Configuration for a storage server

[luckylinux]

Hello. This is my first post here and I hope somebody can actually give me some tips.

I got a very nice deal (1x 650$) for two Supermicro SC847E16-R1400UB.
However this is a UIO case with PCI/e mounting parallel to the motherboard.
I contacted Supermicro's technical support in Europe and got very fast and (what I think to be) very good answers.

Basically for using these cases as JBOD enclosures I should buy:
- 1x controller with external SAS port (AOC-SAS2LP-H4iR) or other validated model (~ 550$)
- 1x CSE-PTJBOD-CB2 power board (~ 70$)
- 1x CBL-0167L-LP internal to external SAS cable (~ 70$)
- 1x CBL-0166L external SAS cable to connect JBOD to main server external SAS port (~ 60$)

However a few things are holding me back.
They say

You can use SATA harddrives but then it is imperative to use validated SATA harddrives as ONLY these models are compatible

And

The chassis 847E (E = Expander backplane) includes the expander chip in the backplane

The compatibility depends on
- harddrive supporting expander backplane latency etc
- And the controller supporting expander backplane
- And combination of the 3 items (expander/HDD/Controller)

The WD2002FYPS drives can be used although we cannot guarantee compatibility because these drives are not validated even if the 1TB models are

That seems a bit scary as I'll be using this at home. Even though I'll not use all the 36 HDD bays from the start, for that price it was really a deal.
Here is the list of supported SAS/SATA controllers.

I'd like to hear your opinions on the matter, i.e. if you know if the WD green, WD black, Samsung's 2TB (F4?) or Hitachi's mainstream HDD should work.
I ask this because it seems it would be sort of unsupported. The adaptec 5445 (for the same price) allows this?

Operating system will be Solaris 11 with napp-it, unless somebody here will make me change my mind and go the FreeBSD 9.0 route. I'd like to use encryption though and therefore should use GELI. Using ZFS as filesystem. Storage include data and media as well, as well as some NFS/SMB moutings.

"Real" server might also host a bunch of virtual machine's DATA (but not run them) therefore I might need SSDs. Don't know if I can do both SAN and NAS with Solaris 11, but surely NAS will do. This server is (already ) in a Fractal Design Define XL case (big and well ventilated) with up to 10HDDs drive capacity (that will not be used). Maybe a good idea might be to use a drive enclosure that allow hot-swap (like this) for just the SSDs. Do you know any for 2.5'' inside a 5.25'' slot (up to 4x5.25'' and as many 2.5'' as possible). I found this and it seems to support SATA 6G speeds (as the site says) but my retailer says it doesn't. Do you know any alternatives?

CPU is AMD FX-6100 with 16GB RAM ecc-unbuffered and a highly power efficient Corsair AX750 (overkill, I know). Not planning on using dedupplication since this will increase a lot the RAM requirements. For SSD I might use a standard 4-port Adaptec Controller for arount 100$ (anyway SSDs want speed, so 2x4port is better than 1x8 port ).

Thank you very much.
I hope this post was not too long to read and explains the situation in detail.

 

[Dangman]

Moved to the correct subforum.

 

[Dangman]

Generally in terms of compatibility, your best bet would be Samsung and Hitachi drives.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

 

[Dalfo002]

You should probably have posted this in the "Data Storage Systems" sub-forum.

One thing to note from your conversations with support personnel is the semantic difference between "supported" and "compatible". To say something is not "supported" does not necessarily mean it is not "compatible". A supported configuration is a configuration where you may be able to request help from the vendor, compatible just means 'will it work'. There are many configurations which will work which will not be supported by various vendors. A configuration is usually heavily tested by the vendor before they will be willing to call it "supported" but obviously it is unfeasible (if not impossible) to test all possible configurations.

SATA disks work on SAS controllers and SAS expanders, though enough users have run into issues with using SATA on SAS expanders that vendors seem to be dropping support for this configuration (there are a few threads about this in data storage).

On my own system i am using a bunch of assorted refurbished and used SATA disks on an SAS expander, but i like to play with fire so you may not want to take any advice from me.

EDIT: I see the thread was already transferred by the time i finished my comment. Also i would strongly recommend looking into second hand SAS controllers, many models have been discussed heavily on this forum and they can be found much cheaper than retail.

 

[luckylinux]

Generally in terms of compatibility, your best bet would be Samsung and Hitachi drives.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

Thank you. I love samsung drives and had definitively no problems with them. Waiting for manufacters to fix their drives after the flood though. Sorry about the posting in the wrong section.

You should probably have posted this in the "Data Storage Systems" sub-forum.

One thing to note from your conversations with support personnel is the semantic difference between "supported" and "compatible". To say something is not "supported" does not necessarily mean it is not "compatible". A supported configuration is a configuration where you may be able to request help from the vendor, compatible just means 'will it work'. There are many configurations which will work which will not be supported by various vendors. A configuration is usually heavily tested by the vendor before they will be willing to call it "supported" but obviously it is unfeasible (if not impossible) to test all possible configurations.

SATA disks work on SAS controllers and SAS expanders, though enough users have run into issues with using SATA on SAS expanders that vendors seem to be dropping support for this configuration (there are a few threads about this in data storage).

On my own system i am using a bunch of assorted refurbished and used SATA disks on an SAS expander, but i like to play with fire so you may not want to take any advice from me.

EDIT: I see the thread was already transferred by the time i finished my comment. Also i would strongly recommend looking into second hand SAS controllers, many models have been discussed heavily on this forum and they can be found much cheaper than retail.

Yeah ... vendor only test some configurations, so either the end user uses them and the vendor **might** help, or the end user uses other drives and the vendor doesn't hold any responsability.

What do you mean by "second hand SAS controllers" ? I'd prefer a new one (at least I'd get the 3 year warranty) instead of a second one for half the price and then drop dead after a few week = lost money. I don't need expanders since it's already integrated in the backplane of the case. Only a SAS controller with an external port.
Maybe a second one for SSDs (SATA should be enough though) - this should be cheaper.

Do you know about the specific models ? Googleing didn't show many useful resources about the supermicro's or adaptec's. I'd be reluctant to buy others since they might not work at all (while supermicro's should work good with 1TB 160$ RAID edition / each). Any specific threads I should look into ?

I'd also like it to support SMART data pas-through (if possible).