Hi Adam, On 10/31/18 04:12, Adam Goryachev wrote: > My question is what is the best way to get 16 x SSD's connected in a > single system? Would I just get a 16 SATA port adapter like this: > > https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103121&cm_re=adaptec-_-16-103-121-_-Product > > Adaptec 1000 2288200-R (1000-16e ) 8-Lane PCIe Gen3 Low-Profile, MD2 > SATA / SAS 12 Gb/s PCIe Gen3 Host Bus Adapter > 4 (x4) SFF-8644 External Connectors > > Or is there other (potentially more reliable under linux and/or cheaper) > that could do the same thing? For the past years we moved away from "intelligent" RAID controllers to dumb HBAs (just as you propose) and there we almost exclusively go with LSI/Broadcom/Avago/whatever their current name is nowadays for the time being as they just "work" under Linux. I think the "Broadcom SAS 9305-16i" would fit the bill if you wanted to have internal fan-out cables. Local mail-order pricing here in Germany is around AUD 630. They usually come as either "IR" (integrated RAID?) or "IT" (?) where the latter is the dumb HBA version you really want, but flashing to IT mode is usually not that hard. >From there you have the choice of using fan-out cables, i.e. directly going with 4 SATA ports per port on the card (like the one you linked to), e.g. https://www.microsatacables.com/external-mini-sas-hd-sff8644-to-4-x-sata-cable-1-meter-sff-754-1m or you could go with a chassis which does the conversion for you via a SAS backplane - we usually go with the latter as it makes it easier to hot-swap components from racked equipment. Apart from that, depending on the anticipated load of the system, you may want to ensure you have enough CPU power in the box as whatever way you will "RAID" the devices, it will take a bite out of the CPU(s) - unless you go with RAID0 (don't!) or RAID10[1]. Also, if you plan on having (multiple) 10Gb/s NICs moving data in/out of the box. Does this help a bit? Cheers carsten [1] Depending on usage scenario, we usually go with simple md-raid1/10/6 or with ZFS raidz/raidz2, where the latter can be even harder on CPU. -- Dr. Carsten Aulbert, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Callinstraße 38, 30167 Hannover, Germany Phone: +49 511 762 17185
