Honestly, Do not know in detail.BPN-SAS-846EL1 SAS Expander (24x 3.5" SAS/SATA Hot-swappable Drive Bays)***Above 2TB Drive may cause the backplane not to recognize all 24 drives.
I noticed mrrackables listing description has that disclaimer, is there any truth to that?
The EL1 does not support multiple raid cards, only cascading for multiple chassis, and multipath from the looks of it here: http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/BPN-SAS2-846EL.pdfOn the sas2-el1 backplane does anyone know if you can hook up multiple raid controllers to it? It seems like the backplane has 3 ports But I can't really determine if the other ports are just alternatives or if you could hook up two controllers..
I know the el2 backplane supports redunancy and failover But I'm not referncing that backplane.
I haven't had experience with Adaptec cards, but I'd highly recommend spending a bit and picking up a used IBM M1050 (or equivalent) and flashing it to IT mode; you'll be much happier (unless you have Adaptec HW RAID volumes you plan on moving over, of course).Also has anyone had experience using an Adaptec 5808 on the SAS2 EL1 backplane (and also where to purchase just the backplane)? I want to replace the 846A backplane that I have now and want to make sure that it is compatible. I know that it will be limited by the 3Gbps card, I just want to get a backplane that does not need 6 SFF8077 connectors.
Yep, the "A" (expander-less) backplanes have always functioned this way. Not sure why SuperMicro went a different route with the EL1/EL2 backplanes. You'd think consistency would be a priority; apparently not! I can't hate them too much though, they make nice equipment. I just wish my EL1 functioned like that for SAS & SATA drives, that way I'd know at a simple glance which bays have drives and... well... lots of LEDs just looks cool!!On an unrelated note the 846a backplane that I have now has all SATA drive lights on continuously and dim on activity. With SAS drives though, it acts like the SASEL1 where the lights are off and blink on activity.
What's the full part number of the 846A backplane?The EL1 does not support multiple raid cards, only cascading for multiple chassis, and multipath from the looks of it here: http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/BPN-SAS2-846EL.pdf
Also has anyone had experience using an Adaptec 5808 on the SAS2 EL1 backplane (and also where to purchase just the backplane)? I want to replace the 846A backplane that I have now and want to make sure that it is compatible. I know that it will be limited by the 3Gbps card, I just want to get a backplane that does not need 6 SFF8077 connectors.
On an unrelated note the 846a backplane that I have now has all SATA drive lights on continuously and dim on activity. With SAS drives though, it acts like the SASEL1 where the lights are off and blink on activity.
Likely BPN-SAS-846A, I'd imagine. I don't believe Supermicro created a SAS2 revision (ie: "BPN-SAS2-846A") as it wasn't needed. As far as I know, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, SAS2/SATA3 (6Gbps) drives will work on the BPN-SAS-846A with a compatible (ie: SAS2 or better) controller.What's the full part number of the 846A backplane?
Thanks. My post was asking if anyone with the SAS1/SAS2 expanders have their harddrives spinning down. And if so, what is that configuration? (HBA, drivers, etc)It's because of the difference in drivers from 2008 to 2012 (storport vs scsiport). You need to uninstall your HBA driver (or update it, same thing), download the latest driver for the card, modify the driver's INF file BEFORE installing the driver.
The setting you need to add is:
[DDInstall.HW]
; Enables Storport IPM for this adapter
HKR, "StorPort", "EnableIdlePowerManagement", 0x00010001, 0x01
Depending on your driver INF, you may not have the DDInstall.HW section. You can use the existing section where it creates the registry keys (I forget what it is...did this a long time back) and add those two lines under that section.
- Save the INF file, and now point Windows to that INF file to update your driver.
- In Windows Control Panel-->Power settings, set your HDD sleep timeout
- Reboot
- Test that after the timeout you specified, the disk(s) should spin down.
Here's some more information about this.
IPM Configuration and Usage (Windows Drivers)
I have used this approach with multiple backplanes and expanders and it has yet to not work.
And that's what I was saying as well. I've had both the Supermicro SAS1/SAS2 backplanes, the Rackable SE3016 SAS1 backplanes, HP 24 port expander, Chenbro 24 port expander... and all of them have worked.Thanks. My post was asking if anyone with the SAS1/SAS2 expanders have their harddrives spinning down. And if so, what is that configuration? (HBA, drivers, etc)
But thanks for the info! I found that info and immediately hacked the INF a few ago - pretty much after I posted the above. FYI, you don't have to uninstall... Just modify them, force the install of the unsigned drivers, and you'll have two to pick from - one signed and one unsigned. Take a guess which you want to install.
That is exactly what i did to get the directly-connected drives spinning down, and it works now. It has cut my idle down to around 130W now (I'm building a new low-power server with this chassis).
But, my post was asking has anyone with the Expanders got their drives to spin down.