How does xpenology enumerate SATA3 addin cards?

[Benoire]

Hi,

 

So I've got another thread about a SAS2 chassis to try and fix my problems of the drives not being placed in Storage Manager in the same order that they physically are inserted into the bays. To import a SAS2 chassis from the US to NZ will be costly, but I am prepared to do it if it works; however I can pick up 3 x 4 port SATA3 cards for cheaper and use my existing 12 bay hotswap wired this way. Can someone explain to me how Xpenology would enumerate addon cards? I.e. if card 1 = ports 1-4, card 2 = ports 5-8, card 3 = ports 9-12 would this be the case if card 1 was in pcie slot 1, card in pcie slot 2 etc. or is it likely that drives would still be all over the place?

[brantje]

Don't know if this is your chassis, but it might give you more info about how drives are enumeratedhttps://myxpenology.com/forum/general-discussion/sm-12-35-bay-ses2-chass...

 

 

Posted via MyXpenology

[Benoire]

Yeah that's my post, effectively I've got 3 4in3 hotswap bays connected via two LSI HBAs. If that other thread answers the question on the backplane issues then I would order one of those but I'm curious to know how multiple SATA3 cards enumerate with respect to drive number, i.e. which card is processed first and assigns sata slot 1 etc.

[sbv3000]

When I was doing some early experimentation with XPE and various add-on cards I found that the enumeration is dependent on the slot the add-in card is installed in and how many are installed. I think the resulting order is based on the PCI channels, IRQs etc (but not expert enough to prove it).

 

Example

Mobo with 4 on board SATA and two PCIx slots

 

On board SATA - Always Drives 1-4

Add on in slot 1, slot 2 empty - Drives 5-8

Add on in slot 2, slot 1 empty - Drives 5-8

Add on in slot 1 and 2 - slot 1 - Drives 5-8, slot 2 Drives 9-12

 

In one of my current 'live' boxes I have a 4 port syba card in PCIx1 and an 8 port MV8 in PCIx4, so I get ; onboard - 1-4, Syba 5-8, MV8 - 9-16

 

Does that help?

[brantje]

Does the order of loaded modules matter?

Can imagine that can influence the order of the drives.

 

 

Posted via MyXpenology

[sbv3000]

I didn't investigate the module load order, but its a good point and possibly another variable. I did look at the BIOS boot order and the 'naming' of the drives on the various controllers seemed to match the details in dsmsg output file, but I didn't go further in proving it as everything 'worked' and with some manual labelling I got what I needed.

[Benoire]

So, ignoring my motherboard SATA slots as their SATA2 only, I purchased three HighPoint Rocket 640L (4 port SATA3) they should enumerate:

PCIe slot 1 = HighPoint Rocket 640L = Drives 1-4;

PCIe Slot 2 = HighPoint Rocket 640L = Drives 5-8;

PCIe Slot 3 = HighPoint Rocket 640L = Drives 9-12?

 

I still prefer the chassis option with proper backplane for other technical reasons (and the ability to swap out my Dell R410 for a more upgradable setup), but if that worked above then at least I have a backup.

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[sbv3000]

in theory yes, thats what you should get. Set the controllers to JBOD mode btw

[Benoire]

Rightio thanks, I realised my post suggested I'd already bought them... I haven't... I'm of to the US for business for a couple of weeks, I'm hoping my thread on the backplanes gets answered as that will determine whether I go SATA3 PCIe cards or SAS2 route.

 

Thanks for the help.