HP SAS Expander Owner's Thread

I had issues running them daisy-chained for whatever reason. I honestly forget what the problem was, but I just wound up doing individual connections from each card in the end. A simple SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 adapter is all that you'll need for a setup like mine.
 
I have to say, if you don't mind the lack of built-in external ports, the Intel SAS expander RES2SV240 (6 mini-SAS connectors total) works great (got mine from provantage) and I've been using it with my Areca 1880i with 7 3TB Hitachi drives in RAID5 on the expander no problem. To get around the lack of external ports, you could use a internal mini-SAS to external mini-SAS PCI bracket (got mine from pc-pitstop). Plus as an advantage, you can power the Intel off a single molex power instead of tying up a PCIe slot as with the HP. I have the HAF X case with the 9 PCI slots and I just hang mine off the 9th slot. To provide cooling I screwed in a low-height fan (Kaze-jyu slim) onto the Intel heatsink with wire-ties around the other holes in the card for support.
 
bro2 said:
Hi

I would like to contact SynergyDustin about purchasing a HP SAS expander, but can't PM him because of the ingenious "minimum 15 posts before any PMs" rule.

I don''t expect him to be reading this post, so could someone please PM me his email or something so I can contact him?

Thanks
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fyi I have 2 hp sas expanders in the for sale section if that doesn't work out for you. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1580550
 
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gmutale said:
so wish I had the $ - I'd take one of u :(
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I wish you had the money too so that I would then have some money :). Anyway, sorry to the rest for my part getting us off track here. We can keep the purchasing off thread and via pm. I know many of us like keeping the threads clean for troubleshooting!
 
I'm not sure what I am missing here. I have an Areca 1880iX-24 attached to 24 drives in a Norco chassis. I have a second Norco chassis with an HP expander card attached to the Areca controller. I have a set of 12 7K3000 Hitachi SATA drives in the primary enclosure. They all show to be operating as SATA600:

enc2.jpg


I have an identical drive in the second enclosure attached to the HP expander card and it only shows connected as SATA300:

enc3.jpg


The firmware on the HP card is 2.06. I thought the HP card would support 3g or 6g.
 
Hello all and thnx for the great forum and thread!

Okey i have been reading this forum hours and hours... And i have had lots of help!!

Now i have couple questions..

First of all here is my server specs and backrounds...

Mobo: P5Q Pro
CPU: e8400 @ 4 GHz // Will be updated to 4 core cpu if needed..
Mem: 8 gigs of 1066 MHz
PSU: 650W from BeQuiet // Will be updated to more W if needed..
GPU: GTS 8800 but i think i change it to old PCI GPU card to save PCI-E slots..
HDD: Many.. From different manus.. WD, Samsung, Seagate
Case: Norco 4224


What i think i will have @ the end of this project...

I think i will have atleast around 48 tibs of encrypted data in my hdds in a stand alone server @ the basement.. crypted with truecrypt software.. and yes u guys dont have to tell me that encrypting sounds stupid and are u a freaking moron or whatever.. and if possible, non raid mode.. i dont need raids.. this is storage system..

...or does it ever end?


now the Question..

First i was thinkin about getting Adaptec RAID 52445 controller but its pricy and atm non of the dealers dosnt have it.. should i wait?

Second choice what i have been thing now is to get this Expander..(HP 468406-B21 SAS Expander Card Smart Array) + some card with that.. Mobo has 2 x PCI-E x16 so should be enough to get Expander and Controller but i really cant decide what controller i should get so i must ask assistance from u guys!

HP SAS Expander + HighPoint RocketRaid 4322 or
+ HP Smart Array P411/256MB RAID or
+ HP Smart Array P411/512MB BBWC or
+ HP Smart Array P411/512MB Flash FBWC RAID or
+ something else?

Expander costs in Finland 400€.. over 550 US dollars and those controllers, almost all of those costs atleast same amount of money...yes pricy if u compare to usa prices.. Would be cheaper to order from US but how about warrantys?
Wouldnt like to send it back to overseas just coz Finlands HP support says send it back to US.. Same goes to controller cards.. Would be cool and nice to get it cheaper from US from some trustworthy supplier who can send overseas and accepts paypal!

// West
 
If you are looking for an exporter, I've shipped numerous RAID cards and HP SAS expanders to people overseas. Have plenty of references and I've even mailed things to a few people who have posted in this very thread.

As for a controller, I would skip Adaptec personally. You could just get one of the Supermicro SASLP-MV8 cards if you aren't going to be using RAID at all. If you want a better controller without spending too much, the HighPoint 432x cards seem to work rather well.
 
Hmmmm....

thnx for the fast answer!

So with that supermicros card i should connect it internaly with 2 x 8087 cables to a expander and i should be fine? and should work just plug and play..? atleast almost plug and play?

Dont know wich way it would be better... get a card with 8088 slot and connect with that to a Expander or should i get that supermicros and connect with 2 x 8087 cables..

i have free x4 ports so no problems but i can also have 2 x free x16 ports so... it is kinda 50/50 deal..

expander dosnt move any data anyways in pci-e slot so... these are tricky things!

i guess 1 x 8088 would be more stable and better way to connect and more speedy ofcourse..?

Can u pm me about prices what u have if u dont wanna add directly to this topic?
 
Won't make any difference on whether or not you connect it internally or externally as everything is identical except for the shape of the connectors. Connecting things externally tends to be a bit more expensive however. As far as I know, with the Supermicro card, there should be no setup involved apart from physically connecting everything.
 
