Got myself a PCIe Host Adapter with miniSAS to connect an U.2 SSD, but nothing appears on Unraid.

[IppoKun]

So basically I'm trying to connect my Intel DC SSD U.2 to my Unraid OS. I already have one LSi Card that connects every harddrive and it's working fine. Unfortunately I can't use the same card since this card is connecting all harddrives from the chassis (SuperMicro CSE 847).

 

So I got myself a PCIe card for this ( https://cablematic.com/en/products/pci-express-pcie-card-with-minisas-hd-sff-8643-compatible-with-u2-pcie-nvme-ssd-MS042/ ) and a cable to connect the SSD to this PCIe ( https://cablematic.com/en/products/cable-minisas-hd-sff-8643-to-u2-sff-8639-with-power-sata-15pin-50cm-GA061/ )

 

Unfortunately the SSD is not showing up on Unraid and I'm lost since I don't know what to do now.

 

Hopefully I explained myself well enough, I'm new to Unraid. Can someone help me out? Thanks!

[trurl]

Can you see the drive in your BIOS?

[IppoKun]

3 minutes ago, trurl said:

Can you see the drive in your BIOS?

 

No, I can only see the drives connected to my LSI SAS3008. I was reading something about PCIe Bifurcation, is it something I need to use in this case?

 

This is my motherboard:

 

 

LSI card is connected to SLOT2 PCIe 3.0 x8

The other card is connected to SLOT6 PCIe 3.0 x8

Edited May 14, 2021 by IppoKun
more info

[IppoKun]

I need to clarify, I cannot see the drive in the BOOT options in BIOS, which I think it's normal since I think my motherboard does not accept NVME ssd bootable drives. But since I just want to add this drive as a cache drive in unraid, it shouldn't need to be bootable.

 

Besides that BOOT option, I'm not sure where I can see more on bios, I tried everywhere.

[John_M]

How does Linux identify U.2 devices? Do they appear as /dev/nvme* or as something else? I would expect them to be treated like NVMe devices but if they aren't they probably won't be recognised.

 

5 hours ago, IppoKun said:

I was reading something about PCIe Bifurcation, is it something I need to use in this case?

 

Only if you want to connect two x4 devices to a single x8 slot. You can connect a single x4 device to a x8 slot without any problem - you just waste four lanes.

 

[JorgeB]

That should work, post the diags, might be something visible there.

[ChatNoir]

Are you using 2 CPUs ?

[IppoKun]

49 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

Are you using 2 CPUs ?

 Yes I'm currently using two E5 xeons.

 

2 hours ago, JorgeB said:

That should work, post the diags, might be something visible there.

 

I'm attaching all diagnostics zip file now

tower-diagnostics-20210514-2034.zip

[JorgeB]

Don't see anything NVMe related detected, the adapter itself we can't see if it's working or not since it's transparent to the OS, you could try another card on that slot just to make sure it's working, or try it in a different PC, other than that basically you'd need to test with different adapter, cable or device, if that's an option.

[IppoKun]

33 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

Don't see anything NVMe related detected, the adapter itself we can't see if it's working or not since it's transparent to the OS, you could try another card on that slot just to make sure it's working, or try it in a different PC, other than that basically you'd need to test with different adapter, cable or device, if that's an option.

I do have a full size PCIe https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/pex4sff8639 I just plugged in and it's working, unraid shows up the drive. Unfortunately I cannot use this fullsize PCIe card since my server chassis only allows low profile cards (hence why I have that card/cable combo). 

 

Worse yet, I cannot test another half-height card or cable since I don't have any. From your response I guess I cannot be sure what's not working without replacements.

 

Can anyone help me out and recommend me another PCIe card that fits my chassis server? Or any way I can fit this working card?

[JorgeB]

1 minute ago, IppoKun said:

I do have a full size PCIe https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/pex4sff8639 I just plugged in and it's working, unraid shows up the drive.

That rules out the device, so the problem is the cable or the PCIe adapter.

[IppoKun]

1 hour ago, JorgeB said:

That rules out the device, so the problem is the cable or the PCIe adapter.

This might be a stupid question, but the cable I talked about also has a SATA power connector, do I need to plug this connector for the cable to work? 

 

EDIT: Found myself a 4pin to SATA cable to connect this SATA 15pin power end on the Mini SAS cable and everything works now. I'm dumb. Thanks for everyone help and sorry for my lack of knowledge 

Edited May 15, 2021 by IppoKun

[JorgeB]

19 hours ago, IppoKun said:

do I need to plug this connector for the cable to work? 

Yeah, I was going to mention that at first, but though it would be kind of obvious, or the device wouldn't be powered