24 port HBA

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fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
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Looking to upgrade my old 3G HBA to 6G looking for what models to start looking into? LSI 9305-24i HBA came up but i was hoping for more budget friendly options. Thanks!
 

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
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I think we need a lot more information, to give a good answer.

How many drives are you looking to connect to the HBA? (24i indicates that you can connect at least 24 drives to it directly, probably more if via an expander backplane, if you don't need that many, you could go with a cheaper controller)
Will they be connected directly to the controller via fan-out cables or a backplane?
If you have a backplane, do you know what kind you have? (expander or direct)
If you have a backplane, what kind of connector does it use? (common types are SFF8087 and SFF8643)

What operating system is on the system? (in some cases support for some older controllers have been removed from newer OS')

What Motherboard is in the system (if it is something like a HPE server, then list the model) ? (if it is really old, you may not benefit from features like PCIe 3.0 support).
 

fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
3
@BoredSysadmin I use SATA exclusively

@RTM I actually might be mistaken here. Currently I have
HBA - Dell Perc H310 (IT mode)
SAS Expander - HP 468405-002 24-Bay 6GB SAS Expander
Backplane - BPN-SAS-846TQ

Current is
Motherboard - X8DTE-F
CPU x2 - Xeon L5630

swapping out to
supermicro x11scm-ln8f
Xeon 2276g

maybe im not bottlenecked....


would i benefit in upgrading my HBA and/or removing my SAS expander? i dont think so right?
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
4,217
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Germany
Usually I stay away from >8 port raid controllers/hbas because they are more expensive and hard to come by (at least in Germany/EU).
I recommend 8 Port raid controller/hba + expander (backplane or pcie add on card) if you need more than 8 sas/sata devices.
i was hoping for more budget friendly options
Location?
Budget?
 

fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
3
more info

Northeast USA
case supermicro SC846 (fan and PSU mod)
around 12-16 drives ish
running unraid as a hypervisor
moving from 2.5in satacache to nvme cache too
network is only 1g but will direct connect 10g to a truenas/ZFS box for local backups

any advise is much appreciated
 

UhClem

just another Bozo on the bus
Jun 26, 2012
433
247
43
NH, USA
... swapping out to
supermicro x11scm-ln8f
Xeon 2276g ...
That Mobo has all 16 (CPU) PCIe lanes into a single x16 slot. Much better to choose one that offers the option of (2 slots as) x16/x0 OR x8/x8. Also why 8x 1GbE when you're aiming for 10g?
====
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
 

fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
3
@UhClem fortunately/unfortunately the mobo was a gift so i will be using it but it does have 8 x 1G RJ45s fed from the mobo
and i attempted to multitask and replied incorrectly
i will not be direct connecting at 10G it was at 1G

so all NICs will be from mobo with the PCI x16 slot going to SAS HBA
 

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
956
359
63
@BoredSysadmin I use SATA exclusively

@RTM I actually might be mistaken here. Currently I have
HBA - Dell Perc H310 (IT mode)
SAS Expander - HP 468405-002 24-Bay 6GB SAS Expander
Backplane - BPN-SAS-846TQ

Current is
Motherboard - X8DTE-F
CPU x2 - Xeon L5630

swapping out to
supermicro x11scm-ln8f
Xeon 2276g

maybe im not bottlenecked....


would i benefit in upgrading my HBA and/or removing my SAS expander? i dont think so right?
First a few comments:

Your HBA is based on a LSI SAS2008 controller (which supports 6Gbps).
Your HP expander only supports 3Gbps (according to my google search)
Your backplane is of the direct attach type.

I assume that your 12-16 disks are spinning drives.

I would definitely get rid of the expander, in any case your new motherboard only has one pcie slot, so unless there is another way to power it, it needs to go....
If you do not need more than 14 ports, it should be possible to use 6 SATA ports from the motherboard and 8 ports from your current HBA (though I have not checked the backplane connectors, it should just be a problem of getting the right cables).

Note: the SAS2008 is not supported by a couple of OS' (RHEL8 and ESXi 7), if this impacts you, I suggest getting a newer HBA (of course only relevant if you while changing mobo + cpu also installs a new OS).
If you use SSD's you might also benefit from a newer controller.
 

fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
3
Correct the backplane has individuals connectors @kpfleming

so what im synthesizing (can you tell i was just in a meeting with a lot of managers?)

option 1 - get rid of the HBA and SAS expander and get a 24p HBA == ~$600-700?

option 2 - keep the HBA and limit the number of disks to 14

option 3 - keep the HBA and find a sas expander that does not require a PCI slot

option 4 - buy BPN-SAS-846EL1 or BPN-SAS3-846EL1 (about $200-350)

with most of my sata disks im using as cache will go away as i move that function to NVMEs (i have 2 slots) option 2 is probably the simplest (minus some cables if i dont have them

option 1 - is doable but again i would need suggestions or the magical hw fairy to have one they dont need that i could buy at less than a kidney price

option 3 - would require more research but could also be set it and forget it once it is figured out

option4 - thanks @kpfleming

which do you lot like the best? :)

thank you all I'm learning and i swear in 5yrs when i have to upgrade again i will "know" more but still know nothing compared to the community. cheers!
 
Last edited:

UhClem

just another Bozo on the bus
Jun 26, 2012
433
247
43
NH, USA
You can use one of your (2) M.2 slots to add either 5 or 6 SATA3 ports.
5 ports: JMB585 chip on a M.2 card w/5 ports

6 ports: use a M.2-to-PCIe x4 riser to house a ASM1166-based 6-port PCIe card

Both of these solutions use Gen3 x2 chips, which will give ~1700 MB/s for the 5/6 ports.

On aliexpress.com or amazon.com, use search terms
jmb585
m2 pcie 4x riser
asm1166 card

If you get a riser card, choose one with an open-ended slot (for future flexibility); also be mindful of the orientation of the riser's PCIe card slot relative to the SATA ports on the chosen card, and possible obstructions on your mobo.
jmb585.jpg
riser.jpg
asm1166.jpg
 

fitzpattywagon

New Member
Feb 15, 2019
25
3
3
thank you @umadbruh but I think I want to use my m.2 for cache

i am currently researching a new sas expander (6Gbps) that does NOT require a PCI slot. i think THINK this will be cheaper than a new hba or backplane but more research needs to be done.