Once again forget the previous gen SASLP-MV8 and similar SAS-1 based cards. Especially if you want dual linking. For anyone buying new I'd recommend LSI SAS2008 based HBA's, like the 9211-8i, etc. The controller is capable of far more IOPS.
 
so card like LSI SAS 9211-8i + HP Expander should work fine together and without larger problems.. and i can run it without raid mode? So.. 9211 -> 2 x 8087 cables -> 8 slot expander.. still 6 x 8087 slots left -> case 8087 connectors..

sorry for noobish questions!
 
Yes. That question is answered in post #1 and #2 if you look at the compatible hardware list.
 
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Yeah :D just need to be a noob! anyways.. thnx for the replys and Blue Fox... i cant send u a pm back! 2 msg away from 15 msg´s...
 
Ah, didn't know you needed 15 posts to do PMs. I guess I'll send you another one as you'll soon be able to reply anyway.
 
Got one question to my mind about this expander.. Didnt see any info about it in HP site or in forum..

in what kind of air temps can u run this thing? Was thinkin about putting case to a place where can be "cold" as the basement can be..
 
Lower temperatures shouldn't be a problem. It's normally the other extreme that's an issue.
 
Hey Blue Fox, I have two Adaptec 52445. I can't get an answer from adaptec if it is compatible with the HP SAS expander card. Did someone try it ?
 
alcaz said:
Hey Blue Fox, I have two Adaptec 52445. I can't get an answer from adaptec if it is compatible with the HP SAS expander card. Did someone try it ?
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Unfortunately I can't really say as I don't have one. If someone wants to send me one, I'll test it, but otherwise I don't know. :(
 
alcaz said:
Hey Blue Fox, I have two Adaptec 52445. I can't get an answer from adaptec if it is compatible with the HP SAS expander card. Did someone try it ?
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Of course you won't get an answer from Adaptec. The whole reason this thread was created was because you can't rely on what vendors say - half the time they don't know their own product.

Last time I checked (about a year ago), no the 52445 was not compatible. Adaptec 5 series in general have been a headache for use with at least the HP expander. Maybe the Intel expander is a different story, but I'm not going back to Adaptec controllers any time soon to test.
 
yah well I think I will buy one to test it and see. I'll look into intel expander I didn't know about them.
 
Btw, have anyone there found the way to flash expander without HP RAID card? Perhaps in Linux, etc.
 
I've been running smoothly for several months now, but this last week have had massive occurrences of data corruption, and I'm pretty sure it's happening between drives on the expander as well while between the SAS and motherboard SATA drives. I noticed the issue because a lot of .rars I've created report CRC errors, though they didn't report a problem when they were created.

Any quick thoughts on debugging the HP expander or the transfer between the SAS enclosure and the LSI controller?
 
If it's also happening on the sata drives connected to the mobo the it's not a problem with the expander
 
VERTIGGO said:
I've been running smoothly for several months now, but this last week have had massive occurrences of data corruption, and I'm pretty sure it's happening between drives on the expander as well while between the SAS and motherboard SATA drives. I noticed the issue because a lot of .rars I've created report CRC errors, though they didn't report a problem when they were created.

Any quick thoughts on debugging the HP expander or the transfer between the SAS enclosure and the LSI controller?
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Could be ANYTHING. Many variables. I'd create a separate thread about it, and detail what kind of make/model drives you have and what is connected to what, in what kind of chassis, what model LSI controller, what kind of PSU, as many details as you can provide.
 
odditory said:
Of course you won't get an answer from Adaptec. The whole reason this thread was created was because you can't rely on what vendors say - half the time they don't know their own product.
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It is so sad and unfortunate because that is so true.
 
dont know if anyone else has done it, but I have contacted LSI, asking them to make the 9240, 9260 & 9280 compatible with this expander.. here's to hoping they bring out a firmware fix (& soon!) :)
 
gmutale said:
dont know if anyone else has done it, but I have contacted LSI, asking them to make the 9240, 9260 & 9280 compatible with this expander.. here's to hoping they bring out a firmware fix (& soon!) :)
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Sending LSI customer support an email about increasing compatibility for a competing part based on a competing chipset will go right in the trash, hate to say. Keep in mind LSI is a company that is so steeped in marketing politics that they refused to consider implementing drive spindown in anything lower than their high end 926x and 928x based parts when I confronted a department head directly about it. They weren't interested in hearing about how people buying their lower end SAS cards could use power saving features, especially on drives in JBOD mode.

On the other hand the Intel expander based on the LSISAS2x36 expander chip works great with the 9260, no surprises there. In some ways I think the LSISAS2x36 may be the superior SAS2 expander chip, I just haven't had time or desire to do any meaningful shootout or side-by-side.
 
odditory said:
Sending LSI customer support an email about increasing compatibility for a competing part based on a competing chipset will go right in the trash, hate to say. Keep in mind LSI is a company that is so steeped in marketing politics that they refused to consider implementing drive spindown in anything lower than their high end 926x and 928x based parts when I confronted a department head directly about it. They weren't interested in hearing about how people buying their lower end SAS cards could use power saving features, especially on drives in JBOD mode.

On the other hand the Intel expander based on the LSISAS2x36 expander chip works great with the 9260, no surprises there. In some ways I think the LSISAS2x36 may be the superior SAS2 expander chip, I just haven't had time or desire to do any meaningful shootout or side-by-side.
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:(
aside from the mentioned intel expander, is there another LSI expander that supports as many hdds as this hp one?
 
I can only find information on the RES2SV240 which is based on LSISAS2x24. Can you guide me to the LSISAS2x36 based Intel expander?
 
Looking to build out a storage server a friend at work and am planning on using an SAS expander. Can you guys recommend a card that does RAID 5 and 6 that has been tested by someone with an HP expander? This system will start out without about 16 drives in a Norco 4224. Going to pair with a i5. It might be used for some light virtualization.
 
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