HP SAS Expander Owner's Thread

Thanks jensS, I have the HP SC44GE SAS controller a re-badged LSI3442E-R, I have accessed the controller configuration utility but can't see anything there about the HP Expander.

I am not sure whether my controller's firmware is HP or LSI as in the configuration utility it doesn't mention anything about HP, LSI firmware version 1.20.33.00-IR.
 
Ok, now it is getting a bit tricky for several reasons:

1. I have no experience with that type of controller.

2. Even though it supports basic raid levels, 0 and 1, it isn't really a raid controller. It's classified as a HBA. This could mean that if it runs a specific HP firmware that it isn't compatible at all with the SAS expander for marketing reasons. HP obviously wants you to use their more expensive raid controllers.

3. The tech specs from the SG44Ge quickspecs at hp.com differ slightly from those for the 3442E-R at lsi.com which somehow supports the theory of a specific HP firmware (or that HP hasn't updated firmware and quickspecs for quite a while). The hardware itself should be SAS compliant and supports up to 122 devices according to LSI but HP doesn't say anything about that.
Thats understandable though, they sell you those HBAs to connect mostly tape drives and their MSA series storage enclosures (which themselves may include a SAS expander!).
They focus on their products but they can't offer you anything to connect 122 devices, i.e. harddisks, to a host. So even if it can connect 122 devices there is no benefit for HP to mention it since they can't sell you the appropriate product for it.

4. The equivalent Intel HBA SASUC8I works according to the first post on this thread if it is flashed to LSIs firmware for the LSI SAS1068e SAS processor. That processor is used for the 3442E-R and therefore the SG44Ce as well.

So it may very well be that it won't work with the expander at the moment.
I think your best bet is to flash it to the latest LSI firmware which should be 1.32.00.00.
This firmware enables SAS 6G and SATA 3G support which HP is unaware of according to the quickspecs :)
It probably won't make any differences in terms of performance but I think it is advisable to update the firmware anyway for compatibility reasons. And maybe it gets rid of some HP specific ""features"" as well if there are some ;)
Sadly I can't tell you IF it is flashable with the LSI firmware or how to do it in case it won't work in the usual way. You have to try this on your own and at your own risk ;)
 
I understand what you're saying, the HP SAS expander is working fine with the SC44GE, I have populated my system with 12 drives and all are seen by the NAS os gui (ZFS Raidz1).

I think I may adopt "if it ain't broke don't fix it" moto with the controller at this stage seeing it's working ok, I will start looking regarding the lsi firmware flashing though to see if it's possible at all.

Thanks for taking the time in looking into this for me, greatly appreciated.
 
Alright, I thought that it isn't working for you since you've asked for a way to check the connections! By "up and running" I thought of the host and not the whole storage infrastructure :)
Interesting though that HP doesn't mention the compatibility at all.

Anyway, great to see that it works. In this situation I won't change anything as well unless it is clearly necessary!
 
found this with google

http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?19-LSI-RAID-Controller-HBA-Equivalency-Mapping&p=1626&viewfull=1#post1626

Grabbed the LSI firmware
http://www.lsi.com/support/products/Pages/LSI%20SAS%203442E-R.aspx

There are two different ones

Use this technique I did for my other HP card

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=951339&highlight=flash+lsi+1068

Standard you only get SATA 1 speeds - full speed on SAS... HP must limit the SATA side as per their SmartArray controllers.

So it enabled full SATA 2 or SATA 3 speeds, and also added Raid 1E
The two firmwares are as per other LSI cards and BR10i etc

Descriptions

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 1.5G/s and 3G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 6G/s SATA HDD.

and the other says

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 3G/s and 6G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 1.5G/s SATA HDD.

Depends if you need legacy SATA 1.5 drives / tapes etc or not.

Both packages have either IT or Raid mode firmwares inside

.
 
Stanza33 said:
found this with google

http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?19-LSI-RAID-Controller-HBA-Equivalency-Mapping&p=1626&viewfull=1#post1626

Grabbed the LSI firmware
http://www.lsi.com/support/products/Pages/LSI%20SAS%203442E-R.aspx

There are two different ones

Use this technique I did for my other HP card

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=951339&highlight=flash+lsi+1068

Standard you only get SATA 1 speeds - full speed on SAS... HP must limit the SATA side as per their SmartArray controllers.

