HP SAS Expander Owner's Thread

my expander in my 9211-8i setup is working at 3.0Gbps towards the drives, WD Green EADS with fan-out cables...
 
omniscence said:
@odditory:
Since you seem to got the HP expander working with a 9211-8i controller, did you check the signaling speed between drives and expander? I did try that a while ago and while the controller (tried two different 9211-8i) controllers negotiate 6Gbps with the expander (firmware 2.02), the expander always uses only 1.5Gbps towards the drives. The drives I used were Samsung F1, F3 and also a WD green drive. While one can blame the fan-out cables (I only tried cables from one manufacturer), the controller itself uses 3Gbps when the drives are directly attached. I could never solve this problem, maybe it is just a faulty expander.
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dirtrider resolved same by replacing expander. strike two against grey market units. seems a very small percentage of these have some silent hardware rev that's stuck at SATA-150.

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1036497033&postcount=1179
 
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So I will replace the expander. If it doesn't work, I can live with the 2x9211-8i solution, these cards are pretty cheap considering their performance.
 
Cyberrad said:
I am experiencing issues as well.

MB= SuperMicro MBD-X7DWN+O
Processor= Xeon E5405
RAM= 8GB DDR2 667 FB-DIMM
Raid Card= ARC1880i w/BBU both ports to the Expander
Expander=HP SAS Expander
Drives=
6x Samsung 1TB HD103UJ
3x Seagate 1TB STS31000333AS
10x Seagate 1TB ST31000340AS
2x Seagate 143.3GB ST3146855SSS512
3x Seagate 143.3GB ST3146855SSHPS2

Arrays=
RAID 5 560.0GB All SAS drives
RAID 6 17TB All SATA drives

The SAS array completes fine with no issues and performs as expected. When I add the SATA array things start getting hinky. The array builds after a few days and I begin to run HD Tune Pro on the array. When testing I have 1 or two drives at random drop out and the array becomes degraded. The only way to get these drives back are to reboot the server and add them as Hot-Spares which means a few more days of rebuilding. Rinse and repeat. Yesterday after the latest rebuild everything appeared to be working, even after running HD Tune Pro, so I started the upgrade to the newest firmware. That was successful and again everything looked fine until I started to populate the array with data. The entire HP SAS expander dropped from the Areca card. So I restarted the server and after the BIOS screen I got nothing. I unplug one of the ports to the expander and get to the Areca card and notice that the SATA array is completely gone. At this point I plugged both ports back into the expander and restart. I get the blank screen so I try and pull the battery and see what I can get. I get the Areca screen so I plug it back in and reboot. I finally have the Areca screen with everything plugged in but still I don't have the SATA array. At this point I went a head and left it because I need the SAS array for my VMs.

Is there anything I can try that would make this headache go away? I am at the point that I am thinking of trying the Areca card with the 846E2 I got from Blue Fox. I planned on using it as just a chassis to add more disks to the Areca card.
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I just tried to rebuild again and the entire expander dropped from the Areca card. Early indications where that everything was working fine then without any drives dropping the entire expander drops. Anyone have any ideas other then the fact that I have SAS and SATA on the same card? Does anyone have proof that the Areca 1880i and or the HP SAS Expander has issue with running both SATA and SAS at the same time?
 
Hey guys, just a quick question with the SAS expander. I currently have a highpoint RocketRAID 2680 with 8 HDDs connected via 2 x 8087 to 4 SATA cables. If I connect the 8087 cables to the SAS expander and connect the SAS expander to the rocketraid will I have to reinitialize everything (i.e. will I lose all the stuff on the current array)?
 
@GM2K: No you don't have to reinitialize the array. Think of the SAS expander in terms of an Ethernet switch. If you have two computers connected back to back with an Ethernet cable right now (your RAID controller to a HDD), you can simply disconnect one computer, inset an Ethernet switch (SAS expander in your case) connect the computer you disconnected before to the Ethernet switch and add additional computers to the Ethernet switch (additional HDDs to the SAS expander). Hope this answers your question.
 
