[Semi-OT] SFF-8087 to eSata?

[C. P. Ghost]

On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 1:07 AM, CyberLeo Kitsana <cyberleo at cyberleo.net>
wrote:

> On 01/26/2015 12:25 PM, C. P. Ghost wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm trying to connect an external enclosure for SATA drives
> > which comes with a single eSata connector for 8 drives in
> > JBOD mode on one side (it's an IcyBox IB-3680SU3) to an
> > HBA which comes with 2 external SFF-8087 connectors
> > for 4 drives each (that's an Avago SAS HBA 9207-8e, which
> > supports up to 1024 HDDs according to specs).
>
> That HBA has an SFF-8088 port (well, two), not SFF-8087. SFF-8088 is
> external, the 8087 variant is internal, and looks completely different.
>

You're right, it's two SFF-8088 ports, not 8087. My mistake.

The HBA identifies itself like this on that machine (flashed firmware
and BIOS from P17 to P19 to match FreeBSD's own mps driver):

mps0: <LSI SAS2308> port 0xd000-0xd0ff mem
0xfe9f0000-0xfe9fffff,0xfe980000-0xfe9bffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci2
mps0: Firmware: 19.00.00.00, Driver: 19.00.00.00-fbsd
mps0: IOCCapabilities:
5285c<ScsiTaskFull,DiagTrace,SnapBuf,EEDP,TransRetry,EventReplay,HostDisc>

Looks like it is usable on FreeBSD 10.1 / amd64 without any
proprietary driver. So far, so good (keeping fingers crossed).

It looks like the enclosure funnels all disks through a single link,
> probably via something like a SATA port multiplier if you're lucky; but
> as the glossy pointedly leaves out support for anything but Windows 7/8
> and OSX, it may well be a proprietary driver necessary to expose all
> eight bays. If my experience with similar setups is any indication,
> you're likely to want to toss this thing down the stairs in short order.
>

I'll get physical access to the enclosure in about two days. I hope
all drives / bays are exposed throught that port multiplier; even
if the performance will be terrible. If not, I'll recommend to toss
that enclosure away, and to get a real SAS enclosure instead.

> I'm trying to set up an external ZFS pool on those 8 drives.
>
> I did something similar, but chose to dedicate a link to each drive
> instead of faffing about with expanders or port multipliers. An LSI
> 9207-8e HBA, two Addonics AD4SMSAS bridges, a little creative dremeling,
> and a couple Amphenol SFF-8088 cables hooked up two enclosures nicely.
>

Yes, that's a very good idea. I'll keep it in mind. :)

> Now, I'm wondering what kind of cable or cable wizardry
> > I need to get both SFF-8087 with the single JBOD eSata
> > port connected. Is that possible at all?
>
> SFF-8087 and SFF-8088 both carry four SAS/SATA links; in theory, you
> would only need one, so something like this[1] would be most useful for
> you. The other seven lanes could be used for other things.
>
> [1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JQ51CM
>

That's exactly what I had in mind: using one eSATA connector to connect
to the port multiplier of the enclosure, and leave the other 3 connectors
dangling, for future use (using only one of the two 8088 ports). The HBA
*should* access 8 drives through this single eSATA connector... if the SATA
port multiplier of the enclosure is smart enough. At least, that's the
theory.
Will see how it plays out IRL.

Thanks,
-cpghost.


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> -CyberLeo
> Technical Administrator
> CyberLeo.Net Webhosting
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