Hardware Compatibility and Advice

[Davvo]

• -EL1 and EL2 backplanes use expanders, so only a single cable is necessary, though two cables are also doable. Additional ports allow for cascading expanders.
  • -EL2 backplanes have two expanders for dual-port usage, which doesn't add much of anything

Is bandwith affected by using a single cable (and as such connector in the HBA) for all the 12 drives?

 

[Ericloewe]

I mean, 4x 6 Gb/s (SAS2) is less than 12x 6 Gb/s, but when did your stack of spinning rust last push 6 Gb/s? With SAS3, there's even less of a problem.

It's worth analyzing with SSDs, but a non-issue with spinning rust.

 

[Davvo]

I mean, 4x 6 Gb/s (SAS2) is less than 12x 6 Gb/s, but when did your stack of spinning rust last push 6 Gb/s? With SAS3, there's even less of a problem.

It's worth analyzing with SSDs, but a non-issue with spinning rust.

Yeah I just wanted to understand the behaviour.

 

[Randymations]

Now here's another issue, I missed a personal "development cycle" for myself and will not be able to construct this server for about three months. Not being very knowledgeable of the market, should I order the parts now and build it later or order everything later? On the one hand I expect prices to generally be lower later but on the other I don't want to miss the discount on that server.

 

[Ericloewe]

Could go either way. No point in overthinking it.