SuperMicro BPN-SAS2-836EL1 Backplane, IBM 1015 HBA

[dabl]

I am looking at a SuperMicro CSE-836BE16-R920B Chassis with a BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane for use with 2 IBM 1015 HBA controllers in IR/IT mode.

 

The motherboard will be a SuperMicro X9SRL-F.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the specs in the chassis and backplane manuals but it seems like the backplane has 3 primaray SAS connectors PRI_J1, PRI_J2 and PRI_J3.

 

Each IBM 1015 HBA controller has 2 SFF-8087 connectors so I'm confused on how I'd use 4 total connectors from the 2 1015 cards to control 16 drives and connect those to the 3 primary SAS connectors available on the backplane?

Edited September 17, 2019 by dabl

[JorgeB]

14 minutes ago, dabl said:

BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane

The backplane has a SAS expander, you only need one HBA to access all disks, one cable connected is enough, or two for improved performance.

[dabl]

Thanks! 

 

I'm also looking at a CSE-836 or SC836E1-R800B chassis both with SAS-836TQ Backplane

 

I've seen comments from people who seem to want to avoid expanders in favor of direct connect so would be interested in any comments on that with regard to this specific hardware.

 

One thing I really like about the CSE-836BE16-R920B chassis is the capability to run two 2.5" hot swap drives in the rear so I'd be inclined to try the expander on that model unless there are reasons to avoid it.

[JorgeB]

Expanders are fine, much less cable mess,  unless bandwidth is not enough for the number/type of devices connected 

[dabl]

Thanks!

I decided to get the SuperMicro CSE-836BE16-R920B Chassis with a BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane for use with a SuperMicro  X9SRL-F motherboard and initially at least one of the 2 IBM M1015 controllers I have.

 

I'm moving from an older SuperMicro chassis with 16 drive slots currently loaded with all sata drives.  I've been using the Western Digital WD100EMAZ drives that come in the EasyStore external enclosures.

 

If I move those sata drives to the new chassis using and find that a single IBM 1015 card connection to the BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane doesn't have enough bandwidth for the 16 drives can anyone recommend a good choice for a better controller?

 

I don't know anything about sas drives at the moment but would like to learn and if those seem to be a better bet for the future I'd be interested in a recommended controller that would handle those.

Edited September 18, 2019 by dabl

[JorgeB]

For more bandwidth you'd also need a new backplane with a SAS3 expander, current config is good for 2200MB/s usable with single link and double that with dual link, so dual link is enough for 16 of even the fastest HDDs currently on the market.

[dabl]

Thank you johnnie.black for answering so many questions here, it is greatly appreciated!

 

So given what you've said so far it sounds like I should use a single IBM M1015 with one of the SFF-8087 connectors cabled to the first of the 3 primary SAS connectors on the BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane (PRI_J1) and the other SFF-8087 connector on the IBM M1015 cabled to the second of the 3 primary SAS connectors on the BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane  (PRI_J2)? 

 

I'm curious what PRI_J3 would typically be used for?

 

I have to admit I find the BPN-SAS2-836EL Backplane guidance pretty confusing with regard to cabling. Maybe part of the problem is that manual covers both BPN-SAS2-836EL1  and EL2 backplanes.

 

The only scenario in the manual where I see discussion of using the second of the 3 primary SAS connectors on the BPN-SAS2-836EL1 backplane is when connecting to a 'lower backplane in cascaded a system' (see below pic) but I may well be missing something.

 

When choosing a PCI-E slot on the X9SRL-F for the IBM 1015 card, which from the below would you recommend given that I will (probably) have no other PCI-E cards in the system.  It's an outside possibility I'd put a graphics card in at some point to do gaming or video transcoding.

 

PCI-E 3.0x8 (in x16 Slot), PCI-E 3.0x8 (in x8 Slot), PCI-E 3.0x4 (in x8 Slot), PCI-E 2.0x4 (in x8 Slot)

 

The X9SRL-F manual chipset configuration starting on p78 has some discussion of Data Direct I/O, DCA Support and PCIe Port Bifurcation Control that I'm not familiar with.

 

Any guidance on how these should be set for the IBM 1015 greatly appreciated.

 

I presume for the SATA Mode I want AHCI correct?

 

Data Direct I/O
Select Enabled to enable Intel I/OAT (I/O Acceleration Technology), which significantly reduces CPU overhead by leveraging CPU architectural improvements and freeing the system resource for other tasks. The options are Disabled and Enabled.

 

DCA Support
This feature accelerates the performance of I/O devices using Direct Cache
Access. The options are Enabled and Disabled.

 

IIO 1 PCIe Port Bifurcation Control
This submenu configures the following IO PCIe Port Bifurcation Control settings
for IIO 1 PCIe ports to determine how the available PCI-Express lanes to be
distributed between the PCI-Exp. Root Ports.

 

CPU1 Slot2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (IN x8) Link Speed
This feature enables the user to select the target link speed for this slot. The
options are GEN1 , GEN2, and GEN3.

....

SATA Mode
This item selects the mode for the installed drives. The options are Disabled, IDE Mode, AHCI Mode and RAID Mode.

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by dabl

[JorgeB]

22 minutes ago, dabl said:

I'm curious what PRI_J3 would typically be used for?

Extra port is for cascade, usually you can use any port(s), it should auto detect if it's connect to a HBA or another expander, similar to a switch.

 

24 minutes ago, dabl said:

Any guidance on how these should be set for the IBM 1015 greatly appreciated.

 

Any x8 slot (or x16) CPU slot, e.g., not this one:

25 minutes ago, dabl said:

CPU1 Slot2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 (IN x8)

 

25 minutes ago, dabl said:

I presume for the SATA Mode I want AHCI correct?

Correct