#Can a NAJ-1502 work as a JBOD/DAS?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

rough matrix
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I have a used NAJ-1502 I am looking to use as a JBOD in my homelab by connecting directly to a Dell poweredge 740. Currently I am testing with the included raid card Dell PERC H330 HSCA-901 connecting 2 Mini SAS SFF-8644 with IC to SAS SFF-8643 to the netapp device. I have 2 IOM12 111-02850+c3 and 2 E2800A-8GB that could be used. I have 2 20TB SAS drives in bays 1 and 2 for this test. I am currently relying on Dells lifecycle, Device management, and Idrac tools along with unraid to test.

I only am powering and connecting SAS cables to half of the netapp, I understand this may cause issues. I am only using it this way as a test to see if the unit can work as a JBOD.

Please let me know if this is possible with the equipment I have, If my SAS cords are correct, If the unit needs to be reset somehow, if I need to plug into a different OS to temporary make a change.

wide raptor
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use the IOM12 modules, not the E2800 controllers. Then it can be used as JBOD. But this is more a question for #┊・homelabs

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Not sure about the cables though, SFF 8643 is an internal connector

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if you can plug in the cable to your SAS HBA on one side and the IOM12 on the other side it should work though. As long as its proper SAS cables, people have reported problems with no-name cables before so YMMV

wind quarry
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Yeah the IOM12 moules (or actually just one module) is what you need... The connectors are MiniSAS HD (not sure about the SFF number). You can go from MiniSAS HD (with SAS3 speeds) to SAS (QSFP style) SAS2 speeds)... We use the MiniSAS HD in both the HBA and the IOM12 module. Just connect to port 1 and you should be good... You can do a setup with multipathing using another IOM module but it's not worth it

wide raptor
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in any case, if your SAS HBA only has internal connectors, I would just go spend the 20 bucks to get a proper SAS3 HBA with external ports from eBay. Much less hassle and easier to work with than having cables go through some hole in the case to an internal port 🙂

wind quarry
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Also.. if you are setting up ZFS I can recommend using the "zfs dev-aliases"... We have set it up so that the "zpool status -v" shows the devices as "bays" instead of sda, sdb etc.. makes it a bit easier when you need to identify the disks...

wind quarry
wide raptor
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oh, and since Unraid seems to be based on Linux, there are some SAS HBAs that don't work very well with Linux (in my experience the LSI2008 ones just froze the kernel during boot) so you might want to get one that is validated/certified with Linux (or switch to FreeBSD like I did 😉 )

rough matrix
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@wide raptor @wind quarry Thank you for the responses, I will test further. What I found with research suggest that mini sas HD is just part of the name and sff #### is the exact port. I was testing the internals since I was intending to keep full sas 3 speeds and only use 1 HBA, the only model I found that can do this is an LSI 9305 24i. Assuming I need 2 SAS cables to each IOM module. Do I need 2 SAS cables to each module to keep sas 3 speeds on all 12 bays? or will just the 2 sas cables work (1 to each module or 2 to a single module). I prefer to keep unraid for this config and test free BSD/proxmox on my other unit for testing. I am also getting rid of my current zfs pool going back to xfs for power efficiency.

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@wide raptor @wind quarry Step one, keep in mind this is my first time working with a JBOD and despite I am well versed in my IT career in IT I am still a user, the external SAS cable was upside down... I was annoyed the cable i purchased was not clipping in, apparently the pull tabs go on the bottom. now I am getting the below error. I am going to buy an HBA with better support most likely the lsi 9305-24i given my explanation above please let me know if my reasoning is sound.

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I am following this link before buying as well.. sorry for the spam of info

wide raptor
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you need an HBA without RAID (also called "IT Mode" or "Initiator-Target" mode). For some SAS HBAs you can flash a different "IT" firmware but for others you can't. Ask in #┊・homelabs for model numbers that work if you want to buy one (the one I use doesn't work with Linux so I won't recommend it here but there are others that work fine with Linux).
And you are right, the "SFF xxxx" numbers are the actual connector names/formfactors, but people generally refer to them using different terms. SAS QSFP is SFF-8436 (in the older IOM3, IOM6 modules and some older SAS HBAs), Mini SAS is SFF-8088 (what many SAS HBAs have), and Mini SAS HD is SFF-8644 (what you have on your IOM12 module, and some newer SAS HBAs also have this).

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as for the speed, a single SAS cable has 4 lanes of up to 12gbit/s (with IOM12) so 48 gbit/s.... that doesn't affect the backplane speed and every single HDD is connected with SAS-3 at 12 gbit/s to the backplane, no matter what cable you plug in. So a single SAS connetion to the shelf will get you at most ~6 gb/s which is 100mb/s per disk. you can double that with two connections, one to each IOM module. I have no idea how well it scales beyond that, I guess you could try with 4 or even 8 connections but I doubt you will get 4x/8x the throughput out of it. But that's something you would have to test