Supermicro Motherboard Mystery Interface

[gregoinc]

I have a Supermicro H11SSL-i motherboard and it has the interfaces below. I have tried doing research on the use of these interfaces and the cables I might use. But I have come up empty? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[Stankyjawnz]

Looks like minisas. you can get cables to break those out into more sata or nvme. There may be a jumper or bios setting to set it for sata or nvme.

 

[i386]

connector is minisas, but the signals are 4x sata

 

[RolloZ170]

its called miniSAS HD
RTFM

 

[Markess]

I have tried doing research on the use of these interfaces and the cables I might use. But I have come up empty? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Supermicro has detailed product pages for their motherboards. Manuals, firmware, all kinds of good stuff. Search the motherboard model number using your favorite search engine, and it will almost always be in the first couple search results:

H11SSL-i | Motherboards | Super Micro Computer, Inc.

 

[RolloZ170]

the H11SSL-i delivers 2x 4 SATA outputs on it.
you need 2 miniSAS HD(SFF-8643) to SATA breakout cable.
SFF-8643 to 4x SATA

 

[gregoinc]

Supermicro has detailed product pages for their motherboards. Manuals, firmware, all kinds of good stuff. Search the motherboard model number using your favorite search engine, and it will almost always be in the first couple search results:

H11SSL-i | Motherboards | Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Yes, did that... perhaps I missed it? Anyway, seems RolloZ170 found the interface technical name, so all good. Really appreciate the feedback.

 

[RolloZ170]

Yes, did that... perhaps I missed it?

i checked the current h11ssl Manual download. seems they have removed the "miniSAS-HD" which always brings confusion to the user because it don't support SAS.

 

[Markess]

Yes, did that... perhaps I missed it? Anyway, seems @RolloZ170 found the interface technical name, so all good. Really appreciate the feedback.

Wow, apologies! Besides not labeling the connector very well, they didn't do a good job in some places identifying which features are unique to which model motherboard of the three covered in the manual.

 

[RolloZ170]

they didn't do a good job in some places identifying which features are unique to which model motherboard of the three covered in the manual.

I-SATA0~I-SATA7 Internal SATA Ports

L-SAS0~L-SAS7 Internal SAS Ports (H11SSL-C & H11SSL-NC only)

SATA8~SATA11 (JNVME0) - Internal SATA/NVMe Ports (SATA8~SATA11: H11SSL-i only, JNVME0: H11SSL-NC only)

SATA12~SATA15 (JNVME1) - Internal SATA/NVMe Ports (SATA12~SATA15: H11SSL-i only, JNVME1: H11SSL-NC only)

 

[Markess]

I-SATA0~I-SATA7 Internal SATA Ports

L-SAS0~L-SAS7 Internal SAS Ports (H11SSL-C & H11SSL-NC only)

SATA8~SATA11 (JNVME0) - Internal SATA/NVMe Ports (SATA8~SATA11: H11SSL-i only, JNVME0: H11SSL-NC only)

SATA12~SATA15 (JNVME1) - Internal SATA/NVMe Ports (SATA12~SATA15: H11SSL-i only, JNVME1: H11SSL-NC only)

Well, I had an idea of the differences just from the model numbers...but that's because I'm a nerd with no life. So, the fact that some sections (the detailed connector info for example) gave a reminder of the differences and some didn't weren't an issue for me. But, someone coming into this stuff for the first time....yikes!

Which reminds me...

@gregoinc , cables with the SFF-8643 connector on one end and SATA connectors on the other are directional. In your case, you need a "forward" breakout cable. These are by far the most common, but the reverse are out there too. Although, for a SATA implementation, maybe the difference doesn't matter?

 

[ericloewe]

Although, for a SATA implementation, maybe the difference doesn't matter?

It does. The pinout is the same on SATA and SAS drives, the second SAS channel aside.

 

[gregoinc]

Thanks for the additional information. Here's the cable I purchased. Based on the information in this thread I believe it should do the job.

 

[marg]

@Markess
I think Supermicro CBL-SAST-0699 would be the right cable for this connector?

@gregoinc
If you are looking for these cables, let me know I have a couple of them.

 

[Markess]

Thanks for the additional information. Here's the cable I purchased. Based on the information in this thread I believe it should do the job.

CBL-SAST-0699

Yes, I think that both of those are the correct direction and will work. There's a lot of cables to choose from what with varying lengths and orientation of the connectors on either end (i.e. in-line, right angle, etc.)