Using x3 M1015's

[Darren Myers]

I plan to use x3 M1015 cards flashed to P16 IT Mode, the motherboard i have is a Super Micro MBD-X8DTE -O

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/QPI/5500/X8DT6-F.cfm?IPMI=N&SAS=N

It has 6 PCI Express slots total listed below.
4 (x8) PCI-E 2.0 slots
1 (x4) PCI-E 2.0 slot
1 (x4) PCI-E slot

Will i suffer any issues if i continue expanding into the single x4 2.0 slot?

 

[Ericloewe]

Beyond bandwidth limitations, no, not really.

 

[Darren Myers]

Beyond bandwidth limitations, no, not really.

Thanks for the swift reply Ericloewe, will they be noticeable bandwidth limitation?

 

[Mlovelace]

Why not use 1 M1015 card with a SAS expander instead of 3xM1015? How many disks are you wanting to connect?

 

[Darren Myers]

Why not use 1 M1015 card with a SAS expander instead of 3xM1015? How many disks are you wanting to connect?

That's where i am at now , and i'm asking myself the same question. I could sell off one or 2 of the M1015's and get a expander or not to thats really my question.

Are there any downfalls performance or general issues with a expander?

 

[cyberjock]

I don't think you can put an M1015 in a 1x (or even a 4x) slot and it will function. I could be remembering wrong.

What you really should do is get a SAS Expander (The 24 port Intel SAS expander is what I use with my M1015) and use that. I'd strongly recommend against trying to use another M1015. ;)

 

[Darren Myers]

I don't think you can put an M1015 in a 1x (or even a 4x) slot and it will function. I could be remembering wrong.

What you really should do is get a SAS Expander (The 24 port Intel SAS expander is what I use with my M1015) and use that. I'd strongly recommend against trying to use another M1015. ;)

That is what i am leaning towards....with the SAS expander does both SAS connections goto the SAS expander or only 1 SAS cable to expander and other SAS cable to whatever is getting connected (SAS backplane or SAS to SATA)

 

[cyberjock]

1 SAS cable goes from the M1015 into the SAS expander. If you have the Intel 24 port expander you'll be able to connect 20 drives to the SAS expander (4 ports are for the M1015 <-> SAS expander).

 

[Ericloewe]

That is what i am leaning towards....with the SAS expander does both SAS connections goto the SAS expander or only 1 SAS cable to expander and other SAS cable to whatever is getting connected (SAS backplane or SAS to SATA)

It's up to you. At least with LSI expanders, you can connect four or eight channels upstream to the expander.

 

[Darren Myers]

This sounds like im leaning towards keeping 2 of my 3 M1015's and getting 2 expanders just for errr "safe measure " :P and future expansion

 

[Mlovelace]

CJ beat me to it but typically its 1 SAS to expander, you could (would) do 2 if you were daisy chaining multiple expanders together.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117307

 

[borisnet]

Why not use 1 M1015 card with a SAS expander instead of 3xM1015? How many disks are you wanting to connect?

Interesting, I have a 3 x M1015 setup. What's the value of using a SAS expander vs the 3 M1015?

 

[Ericloewe]

Interesting, I have a 3 x M1015 setup. What's the value of using a SAS expander vs the 3 M1015?

In this particular case, avoiding a PCI-e 1.0 x4 slot, which offers one fourth the bandwidth of PCI-e 2.0 x8, which the M1015 takes.
Also cheaper in some cases, and it's the only solution where PCI-e bandwidth is limited.

 

[marbus90]

Erm, he has 4x x8 Slots and 3 cards for 4 slots.

Why should he use the PCIe 1.0 x1 in the first place?

 

[Ericloewe]

Erm, he has 4x x8 Slots and 3 cards for 4 slots.

Why should he use the PCIe 1.0 x1 in the first place?

PCI-e 1.0 x4, not x1.

I assume he has other cards occupying other PCI-e slots (NICs perhaps).

 

[marbus90]

PCIe 2.0 x4 is fine up to 2x 10GBit/s Interfaces. Therefore he would need at least 2 2x10GBit/s cards before the M1015 need to be forced into the slower slots. The PCIe 1.0 x4 could still move 1GB/s, so single 10GBit/s or 4x1GBit/s is fine with that too.

 

[Darren Myers]

Erm, he has 4x x8 Slots and 3 cards for 4 slots.

Why should he use the PCIe 1.0 x1 in the first place?

I have a dual 10GB NIC that goes into one of the x8 slots. I might end up getting an expander so that i have the potential to go beyond my current want of 24 hdds

 

[Darren Myers]

PCIe 2.0 x4 is fine up to 2x 10GBit/s Interfaces. Therefore he would need at least 2 2x10GBit/s cards before the M1015 need to be forced into the slower slots. The PCIe 1.0 x4 could still move 1GB/s, so single 10GBit/s or 4x1GBit/s is fine with that too.

Thanks Marbus90, your answer is pretty much what i was hoping to find! Thank you for the info at the moment i have the 10GB card in one of the X8 slots along with my 3 M1015's

 

[marbus90]

So in theory you could move that to the 2.0 x4 Slot and add one further M1015.

Altough I may recommend for a 36bay-system the following case: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/847/SC847E16-R1K28LP.cfm
It has 2 Expanders with x4 uplink each, one for the front 24 bays and one for the rear 12. Calculate with 100MB/s per bay.
If that isn't enough, you could still add a JBOD using either another M1015 or the Uplinks from the Expander Backplane: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/847/SC847E16-R1K28JBOD.cfm

 

[Darren Myers]

So in theory you could move that to the 2.0 x4 Slot and add one further M1015.

Altough I may recommend for a 36bay-system the following case: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/847/SC847E16-R1K28LP.cfm
If that isn't enough, you could still add a JBOD using either another M1015 or the Uplinks from the Expander Backplane: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/847/SC847E16-R1K28JBOD.cfm

I'm working on something much more interesting for a case :) im waiting for the rest of the parts to come in before the big reveal lol, at the moment im working with some small scale stuff such as single case, 4 hdds , 1 SSD for caching. Eventually it will be 2-4 SSD's for caching in either raid 1 or 10 + 24 harddrives. 12 4TB hdds and 12 2TB hdds, but for now its a work in progress :)