Silverstone DS380 and M1015

[djb61]

I'm currently looking at building a new FreeNAS box, one option that was looking tempting is:

• Silverstone DS380
• Supermicro A1SAi-2750F
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 (IT mode)
• 8x4TB disks

Looking at the details on the DS380 though it seems like if the expansion card exceeds 6" wide or 2.35" high then you lose the 3rd hotswap bay and therefore can no longer get 8 disks in the box. Looking at the dimensions of the M1015 it seems to be 6.6" x 2.7" so at first glance looks like it will not fit. I'm wondering if anyone has this case and can say whether this is a hard limit or if there is any chance this board would fit (given it is only slightly larger than the limits given).

Thanks.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Looking at the pictures, it looks like it will actually be a hard stop as it will physically impact the drive cage at any length beyond 6". Check page 17 of the manual here.

What about switching boards to the ASRock C2750D4I or similar? You'll have all the SATA you need onboard, so you'd be able to toss the M1015 from the build.

 

[djb61]

The ASRock is an option however I'm a little reluctant based on not perceiving ASRock as having the same quality as SuperMicro and also I don't feel as comfortable with a Marvell SATA controller as I do with say Intel or LSI.
I guess it might be back to the drawing board for the moment.

 

[djb61]

For the benefit of anyone else considering this hardware and finding this thread...

In the end I decided to go with the DS380, supermicro board and the M1015. Without modifications the M1015 will not fit without encroaching on the 3rd drive bay, however a little bit of work with a hacksaw on the side blanking plate for the 3rd bay allows the card to fit without obstructing the drive at all.

I've added a couple of images to illustrate this for anyone else wanting to give it a go. This was by no means a difficult mod to carry out.

 

[DJ9]

A dremel tool is way more awesome than a hacksaw. ;) lol

 

[keffosteffo]

Signed up just to say thanks! :) Now I now that my NAS-build will work!

 

[ben_jamin_s]

Sweet! I also wanted to say thanks for the post as it proved I'd be able to fit an M1015 when the time comes.

In the short term, I was trying other PCIe cards in the A1SAi-2750F and its not recognizing them (specifically an x1 SI 3132 and an x8 HP 10GbE card), though it does recognize a simple x1 PCIe serial card. That is, the cards don't show in EFI shell's devices or Linux's lspci.

Just curious if you had to set any special BIOS options for the M1015 to show up or if it worked OOTB?

 

[djb61]

I had no problems with the M1015, it recognised it OOTB without any tweaks.
I also did the flash to the LSI 9211-8 IT firmware using this board. For that I did have to use the efi version of the flash tool after booting into the motherboard EFI shell as the DOS version wouldn't work. Once I switched to the EFI tool however the crossflash worked fine.

 

[ben_jamin_s]

Thanks for the feedback! I will probably inquire with Supermicro support about the cards which are not working, but I'll also pickup another M1015. (I actually bought one, but it was DOA, didn't work in any of 3 different motherboards.)

 

[demon]

This is basically what I did with my DS380B to accommodate my LSI 9211-8i SAS board. The bay is perfectly usable even with the small chunk taken out.

 

[neljim]

For the benefit of anyone else considering this hardware and finding this thread...

...I've added a couple of images to illustrate this for anyone else wanting to give it a go. This was by no means a difficult mod to carry out.
View attachment 4049 View attachment 4050

I signed up as well just to say thanks! I'm using an LSI 9211-8i, and the problem is even more acute as the connectors are rear mounted / rear facing, so the cables actually add length to the card when they're attached. I was a bit more aggressive with the hacksaw thinking it would help, but in the end all I need was a small channel similar to what you cut.

This really was a lifesaver, thanks again!