X10QBI supermicro server hard drive compatibility

[Tyler99]

SYS-8048B-TRFT supermicro serve with X10QBI motherboard from ebay. I upgraded its RAM to 516 GB, will upgrade its CPUs shortly. I am running Linux Server 20.04 from a SSD on the PCIe slot with separate boot partition on a USB.

I am wanting to use my currently owned 16 TB Seagate Ironwolf and 8TB WD Red NAS drives but when I plug them in, the system does not acknowledge them. Only enterprise HDD are on Supermicro's supported HDD list. I am wondering if anyone else has had success using not enterprise HDD in these machines?

 

[BlueFox]

The motherboard only has 6 SATA ports, so you can't use all of the bays without extra HBAs. Are you using bays that are actually connected to something?

 

[Tyler99]

The motherboard only has 6 SATA ports, so you can't use all of the bays without extra HBAs. Are you using bays that are actually connected to something?

Thanks. It comes with a SATA HDD Backplane, but I never considered it might not come with the required HBA to make it work. The manual doesn't mention the HBA but Supermicros website for the server (8048B-TRFT | 4U | SuperServer | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.) gives the following specs:

• 24x 3.5" Hard drive bays.
• BPN-SAS-846A direct attached backplane, system supports up to 24 HDDs by using selected RAID/HBA card and default HDD connection is onboard C602J chipset 2 SATA3 + 4 SATA2

From that it is not clear to me if the HBA card is an accessory or not. I will have to check on Wednesday when I will visit the server in person.

 

[BlueFox]

HBAs are nearly always accessories since they come in many varieties and needs will vary from server to server. Supermicro lists some under the optional parts list at the bottom. It seems it's quite likely that you don't have one. You can still use 6 of the bays without one however.

 

[Tyler99]

BlueFox is correct that I need to purchase HBA card(s). I will be looking to purchase HBA PCIe cards. Supermicro lists three such compatible cards.
CBL-SAST-0507-01 = a single card supports 24 HDD on the back plane.
AOC-S2308L-L8I or AOC-S2208L-H8IR = a single card supports only 8 HDD on the back plane

I am wondering, if in terms of read and write speeds it would be better to go with a single card supporting 24 drives or several cards, each connected to its own PCIe slot. For example, If I had two different applications running simultaneously with lots of I/O, I would assume then would run faster if I/O was directed through separate PCIe ports to their own drives.

 

[sboesch]

I use the LSI/AVAGO SAS9300-8i HBA's. They're reliable and fast. They will connect a total of 1024 drives. I have 12 connected via a Supermicro back plane right now. Those irownwolf drives will not saturate the card.