BUILD IBM BR10I b3/b1 (1068E) and IBM backplane 6 port expander

[xayide]

I have two BR10I and 4 x IBM 6 port SAS backplanes. Normaly the backplanes is only one in a server so having two on each HBA is not the normal. I tried using two of these for a 12 disk setup on each card. Problem is that only one of the expanders works at one time. I tested them all individually and the do work. As soon as I connected two to one HBA one of them fails and the disks go offline after access or init. I can see the disks but the will say PD offline once I try to add them in freeness. Same in windows and same if I use an M5015 to try and make a raid volume for 2 expanders to same card.

Is there something that needs to be changed to get two expanders to work on the same HBA? I mean 2 x 6 disks on an 8 port HBA should be no problem right?

http://store.flagshiptech.com/ibm-44w3110-6-bay-lff-sas-backplane-xseries-x3650/

 

[Chris Moore]

Is there something that needs to be changed to get two expanders to work on the same HBA? I mean 2 x 6 disks on an 8 port HBA should be no problem right?

The IBM SAS backplane has an integrated expander chip to allow 6 drives to share 4 SAS lanes. The backplane must have a fixed enclosure ID and it must be the same, which creates a conflict in the SAS controller. The SAS expander backplanes and expander chassis that I have dealt with in the past either automatically enumerated themselves based on where they were connected in the chain or they had a mechanism for manually setting the ID. If you dig into the documentation for the drive backplane, you may find a way to set it either with a jumper or through software.

I have a system with four of these attached and they each enumerated automatically based on where they were in the chain. It isn't something you usually need to configure.

 

[Chris Moore]

This documentation may help you:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19045-01/blade.6000disk/820-4922-16/z40000191018657.html

 

[Chris Moore]

Is there something that needs to be changed to get two expanders to work on the same HBA? I mean 2 x 6 disks on an 8 port HBA should be no problem right?

I believe that this is a similar problem to what you are having, but I don't know that the same solution will work for you. It might be worth a try.
https://serverfault.com/questions/3...-rjbod1-duplicate-enclosure-id-and-slot-numbe

 

[Cyberdyne]

I have the same IBM SAS backplane (44W3110) and an LSI SAS HBA. I could do some testing but I need the pinout of the powerconnector. I found this information on a website:
http://blog.emsley.ca/2014/08/ibm-x3500-sas-backplane-pinout-you-can.html
I am not sure if the pinout is realy the same for the 44W3110. It would be great if anyone could check the voltages. Thank you so much!

 

[Cyberdyne]

Is there realy noone who could help?

 

[xayide]

I have the pinout at home and will get back to you later today.

 

[xayide]

I couldn't even get the backplanes to work if I used one on each controller. If I did the second port on the 2 port controller was unusable. Seems these backplanes take the whole controller no matter what you do.

 

[Cyberdyne]

Sounds graet! I hope I can help you as well. I only have one backplane but if I get that working I can try to find an other one for testing. To bad that IBM is not willing to help in any way.

 

[xayide]

Here you can see voltages

 

[Cyberdyne]

Thank you very much! Is the adapter on the second picture the adapter which you use? The molex-connector only has 5v, 12v and ground. Didn't you connect the 3.3v? I thought the backplane electronic needs the 3.3v?!

And 6 drives and a backplane all powered by one molex-connector ... do the cables get hot?

 

[xayide]

No cables are fine and i actialy did connect 3,3v from the server for while to test but no difference

 

[Cyberdyne]

You say, that I do not need to connect the 3.3v Pins? I have tested it with all Pins connected and that worked just fine.

 

[xayide]

It does work if I only use one of these. But connecting two of these to the same controller makes it behave oddly and disconnecting disks.