SuperMicro SAS Expander compatibility question

Alan Somers
Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:02:19 -0000

On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Daniel Duerr
wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm looking to build a new ZFS storage server on 9-STABLE.  The zpool
will be running multiple raid2z vdevs.  To accommodate a larger number of disks,
I'd like to use a SAS Expander.  I'm leaning towards the combination of
the LSI SAS 9211-4i HBA (via mps) and the Supermicro 846E16 expander chassis
(via ses).  Does anyone here have experience with this specific hardware
combination?  Is it supported?  Is it stable?

I have copious experience with that exact expander using a similar
HBA.  The expander works, but there are a few caveats:

1) Early expander firmware versions had lots of bugs.  You will want
at least firmware 55.14.18.0 or later.  They are upgradeable in the
field, with difficulty.

2) Daisy chaining does not work reliably.  The expander has one
upstream  SFF-8087 connector and two downstream SFF-8087 connectors.
If you don't use the downstream connectors, then you should be fine.
If you do, you'll need some luck.  In certain configurations, the
expander won't reliably complete discovery.

-Alan

>
> Thanks!
> Daniel
>
>
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