Parts needed for 24-drive setup?

[xilex]

Hi all, I'm trying to understand the correct hardware needed to run about 24 drives. Initially it will be 7 drives, but eventually expanded upwards. I'll be running a Windows box with DrivePool and SnapRAID to keep things simple until I figure something else out in the future.

I read this post to determine the initial parts.

So I figure I can use either an M1015, M1115, or Dell PERC H310. If I'm running only 8 drives, I can use two SFF-8087 forward breakout cables on the card itself, correct? If I needed more drives, I can add a RES2SV240 card and connect it with a SFF-8087 cable. So that is 20 drives from the expander, and 4 drives from the second port on the other card. I'll also have some ports on the motherboard, too. Thanks.

 

[Mishka]

You could grab a HP SAS Expander too it would give you all the drives you need and leave a spare port on the HBA/Controller in IT Mode

Yes if you are only running 8 drives you could use two forward breakout then use the onboard SATA to give you a few more drives, you could even go for two HBA/Controller if you have enough PCI-E Slots

 

[xilex]

Thanks. Wouldn't both the Intel and HP expander leave an extra port, though, since I can just use one cable to connect to the expander?

 

[Mishka]

The Intel would give you 24 drives in total (20 from Expander, 4 from the spare port) though it seems to be more expensive than the HP SAS expander from a quick google which has erm a few more connectors

If you utilise the onboard you could potentially get away with not having to get a expander for quite some time.

 

[MiniKnight]

I'd get something newer than the HP SAS expander. That's some old tech. I'd sooner use that Intel expander. Better if you can just get HBAs

 

[K D]

What Chassis are you using? I couldn't figure out from the post. That will basically determine your HBA/Expander setup.

From a software side, Drivepool + Scanner is awesome. I am not using snap raid though. In case of drive failure, I just replace the drive and restore missing files from a backup server. The one time I had a drive failure, Scanner had reported smart errors and before I got to looking into it, it had already moved the files from the drive with errors to other drives and the bad drive was ready for replacement.



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[K D]

What Chassis are you using? I couldn't figure out from the post. That will basically determine your HBA/Expander setup.

From a software side, Drivepool + Scanner is awesome. I am not using snap raid though. In case of drive failure, I just replace the drive and restore missing files from a backup server. The one time I had a drive failure, Scanner had reported smart errors and before I got to looking into it, it had already moved the files from the drive with errors to other drives and the bad drive was ready for replacement.



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I meant to ask what motherboard and Chassis are you using.


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[xilex]

I'd get something newer than the HP SAS expander. That's some old tech. I'd sooner use that Intel expander. Better if you can just get HBAs

If I needed 24 ports, that would mean 3 HBAs though? If you have any expander or HBA suggestions I'd be open to any. I'm just using it (data drives) for cold storage.

I meant to ask what motherboard and Chassis are you using.

So I haven't purchased any particular chassis or motherboard yet. I'll be using an old Core 2 machine with a basic consumer motherboard. (No ECC I know) .Once I have a small array up and running and I can familiarize myself more with storage hardware and setup, I'll consider getting an actual chassis like a SuperMicro or Norco. But at this moment I am looking to get an array up. If 7-14 drives is a pain, then I'll move to something with a backplane.

 

[raylangivens]

I'm just using it (data drives) for cold storage.

Thus performance isn't an issue and practically any expander would suffice (including the notorious HP 6G 24P SAS expander card, which AFAIK is the cheapest option.).

 

[_alex]

before spending any money for additional hba or expander for cold storage you are maybe better off looking for a cheap 846 with sas or sas2 expander backplane.

if your hdd are 2tb or smaller the sas1 backplane would be ok, but i'd watchout for sas2 expander backplane to be a bit future proof.

hba, lsi 9207-8i or similar with lsi 2308 in it-mode should do and also would handle some SSD for caching with good performance.

