DEGRADED pool - too many errors

[Stux]

One for every four drives? That's just an electrical connection, with no logic, which is fine (since you have the separate expander).

That's the one, if your Intel SAS Expander is a 24 port, then you should be able to run one of the SFF-8087 cables from the HBA to it, and 5 from the expander to 5 of the Norco backplanes, and then the final SFF-8087 cable from the other HBA port to the last backplane.

I've actually just ordered an Intel 36 port SAS expander for my Norco 4224, so that should be fun when it arrives. I *should* be able to use dual-link and connect all 24 bays, and 4 additional SSDs connected up to a single HBA.

Booting through the expander is apparently tricky though.

Still, that leaves 10 sata ports on the motherboard...

 

[Ericloewe]

Booting through the expander is apparently tricky though.

Is it? That sounds weird.

 

[Johnnie Black]

Booting through the expander is apparently tricky though.

Same as booting from the HBA, all disks connected to the expander will appear in the HBA bios (if bios is enable)

 

[Stux]

Just referencing the manual :)

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/server-products/server-systems/000007266.html

Current SCU controller design limitations prevent any hard drive attached to a SAS expander card from being a boot device when both SCU connectors are attached to the SAS expander card.

But plan to try anyway

 

[Ericloewe]

Only when both ports are connected to the same expander? I'm having a hard time thinking of a scenario that ends up with that oddly specific restriction... I mean, what difference can eight lanes make over four? The firmware is clearly capable of deciphering an SAS tree on its own, as seen in the boot menu, so where's the limitation?

 

[Stux]

I plan to connect both HBA ports to the expander for 24 HDs and 4 SSDs.

 

[Johnnie Black]

Just referencing the manual :)

But plan to try anyway

Maybe it's different with all Intel hardware, but with a LSI 9211-8i dual linked to a RES2CV240 I can select all connected devices as the boot device, though I never tried to actually boot from one since I never needed, but assumed that if a device can be selected as boot it would work, let us know what you find.

 

[Osiris]

As said I had this setup running fine for years in the Norco 4224 case.
Just an old raid controller instead of an HBA (but using it as an hba)

Why the 4 ssds if I may ask, Stux ?

Xeon cooler (the site said boxed ffs) arriving tonight so I might start building.
LSI card arriving 3 weeks - 1 month from Hong diddly Kong.
EU price for this card: 250 €. Hong Kong price 65 €. Possible taxes: 30 € (I guess).
Well worth the wait. Risking losing data with that degraded set though.

 

[Stux]

As said I had this setup running fine for years in the Norco 4224 case.
Just an old raid controller instead of an HBA (but using it as an hba)

Why the 4 ssds if I may ask, Stux ?

Couple reasons, I plan to pass-through HBA into FreeNAS in ESXi, so boot disk, maybe l2arc and maybe even an ssd pool. Haven't decided yet.

Xeon cooler (the site said boxed ffs) arriving tonight so I might start building.
LSI card arriving 3 weeks - 1 month from Hong diddly Kong.
EU price for this card: 250 €. Hong Kong price 65 €. Possible taxes: 30 € (I guess).
Well worth the wait. Risking losing data with that degraded set though.

It's probably, but hopefully not, a Chinese counterfeit :(

 

[Osiris]

It's probably, but hopefully not, a Chinese counterfeit :(

That, or the EU market is charging us ridiculous prices, compared to the manufacturing cost.

 

[Stux]

I've actually just ordered an Intel 36 port SAS expander for my Norco 4224, so that should be fun when it arrives. I *should* be able to use dual-link and connect all 24 bays, and 4 additional SSDs connected up to a single HBA.

My RES2CV360 arrived. Initial placement and testing, including boot results here