LSI 9211-8i SAS expander advice needed

[workermaster]

Hi all,

 

I have 2 LSI 9211-8i cards but when I have both of them in my Unraid system, it refuses to boot. Swapping one out for a third card (same model but different vendor? uses other heatsink and the board looks a bit different) then it does work. For a couple of reasons, I want to use just one LSI card and want to use an expander card. This however is new territory for me. 

 

I understand that the expander cards only interface with a PCIe slot for power. They also have different connectors and stuff but here is what I am having trouble with. I can't figure out if my LSI card will work with this expander: https://serverhome.nl/hp-24-slots-3gb-sas-expander-card-set-p-n-468406-b21-468405-002/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwu7OIBhCsARIsALxCUaNSagCjuwek3jED9AWaIdZp49cl7vomNl6flPVlKm1-CLf-n6WyVuAaArAzEALw_wcB.

I don't mind that it isn't 6gbs but find it incredibly frustrating that for old hardware like that, there is so little information. I also can't find what the biggest drive size supported is. 

 

Can anyone tell me if that expander card will work with my LSI 9211-8i card? And if not what other sas expander should I be looking at?

Edited August 6, 2021 by workermaster

[Vr2Io]

Not recommend those 3gb expander. Try search "Lenovo 6gb expander", it should easy found in market and cheap too. ( Before Chia cryptocurrency hot )

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by Vr2Io

[workermaster]

On 8/6/2021 at 5:36 PM, Vr2Io said:

Not recommend those 3gb expander. Try search "Lenovo 6gb expander", it should easy found in market and cheap too. ( Before Chia cryptocurrency hot )

 

Thanks for your reply. For some reason, I did not get a email notifying me of your reply. 

 

I searched for that card and found multiple ones on Ebay. They cost about 110 euro with shipping. I think that might still be worth it but am wondering how warranty would work. I will be looking into that. 

[arturovf]

what does the extender do? is there a performance penalty when using them?

Edited August 9, 2021 by arturovf

[Vr2Io]

10 hours ago, workermaster said:

Thanks for your reply. For some reason, I did not get a email notifying me of your reply. 

 

I searched for that card and found multiple ones on Ebay. They cost about 110 euro with shipping. I think that might still be worth it but am wondering how warranty would work. I will be looking into that. 

I buy those in new and used, all no warranty. Cheapest only cost 10usd.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Vr2Io

[Vr2Io]

9 hours ago, arturovf said:

what does the extender do? is there a performance penalty when using them?

Like its name to expand single or dual SAS port to more SAS port, then you can use to connect SAS/SATA device. The penalty was share the uplink bandwidth.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Vr2Io

[workermaster]

On 8/10/2021 at 9:50 AM, Vr2Io said:

I buy those in new and used, all no warranty. Cheapest only cost 10usd.

I had little time to research the card but am now actively trying to get one. I found this one on Ebay:https://www.ebay.com/itm/174868903384?hash=item28b6ffb5d8:g:y2gAAOSwghxhB3Eo. I assume that is the model that you recommended. 

 

I can't find any information on the internet about the maximum drive size. I have 1 10TB drive and multiple 8TB ones. Do you know if the expander supports that?

[Vr2Io]

2 hours ago, workermaster said:

I had little time to research the card but am now actively trying to get one. I found this one on Ebay:https://www.ebay.com/itm/174868903384?hash=item28b6ffb5d8:g:y2gAAOSwghxhB3Eo. I assume that is the model that you recommended. 

 

I can't find any information on the internet about the maximum drive size. I have 1 10TB drive and multiple 8TB ones. Do you know if the expander supports that?

Yes, no problem

[workermaster]

2 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

Yes, no problem

Sigh. Turns out that I never got a notice that somebody replied becasue I turned that off. 

Anyway thanks for the help. I will order that part from Ebay. 

[workermaster]

2 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

Yes, no problem

Actually, I got another question. Do I need to connect that expander card with 1 or 2 cables to my 9211-8i controller? I just calculated that it would take almost 3 days to scan 10TB if the expander has 16 drives connected and 1 cable going to the SAS contoller. Would it also be possible to connect 2 cables to the controller so the bandwith to the expander doubles?

[Vr2Io]

18 minutes ago, workermaster said:

Actually, I got another question. Do I need to connect that expander card with 1 or 2 cables to my 9211-8i controller? I just calculated that it would take almost 3 days to scan 10TB if the expander has 16 drives connected and 1 cable going to the SAS contoller. Would it also be possible to connect 2 cables to the controller so the bandwith to the expander doubles?

Single or Dual link to expander also work, if in dual link then actual bandwidth would be 4GB for 16 disks, every disk got 250MB minimum, so scan 10TB should less then 24hrs. Even with single link, scan should less than 36hrs.

 

The price for the Lenovo expander in your provide link quite expensive, you also could search Intel RES2SV240, this also recommend, but I haven't this one.

 

I also use 12G expander with more port, it is Aec82885t.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Vr2Io

[workermaster]

Just now, Vr2Io said:

Single or Dual link to expander also work, if in dual link then actual bandwidth would be 4GB for 16 disks, every disk got 250MB, so scan 10TB should less then 24hrs. Even with single link, scan should less than 36hrs.

 

The price for the Lenovo expander in your provide link quite expensive, you also could search Intel RES2SV240, this also recommend, but I haven't this one.

 

I also use 12G expander with more port, it is Aec82885t.

Sounds great, I will have a look around. My main concern was that the expander has to work together with the SAS controller but I guess that since we only use it to connect more drives to Unraid and not create ZFS or other things in Windows, that it doesn't matter what we connect. It all seems to be quite universal for when it comes to connecting more drives to Unraid. 

[Vr2Io]

Expander work in hardware level, no driver need, so if your controller work with the OS then it also work. The expander plug in PCIe slot is taken power only, it wouldn't communicate to mobo / system.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Vr2Io

[workermaster]

20 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

Expander work in hardware level, no driver need, so if your controller work with the OS then it also work.

Had a look around and found that the other cards are also expensive at the moment. I found the Lenovo one for about 23 euro on Amazon but it looks like it is send from China. I ordered that one and also some other parts. They will arive in a month. So all I can do now is wait. 

[Vr2Io]

2 minutes ago, workermaster said:

Had a look around and found that the other cards are also expensive at the moment. I found the Lenovo one for about 23 euro on Amazon but it looks like it is send from China. I ordered that one and also some other parts. They will arive in a month. So all I can do now is wait. 

Good price, my all expander come from China.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Vr2Io