How can I connect my external storage?

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
I have a Supermicro chassis CSE-217HQ-R1K62MBP (4x servers) with motherboard X9DRT-HF+-NI22. The motherboard has 2x PCI-e slots that are priority Supermicro micro-low profile. The add-on cards they sell seem to be network only, no HBA's. The servers have a backplane with a LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2. I also have an external storage chassis NORCO RPC-4224 with an HP SAS Expander card. The HP SAS Expander card has an sff-8088 external port while the Supermicro chassis on the front has an internal SFF-8482 (I think, correct me if I'm wrong).

I want to connect the internal SAS slot on the Supermicro to the external HP SAS Expander card. I think I need a reverse breakout cable but 1) I cannot find one and 2) all the internal cables I've seen aren't long enough (need 2 meters). How can I accomplish this?
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
If you have an internal SAS connector and want external then these are the easiest options:

Supermicro Internal to External 2 Port MiniSAS Low Profile Cascading 85cm Cable (CBL-0352L-LP)
+
Supermicro External iPass MiniSAS to iPass MiniSAS 3M Cable (CBL-0171L)
Or variants matching your cable length/pricing requirements :)

There are also direct cables available, but probably not in the length you need.

Else I was not able to verify that your board has SAS onboard? How does the backplane get SAS connectivity?
The X9DRT-HF+ does seem to have a regular slot available
4. Expansion slots: 1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 and 1 x8 Micro Low Profile PCI-E 3.0 slot

which you could use for any SAS HBA/Raid card...
 

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
Both of those links have the wrong source pins. It is not sff-8087 or sff-8088. I believe it is SFF-8482 which you can connect a SATA drive directly to.

As for the motherboard, the slot is "MICRO" Low Profile. So none of the standard or low-profile PCI-e cards will work. Supermicro uses a SMC-Proprietary slot which they only sell network cards for.

If you have an internal SAS connector and want external then these are the easiest options:

Supermicro Internal to External 2 Port MiniSAS Low Profile Cascading 85cm Cable (CBL-0352L-LP)
+
Supermicro External iPass MiniSAS to iPass MiniSAS 3M Cable (CBL-0171L)
Or variants matching your cable length/pricing requirements :)

There are also direct cables available, but probably not in the length you need.

Else I was not able to verify that your board has SAS onboard? How does the backplane get SAS connectivity?
The X9DRT-HF+ does seem to have a regular slot available
4. Expansion slots: 1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 and 1 x8 Micro Low Profile PCI-E 3.0 slot

which you could use for any SAS HBA/Raid card...
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
8482 usually is present on the backplane side (or drive for direct connections). How is the backplane connected to the board?

And can you confirm its a X9DRT-HF+ (couldnt find "X9DRT-HF+-NI22")?
According to the product page that one has one Micro LP and a regular slot - don't your's have the regular one?
 

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
The backplane is connected to the motherboard with a "JF2" connector, according to the manual.

Yes, the motherboard is a X9DRT-HF+. One PCI-e slot is a SMC-Proprietary Daughter (Add-On) Card, the other is a SMC-Proprietary Micro Low-Profile (LP) Card. The server is only 1 and 5/8" tall so no PCI card would fit in it unless it was installed sideways.

8482 usually is present on the backplane side (or drive for direct connections). How is the backplane connected to the board?

And can you confirm its a X9DRT-HF+ (couldnt find "X9DRT-HF+-NI22")?
According to the product page that one has one Micro LP and a regular slot - don't your's have the regular one?
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
And you are sure that CPU1 Slot 1 (left side from back, manual p1-3) is not a regular slot?
Or rather, what card is in it currently? Do you need that?

And you might be able to use a riser card to use UIO style.
Maybe some pics would help as I don't know the chassis/board.

JF2 is the identifier of the connector on the board, not the name of the connector type.
It is proprietary all right, and that tells us you should have either of these in it:

upload_2019-12-28_19-9-48.png

But from what I see I don't think the backplane (BPN-SAS-827HQ) will allow you to take a port for attaching more drives (as an regular explander backplane would do).
From what I have seen till now your only chance will be the regular pcie slot...
 

Attachments

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
The installed adapter card is a BPN-ADP-SAS2-H6iR. I was thinking of taking out some of the hard drives on the front to run the cable from the sff-8482 if there was a cable that might work. The LSI 2008 says it is compatible with SAS expanders, why wouldn't that work?

