Lsi sas2308 (lsi 9207/9217) hba/raid sgpio

[TheBay]

Does this card support SGPIO via Sideband for a Supermicro SAS-743-TQ Backplane?

I ordered a LSI 3Ware 8087 to Sata with Sideband, but the Sideband connecter isn't wired properly and the cable says "Custom i2c with sideband" on the bag.

Where can you get a compatible Forward fanout cable with a sideband wired correctly for this backplane?

I'm certain this card should support it as the LSI 2008 does SGPIO

I really want SGPIO or i2c working so I get a buzzer alert, LED drive failure etc.
Also handy for drive identification.

I can get SGPIO working perfectly with the onboard SATA so I know the backplane is fine.

 

[mobilenvidia]

from user guide

2 HBA Features
This section lists the LSI SAS 9207-8i HBA features.
 Implements one LSI SAS 2308 eight-port 6Gb/s to PCIe 3.0 controller
 Supports eight-lanes, full-duplex PCIe 3.0 performance
 Supports eight internal 6Gb/s SATA+SAS ports
 Supports SAS link rates of 1.5Gb/s, 3.0Gb/s, and 6.0Gb/s
 Provides two x4 internal mini-SAS connectors (SFF-8087) with sidebands
 Supports up to 256 SATA or SAS end devices
 Offered with a full-height bracket and low-profile vented bracket
 Provides one heartbeat LED
 Uses sideband signals in multilane connectors to support serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO)

 

[mrkrad]

Only problem i've had is with devices not on the supported list. ie poweredge R610 (only one that's not on the list). But honestly since you can run MSM on a VM and with CIM/SMI-S providers you can live without it, what I do for the R610's is just label the serial # of the drives on the sled, and when you get a notice, you can do subtractive or map out the drive.

BTW the samsung 843 (pro version of 840 pro with 10% OP and DRIVE ACTIVITY LIGHT) would work fine since it would tell the backplane to light up.

The other option is the controller can blink 8 lights with direct connect (1:1) no expander.

You can also reprogram see the other thread, the controller to behave differently such as blink the drive activity light.

Odd thing is it works perfectly with HP machines, all generations, and with expanders, it can even support active/active targets to dispatch commands to the sas expander chip from both wires (DL360 g6 with 8SFF).

I feel yah, damn dell machine won't light up at all with the controller, but since it's production i'm not in the mood of bustin' out megascu on it to play around.

So far i've had one 840 pro drop after a reset (m5014 w/perf key). Drive indicated no reason nor rhyme. Haven't had any drops from these lsi 9266 controllers and samsung 840 pro.

Good luck , let me know what you learn, so far i've gotta say disappointed with LSI. LOVING the P420's especially for the stupid insane price we got them for

Got my SAAP 2.0 key which enables cachecade 1 - like caching on order. Thank god the key works just like ilo and is licensed per server on the honor system unlike LSI safe id b/s.

 

[TheBay]

from user guide

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah found that earlier just after I posted, would work fine on a backplane with an 8087
Connector and ipass cable, but what fanout cable is wired properly for SGPIO? There seems to be no set standard. I have a supermicro fanout and that's wired differently again! But the 8087 doesn't fit properly in my card so can't use it.

Seems to be no "standard" for this, the LSI 3ware cable seems to just be an 8 pin i2c cable for a specific backplane and 3ware card, LSI don't list any other forward breakout cables with sideband, let alone one for the 9207/9217! my backplane will only support sgpio on the 8 pin and i2c on the 4 pin socket. Can't even find a wiring diagram/pin out as I'd just move the wires around in the 8 pin plug.

Drive activity lights work, but the ami chips just pick that up passively from the SATA connectors.

I've even spoken to LSI who were useless! Even adaptec give support for this backplane in their user manuals!

And mkrad, I'm not going to run msm on my system, I did install that for testing but even that won't trigger any events to the backplane. I'll just be using sgpio utils and some custom written scripts if I can get it to communicate with my backplane.
You're tempting me again to go back to my roots with HP gear

Why did supermicro not put 8087's on this backplane!

 

[mobilenvidia]

SFF-8485 = SGPIO

I have

From memory 4pin SGPIO
2x these would go onto a 8 pin back plane (2x 4 port cables) ?

 

[mrkrad]

I dunno man but I got a dl320 G6 for 99$ and there are some dl320 G6 with 8SFF/e5607/p410+512bbwc/6gb ram for $385 recently on 'bay from a reputable source. those in the know also know how nice the dl160 g6 is with dl360 motherboards (dl160 g6 is dl360 g6 without RPS option!)

 

[TheBay]

SFF-8485 = SGPIO

I have

From memory 4pin SGPIO
2x these would go onto a 8 pin back plane (2x 4 port cables) ?

Yes 8485, didn't want to add too much info in my first post and tried to keep it simple to save confusion.

The cable I currently have is this:
Internal Multi-Lane Cables - All Cables
Which says to me it's passing i2c over an 8 pin connector, but LSI don't list any other fanout cables that are for other cards, only the 3 ware series.

My backplane has 2x 4 pin for i2c and 2x 8 pin for SGPIO, obviously 1x for drives 0,1,2,3 and 1x for drives 4,5,6,7

i2c only needs 3 wires to work iirc, SGPIO needs 8 wires (on this backplane). How many wires are populated in that 8 pin plug you have, mine has 7 and does it work with SGPIO commands?

*EDIT* Just found the SFF-8087 Pinout, I know the Pinout for the Supermicro backplane for SGPIO, if all the wires are in the right place (missing one wire though) I can move them around in the 8 pin plug

http://communities.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/148584-40316/cable pinout.png

I dunno man but I got a dl320 G6 for 99$ and there are some dl320 G6 with 8SFF/e5607/p410+512bbwc/6gb ram for $385 recently on 'bay from a reputable source. those in the know also know how nice the dl160 g6 is with dl360 motherboards (dl160 g6 is dl360 g6 without RPS option!)

I used to have a DL360 G6 in the boot of my car for hosting events, I could run 12VM's, (server 2008r2) domain controller, sharepoint, exchange etc with 8+ Laser MFP's connected, Large design jets, web jet admin, safecom, various other HP software and 8 plasma displays on each stand. Fantastic units!

 

[TheBay]

Just ordered some of these:
MOLEX Mini-SAS 36p SFF-8087 to 4 x SATA 7p CBL-0137L-02 cable kabel 35cm | eBay

Hoping these are wired correctly, if not I will suss this out and put some info on this post for anyone else having issues with SGPIO on SM backplanes,
Also these are the perfect length for the 743/745 backplane with no clutter under the fans. I hate SAS/SATA cables being too long.

Obviously coming from China so may take a while

 

[mrkrad]

you know you can shoehorn backplanes from other servers into other servers just requires a little love .. maybe small re-pinning of the power 8 plugs.

hp backplane in dell? not a big deal

 

[TheBay]

you know you can shoehorn backplanes from other servers into other servers just requires a little love .. maybe small re-pinning of the power 8 plugs.

hp backplane in dell? not a big deal

Indeed, though I am one of those who goes the long way around things as I have to figure out what the issue is. Never satisfied till it's sorted, I have spent more in components than replacement boards on occasions as I will not be beaten by something at times.

If I fail I will be shoehorning something else in there