Thanks treadstone, that's great news. I was hoping that would be the case as I don't want to move the terrabytes of stuff off (since i don't want to lose what's on there) and spend days re-setting everything up. Being new to SAS expanders though I thought it best to ask the people who know :)
 
I've just plugged in my expander card, and can't see any of the disks attached to it. I've connected it to my SASMV8LP using ones of the short cables I used initially to connect the SASMVLP8 to the backplane - are these the right cables to use, or is there some funky crossover cable that I need to use?


G
 
gmitch64 said:
I've just plugged in my expander card, and can't see any of the disks attached to it. I've connected it to my SASMV8LP using ones of the short cables I used initially to connect the SASMVLP8 to the backplane - are these the right cables to use, or is there some funky crossover cable that I need to use?


G
Click to expand...

There's no crossover cable, those are the right cables. Also check to make sure you're using port #9 (the lowest / closest to the end of the card).
 
So guys. I need some input on what motherboard I should use.
Ideally I would like to see integrated graphics, and 3 8x pci-e slots. One for Raid controller, one for SAS expander, one for 4 port gigabit NIC (4x pci-e works just as good for NIC)

I can't seem to find a suitable mobo so any tips are welcome.

Thanks
 
the SUPERMICRO X8SI6-F looks promising. I save a lot of stash on not having to buy a separate raid card. just pop a i3 cpu in there and be done with it :)
 
Read through the thread. Just wanted to chime in to make sure I'm understanding this correct. Please correct my configs if I'm mistaken.

For hook up, these configs should work by my understanding:

1. RAID/HBA external SFF-8088
||
external SFF-8088 (port 1) of HP
||
8 internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP
||
SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP to SFF-8087 of backplane


2. RAID/HBA external SFF-8088
||
external SFF-8088 (port 1) of HP
||
8 internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP
||
SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP to SATA cable(s)
||
SATA hard drive(s)


3. RAID/HBA internal SFF-8087 (ala AOC-SASLP-MV8)
||
internal SFF-8087 to external SFF-8088 cable
||
external SFF-8088 (port 1) of HP
||
8 internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP
||
SFF-8087 (port 2 to 9) of HP to SFF-8087 backplane


4. RAID/HBA internal SFF-8087 (ala AOC-SASLP-MV8)
||
internal SFF-8087 (port 8) of HP
||
internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 7, 9) of HP
||
7 internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 7, 9) of HP to SFF-8087 backplane


5. TWO RAID/HBA internal SFF-8087 (ala AOC-SASLP-MV8)
||
TWO internal SFF-8087 (port 8 & 9) of HP
||
internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 7) of HP
||
6 internal SFF-8087 (port 2 to 7) of HP to SFF-8087 backplane

I only included one example of turning a SFF-8087 to SATA as I feel most people won't be interested in that.

If one wants to split a SAS port to SATA, I would recommend the Dell method as per OCAU forums:

Dell P/N: 0HN359 SAS 5 PCIE Adapter Card USC-51 MY412
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=879827

Really too bad wide multilane to mini SAS cables are so expensive. The $8 Ebay cable is backwards (mini to multi) and seems to be hit or miss. $20 for a PCIE SAS port is pretty tough to beat. The Dell plus DealExtreme wide multilane to SATA cable combo really doesn't interest me. :(
 
@THE JEW (RaVeN): Your configs 1 to 4 all use either one or both ports (port 8 and/or 9) on the HP expander to connect to drives. AFAIK, they are intended and only usable to connect to an HBA. I don't use port 8 and port 9 is connected to my HBA on both of my HP SAS expanders (both in the same system, connected to one HBA). Maybe someone else has a configuration in which port 8 is actually connected to drives or a backplane and can confirm that this actually works.
 
olavgg said:
Do the SUPERMICRO X8SI6-F with a i3 cpu work with ECC memory?
Click to expand...

The motherboard will support ECC without any problems, but NOT with an i3 processor.

If you're looking for a cheap platform to utilise ECC memory, then you're probably much better off with AMD hardware, rather than Intel.
 
young_einstein said:
The motherboard will support ECC without any problems, but NOT with an i3 processor.

If you're looking for a cheap platform to utilise ECC memory, then you're probably much better off with AMD hardware, rather than Intel.
Click to expand...