So it enabled full SATA 2 or SATA 3 speeds, and also added Raid 1E
The two firmwares are as per other LSI cards and BR10i etc

Descriptions

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 1.5G/s and 3G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 6G/s SATA HDD.

and the other says

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 3G/s and 6G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 1.5G/s SATA HDD.

Depends if you need legacy SATA 1.5 drives / tapes etc or not.

Both packages have either IT or Raid mode firmwares inside

.
Click to expand...

sorry, haven't been keeping a track of what you are on about.....

is any of the info u posted relevant to the IBM M1015? if so, I'm kinda screwed - I need SATA 1.5 support...

also.. that HP PCI-X card in the OCAU link... can that connect to the HP expander?

cheers!
 
gmutale said:
sorry, haven't been keeping a track of what you are on about.....

is any of the info u posted relevant to the IBM M1015? if so, I'm kinda screwed - I need SATA 1.5 support...

also.. that HP PCI-X card in the OCAU link... can that connect to the HP expander?

cheers!
Click to expand...

If you need SATA 1 support, then choose the 1st firmware file.

As for the PCI-X card... can't see why it wouldn't it's just a 1068E card. similar cards like the DELL SAS 5i work with the SAS Expanders

You would just need a SFF-8484 to SFF-8087 cable like the SC44Ge for internal connection to the SAS Expander.

If you are using the External infiniband connection on the SC44Ge card, into the SFF-8088 MiniSAS external on the SAS Expander....then I am unsure if they make a SFF-8484 to SFF-8088 cable.. which would hook the PCI-X card up internally to externally??

You have got nothing to lose flashing the SC44Ge card..... even if you completely bork it (which is damn near impossible to do)... they pop up on ebay pretty regularly for cheap.

You can use the sasflash program to SAVE the original firmware anyways.... so if it doesn't work or doesn't do what you like......flash it back to what it was;)

.
 
Stanza33 said:
If you need SATA 1 support, then choose the 1st firmware file.

As for the PCI-X card... can't see why it wouldn't it's just a 1068E card. similar cards like the DELL SAS 5i work with the SAS Expanders

You would just need a SFF-8484 to SFF-8087 cable like the SC44Ge for internal connection to the SAS Expander.

If you are using the External infiniband connection on the SC44Ge card, into the SFF-8088 MiniSAS external on the SAS Expander....then I am unsure if they make a SFF-8484 to SFF-8088 cable.. which would hook the PCI-X card up internally to externally??

You have got nothing to lose flashing the SC44Ge card..... even if you completely bork it (which is damn near impossible to do)... they pop up on ebay pretty regularly for cheap.

You can use the sasflash program to SAVE the original firmware anyways.... so if it doesn't work or doesn't do what you like......flash it back to what it was;)

.
Click to expand...

mm ok, thanks!

I thought the DELL PERC 5i/6i werent compatible with the HP expander? Thought I saw it here in this thread somewhere..

btw.. u have PM :)
 
gmutale said:
mm ok, thanks!

I thought the DELL PERC 5i/6i werent compatible with the HP expander? Thought I saw it here in this thread somewhere..

btw.. u have PM :)
Click to expand...

Correct the PERC cards (hardware Raid) are not...... the SAS 5i is a plain HBA card... no Raid no memory etc;)
 
Stanza33 said:
found this with google

http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?19-LSI-RAID-Controller-HBA-Equivalency-Mapping&p=1626&viewfull=1#post1626

Grabbed the LSI firmware
http://www.lsi.com/support/products/Pages/LSI%20SAS%203442E-R.aspx

There are two different ones

Use this technique I did for my other HP card

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=951339&highlight=flash+lsi+1068

Standard you only get SATA 1 speeds - full speed on SAS... HP must limit the SATA side as per their SmartArray controllers.

