Okay so this is going to sound dumb,  but i'm new to raid controller cards,  I'm building an unraid server that has a LSI-9207-4i4e ( https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118184 ), in the product details it says it can support up to 256 devices,  but it only has 2 ports that my novice understanding makes me think it only supports 8 drives?  how to i get to more than that?

 

I'm trying to get all 12 bays to function on the below chasis.   it appears to have 3 8087 cables coming from the backplane,  is there any help or advice someone can offer me on this?  

 

thanks,

Wyo

https://www.ebay.com/itm/XYRATEX-IBM-HS-1235T-2U-12-Bay-FREENAS-Storage-Server-Barebone-0944037-03-2xPSU/362392037096?epid=731538948&hash=item54603fa6e8&enc=AQADAAADAFjVrDbVsZ8oH%2F8PNHtt9VX4%2Fw7FZcmMuqsX8uaFEduVrypXMofPa1fDe9S75Ubevuhw0IRbf0tMZaj7WW3OyTFIZmvdNFL2tAn%2Fttbwz8qJxGuXxitAHfWZkLKC9cVjd4hVX00x118fC%2BLzxkPtyXpneNf8fp5h27NEUUwgn0mBXrdOH3Ghd2xoXU5ckqcWxt0ywkuDG8vwGqiiKXUOrUfjw82p%2B5dPd2loRsNfZ5EMP49I%2FCnjEZC6NladKoj1V7aDEp0fW57ina3%2B9nALldEFz01RaAQG8PzBYNZNQjaHJp5KstXVtcta5cAxkSc%2FynTTWJxROSFlTkCAyvkyRykN6zJgJUB7ry3bw5K6LouWmcpa62klmGujUv%2BJ8PtPqyyClvNW3fXsZDSMSYQdDIWhaaw%2BuuK5LUUpTy9lyrf9PC6lSXnuf%2F%2FPGA2CDOmohsjKr6fbvjhaUw66JuAbAfFjLbO0quBljA1NodGOR165Eh9Sh6ixYnSxxIQm%2FqhrNEvVKJMZOA2UB6HnSnjawiSsMdiRJOezH9U9cp4eP6%2B1wMClZkNXoJpTEL2UFmHn51X7U12op0TohNyszxzp8RTVc8ukkxYXvPLxX%2B4O7mBHeECy9yvqnrz%2FuQ83ubCxGPF32duOxpqtsTD1aRTN17Ki94dAE0tLNYM%2B5yif8AgKSUMGenx2If1lEYxZN8wmavy4biBnzvHFcQ9kCn9PKeZb5AvsBxHYAiGuFQaAJ5q%2FgWYtsZJgqDpjObnHOgQYdN6F%2FI8uDijNh75uayxoh5C9EFcSAL28c5rXHALWDK98v0FRN0mElTcZ5YqGIMowiARdhxy9DXVFGh4xtyWIz6XLdKiqQdXpw9I0nUAenEcUZfduJcGKe0elqRO4aUvy7Odh2TkknAqxVpCu71gycjI15VKzuZdNezMqkisUiDmGq91RkIWymFaT4QBQoam8ZzEDPikEwI37uPZq1SMAntukFnzYY29PTx1AAC9BdsrHwY3EKVTyamhfJKgZwsOuDg%3D%3D&checksum=3623920370962f8e3d06979a420696dab769d76c40e0&frcectupt=true

24 minutes ago, WyoFarr said:

but it only has 2 ports that my novice understanding makes me think it only supports 8 drives?  how to i get to more than that?

You need a SAS expander, e.g.:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/49596/intel-raid-expander-res2sv240.html

Thanks Johnnie,

 

The expander is clearly going to slow down communications to the drives,  so is it more intelligent to just buy and install a second controller in an unraid application since the controllers aren't being used as a HW raid?  

 

4 minutes ago, WyoFarr said:

Thanks Johnnie,

 

The expander is clearly going to slow down communications to the drives,  so is it more intelligent to just buy and install a second controller in an unraid application since the controllers aren't being used as a HW raid?  

 

Are you planning on using all very fast SSD drives? If not, the expander won't make much if any difference. It's plenty fast for standard spinner HDD's.

9 hours ago, WyoFarr said:

The expander is clearly going to slow down communications to the drives, 

Depends on the number of drives and if using single or dual link, you can see some performance numbers here.