I have an LSI 9211-8i in my server (which was originally a Fujitsu branded "megaraid" card that I reflashed into IT mode which came with my server) which has been working fine for connecting the SATA backplane and using it with unraid etc., no problems there. However, I recently got an LTO tape drive, which also uses SAS, and because the onboard SFF connection only seems to go to a SATA controller, I decided to try and use the second port on the HBA (with a 8087 to 4x 8482 breakout cable), which I originally thought was broken, but after some troubleshooting, it seems that both the backplane and the drive work when connected to the top port, but the bottom port doesn't work no matter what cables etc. I have plugged in,

 

Could it be there is something misconfigured on the card / something set wrong when I flashed it into IT mode, or is the card simply defective on that other port? (just want to check before I go and buy another HBA to swap in that its not just some config or firmware issue)

Both ports should work, I believe this could happen if the controller was not correctly flashed, there's a thread about flashing these, try doing it again.

 

 

For anyone else with problems like this, in my case, it looks like one of the ports ended up being dead as someone mangled the port previously and I didn't notice, so purely a hardware fault, got another HBA (9207-8i) and it all works good, though I am still using the working port on the old Fujitsu one to pass through my tape drive to a VM as its easier to manage