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RAID Cards

Whaler_99
By Whaler_99
in Storage Devices
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In years of working with RAID both in server and desktop - I have never worked with anything that splits a single port on a RAID card to mutliple ports. Maybe you can do it - but I would be thinking this would be a bad idea in the end - could really get some messed up signalling. Maybe someonw else has some expereince with this.

If I need 8 drives, I buy an 8 port controller, need 12, by a 12 or 16 port, or two 8 port. This I would think would be a much better choice. Also note, just an fyi, if you do have two controllers, you then have to have two RAID arrays, you cannot have a single one - hardware based anyways. You could use two 8 port ones as JBOD and use a software based solution to make a larger RAID array...

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I know that NCIX has a lot of RAID cards for enterprise and consumer. I would like to know more about the statement linux made 2 years ago "You can split each of these connectors four ways" (

4:40).

I'm looking to use RAID 6 on 12 drive and want to know how I could do this on a 8 port card and if it is worth it.

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Similar to how SATA has port-multiplication technology, multiple SAS devices can be connected though single SAS connections with cards known as "SAS Expanders". Unlike SATA port-multiplication, SAS Expanders actually perform quite well. You can even daisy-chain SAS Expanders for huge storage capabilities on a single RAID card. This is why when you look at spec sheets for 8 port and 16 port controllers it will say supports "192 drives" (or more) when there clearly are not enough ports for that. SAS Expanders are a great way to keep costs down or add more storage capabilities to an existing storage setup. Also, you can use SATA drives on SAS expanders but the SAS expander still needs to be plugged into a SAS controller.

While they can be used on RAID controllers, SAS expanders are more frequently used with Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) to create large software RAID configurations.

Here is a link to a popular one: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...res2sv240.html. Note that the PCIe pins are strictly for power and stabilization so you can mount the expander in a PCI slot. No data passes through them; in fact, you can mount that SAS expander anywhere in a case/chassis and power it through the Molex connector.

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http://ncix.com/products/?sku=66047&vpn=CK23601&manufacture=CHENBRO

Is the only RAID Expander Card that I can find on NCIX. I would like to know if this is the kind of card I'm looking for to expand a 8 port to more ports.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=54358&vpn=LSI00204&manufacture=LSI

Could I use that RAID Expander Card to make this 8 port a 36 port?

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I did some quick Googling; it looks like it should be compatible, but please do some Googling yourself to check yourself. I might have missed something.

Note that even though it says that it is a 36-port expander you will only be able to hook up 24 drives to it. 4 "ports" are used to connect the expander to the controller, 8 "ports" are used on the back-plate for daisy-chaining. This is shown on the quick-setup guide on Chenbro's website: http://www.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=187

Also note that as per the LSI spec sheet for the 9240-8i that no more than 16 drives will be able to exist in the same RAID volume. http://www.lsi.com/products/storagecomponents/Pages/MegaRAIDSAS9240-8i.aspx

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