0

I'm pretty novice when it comes to high end server storage hardware. Right now i have just a mid tower case that is running hyper-v with 2 guess instances (1 Windows 7 + 1 Windows Home server). With the bad news that microsoft will remove DE from windows home server i'm looking for what to move to. Right now my case is REALLY crampes so i definitely want a new case with hot swappable hard drive encolsures. I'm looking at the following cases from nortec:

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=131
http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=202

The only thing that i can see different about these case is one has Mini SAS connectors. Am i correct? One would have 5 mini sas connectors and the other one would have 20 sata connectors? So i would have to buy a port multiplier like this:
http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=73?

This converts 4 sata/sas ports to 28 ports of mini-sas? Do i need a high end end storage card or will the SATA ports comming of my main board work? I might run ESXi so do i need to worry about the compatibility of CK12803 multiplier just like you would for a RAID card?

I don't know if this matters but i will tell you right now what i plan on running. I will run vmware ESXi. I will be running FreeNAS as an iSCSI san. Right now i don't play to RAID anything except for the two OS drives you can put in the case that aren't hot swappable. Those will be running Raid-1. Course you never know what could happen in the future.

1 Answer 1

0

This converts 4 sata/sas ports to 28 ports of mini-sas?

No, it does not. It converts one SAS port to 28. That the one SAS port uses the same cable was done to make the technology downward compatible, NOT UPWARD.

Do i need a high end end storage card or will the SATA ports comming of my main board work?

You need a SAS controller. Not a SATA controller. To start with. Which pretty much means high end Raid. Adaptec are good.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .