BUILD SC846, SAS expander, HBA

[Stefan75]

Hello

Sorry, this is a bit off topic because it's not a freenas setup, but you guys know so much ;)
I've been planing to replace my USB3 disk setup (8 disks, 30TB) with a more scalable SAS solution.
- Supermicro SC846 with SAS846A BPN-SAS-846A 6G Backplane ($300)
- 6 x SFF-8087 cables
- HP 24 Bay PCI-E SAS Expander Card ($15)
- PCIe riser card with molex power
- 10m external SFF-8088 cable (I want to keep the noisy server in another room)
- PC with a HBA (SAS2008 I guess)

Will this work?
What speed can I expect per disk (currently 150MB/s with USB3)?
Will I still get smart data over SAS+expander?
Is there a better/cheaper/more-efficient way to connect 10-20 SATA disks to a PC?

 

[Ericloewe]

10m external SFF-8088 cable (I want to keep the noisy server in another room)

It's not a server, it's a drive rack.

- 10m external SFF-8088 cable

That's really at the limit of what SAS is rated for. Keeping them to 5 meters or less sounds like a better idea, especially since you need SFF-8087/SFF-8088 adapters in the mix.

What speed can I expect per disk (currently 150MB/s with USB3)?

Individually, as fast as the disk can be. Collectively, 24 Gb/s.

Will I still get smart data over SAS+expander?

Yes.

Is there a better

Probably not.

cheaper

Yes, but it's not reliable.

 

[Stefan75]

I'm now thinking of getting a DL380G6 and the SC846... so DL380+HBA and SC846+Expander.
But I have some questions...
- is it ok to connect the HBA with a SFF-8087 to the expander (servers are next to each other, through open pci slot) or should I use external/SFF-8088?
- does SAS support hot connect of disk arrays (like USB eject or iSCSI disconnect)?
- can I use the HP ILO etc for free (no licence)?