Intel RAID controller

[BelgiumCastGijs]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm lookign at picking up this raid controller ( http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00HXWRRBS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF )

and I had some struggles finding the exact specifications for the controller, but I currently think it has 4 SAS mini ports... not sure about that though... Cansomeone please explain me the diffrence between Sas and mini-sas? I'm a noob at storage solutions so all help is appreciated!

 

Have a nice day,

-Gijs

[Senzelian]

https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/raid-rs3-controller-portfolio-brief.pdf

It uses two MINI-SAS ports.
It seems like you can connect up to 8 drives per port for a total of 16 drives. (<- I'm not sure about that, tho)

 

There is no difference between SAS and mini-SAS other than the size. They both are able to do 12Gb/s.

[alpenwasser]

- snip -

It seems like you can connect up to 8 drives per port for a total of 16 drives. (<- I'm not sure about that, tho)

Yeah, that's a bit weird. In the product brief you linked it says "Up to 2 internal High Density Mini-SAS connectors with up to eight ports of 12Gb/s andwidth per port"

However, it also says "Internal connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8643 and external connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8644, 080 models offer 8 internal ports, 008 model offers 8 external ports, 044 model offers 4 internal and 4 external ports". It also says it has eight internal ports in the summary table at the end on the second page.

Looking at SFF8643 breakout cables, you seem to get a maximum of four endpoints for each SFF8643 port, same as with the conventional SFF8087 connectors (@ OP: Since you mentioned being a noob at storage: SAS connectors on the controller or motherboard side of things usually have one connector which then breaks out to multiple connectors for several drives per controller port, commonly 1->4; alternatively you can have 1-1 cables which go from controller to backplane, the backplane then branches out to the drives). So my estimate would be that you'll be able to hook up eight devices to that card, at least directly (not sure about expanders, they're mentioned in the pdf you linked, but nothing specific as far as I can see).

[leadeater]

Cansomeone please explain me the diffrence between Sas and mini-sas? I'm a noob at storage solutions so all help is appreciated!

 

SAS is Serial Attached SCSI and uses the SCSI command sets for communication protocols. Mini SAS HD (SFF8643) is a connector type for SAS connectivity, there are different types but they are all SAS connectors.

 

 

Yeah, that's a bit weird. In the product brief you linked it says "Up to 2 internal High Density Mini-SAS connectors with up to eight ports of 12Gb/s andwidth per port"

However, it also says "Internal connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8643 and external connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8644, 080 models offer 8 internal ports, 008 model offers 8 external ports, 044 model offers 4 internal and 4 external ports". It also says it has eight internal ports in the summary table at the end on the second page.

Looking at SFF8643 breakout cables, you seem to get a maximum of four endpoints for each SFF8643 port, same as with the conventional SFF8087 connectors (@ OP: Since you mentioned being a noob at storage: SAS connectors on the controller or motherboard side of things usually have one connector which then breaks out to multiple connectors for several drives per controller port, commonly 1->4; alternatively you can have 1-1 cables which go from controller to backplane, the backplane then branches out to the drives). So my estimate would be that you'll be able to hook up eight devices to that card, at least directly (not sure about expanders, they're mentioned in the pdf you linked, but nothing specific as far as I can see).

 

 

Yep information you have given is correct. I have both SAS 6G and SAS 12G cards and the same rule applies. Each port is a 4 lane connector and each lane is rated at the full connection speed. If you want to directly connect SATA disks to them you must purchase the correct cable to do so. You can have more than 4 disks per port but not when directly connecting, you must use expanders to do so. 

 

That card has two mini SAS HD (SFF8643) ports on it so will require two SFF8643 to 4x SATA cables giving you the ability to connect up to 8 disks directly.

 

Personally I would recommend buying the older 6G model as it is cheaper and nothing you are going to connect to it will saturate any of the lanes in a port unless you use expanders. 8 directly connected SATA SSDs would come close to full utilization.

[alpenwasser]

- snip -

Splendid. Wasn't 100% sure as I only have 6G cards around here with SFF8087 connectors. And yeah, I'd agree on going for the 6G version.

[BelgiumCastGijs]

 

Yeah, that's a bit weird. In the product brief you linked it says "Up to 2 internal High Density Mini-SAS connectors with up to eight ports of 12Gb/s andwidth per port"

However, it also says "Internal connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8643 and external connectors are mini-SAS HD SFF8644, 080 models offer 8 internal ports, 008 model offers 8 external ports, 044 model offers 4 internal and 4 external ports". It also says it has eight internal ports in the summary table at the end on the second page.

Looking at SFF8643 breakout cables, you seem to get a maximum of four endpoints for each SFF8643 port, same as with the conventional SFF8087 connectors (@ OP: Since you mentioned being a noob at storage: SAS connectors on the controller or motherboard side of things usually have one connector which then breaks out to multiple connectors for several drives per controller port, commonly 1->4; alternatively you can have 1-1 cables which go from controller to backplane, the backplane then branches out to the drives). So my estimate would be that you'll be able to hook up eight devices to that card, at least directly (not sure about expanders, they're mentioned in the pdf you linked, but nothing specific as far as I can see).

 

Thanks a lot! I was aware about the sas breakout cables, I was jsut not sure if I had the right connector ;-)