9300-8i doesn't detect 4K drives?

[spuggy]

Hi guys,

First-time poster; please do let me know if this belongs somewhere else.

I recently bought some HGST HUH728080AL4200 (8T helium family) drives, native 4K SAS.

I bought HP 398291-001 SAS interposers because they're nice/low-profile - and don't require Molex power connectors (my Dell has plenty of SATA ones).

LSI 9200 card didn't see the drives at boot - as in nothing under "SAS Topology" in card BIOS config, nothing probed in OS.

Googled some - found something that said 93xx HBA or later for 4K native drives as LSI 2008 "certainly will not work" (which I now somewhat doubt as someone here reported success with a 92xx-16i and 4K - but whatever).

Didn't see the STH report until after I bought a 9300-8i & new SuperMicro cables (CBL-SAST-0616). HBA came with laughably ancient firmware (Phase 5, 2014), so flashed it to P16 -IT firmware and BIOS.

9300-8i doesn't detect the drives on boot either; I've even tried only powering/connecting a single drive. No change.

I just broke out a new Broadcom 9400-16i; exact same deal.

Well, gosh... I'm still leaning towards "I'm doing something wrong/stoopid" - rather than someone shipped me a box of dead drives (or interposers) - but I just can't see what.

Is there some limit/issue with HP interposers I'm unaware of - or something else I should know/am missing? I also tried using some no-name interposers to no avail...

Thanks for any help...

 

[Dave Corder]

Have you tried without the interposers? I would think they'd be unnecessary if you're trying to use SAS drives with an LSI SAS controller in the first place...

 

[nthu9280]

Have you ruled out the 3.3v "power disable" feature? Check the specs for the drive and search here on the forums for simple fix.

 

[spuggy]

Have you tried without the interposers? I would think they'd be unnecessary if you're trying to use SAS drives with an LSI SAS controller in the first place...

Hmm - good point; the drive has the physical SAS 29-pin connector - and I have no backplane. I selected SATA breakout cables - because I never read the specs, so the first I knew was when I opened the packet...

So I'd need SFF-8643 to 4 way SAS (SFF-8482) forward breakout cables - ideally with SATA power connectors (all the ones I'd seen previously have Molex power - of all things).

Ah-ha. They do exist: "Internal Mini SAS SFF-8643 to (4) 29pin SFF-8482 connectors with SAS 15pin Power Port"....

Ordered some...

 

[spuggy]

Have you ruled out the 3.3v "power disable" feature? Check the specs for the drive and search here on the forums for simple fix.

I hadn't even heard of it, much less ruled it out - so thanks for mentioning it. I shall research that shortly - appreciate it!

 

[spuggy]

Have you ruled out the 3.3v "power disable" feature? Check the specs for the drive and search here on the forums for simple fix.

Well, slap me silly - I think that's got to be it. That drive model certainly supports power disable on p3. Thanks!

Also clears up my confusion as to why so many SAS breakout cables come with a Molex power connector instead of the far more ubiquitous/convenient SATA one....

 

[DedoBOT]

LSI 9300 and IBM M1215:

root@xxx:/etc# sasinfo hba -v
HBA Name: SUNW-lsc-0
    Manufacturer: LSI Logic
    Model:  SAS9300-8i
    Firmware Version: 16.0.1.0
    FCode/BIOS Version: not available
    Serial Number:
    Driver Name: lsc
    Driver Version: lsc driver
    Number of HBA Ports: 8
HBA Name: SUNW-lsc-7
    Manufacturer: LSI Logic
    Model:  SAS9300-8i
    Firmware Version: 16.0.1.0
    FCode/BIOS Version: not available
    Serial Number:
    Driver Name: lsc
    Driver Version: lsc driver
    Number of HBA Ports: 8
root@xxx:/etc# devprop -v -n /scsi_vhci/disk@g5000cca278d6b87f blksize pblksize inquiry-product-id device-optimal-io-granularity device-lowest-aligned-lba
blksize=4096
pblksize=4096
inquiry-product-id=HUH721212ALN604
device-optimal-io-granularity=0
device-lowest-aligned-lba=0

p.s. underlined yellow zeros are the desired output of device-lowest-aligned-lba and device-optimal-io-granularity
No 3.3 volts to the drives

 

[spuggy]

Well, slap me silly - I think that's got to be it. That drive model certainly supports power disable on p3. Thanks!

And confirmed - masked off p3 on a no-name interposer and everything Just Works. Bah.

Another set of SAS breakout cables - with Molex power so I don't need to mod anything - on the way. I haven't felt quite so out-smarted by technology since I declared an ESDI drive dead because I'd plugged it into (mechanically identical but electrically incompatible) ST506 controllers..

Thanks to all - grateful for the assist!