Need to upgrade storage...

[C0RR0SIVE]

Kind of ended up in a pickle here... Need help and guidance from a few people, sadly, this topic falls into many categories here on the website...

I need a SAS controller, that is compatible with ESXi 5.5/5.1 and doesn't use a slot larger than PCIe x8. It must support a minimum of 8 HDD's, as well as have options for a BBU, as well as Raid6.
The last little problem, needs to be plentiful on Ebay, and somewhat cheap used.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[-RockMan-]

Kind of ended up in a pickle here... Need help and guidance from a few people, sadly, this topic falls into many categories here on the website...

I need a SAS controller, that is compatible with ESXi 5.5/5.1 and doesn't use a slot larger than PCIe x8. It must support a minimum of 8 HDD's, as well as have options for a BBU, as well as Raid6.
The last little problem, needs to be plentiful on Ebay, and somewhat cheap used.

Anyone have any ideas?

Hmm this is far as I can drive you, it'll support 8 drives.
http://www.amazon.com/Mini-sas-SFF-8087-SFF-8482-Fanout-Cable/dp/B000GU04VY

Read this users comment first then read what the other guy said.
Do SAS expanders work transparently with SAS controllers? - Server Fault

I suggest you contact lex luthor he's very good with stuff like this.

Why do you need 8 drives to begin with ? if its for those videos your still archiving...
No disrespect but why not take 2 terabytes of video and data and store it away on mediafire.com ?
If its not being used daily I see no need to keep it, especially at the risk of wearing out the drive during a period of time.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Because I plan on a RAID array?

I do more than collect Anime/Movies, I have a rather extensive network that has daily backups, some computers in this house will fill a 4TB drive in just one backup.

Limited internet bandwidth?

Link provided is dealing mostly with port multipliers, (expanders) which is really IMO, a useless technology in the end.

 

[Joe C]

Limited internet bandwidth?

that sux

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

that sux

That it does, while I am technically "unlimited" it isn't wise to go over my quota... Gotta love being a test client.

So, anyone have any good ideas? Or am I really going to end up with a SAS expander...?

 

[-RockMan-]

Or am I really going to end up with a SAS expander...?

The way you keep pushing things with those drives as you stated, you don't have any other option but to go with that.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Ended up going with an Adaptec 9650SE-12 for the controller... Plan on ordering a BBU for it very soon so I can turn write-caching on...

All I know is, the cables that came with the card, didn't work, apparently there is a difference... Pinout 1 and a Pinout 2, and designated by only a single number on the cables... Just happens the only known 100% working cable model is a full meter in length...

Rest of my drives will be in by the end of the week... I hope... If FedEx doesn't screw up anymore... For those asking why don't I use the mobo for those disks... Because I get like 10MB/s throughput on those disks tops because of ESX...

At this point, I guess the thread can be closed.