Backplane. I'm guessing I would have to buy a lot of other parts to make it work outside of a SM chassis.
[US] Supermicro BPN-SAS3-826A-N4 Backplane with 4xU.2 Drive Support
- Thread starter luckylinux
- Start date
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You might as well go with this one if you want to DIY:
@ca3y6 (thanks again) posted a 3D Printable "Case" for that at:
Otherwise I guess there are some similar Backplanes for Dell Servers etc.
Is it just me or are those cables just regular SFF-8643 cables or are they special ones designed for NVMe?Actually that would be for a Oculink based Backplane.
I'm in a similar Boat.
We need a SFF-8643 to SFF-8643 NVMe Connector, both for your AOC-SLG3-4E4Rand for my AOC-SLG3-4E2P.
So probably something like this:
Supermicro Internal MiniSAS HD PCIe NVMe 12Gbs 45cm Cable (CBL-SAST-0623)
Copper Cable Assembly Perfect for NVMe MiniSAS HD Applications Also Available in 60cm and 70cm Supermicro Certified JUST REDUCEDOriginal Price: $28.83*Limited Stock Available*store.supermicro.com
Supermicro Internal MiniSAS HD PCIe NVMe 12Gbs 60cm Cable (CBL-SAST-0658)
Copper Cable Assembly Perfect for NVMe MiniSAS HD Applications Also Available in 45cm and 70cm Supermicro Certified
Supermicro Internal MiniSAS HD PCIe NVMe 12Gbs 70cm Cable (CBL-SAST-0590)
Copper Cable Assembly Perfect for NVMe MiniSAS HD Applications Also Available in 45cm and 60cm Supermicro Certified
EDIT 1: my AOC-SLG3-4E2P has Oculink (SFF-8611) Ports, NOT SFF-8643 ! Corrected Text.
I have a similar backplane, but the 24-drive one, and my NVMe drives aren't showing up. I'm wondering if it's because I'm using regular miniSAS HD cables.
Even though they use the same connector (SFF-8643), the ohm rating is different for the NVME version (differentiated by the white plugs). I suppose a regular 8643 cable could be hacked, but these are pretty tight cables and connectors, I wouldn't wanna mess with them.
I purchased 2x of this backplane! Thanks posting your finding here @luckylinux! They arrived with Jetcarrier the other day.
Right now I only have one SC826 to mount it in but I'm looking for one more case. Or maybe I can modify the SC825 that I have, but I doubt it'll turn out good and at least port 11 will be wasted.
Looking at the manual for the backplane it seems as the NVMe ports (8-11) are hybrid ports that can support SAS as well. No mention of SATA though for those ports. Unfortunately you cant jump some pins to allow multiple of the hybrid ports to be connected to one miniSAS port. I guess it's all intended to go to a tri-mode HBA anyway, but would've been nice to maybe save on some cables if not all of the hybrid ports would be in use for NVMe.
Speaking of cables, in my SC826 it feels really tight to fit straight miniSAS SFF-8643's into the backplane. Granted, I haven't mounted it yet but eyeballing its current TQ backplane makes me wonder...
Ideally I'd like some straight to left exit miniSAS SFF-8643's but they seem to be quite uncommon... Any thoughts or ideas?
Right now I only have one SC826 to mount it in but I'm looking for one more case. Or maybe I can modify the SC825 that I have, but I doubt it'll turn out good and at least port 11 will be wasted.
Looking at the manual for the backplane it seems as the NVMe ports (8-11) are hybrid ports that can support SAS as well. No mention of SATA though for those ports. Unfortunately you cant jump some pins to allow multiple of the hybrid ports to be connected to one miniSAS port. I guess it's all intended to go to a tri-mode HBA anyway, but would've been nice to maybe save on some cables if not all of the hybrid ports would be in use for NVMe.
Speaking of cables, in my SC826 it feels really tight to fit straight miniSAS SFF-8643's into the backplane. Granted, I haven't mounted it yet but eyeballing its current TQ backplane makes me wonder...
Ideally I'd like some straight to left exit miniSAS SFF-8643's but they seem to be quite uncommon... Any thoughts or ideas?
The only reason they wouldn't support SATA is if the cable+PCB trace length exceeds 1 meter. These aren't tri-mode slots, the NVMe slots are wired to one NVMe SFF8643 connector and one lane of a SAS SFF8643 connector simultaneously so if you have both of those plugged into the host you can install either kind of drive in those slots, or just don't connect the NVMe port and use SAS.
But...that limitation goes away, since the path all the way to the backplane is SAS, and the 1m length limit doesn't apply.
If you put in a SATA drive the signaling runs at SATA voltage and you get the SATA signal length limit since there's no expander on this backplane.But...that limitation goes away, since the path all the way to the backplane is SAS, and the 1m length limit doesn't apply.
I agree on the length being the likely only issue for SATA. At least since it will support SAS anyway.
Duh,
you're absolutely right on the hybrid ports. In my mind I was looking at this as a 16 bay backplane since I've beenlooking at 16 port HBA's as well. There's 3x SFF-8643 connectors for SAS/SATA and 4x SFF-8643 connectors for potentially using NVMe in four of the hybrid ports. I would (probably) have seen this when installing but now I won't order too many cables. Thanks!
Any other thought on the angled connectors?
Eyeballing my 826 I think there's enough room for straight connectors and curving the cable to run against the fan housings, I'd probably do that because there's like a 70% chance I would order angled cables angled the wrong way. Makes me appreciate that the sff8643 connectors on my expander backplane are all pointed sideways already.