20 2TB drives to this will make 20 2TB drives show up in the OS right? I won't get 1 40GB drive? The reason I ask is the JBOD comment in the OP, I always think of alot of drives bundeled into one "pool" when I think of JBOD.

I have a Norco 4220 with a SuperMicro X8ST3-F motherboard.

- The Norco has room for 20 drives.
- The X8ST3-F has an onboard LSI 1068e chip with 8 ports

If I wanted to only have one chassis I guess I needed to do the following:

I don't know if the LSI 1068e supports the Link Aggregation, so depending on that I'd have to use either 1 or 2 cables from that to the SAS expander.




(small edit on that the 2nd external cable is supposed to be connected to the green HP card, not the pink HBA card)

Correct?

And if I want to have two chassis it would look like this:



Correct?

At this time I'd have 40 drives connected to 4 or 8 ports on the motherboard (depending on if the LSI 1068 can handle Link aggregation). Is that smart?

And what if I want to have 3 chassis? Would I install an HBA/RAID card and a 2nd expander like this?



Correct?

If the LSI 1068e does not support Link Aggregation I'd get a HBA/RAID card that does, and then connect that to the HP expander is connected to 40 drives, that I'd have 4 SATA ports per 20 drive.


Am I better off using one of the INTEL cards in my external chassis?
 
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madburg

New Member
Apr 29, 2011
3
0
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Need some help/direction.

SuperMicro X8SI6-F rev1.02 (onBoard SAS2008) flashed to lastest FW 9.00.00.00-IT (2/18/2011, config utility v7.17.00.00)
HP SAS expander firmware 2.08 (Latest)
HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
Norco 4224 Chassis

First I connect one port from the onboard SAS2008 to one Norco Backplane, in the LSI Bios config utility it shows Negotiated Link Speed(Gbps) = 6.0

Then I connected one port from the onboard SAS2008 to Port #8 on the HP SAS Expander (single-link), then Port #2 from the expander to one Norco backplane; same Hitachi drive. In the LSI Bios config utility it shows Negotiated Link Speed(Gbps) = 1.5

Proceeded to connect the second port from the onboard SAS2008 to Port #9 on the HP SAS Expander (dual-link), then still Port #2 from the expander to one Norco backplane; same Hitachi drive. In the LSI Bios config utility it still showed Negotiated Link Speed(Gbps) = 1.5

I know it should be Negotiated Link Speed(Gbps) = 3.0 per the forums for SATA throught the HP SAS Expander? My understanding is a few people used this board and HP expander and test well.

Also is there a setting in the SAS2008 that can get it to stop looking for SAS Enclosures, getting errors on that.
 
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BigXor

Active Member
May 6, 2011
282
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Pennsylvania, USA
bigxor.com
I can confirm that the Adaptec 5445 with firmware 5.2-0 (18252) works with expander firmware 2.08 single or dual link (1 ext and 1 int link) with Hitachi 5K3000 2tb drives. I have been using this raid 6 movie server setup for months now without a single hiccup.

I never tried any newer firmware rev's as I believe that "If it works, Don't fix it".

I'm not an expert, so asking me questions would be an exercise in futility.

Oh, Running Win XP x64 on a MSI 880FXA-GD70 (MS-7640) MB






I replaced the stock heatsink on the controller to a large copper northbridge heatsink with a fan in it. It keeps the temp around 48 deg C at 26 deg C ambient.
 
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Kristian

Active Member
Jun 1, 2013
347
84
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Is there anybody who can do a firmware uprgrade in germany (or surrounding european states)?

My HP SAS expander has a negotiated link speed of 3 Gbps and I would like to see that solved, because my Samsung 840 pro SSDs are running with 250 MB/s when attached to the HP SAS expander.
When directly attached to my LSI 9211 8i they are running at 430 MB/s and negotiated link speed of 6 Gbps.

A firmware upgrade should fix this right?

Btw: Is there any tool out there that can "check" the firmware version?
Is it still true, that you can only update the firmware, when having a HP branded HBA?

Thank you very much in advance

Kris

Edit: First Page answered why there is just 3 Gbps negotiated link speed.
 
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Dajinn

Active Member
Jun 2, 2015
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What's the deal with this only negotiating SATA disks at SATA2? Is there a work around for this or alternative expander that can be purchased which isn't buggy like that?
 

xnoodle

Active Member
Jan 4, 2011
258
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28
What's the deal with this only negotiating SATA disks at SATA2? Is there a work around for this or alternative expander that can be purchased which isn't buggy like that?
No workaround. It'll do SAS at 6G though. I believe expanders with LSI SAS2X(24/28/36) chips will support SATA3/6G.
 

ljvb

Member
Nov 8, 2015
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Before starting a new thread, I'll see if anyone here can help...

I picked up a DL180 G6 with the 25 sff chassis and associated expander. I'm running 2 m1015's (std LSI firmware flashed) and 2 h310's (the latter flashed to Dells hba firmware for the model).

For some reason, not sure why, I am unable to select the boot drive on the expander. In the LSI config menu, it shoes the expander, but not any of the 25 drives connected to it. I can however install to, and any OS sees the attached drives.... What I cannot do is select a boot drive on the expander.

Any ideas..
 

MiniKnight

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2012
3,072
973
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NYC
Holy thread necro. 2011 thread!

Can you see the drive in BIOS @ljvb ? Select it there. Usually when you have a HBA it is selectable in BIOS as a boot device.
 

ljvb

Member
Nov 8, 2015
97
32
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Lol, hey, I said I wanted to check here before starting a new thread.. new here, not sure how serious the mods are about possible duplicate threads (I did search).

Problem is, the DL180, the drives do not appear in the BIOS at all, you have an option for boot controller order, but the disks themselves have to be selected in the controller bios.

And I'll just go ahead and do this to myself :)


Holy thread necro. 2011 thread!

Can you see the drive in BIOS @ljvb ? Select it there. Usually when you have a HBA it is selectable in BIOS as a boot device.