 

[BLinux]

agree with _alex that you probably want to sort out the chassis/backplane first, as that will dictate your HBA needs. i don't know if you are looking for a rack mount chassis or something that sits on the floor. also, not sure about your budget. but, if this is within your budget, it's a pretty decent deal for a 846A backplane, which is direct attached rather than expander (pros: less bottlenecks if you eventually want higher throughput, can do 6Gbps, maybe 12Gbps with the right HBA. cons: requires more HBAs for the 6x 8087 connectors):

SuperMicro 846BA-R920B CSE-846 4U Barebone Server BPN-SAS-846A PWS-920P-SQ Rails | eBay

It doesn't include drive trays, and you could get a listing from that seller with drive trays, but it's a bit cheaper if you just order these with the listing above:

Lot of 20 SuperMicro 3.5" Black Hot Swap HDD Hard Drive Tray Caddy SATA SAS | eBay

If you want some Dell H310 flashed to IT firmware, I have some for sale, just PM me. Or, you can find them all over eBay too.

For the 6x 8087 connections, you can go with several options:

1) get a motherboard that has onboard SAS controller with 2x 8087 + a single add-on SAS controller with 4x 8087. or, if you want something more modern, same as above but with 8643 connectors, but just get the cables that go from 8087/backplane->8643/host.

2) get 3x HBAs with 2x 8087 connectors - this usually comes out the cheapest as the older SAS2008 based HBAs are cheap now. you could also do 2x (2-port) HBA + 1x (4-port) HBA, but the 4-port HBAs often cost more. Occasionally, I've found the Adaptec 71605 (4-port) controllers for about $100 or less/ that would make it worthwhile if you can find it.

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Lot of 20 SuperMicro 3.5" Black Hot Swap HDD Hard Drive Tray Caddy SATA SAS | eBay

Note that these don't seem to include the dummy inserts, so these will likely "steal" some airflow from the trays that have drives in them.

For the 6x 8087 connections, you can go with several options[...]

There's also the 24-port cards like the 9305-24i, but they are very expensive (also true of high-port-count older-generation cards like the 9201-16i). There also isn't vertical space for 6 connectors on the card, so the -24i has 4 connectors on the side and 2 on the top, which complicates cabling.

If you go with multiple cards, try to have them all from the same generation so they can be managed by a single BIOS image - you can run into problems with insufficient address space to map multiple BIOSes (BIOI?), depending on what else is in the system.

Another issue with multiple cards is slot placement - unless you use a motherboard like the one in the below pictures, you are likely constrained by what slots can actually take PCIe x8 cards, which limits your choices for airflow and cabling (next paragraph).

Regardless of what card(s) you get, you'll need a variety of different SAS cable lengths unless you're willing to put up with excess cable bunched up somewhere in the chassis, and regular SAS cables don't like tight folds. The 3M high routability cables can be tightly folded if needed, but they are a pain to find in the various lengths you need (they come in 1cm length increments, but you need to order a minimum of a few hundred pieces of each length - not an option for non-mass-produced systems):

 

[K D]

Note that these don't seem to include the dummy inserts, so these will likely "steal" some airflow from the trays that have drives in them.

The dummy inserts are good to keep the trays in shape and easy to plug un-plug. But to completely block airflow, I use painter's tape to cover the tray. Any tape/cardboard will do.

Regardless of what card(s) you get, you'll need a variety of different SAS cable lengths unless you're willing to put up with excess cable bunched up somewhere in the chassis, and regular SAS cables don't like tight folds. The 3M high routability cables can be tightly folded if needed, but they are a pain to find in the various lengths you need (they come in 1cm length increments, but you need to order a minimum of a few hundred pieces of each length - not an option for non-mass-produced systems):

I used these recently after your recommendation in a different thread and they are so easy to route and fold away excess. For an 846 Chassis, I used 1 1m, 4 0.8m and 1 0.5 m

https://smile.amazon.com/10Gtek-Int...id=1506151090&sr=8-2&keywords=10gtek+SAS&th=1