Help with HGST SAS incompatible with Intel C606 Pattsburg SCU?

[BLinux]

Just spent a couple of hours dealing with this issue. I recently got a bunch of HGST SAS 4TB (HUS726040) HDDs and I wanted to test them out using my 24-bay Supermicro 846 chassis with a X9DR3-F board. This has a 846A backplane, and the HDD slots are connected like so:

slot 0-7: LSI SAS2308
slot 8-15: onboard Intel C606 Pattsburg SCU SATA/SAS controller
slot 16-23: LSI SAS2308

The drives connected to the LSI 2308 had absolutely no problems. But the drives connected to the C606 SCU would connect, but any attempt to read or write would result in I/O errors on most of the drives, but not all. I can pull SMART data off the drives connected to the C606, but I just can't actually read/write to most of them. At first, i thought i had defective HDDs, but after much swapping HDDs around and also into another identical system/chassis and re-seating cables, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. The same problematic HDDs work fine when I plug them into a slot connected to the LSI 2308. A good HDD from the LSI 2308 slot exhibits the same problems when I plugged them into the C606 slots. When I use WD Red SATA drives in the C606 slots, everything works perfectly.

So, I began some searching, and immediately found this posts:

SAS drive problem with X9DR3-F - [Solved] - Storage

and another post here at STH that seems to indicate a related problem with SAS and the C602:

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/intel-c602-606-sas-expander-support.17829/

So, it seems that there is some sort of incompatibility between HGST SAS drives and the Intel C606 Pattsburg SCU. Has anyone else seen this? If so, is there a firmware update for the HGST SAS or Intel C606 SCU that might resolve this?

Any suggestions?

 

[BLinux]

Did a little more digging on the Intel C606 SCU and found this:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/w.../datasheets/c600-series-chipset-datasheet.pdf

In particular, sections 5.18.1.2 and 5.18.1.3 are interesting:

SCU Architectural Features 

The Storage Controller Unit is a stand alone I/O controller that supports Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) by incorporating dedicated messaging unit, DMA engines, frame buffering and protocol controllers to execute I/O requests. The Storage Controller Unit (SCU) supports execution of I/O requests for multiple modes of operations such as SSP, STP and SMP initiator and SATA host operations. Each of four SCU protocol engines can operate independently in any of the modes and can also execute SAS wide port operations. The SCU incorporates the following features:
 • Protocol Engine Group 
— SSP, SMP, STP Initiator mode 
— SATA Host mode 
— SATA Port Selector (PS), Native Command Queueing (NCQ) supported 
— Automated Out Of Band (OOB) signaling 
— Automated Speed Negotiation (SN) 
— Automated Transport Layer 
— Automated Link Layer 
— 1.5 Gbps and 3.0 Gbps Link operations for SAS and SATA 
— Link Level Power Management 
— Automated task scheduling 
— Wide Ports up to x4 • Storage DMA Engine 
— Automated Scatter Gather List processing 
— Intel® Block Protection Technology Context management • End to End data path protection * using Parity, ECC and BPT

And

Features Excluded in Current SCU Architecture 
• STP Host/SATA Target functions 
• SSP Target Mode 
• SMP Target Mode 
• Bi-Directional SCSI commands support. 
• Multiple Task Priority Level - only support Normal and High. 
• Full Staggered spin-up in SATA devices (only support partial power on staggered spinup for SATA devices) 
• SAS Connection Multiplexing

So, it sounds like the Intel C606 SCU was focused on SATA support, and had only a lame implementation for SAS. This is sounding like there's no firmware update that will fix this...

 

[beren]

Yeah I hoped to use the onboard C606 to hook up my sas tape drive but it doesn't see it at all.

 

[Patrick]

Apologies, I am on hour 36 of Halloween after starting this morning in Taiwan. Do you have a SAS key installed? Which software are you using? Intel? LSI?

 

[beren]

A sas key? what do you mean? I ran a sas cable to the tape drive the same as on my x8 board and linux couldn't see the changer or tape drive. I ended up plugging it into the backplane's spare port. It goes to an LSI sas card and works now.

 

[wkernkamp]

I had read errors with Hitachi 2T SAS Drives:
4x IBM-ESXS HUS723020ALS64 on the SCU
and
1x HITACHI HUS72302CLAR2000 on an LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068E PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 08)

Note that other Hitachi drives on the SAS1068E worked without problem:
2TB: HGST HUS724020ALS640
3TB: HGST HUS724030ALS640

Supermicro X9DR3-LN4F+ Motherboard also with C606 chipset.
Linux 5.4, Debian 10, Proxmox 6.3.

Failed drives showed up, but could not use fdisk to create new partition table, nor dd copy to the drives.

SOLUTION:
sg_format --format /dev/sdx

After the format, fdisk works and disks function normally.

 

[summereno]

A sas key? what do you mean? I ran a sas cable to the tape drive the same as on my x8 board and linux couldn't see the changer or tape drive. I ended up plugging it into the backplane's spare port. It goes to an LSI sas card and works now.

I came accross this issue also, and I found out that to use these SCU ports, you must pay to get an "Upgrade Key" manufactured by intel.

Intel Doc:

Intel® RAID C600 Upgrade Keys for Discontinued Intel® Server Boards...

Which Intel® RAID C600 Upgrade keys enable which features.

www.intel.com

And it turns out to be a little expensive:

Intel RKSAS8 SG27955 3 Gb/s C600 8 Port RAID SAS Upgrade Key New Bulk Packaging | eBay

RAID Level Supported: 0,1,10. Data Transfer Rate: 3 Gb/s. Launch Date: Q1'12.

www.ebay.com

I am a home server user, and I decide to just buy another HBA board instead.......