EU FS: HP ML350p Gen8 8 Bay SFF Drive Backplane Expander

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A333

New Member
Jun 15, 2019
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I have a ML350P G8 with standard 8 SFF bay. Is for adding 1 sff bay what you offer everything I need? If that is the case I want one.

edit: what will be the partnr?
 
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tomaash

Active Member
Oct 11, 2016
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HP P/N is 661714-B21.
I think full kit comes with two SAS cables, I have just one. It is just enough to add it to standard bay with two existing cables. Backplane power cable is included.
 
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BeTeP

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Mar 23, 2019
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Going off on a tangent here, but anyone cares to explain why tower components are so much more expensive than the rack mounted ones?
Like in this specific case a functionally identical HP Gen8 8x SFF cage for 2U chassis (i.e. for DL380p) with the backplane and cables regularly sells for under $50 shipped. I've seen them as low as $20 shipped (still with the backplane, no cables though). I get the US vs EU price difference, but still.
 
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tomaash

Active Member
Oct 11, 2016
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One kit is sold, updated main post.

What you linked is simple cage (think Supermicro A-style backplane), which tend to be lot cheaper also for HP tower servers. What I am offering is cage with expander, which were indeed expensive from HP (and low volume, too)... Just look at eBay how expensive these are...
HP dropped support for PCIe addon-style expanders in Gen8 servers and were supporting only backplanes with expanders.
 

BeTeP

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Mar 23, 2019
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I see. So the Gen8 base tower 8SFF cage is different (has 2 mini SAS "IN" connectors) from the "expansion" 8SFF cage (has 1 "IN" and 1 "OUT" mini SAS connector). I like their previous gen config (all cages are "simple" and the SAS expander is on the separate board) better. One more reason for me to stay away from the tower chassis.

Thanks for the explanation.
 

John Titor

Member
Jul 20, 2016
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@BeTeP Funny you should mention this. I worked with R&D at HP back when Gen8 rolled out. You're actually correct, there is literally NO DIFFERENCE between the ML350 (Tower) drive bays and the DL380 (rackmount) drive bays. They sometimes use different part numbers, but are essentially the exact same. On some models they changed the plastic housing to lock you in, but it was easily modifiable. The backplane itself was no different.

I know this is pretty off topic on this thread, but it could potentially save someone a few bucks if they're creative. Also, OP's price is ridiculous (the main reason I went off on this tangent :))
 

tomaash

Active Member
Oct 11, 2016
110
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Europe, Slovakia
@John Titor Can you share part number of functional equivalent to to 661714-B21, which can be used in ML350p Gen8 and remain stable on production machines? I do not mind mechanical modifications. I haven't found one, but if it exists, it actually resolves my capacity problems.

I need to hook up 24 disks to one P420 controller in ML350p Gen8 servers. I do not want to use the old SAS expander, because it was not supported in Gen8 servers and SATA SSDs link at 3Gbps. Ridiculous prices of these Expander bays - even used, not talking new - are making me get rid of these bays and put disks into external enclosures.