Finally found a standalone SAS expander!

[unhappy_mage]

Chenbro is producing a standalone SAS expander which looks rather convenient - it fits in a standard PCI slot, and connects to the host and the drives. There's one version intended for occupying a system with a motherboard (it has two internal host connections, one external, and 4 disk) and one intended for external enclosures (which has no internal connections). They look like fun.

I haven't seen anywhere selling these, but I've only been looking ten minutes. Anyone know how much these run?

 

[longblock454]

How come no daisy connector? That would make them perfect!

 

[UICompE02]

You should be able to daisy chain them assuming the host-side port is a subtractive decode port. Just connect them together with a 4-wide crossover cable.

I can't figure out which company's expander they are using, so I can't discern any more information about it. Any ideas whose expander is on this?

 

[unhappy_mage]

According to the manual:

The CHENBRO SAS expander is based on LSI SASX28 IC

Datasheet for that doesn't mention autoconfiguration that I saw (but I kinda skimmed it - it's 30 pages and I have homework to finish ) but it'd be neat if it did. How about using one of those as a "switch"?