Well, thats not what SM says:
SM FAQ
Taken from this thread

Apparently, with the new iX lineup, you just have to use a server chipset, to get ECC support.
 
dirtrider said:
@ odditory, domenic, et al.

I received my replacement sas expander card today and it looks to be working fine. I am running 3 different types of drives now with all showing "SATA300+NCQ(Depth32)" (1x SAMSUNG HD154UI, 9x ST31500341AS, 2x WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0). I did not do any firmware updates or anything to the areca 1880i and everything is exactly as it was before minus the new sas expander replacement. Hopefully I just had a flaky card and nobody else here has to deal with this. The areca mcraid shows - Enclosure#2 : HP HP SAS EXP Card 2.06(16).
Click to expand...

Out of interest, noticed that I have my drives running at SATA150 at the moment on one of my rigs. I've bought my expanders from HP so they should be good. :) I guess I'll try updating the firmware.
 
I even had an i5-650 running in an X8SIA-F board with unbufferd ECC memory. The BIOS bitched that the i5 was unsupported, but it is a skippable warning. The BIOS reports ECC memory, but the linux EDAC driver did not detect anything. I did no further research if the ECC actually worked, but I guess it did. I replaced the i5 with an X3460 later, because VT-d did not work with the i5 (although it's capable) on that board.

I now received my second expander (v2.06, the first has v2.02) and it exhibited the same problem with all drives on the expander only working with 1.5 Gbps. When I daisy-chain my expanders, they negotiate 3.0 Gbps between them and for the uplink, however all drives, wether they are on the first or the second expander will only run at 1.5 Gbps.

I also tried a different fan-out cable, same result.
 
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6 arrived today, ready to go. PM for any additional information. Thanks folks.

FYI these include the cables.
 
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Yes they've been readily available at many online retailers for $300-$400 for about a year now.
 
treadstone said:
@gmitch64: Go back one page and have a look at my post # 1227 and read from there ...
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Yup... I've taped pin A11 (on the non component side of the board), and the light is flashing quite happily - it was solid before. However, I am still having some issues.

My HBA is a SASLP-MV8, case is a Norco 4220. When I connect the top 2 rows of disks to the MV8, they are all recognised, so the disks and cables are all OK.

When I connect the MV8 to the SAS Expander (to port 9 one the card), I get an error

PD Not Ready or Unknown device type

I've tried swapping out the cables between the MV8 and the HP, and it makes no difference. Any ideas, or do I have a bad expander?


G
 
runt said:
Thats what I get for not reading through 64 pages of posts ;)
Click to expand...

easy enough to type 'hp sas expander' into google - the shopping links come right up.

but yeah no doubt the thread is a mess though with 90+% off topic posts. that's why the info and OP is going to be moved, consolidated and updated elsewhere where I have the ability to limit the noise ratio a bit better.
 
Just installed my new hp expander today on motherboard and tried to dual link through my areca raid1880i with no sucess. The areca card will not post past f/w and times out.
I have tried all ports to reconize drives single cable on port 8 dual cable on 8&9 nothing.
the only way to get raid arrays back up is with hp expander not connected. Is there a firmware glitch or update? this is a new card in oem box. The worst part is my raid 0 array with operating system will not reconize now
helllllllllllllllllp
 
well tried the pin 11 tape seem to show steady blink on led 6 along with steady on for 1,2,&3. Still cannot get the areca1880i card to post past f/w with any of the the cables connected to hp expander. As soon as they are removed no problems. firmware update? again this is a new card. Read most post in the owners forum and I'm questioning the card now
thanks in advance for help and the previous post
 
@fulsat: which motherboard, what makes/models of drives, and where did you buy HP expander?
 
Is the motherboard negotiable? Frankly consumer boards seem to be more hit-or-miss, including my old ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer, than dedicated server boards. I know you are focused on getting the current setup working, but in the long term minimizing hassle when you have TBs of data is a good thing for anxiety levels.
 
What mobo would you recommend for my i7 930 then or would i have to upgrade cpu too? I can take any extended size that is fine. It is just hard to beat 3 x16 length pci-e slots and a couple x1 as well. I know supermicro made some boards for desktop processors but nothing that looked appealing last time I checked. Recommendations?
 
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