is 8+ drives really possible on LSI 9211-8i?

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digity

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I picked up two LSI 9211-8i 8 port SATA/SAS cards so I can add more than 8 drives to my FreeNAS box. I checked the specs on this card and the LSI website says one card can support "256 Non-RAID SAS/SATA devices". Is this achievable with one card and FreeNAS with the same performance as using multiple HBA cards? If it is possible, what do I need hardware and software wise I to get 20 drives set up on one card and working in FreeNAS?
 

golfleep

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You'd need to get a SAS2 expander, like the Intel RES2CV240 or similar, or a chassis that comes with an expander and backplane, as well as the various cables to connect the 9211 to the expander (SFF8087 to SFF8087) and then the expander to the drives. As long as you have the correct version of IT firmware (currently P20) on your 9211, FreeNAS should see all the drives you have connected through the expander.
 

nojohnny101

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Scharbag

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The 9211-8i is plenty capable of running a ton of drives. Each SAS channel is 6Gbps and the card has 8 of them. So effectively, there is 8GBps available in the card. PCI-e 2.0 8x cannot even handle the full bandwidth of the card. Given that a spinning rust hard-drive might give your 130MBps at the best of times, then, with PCI-e 8X, you need to have 30 HDDs at full bandwidth to saturate the bus. For any home based system, you will likely not have an issue.

I personally used to use a single 9211-8i with an Intel SAS expander for 34 HDDs in a single chassis and had no issues:)

And the 9211-8i is totally the pimp when used with FreeNAS. Due to a case switch, I now use 3 of them along with an Intel SAS expander over 2 chassis and all is totally groovey.

Snoochy, boochy!!
 

digity

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Great info, but I'm confused... I see on eBay the Intel RES2SV240 and RES2CV240 SAS expander cards starts at $130 and $180, respectively, but the HP SAS expander card starts at $30. If they essentially do the same thing, why the huge price difference between the Intels and HP? The first phase of this current FreeNAS build is going to have 10 HDDs then eventually max out at 20 HDDs (chassis limitation)... which card should I go for?
 

Scharbag

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RES2SV240 is the one I have and it works. Either one should though.

The HP SAS expander is not based on LSI SAS2008 chipset. I am sure it would work but I like LSI.

Cheers,
 

digity

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I went with the HP SAS Expander. The LSI 9211-i8 card picked it up out of the box and FreeNAS saw all 10 drives upon boot.
 

digity

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I discovered my HP SAS Expnader was limited to 3.0 Gbps speeds for SATA drives, so I swap it out for a Intel RES2CV240 SATA/SAS Expander (which is 6.0 Gbps for SATA drives). The problem is I have a 24 drive case but the max the RES2CV240 does is 20. The LSI 9211-i8 HBA controller has two ports - one to the Intel expander and the other port is currently free. Can I simply attach the orphaned SFF-8087 cable to that available port on the LSI to get the remaining 4 drives connected or will it not work because it's expecting an expander since there's an expander on the other port?
 

Ericloewe

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Can I simply attach the orphaned SFF-8087 cable to that available port on the LSI to get the remaining 4 drives connected
Yes. The only potential issue is OCD. No technical issues.
 

Scharbag

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Ericloewe

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In this case, compulsively obsessing over the fact that those four drives are connected differently/have a faster link.
 

digity

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In this case, compulsively obsessing over the fact that those four drives are connected differently/have a faster link.
Never a dull moment with you, man LOL

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
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