So it enabled full SATA 2 or SATA 3 speeds, and also added Raid 1E
The two firmwares are as per other LSI cards and BR10i etc

Descriptions

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 1.5G/s and 3G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 6G/s SATA HDD.

and the other says

Please note:-
The firmware included in this download package is pre-configured to support the following

1) 1.5G/s, 3G/s, 6G/s SAS HDD.
2) 3G/s and 6G/s SATA HDD.

This firmware does not support/negotiate with 1.5G/s SATA HDD.

Depends if you need legacy SATA 1.5 drives / tapes etc or not.

Both packages have either IT or Raid mode firmwares inside

.
Click to expand...

Very good info, thank you very much, I will be looking into the LSI firmware flashing for defo.
 
Alright, so I finally got my HP SAS expander and 1880.

I created 2x 6x2TB RAID5's with the 1880 alone (due to old card using PCIe and had to move stuff over to the new RAID).

Then I installed the HP SAS expander and moved my RAID5's over there.

However, when I get into windows, it'll only detect ONE of the RAID5's in diskmgmt.msc. It shows up as 'foreign' and I can import it just fine.

If I unplug the RAID5 getting detected, then the other one detects fine in windows.

So to sum it up; When I have both RAID5's attached to the HP SAS expander, only ONE RAID5 shows up in windows. If I connect only ONE at the time, both detect just fine.

Also, both RAID5's and volumes show up as 'NORMAL' in RAID storage manager, both in BIOS and HTTP. But I still cannot get both working at the same time.

Help? :(
 
Maybe it has got something to do with the ports you're using.

What sort of Areca 1880 is it?
How are the drives, the expander and the controller connected to each other?
And how were they connected when you created both Raid 5 without the expander?

When you have all drives for both Raid 5 connected to the expander the controller shows both of them in the setup menu as normal but passes only one of them on to Windows?
 
I have the areca 1880i, with 2xSAS ports.

I have connected the expander with dual linking, ie 2xSAS cables.

Drives are connected to the expander with 4xSATA->SAS cables.

When I created the RAID the drives was connected with the same cables, just directly on the 1880i.

When I have both RAIDs connected to the expander, I get the following in windows: http://i.imgur.com/IwRP2.png

I have tried altering the ports on the expander with no luck.


EDIT: Both RAIDs had the same SCSI LUN id. Changed it, and it's working now!
 
Last edited:
Habitats said:
EDIT: Both RAIDs had the same SCSI LUN id. Changed it, and it's working now!
Click to expand...

That's what I thought of. If you had some of the bigger 1880's with 12 or more ports then it may have been another problem.
But you have created the Raids one by one because there aren't enough ports and so they got the same ID.
Pretty simple if you think about it afterwards :D

Good to see that it works now.
 
Last edited:
Stanza33, have you flashed your controller from a windows or a linux machine?
I think I will move the LSI sas controller to my windows7 machine for flashing, me think it will be easier.
 
nbat58 said:
Stanza33, have you flashed your controller from a windows or a linux machine?
I think I will move the LSI sas controller to my windows7 machine for flashing, me think it will be easier.
Click to expand...

I did mine from windows..... I used windows server 2003... because thats what I had.:rolleyes:
 
I havent got an expander as yet.. I'm just slowly buying up the pieces for my server.. how is flashing the expander done? via floppy??
 
this is first post and i don't know that i do it correctly or not but back to the problem i have....

i have Adaptec 6805 connected (RAID 5EE) with HP SAS Expander (FW 2.08) but it seem like dual linking doesn't work :mad: port #1 & #2 from 6805 connected to port #8 & #9 on the expander, but after the benchmark the score almost no different at all........

i would be a great help if someone could tell me if the 6805 support dual linking or i did something wrong?
 
There is no genreral advantage in performance with dual linking. The 6805 is a quite recent card so dual linking is probably supported but it depends on your setup if you can take advantage of it.
 
Thanks for the fast answer :) but am kinda sad i thought i could get advantage of the dual linking (RAID 5EE). or it would be great if you could give me more detail how should i set it up to get advantage out of the dual linking.

