Using newer HP RAID controller in an older server

[MasterWayZ]

Hello,

 

I currently have a HP ProLiant DL380G6 with a Smart Array P410i. It has a 3 gigabit SATA limit and I found a Smart Array P420 that has a 6 gigabit SATA limit.

 

Could I put that in one of the PCI slots and route the two backplane cables to it? Would that work or am I thinking too simple here?

[Windows7ge]

I can't think of an immediate reason why you can't put it in a PCI_e slot and have it work but I know with server equipment especially the older stuff compatibility can get a bit finicky so don't immediately take my word for it.

[MasterWayZ]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

I can't think of an immediate reason why you can't put it in a PCI_e slot and have it work but I know with server equipment especially the older stuff compatibility can get a bit finicky so don't immediately take my word for it.

Thanks. I'll see if maybe later today some more replies come in and then we'll see.

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, MasterWayZ said:

Thanks. I'll see if maybe later today some more replies come in and then we'll see.

You should. There's a number of names here that lurk the network/server/nas sub-forums around this time. If none of them come by with better answers I'll poke a few I know and see if they have any wisdom.

[Jarsky]

22 hours ago, MasterWayZ said:

Hello,

 

I currently have a HP ProLiant DL380G6 with a Smart Array P410i. It has a 3 gigabit SATA limit and I found a Smart Array P420 that has a 6 gigabit SATA limit.

 

Could I put that in one of the PCI slots and route the two backplane cables to it? Would that work or am I thinking too simple here?

 

Are you using SSD's? Thats 3Gbps per channel btw, so it won't bottleneck your SATA hdd's 

[MasterWayZ]

44 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

 

Are you using SSD's? Thats 3Gbps per channel btw, so it won't bottleneck your SATA hdd's 

Yes. Slowly moving to full SSDs, but currently I have three Samsung 850 SSDs in it, and slowly more as I can afford them.

[MasterWayZ]

On 3/26/2020 at 2:27 AM, Jarsky said:

 

Are you using SSD's? Thats 3Gbps per channel btw, so it won't bottleneck your SATA hdd's 

From my previous post (fixed a typo too, I accidentally put moving to full HDDs instead of SSDs):

Yes. Slowly moving to full SSDs, but currently I have three Samsung 850 EVO SSDs in it, and slowly more as I can afford them.

 

Plus another question: what do you mean with per channel? Could you explain that?

[Jarsky]

1 hour ago, MasterWayZ said:

From my previous post (fixed a typo too, I accidentally put moving to full HDDs instead of SSDs):

Yes. Slowly moving to full SSDs, but currently I have three Samsung 850 EVO SSDs in it, and slowly more as I can afford them.

 

Plus another question: what do you mean with per channel? Could you explain that?

SAS ports have 4 channels. So with a dual port card, if you have 8 SATA disks attached ( 1 disk per channel), then thats 8 x 3Gbps...so 24Gbps total bandwidth. It means you can have all drives spinning and they can all theoretically reach their max of ~300MB/s concurrently. 

[MasterWayZ]

12 hours ago, Jarsky said:

SAS ports have 4 channels. So with a dual port card, if you have 8 SATA disks attached ( 1 disk per channel), then thats 8 x 3Gbps...so 24Gbps total bandwidth. It means you can have all drives spinning and they can all theoretically reach their max of ~300MB/s concurrently. 

Okay, many thanks!