Raid card problems

[Zds169]

Hello,

 

I have bought a server, and there was a raid card and a sas expander (i think).

I can connect 24 hard drive with 6 SAS cable who a connect to the raid card and the expander.

The raid card was to old (i wouldn't accept a hard drive with more than 2tb) so i buy a IBM ServeRAID M5015 SAS (lsi 9260-8i if i'm correct).

And also a IBM 16 Port PCIe ServeRAID SAS SATA 6GB RAID Expansion Adapter 46M0997.

 

So the first i start the server with these component, the server still won't accept a bigger hard drive. 

And i discover that i need to flash the raid card with a the lsi 9260-8i firmware. And now that ok.

 

But the expander does'nt work i don't know what to do.

 

Sorry for my english, i did'nt find my answer on french forum i know.

 

Thank's in advance.

 

 

[Windows7ge]

What OS do you plan on running? You might find software RAID more to your liking.

[Zds169]

I have Unbuntu Server on it.

 

It's when i lunch the raid sofware, before lunching the OS, that don't see my hard drive, only the first one that are connect to the raid card, not to the expander.

So i think the answer i more in a firmware or something else than a software on the OS.

[Windows7ge]

There's more than one way to set up RAID. You can use a hardware controller or software. If you're using Linux like Ubuntu I believe it's possible to download the ZFS package and use ZFS to form the RAID. @Electronics Wizardy Correct me here if I'm wrong.

[Zds169]

Yeah i agree with that but if the raid card see only the first drive, the OS will have the same problem right ?

[Catsrules]

4 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

There's more than one way to set up RAID. You can use a hardware controller or software. If you're using Linux like Ubuntu I believe it's possible to download the ZFS package and use ZFS to form the RAID. @Electronics Wizardy Correct me here if I'm wrong.

True but I think this will only work if the SAS expander card supports JBOD mode. I am looking around to see if that particular card does or if I can be flashed to support it. 
But I am not positive I have never used a SAS expander card before so this is unfamiliar territory for me.

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Catsrules said:

True but I think this will only work if the SAS expander card supports JBOD mode

To the best of my knowledge if the card is simply left unconfigured it will behave like it supports JBOD.

[Zds169]

Actually there a thing i didn't say, i don't care about RAID, i just want to be able access to all the hard drive. I bought the raid card and the expander because i don't know how i can connect these amount of hard drive without a raid card.

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

Actually there a thing i didn't say, i don't care about RAID, i just want to be able access to all the hard drive. I bought the raid card and the expander because i don't know how i can connect these amount of hard drive without a raid card.

If you didn't need hardware RAID at all then what you wanted was what is called an HBA (Host Bus Adapter). It resembles a RAID card but doesn't support that functionality. It pretty much just offer you more sata ports via SFF-8087 ports.

[Zds169]

Ok so i looked for this and it cost a several hundred euros. Is there any cheaper ? 

[Zds169]

Oh wait, i buy one cheaper with 1 or 2 sas and with my expander it should work ?

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

tOh wait, i buy one cheaper with 2 sas and with my expander it should work ?

That may depend on the compatibility of the expanded so I can't guarantee that.

 

If you look around something like this only costs 256.24 euros but I guarantee if you look around harder you will find a much better deal. Not sure where you found one costing 700. That's like $825 USD-ish. 

[Zds169]

Well that almost the price of my server i don't want to spend more than 100 euros. I bought the raid card and the expander for like 50 euros.
So there is a way to make my expander work ?

-> I use a trick on the raid card, each drive connect to the raid card are in raid 0. So if the expander work i will make the same.

[Catsrules]

12 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

Ok so i looked for this and it cost a several hundred euros. Is there any cheaper ? 

There are a few raid cards that can be unofficially flashed to support JBOD mode basically turning them into a HBA that are somewhat cheap. (At least here in the US)

However I have no idea if they will work with that expansion card. 

 

 

LSI 9211-8i (you can even buy them pre flashed on ebay)

IBM Serveraid M1015

Dell Perc H200

 

It is called flashed to it mode.

 

I think the LSI 9211-8i  is the best one.

 

I bought a Dell Perc H200 off ebay and flashed it with it firmware. It was a little cumbersome to do, and I thought I bricked it once but I manage to do it.  