Thank You in Advance :)
 
By "setup" I mean your hardware, i.e. what kind of drives you are using and how many of them.
And then it is important how you access your data.
For example, it doesn't matter how fast your Raid 5 is when you're copying data to an external USB drive (2.0, it might matter a bit with USB 3.0) or to another system via GBit Ethernet. That's mainly because to reach their maximum bandwidth a single drive would already be sufficient.
And you have to take into account that you can basically write to the controllers write cache with PCIe x8 speed anyway.
Between the cache and the drives you can get more than 1 GB/s via a single link so basically you will be able to take advantage of dual linking when you...

...copy files to another fast raid array (that might be the case in large scale video editing, for example) or

...erm no, I think there is no "or".
I was just gonna say "...copy files via a 10 GBit Ethernet" but that's not true anyway since that is limited at around 1 GB/s as well so I can't think of another use for dual linking than copying files internally to another fast raid array.
 
one benefit of dual linking to, say, a 24 drive RAID, is how fast the controller can access it for operations like verifying/scrubbing or expanding, etc.
 
just realized I have my first bad sector out of 8 Hitachi 64Mb drives...so shopping 2TB gangs.

Is the Hitachi 5k3000 currently shipping any issue if I have a HighPoint 4320 and the HP SAS expander?

I know I could ask in the 5k3000 thread, but I don't think the HP SAS owners are as likely to comment there...
 
As far as I have heard the 5K3000s are the shit and work flawlessly with pretty much everything.
 
@JensS, did you ever get your LSI 9690SA-4I to work with the HP SAS expander? I am having the same trouble as you did in your post (1639 & 1644). I am having the exact same issue as you did about the controller not able to initialize.
Thank you for your reply.
 
Nope, I didn't. I've got LSI 3ware 9750-8i and -4i now and they work absolutely fine.
The LSI support is clueless, I've sort of tried everything I imagined would make some sense and sent a PM to SeanG, who apparently got it working. Sadly he didn't answer.
If I were to hazard a guess I would say the controller isn't able to negotiate a connection with the expander. This means that they haven't provided a timeout in case of such an error which is more or less unlikely I imagine.
Long story short: No sorry, I still don't know why they don't work together.
 
Hello folks,

I'm new to the [H]ard forums.

I decided to try my hand at building an HP SAS Expander-centric enclosure.

The enclosure (a Norco 4220) powers up, as does the Expander card, but my RAID adapter (an ATTO R680 based around a PMC Sierra chipset) doesn't see the expander or any disks connected to it.

The expander was connected via Port 1 (external) on the expander to the RAID adapter. It did not show up in the ATTO configuration utility. Running "SASPortList" on the CLI shows all links as "Down."

In taking things slowly, there's always the possibility that the miniSAS cable is bad. It was purchased new, but hey, you never know.

Could the problem be, alternatively, that I really should connect the expander's port8 or port9 (as recommended by HP) to my RAID adapter?

All this yakking to say, I'm not sure where I should begin troubleshooting this problem.

Thanks.
 
Thank you for the reply JensS. Weird how one card will work and then others won't. I don't know enough to have a clue why, but thank you for posting what did work for you.
 
Just wanted to update on my 3ware 9750-8i.
3 months without any issue so far, expanded my array 3 times, just started #4...

space.png


Final usable size for this box will be 40TB; 2TB RAID1 (OS) 38TB RAID6 (for Data) and a 'Hot Spare'.
Using 24 2TB Hitachi drives.

May have to look at getting another 24 bay case and second hp expander... hehe :D
 
Dumb question. Does this work the same way as a Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8? I have one of those and it is a POS and need to upgrade on my WHS. I have 22TB on this and it drops drives like crazy.
 
By "this" you mean the HP SAS Expander?
It works in a completely different way since it is a completely different type of device.
Your Supermicro card is a SAS HBA which means it basically shows all connected drives 1:1 to your operating system.
The HP SAS Expander is invisible to the OS and won't work without any SAS raidcontroller or HBA.
If you put the expander into your system and connect all of your drives then nothing will happen because the expander has its own kind of intelligence but it differs from raidcontrollers and HBAs since there is no direct connection to the OS.
So you can't replace your Supermicro HBA with it. It would just be an extension so you can connect more drives (if it is compatible). It's an expander, it expands the capabilities in terms of connectivity of your HBA or raidcontroller.
 
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