SuperChassis 846E16, backplane info

Hey everyone, i picked up a SuperChassis 846E16-R1200B chassis for my FreeNAS build. I'm pretty much done with it but im curious if the backplane that is currently installed in it, the "BPN-SAS2-846EL1" is worth keeping in there?

As well as in the manual it states that only one connection from the backplane to the HBA is used, is it possible to use 2 for more bandwidth at all?

My HBA is a M1015 crossflashed to IT mode

Thanks for your help

Yes, you can use two ports for increased bandwidth. No reason not to keep the backplane unless you need the maximum amount of bandwidth and will be using 3 HBAs.

So the backplane has 3 SAS connections and according to the manual one is for HBA, the other 2 are for storage expansion chassises, I can use one of those expansion chassis SAS connections for added bandwidth?

Yes, that's how Supermicro normally pitches it to resellers and system integrators, but SAS ports are not dedicated as being in or out. I have that exact chassis/backplane and am using it with two links.

I have a similar chassis, and SC847E26-RJBOD1. Question: the HBA connections, are they the two topmost? And the expansion connections are the two at the bottom?

I am going to connect my chassis to my PC (with DELL HBA) for the first time this week. And I think the manual is not clear.

My backplane only has 3 SAS connections, all 3 are at the top right if youre looking at it from inside the chassis.

There is no such thing as HBA or expansion specific ports like I just said. You'll just have to ensure you're using the same port group as your backplane has support for dual ported drives and as a result, double the number of connections (3 per group)