 

There are a few guides on how to do it
https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/updated-sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/dell-h200-flash-to-it-firmware-procedure-for-dell-servers.467/

 

 

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

Well that almost the price of my server i don't want to spend more than 100 euros. I bought the raid card and the expander for like 50 euros.
So there is a way to make my expander work ?

-> I use a trick on the raid card, each drive connect to the raid card are in raid 0. So if the expander work i will make the same.

Like Catsrules is saying, if you want to keep it as cheap as possible then your best option will probably be to flash a RAID card to IT mode. I did it myself with the Dell PERC H310. Wasn't too bad to pull off and it worked flawlessly. But again I cannot assuringly say weather or not the expander card will accept it. I don't regularly work with them so I don't know if they will only work with a RAID card or a card of the same brand.

 

Guessing since they connect to a cable that would otherwise plug into a backplane or directly to a drive via breakout cable then the expander might work with any brand RAID/HBA card. @leadeater Might you have any more insight on this than me?

 

Do you have a model number for that expander? It might help identify if it's any bit universal.

[Zds169]

Quote

Do you have a model number for that expander? It might help identify if it's any bit universal.

The expander is a IBM 46M0997 Raid Card (i buy this one, here one ebay.)

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

36 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

Ok so i looked for this and it cost a several hundred euros. Is there any cheaper ? 

you want a hba like a dell h200. There about 40 bucks on ebay.

 

Whats the wiring diagram with the expander? SInce your not seeing any drives, you probably plugged it in wrong.

 

 

[Windows7ge]

6 minutes ago, Zds169 said:

The expander is a IBM 46M0997 Raid Card (i buy this one, here one ebay.)

 

Electronics Wizardy brought something up I didn't think of. It's actually marked on the silk-screen what the inputs are. (input 1, input 2) Did you plug the cables from the RAID card into the right ports?

[Zds169]

Quote

Whats the wiring diagram with the expander? SInce your not seeing any drives, you probably plugged it in wrong.

 

My server look like that. Each line of 4 hard drive is connect to 4 sata to 1 sas.

The first 2 SAS are connect to the raid card and the 3rd one is connect to the mortheboard because there is on SAS on it.

 

Before i remove the old RAID Card and the expander, all drive worked.

 

And i did'nt change anything about the wiring.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Zds169 said:

 

My server look like that. Each line of 4 hard drive is connect to 4 sata to 1 sas.

The first 2 SAS are connect to the raid card and the 3rd one is connect to the mortheboard because there is on SAS on it.

 

Before i remove the old RAID Card and the expander, all drive worked.

 

And i did'nt change anything about the wiring.

you have to plug the expander into the raid card, so you want one sas cable between the two.

 

[Zds169]

Quote

Electronics Wizardy brought something up I didn't think of. It's actually marked on the silk-screen what the inputs are. (input 1, input 2) Did you plug the cables from the RAID card into the right ports?

Yeah when i see it i try to plug it correctly.

If was like a year ago, and i'm not sure, and i give up on how to make the expander work.

I'm can not access to the server right now,

So i will check later but i'm pretty sure that's not the answer.

[Zds169]

Quote

you have to plug the expander into the raid card, so you want one sas cable between the two.

Omg, you saying that i just need to have a the right cable and connect one port of the raid card to the input 1 or 2 (like in the picture, not in BP1, BP2..) and it should work ?

 

And what's the name of this cable ? can't find it

 

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, Zds169 said:

And what's the name of this cable ? can't find it

That would be a standard internal SAS cable, SFF-8087 to SFF-8087.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, leadeater said:

That would be a standard internal SAS cable, SFF-8087 to SFF-8087.

@Zds169 you need to use this type of cable to connect the RAID card to the "Input 1" and "Input 2" ports on the Expander. Then, the expander has 4x outputs to the backplane (BP 1 through BP 4).

[Windows7ge]

20 hours ago, Zds169 said:

Omg, you saying that i just need to have a the right cable and connect one port of the raid card to the input 1 or 2 (like in the picture, not in BP1, BP2..) and it should work ?

Are you saying you didn't connect your RAID card to your expander? That would explain quite a bit.

You need something like one of these.

Or if you need to make it lower profile.

 

To my understanding you can use just one but all the connected devices will get 1/2 the possible bandwidth. Using two they'll get the full possible bandwidth which should be 1.5Gbps/3.0Gbps respectively assuming the RAID card is SATAIII 6.0Gbit.