DaemonForums  

Go Back   DaemonForums > Miscellaneous > General Hardware

General Hardware General hardware related questions.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   (View Single Post)  
Old 5th January 2012
schrodinger's Avatar
schrodinger schrodinger is offline
Fdisk Soldier
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Ireland
Posts: 69
Question SAS Expander

Hey all,

I'm in the process of choosing hardware for a new FreeBSD desktop/file server at home.

As part of this build I am considering a long term storage solution. The idea is a SAS enclosure with a ton of SATA disks that only gets spun up about once a month as data is shuffled back and forth and file indexes are generated.

What I need are recommendations for the SAS expander card that works flawlessly with FreeBSD. No RAID needed as I intend to use ZFS for everything.

From what I've been reading a SAS expander is a better solution than something like an sata multiplier.

If anyone has suggestions on the enclosure it is also well appreciated.

Cheers.
__________________
It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now.
Reply With Quote
  #2   (View Single Post)  
Old 5th January 2012
phoenix's Avatar
phoenix phoenix is offline
Risen from the ashes
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 696
Default

SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i 8-port SATA controller supported by the mps(4) driver in FreeBSD 8.2-STABLE onward. Uses multi-lane cables with either SFF-8087 connectors (for plugging directly into hot-swap backplanes) or SFF-8087 breakout cables (4x SATA connector on one end) for plugging directly into drives. Works beautifully with ZFS. And you get dedicated bandwidth to each drive (whereas an SAS expander/SATA PM splits bandwidth between multiple drives on a single channel).
__________________
Freddie

Help for FreeBSD: Handbook, FAQ, man pages, mailing lists.
Reply With Quote
  #3   (View Single Post)  
Old 5th January 2012
schrodinger's Avatar
schrodinger schrodinger is offline
Fdisk Soldier
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Ireland
Posts: 69
Default

Thanks phoenix.

I had considered multilane too but between those, multipliers, expanders I was lost in a sea of choices.

The Supermicro card looks good, I know from your previous posts that you're well used to storage setups so I'll take this as gospel advice!

Do you have any experience with enclosures? The idea was that I would keep a few drives in the main desktop for "live" content and downloads, etc... with moving files I don't use that often to the main archive. This way I don't have to have every drive I own receiving power and spinning when the desktop is turned on. If that makes sense. Saving cost basically, hopefully!

E.g.: Addonics Raid Tower IX

A butt load of drives but only really used once a month or when needed to shuffle data around or when I drag it to a hackerspace/conference.
__________________
It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now.
Reply With Quote
  #4   (View Single Post)  
Old 6th January 2012
phoenix's Avatar
phoenix phoenix is offline
Risen from the ashes
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 696
Default

Sorry, I have no experience with external drive enclosures. Currently, all our storage servers are multi-bay rackmount chassis (12-bay, 16-bay, 24-bay).
__________________
Freddie

Help for FreeBSD: Handbook, FAQ, man pages, mailing lists.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 06:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content copyright © 2007-2010, the authors
Daemon image copyright ©1988, Marshall Kirk McKusick