Sas Conroller

[m0n0chr0me]

Hi there.
I'm planning to create Freenas storage with this controller. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133139615650?ul_noapp=true
Does it supports only 8 disks? so will I need 3 ones to use this case: https://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/846/SC846E1-R1200.cfm
thanx a lot!

 

[sretalla]

You can get a SAS Expander and use that single HBA for a lot more than 8 disks. At that price, it may just be cheaper to get 3 of them as long as you have the slots available on your motherboard... it will be overkill, but will work fine.

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

Yes - 4 disks per port w/2 ports = 8 disks. You will need 2 cables per card.

 

[sretalla]

One more point... it depends on your chassis... if you're using the Supermicro 4U, the backplane in there has an expander built-in, so that card and a single cable to the backplane would be enough... (4U SAS / SATA Expander Backplane with single LSI SASX36 Expander Chip)

I didn't look at your chassis in the first response. Sorry for that.

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

Yep - didn't read that either. But, it looking at the manual there seems to be a number of backplane options. One seems to be all SATA connectors (24). Others have SAS connectors with expanders...

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Yep - didn't read that either. But, it looking at the manual there seems to be a number of backplane options. One seems to be all SATA connectors (24). Others have SAS connectors with expanders...

You're right some 846 chassis have direct attach backplanes, for example the SAS-846TQ backplane. If your backplane is the SAS-846EL, SAS2-846EL, SAS3-846EL, or the appended 2 model of these then you can get by with a single HBA. It is somewhat difficult to tell which chassis model is paired with which backplane but I _think_ only the chassis with TQ in the model number use the direct attach backplane. If you're not in a huge rush you could wait until the chassis arrives and then check the backplane at that time.

Under

Backplane

the product page shows

Single input/output SFF 8087 connectors

which to me is a fairly strong indication you've got an expander backplane.

Edit: Looking further at the product page, it lists the specific backplane as the BPN-SAS-846EL1 which would've been my guess given the speed listed there of 3Gb. You can check the manual for the various options for using that backplane and how to attach it to your HBA.

You may be interested in this video regarding using an expander to run 24 drives directly using a single 2-port HBA and an expander. In fact, you can pick up an expander from the maker of that video here.