There is a Intel Corporation 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ in the PCI-e slot. No, I don't need this card, it can be removed. There is no riser card installed there. How would I use the regular PCI-e slot?

And you are sure that CPU1 Slot 1 (left side from back, manual p1-3) is not a regular slot?
Or rather, what card is in it currently? Do you need that?

And you might be able to use a riser card to use UIO style.
Maybe some pics would help as I don't know the chassis/board.

JF2 is the identifier of the connector on the board, not the name of the connector type.
It is proprietary all right, and that tells us you should have either of these in it:

View attachment 12610

But from what I see I don't think the backplane (BPN-SAS-827HQ) will allow you to take a port for attaching more drives (as an regular explander backplane would do).
From what I have seen till now your only chance will be the regular pcie slot...
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
Ah now I get you - you want to use something like a reverse 8482 to SAS cable? You'd need a connector like harddrives have, not 8842.
I dont think something like that exists though...

How is the 10G card placed in there currently? If its a regular low profile card you just use that spot for a HBA with external connectors and then use the
Supermicro External iPass MiniSAS to iPass MiniSAS 3M Cable (CBL-0171L)
cable to connect to your array
 

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
The 10G card is a AOC-CTG-i2S which is a Micro-LP card. As far as I know, Supermicro doesn't make any Micro-LP HBA cards. How would I make that work?

Ah now I get you - you want to use something like a reverse 8482 to SAS cable? You'd need a connector like harddrives have, not 8842.
I dont think something like that exists though...

How is the 10G card placed in there currently? If its a regular low profile card you just use that spot for a HBA with external connectors and then use the
Supermicro External iPass MiniSAS to iPass MiniSAS 3M Cable (CBL-0171L)
cable to connect to your array
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
Ok... and thats in the regular x8 slot? You sure its not in the Micro LP Slot?

So each node only has a single U height then? You could use a pcie-extender cable if you can place the hba somewhere (either an internal place then use internal hba + int->ext adapter or external if you have vertical pcie slots). Or a riser card to convert the slot to vertical...
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
Can you tell me which is the actual system that you have?
The chassis seems to be used for 2 different systems
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 2U | 2027TR-H71FRF
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 2U | 2027TR-H70RF+

Maybe that would clear up the confusion wrt the slots


PCI Expansion Slots
The SuperServer 2027TR-HTRF+/H70RF+/H71RF+/H72RF+ has for each node
one (1) PCI-E 3.0 x8 Slot for SMC-Proprietary Micro LP Card (CPU1 Slot2)
and
one (1) PCI-E 3.0 x8 Slot for SMC-Proprietary Daughter (Add-On) Card (CPU1 Slot1).


upload_2019-12-28_22-22-2.png

So that looks like there is no space at all for any card on this baby.

But the product page pic:
upload_2019-12-28_22-24-55.png
looks like it might fit a vertical lp card ...
any chance to take a pic? or a couple (inside a node, from back)...
 

Attachments

Last edited:

ccoager

New Member
Aug 14, 2018
10
0
1
The 10G card is in slot 1 labeled "PCI-E 3.0 x8 Slot for SMC-Proprietary Daughter (Add-On) Card", not the Micro-LP port.

The motherboard is X9DRT-HF+ so it would have to be the 2027TR-H70RF+.

Yes, I will take some pictures...

Can you tell me which is the actual system that you have?
The chassis seems to be used for 2 different systems
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 2U | 2027TR-H71FRF
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 2U | 2027TR-H70RF+

Maybe that would clear up the confusion wrt the slots


PCI Expansion Slots
The SuperServer 2027TR-HTRF+/H70RF+/H71RF+/H72RF+ has for each node
one (1) PCI-E 3.0 x8 Slot for SMC-Proprietary Micro LP Card (CPU1 Slot2)
and
one (1) PCI-E 3.0 x8 Slot for SMC-Proprietary Daughter (Add-On) Card (CPU1 Slot1).


View attachment 12613

So that looks like there is no space at all for any card on this baby.

But the product page pic:
View attachment 12615
looks like it might fit a vertical lp card ...
any chance to take a pic? or a couple (inside a node, from back)...