RAID controller does not see expander

dwisehart Dec 23, 2011 12:46 PM

Hello,
My Intel RT3WB080 RAID controller says it supports port expanders, but when I plug in a CFI-B53PM 5 Port Backplane (SiI3726), the controller only reports one drive.

I have tried lots of options in the RAID BIOS pre-boot command tool and commands like -pdGetNum -a0 only find one drive, even after setting the option to expose enclosure drives. A cheapo Adaptec controller that won't work for my application sees all five drives just fine. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Daniel

1. Re: RAID controller does not see expander

vegan Dec 26, 2011 8:34 PM (in response to dwisehart)

I believe that product is intended for Mac based gear.

Intel adapters expect SAS expanders and they tend to be a tad more expensive

You are looking at $300-500 per expander
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2. Re: RAID controller does not see expander

dwisehart Dec 27, 2011 9:04 AM (in response to vegan)

Thanks for the suggestion. My problem is the form-factor. I have been using these expanders in a tight enclosure that puts a motherboard plus 45 of the 3-1/2 inch drives in a 3U mount. Next thought is to remove the expanders and wire the drives direct using a 24-port RAID card, but I was hoping there was an easier way.

Regards,
Daniel
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3. Re: RAID controller does not see expander

vegan Dec 27, 2011 1:38 PM (in response to dwisehart)

The RAID cards I use in rack mounted servers have the 28 pin connectors on them. Cheap fan out cables then attach to indivisual drives.

This is the current way of the world in storage servers until SCSI Express steps up around 2015.
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