Dual Quad-port SAS HBA on Single Stack

[redtail1981]

Hi guys,

Anyone can provide any information on whether is it possible to connect Dual Quad-Port SAS HBA on a FAS3140HA to a Single Stack of Disk on DS243 ?

Such as connecting HBA1, Port A to the top Stack and HBA 2, Port B to the bottom Stack of the Disk Shelf ?

As from the DS243 Installation and Service Guide, i can only find Single Quad-Port SAS HBA to Single Stack and Dual Quad-Port SAS HBA to double Stack of disk shelves.

Best Regards,

HongWei

[aborzenkov · Accepted solution]

Page 31 (in my copy) of mentioned guide describes recommended cabling sequence for multiple HBAs. Nothing stops you using two quad HBAs with single stack, you just will waste 6 ports out of 8 ... it would be HBA 1 port A and HBA 2 port B.

[redtail1981]

Yes i will waste the other 6 ports.. but at least i have a redundancy at the card level.

Just need to verify whether anyone have done this kind of config before...

[pascalduk]

I plan do a setup with 2 sas cards and single stack when I get my first ds4243.

[amiller_1]

Not that it can't happen....but seeing a slot failure in a NetApp is very real. So, if you have the extra slots and the extra cash, I don't see any technical issues. If I'm short of slots (i.e. want to do 10 GigE, PAM, etc.), I wouldn't have a huge issue with putting my disk off a single SAS HBA especially in a cluster where cluster failover provides some level of protection.

I see this kind of question/scenario as happening fairly often given that the 31x0 line only has 4 slots, no built-in SAS ports, and a single SAS HBA can technicall handle up to 480 disks (i.e. higher than the maximum disks for a 3140).