Disk enclosure: RAID Machine R4424RM same as 2x SuperChassis 826BE1C-R609JBOD?

From: parv/FreeBSD <parv.0zero9+freebsd_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:00:30 UTC
Hi there,

Work currently uses 24-bay "RAID Machine ... R4424RM" enclosure
( https://www.pc-pitstop.com/24-bay-12g-expander-enclosure )
with disks in ZFS RAID-Z[23] pools, connected via SFF-8088
or -8644 cable to another computer with a Broadcom/LSI 9300-8e
PCIe 3 card in it.

My thinking is that if some bays in one of the below SuperMicro units
starts to malfunction, then whole of 24-bay single unit would not have
be sent to repair or to be thrown out.

Would "RAID Machine R4424RM" machine be equivalent to connecting 2
of "SuperChassis 826BE1C-R609JBOD"
( https://www.supermicro.com/ewin/products/chassis/2u/826/sc826be1c-r609jbod
)
together and then using as one unit? If that would be possible, what
kind of HBAs etc & cable should I be looking at to connect the 2
enclosures together, and  then to connect them as one unit to a FreeBSD
computer.

In the later case I do not how the "mpr" or "mps" drive would behave
for one of "Qualified SAS Controllers" listed at SuperMicro URL ...

  AOC-SAS3-9380-8E: SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 3.0 8-Port MegaRAID Controller
  AOC-SAS3-9300-8E: SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 3.0 8-Port Host Bus Adapter
  AOC-SAS3-9500-8E: SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 4.0 8-Port Host Bus Adapter
  AOC-SAS3-9500-16E: SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 4.0 16-Port Host Bus Adapter
  AOC-SAS3-9580-8I8E: SAS 12Gb/s PCIe 4.0 8-Port MegaRAID Controller


On a related note, does anyone have experience with SuperMicro
enclosures & warranty repair?

In case of RAID Machine enclosures, we have at least 6-7 I think. In past,
in one unit when ~5-6 disk bays malfunctioned (disk did not show
up in FreeBSD; disk came up & then dropped again), got it repaired under
warranty without issue. One unit, now out of warranty, now has 1 slot
malfunction; will be chucked.


- parv