[OmniOS-discuss] SuperStorage Server 6047R-E1R36L SAS Question

[Saso Kiselkov]

On 11/11/13, 2:10 PM, Saso Kiselkov wrote:
> On 11/11/13, 2:05 PM, Tobias Oetiker wrote:
>> We are looking at purchasing a new box. According to
>> https://github.com/joyent/manufacturing/blob/master/parts-database.ods
>> it seems that Joyent is using
>>
>> Supermicro SuperStorage Server 6047R-E1R36L with 7K3000 (and maybe
>> soon 7K4000) disks.
>> http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4u/6047/ssg-6047r-e1r36l.cfm
>>
>> We asked our system integrator for an offer on these boxes and he
>> said, that he has several in the field and they wer cool, BUT he
>> has seen problems with the on-board LSI 2308 and the backplane, and
>> that he would recommend installing 5 extra LSI SAS controllers to
>> directly connect each sas disk to a controller port ...
>>
>> Is this the reason that joyent lists all the firmware versions and
>> one should make sure to use exactly these versions ?
>>
>> Any ideas ?
> 
> I may be completely off, but I see no reason why using LSI SAS chips
> installed on stand-alone extension cards is better than using the LSI
> SAS chip installed on the motherboard. I smell an attempt at upsell...

Just as a quick addendum, as far as firmware goes, it's probably prudent
to follow Joyent's advice. There's little to gain by experimenting with
new untried firmwares and Joyent has probably got a fair number of these
boxes. That having been said, I've never seen any trouble with LSI SAS
chips and expanders that would force me to rather do direct-attach
instead of expanders (assuming, of course, you're not trying to attach
SATA disks to a SAS backplane or some other such nonsense).

-- 
Saso