SOLVED New to the forum, please help me with some hardware issues

[De_Gutch]

Hi,

Got a used Supermicro chassis, everything seems to be working but I am not sure if the backplane jumpers are correctly configured, I am afraid that something will break if not. Aside from the bakplane (SAS 743TQ) I a using a Broadcom LSI 9201-8i HBA and 4 WD Red HDs.

Can someone please tell me the correct way to place the jumpers? The instructions mention a default I²C setting, is this right or should SGPIO be used in this case?

Thanks for your help

 

[JohnK]

Hi,

Got a used Supermicro chassis, everything seems to be working but I am not sure if the backplane jumpers are correctly configured, I am afraid that something will break if not. Aside from the bakplane (SAS 743TQ) I a using a Broadcom LSI 9201-8i HBA and 4 WD Red HDs.

Can someone please tell me the correct way to place the jumpers? The instructions mention a default I²C setting, is this right or should SGPIO be used in this case?

Thanks for your help

hello, welcome to the forum.

my understanding is that SGPIO or I2C are reporting interfaces back to your motherboard. Not knowing what the rest of your hardware is, it is difficult to tell which one you want, but I believe in most use cases, neither will blow up your system. Probably useful to determine which drive failed etc.

It is probably more important to make sure you have your card correct flushed to IT mode etc.

 

[De_Gutch]

Hi John,

sorry completely forgot about the rest of the hardware.

Case: SM SuperChassis 745BTQ-R920B (at least that's what I believe)
MoBo: SM X11SSL-F
Proc: Xeon E3 1240 v5
RAM: 32 GB ECC
Extra NIC: Quad port I350-T4 1GB

From what I gathered reading this or other forum, the LSI 9201 doesn't needs to be flashed, because it has no other mode besides IT. That's the reason that I got it.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jgreco]

LSI 9201 doesn't needs to be flashed,

Well, that's only true if it has the right IT firmware on it. There are lots of older versions that you still need to flash the correct firmware onto.

 

[JohnK]

Hi John,

sorry completely forgot about the rest of the hardware.

Case: SM SuperChassis 745BTQ-R920B (at least that's what I believe)
MoBo: SM X11SSL-F
Proc: Xeon E3 1240 v5
RAM: 32 GB ECC
Extra NIC: Quad port I350-T4 1GB

From what I gathered reading this or other forum, the LSI 9201 doesn't needs to be flashed, because it has no other mode besides IT. That's the reason that I got it.

Thanks for your help!

this Q&A from Supermicro website might help you, if you really need it. Seems like both your motherboard and backplane have the connectors. CBL-0157L seems like around $15.

Question Have X9SCL-F and SAS815TQ, and you have 4 HDDs: I have a motherboards and chassis that I’m trying to get some activity lights on the LED’s for triggering a drive back for example, when a drive fails. We are using Software raid (mdadm) vs hardware raid cards – the LED’s work as expected with hardware raid cards. For example, using the commands for sgpio via CentOS do not do anything. I have attached the 8 ping cable from the motherboard and the backplane sideband port but still unable to get it to work. I have also verified the jumpers from the backplane manual. Is there any information available to get this working?

Answer Please try connections I-SATA0 to I-SATA3 to backplane port SAS #0 to SAS #3. Also, connect SGPIO cable from T-SGPIO1 connector on motherboard, to backplane Sideband JP51. Set backplane to SGPIO mode. Double check jumper pins orientation. Once that is done you may run commands for SGPIO.

 

[JohnK]

Case: SM SuperChassis 745BTQ-R920B (at least that's what I believe)

I have seen a lot of chopping and changing of Supermicro parts on ebay. This model luckily easy to identify by just pulling out a power supply. It should be clearly marked 920W platinum.

 

[De_Gutch]

Hi again,

jgreco: Had no idea, thanks. The config utility is reporting BIOS v7.39.02.00 (2018.08.0300) and FW 20.00.07.00-IT. Could not find newer versions in the Broadcom site.

John: If I understand correctly the jumpers have no effect on the function of the board besides some monitoring? I will be configuring them as SGPIO like suggested by SM. Will be getting the cable too.

By the way the MoBo is not a X11SSL-F but a X11SSM-F. I placed the NIC controller in slot 4 (PCI-E 3.0 x4) and the HBA in slot 7 (PCI-E 3.0 x8) is this OK?

And yes, the power supply is a PWS-920P-SQ.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[JohnK]

Hi again,

jgreco: Had no idea, thanks. The config utility is reporting BIOS v7.39.02.00 (2018.08.0300) and FW 20.00.07.00-IT. Could not find newer versions in the Broadcom site.

John: If I understand correctly the jumpers have no effect on the function of the board besides some monitoring? I will be configuring them as SGPIO like suggested by SM. Will be getting the cable too.

By the way the MoBo is not a X11SSL-F but a X11SSM-F. I placed the NIC controller in slot 4 (PCI-E 3.0 x4) and the HBA in slot 7 (PCI-E 3.0 x8) is this OK?

And yes, the power supply is a PWS-920P-SQ.

Thanks to both of you!

I have mine in slot 6 and 5 for HBA and NIC. Nice thing about SuperMicro is that it will not let you die wondering when it doesn't like a slot.

One thing that I have learned about doing these smaller boards in large chassis is that the cables are often not long enough! For example, I had to add fan extensions for all my fans. Once bought a new serial cable and had to go back a buy longer one! Same with breakout cables.

 

[De_Gutch]

Hi again,

I want to thank both of you for your help. My server is up and running now and everything is working.

I placed my cards in slots 6 and 4, installed EXSI and then proceeded to create two VMs for Home Assistant and TrueNAS. Of course the HBA is in passthrough. Created a new pool with the four HDs in raidz2 and I am reading the best practices to set up datasets.

Will be surely asking more questions later, but for now I am happy that the hardware and ESXI are working properly.

I had no problems with the cables lenght, actually the breakout cables are too long, but managed to pack them below the green fans. By the way after a closer inspection I found out the they are already connected to the SGPIO connectors, if I had been more observant then it would have been clear from the start that the bakplane jumpers need to be in SGPIO mode.

 

[jgreco]

Lovely, always nice to hear about success. Keep us informed. ;-)