ProLiant DL380 G6

[Maciej Kujawa]

Can we put 2 additional RAID controllers into it? We want to have additional SAS disks in external matrix SAS cases.

[TTr]

Yes you can add RAID controllers. What do you have installed on it so far? The G6 can have up to 16 internal disks with the addition of the optional 8-bay disk cage (you lose the internal DVD drive), and 6 PCIe slots with the addition of the 3 PCIe riser option.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13234_div/13234_div.html

[Maciej Kujawa]

Thank you for your answer. Right now we have all standard server with 8 bays of 2.5inch disks. We want to extend for another 20-30 disks (3.5inch) based on two or three external storage enclosures. I was thinking about HP Storage Works 60 Modular Smart Array. What would be the best of choice regarding additional controllers for it?

[TTr]

You can use MSA60 or the newer D2600/D2700 enclosures and a wide variety pf controllers.

The problem with the external enclosures is that all drives in the enclosure (and in the cascaded enclosures) get connected with a single 4-port cable. So you get only 4 drives at a time doing i/o. Don't expect i/o miracles with this kind of a setup, they are capacity oriented not performance.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12627_div/12627_div.HTML

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13404_div/13404_div.html

In the enclosure URL there are links for all the SA controllers.

[Maciej Kujawa]

Can I connect 2 enclosures with one controller (i.e. P411)? As far as I see it has 2 ext connectors. Or is it better to connect each enclosure to one controller. How about the availability of 8x PCI-E connectors? I'm concerned that it's really only one available left, so we're stuck with only one controller. Could you please confirm that? The specification for a new server is with 2 additional RAID controllers and 40 disks in total.

[Maciej Kujawa]

And the next one. Our DL380 G6 spec says that we have already P410 8 channel already onboard (for 8 internal disks). Is this possible that we already have no PCI 8x slots anymore?

[Maciej Kujawa]

OK - I read the specs in more detail. It's P410i - means integrated. And specs say also that DL380 G6 supports a total of two P411. So it can be done I think.

[TTr]

Yes it can be done. You can connect both enclosures to the same controller but you will get better i/o if you buy two separate controllers.

What are you planning on running on this server with this much storage? As I said before don't expect screaming i/o.

[Maciej Kujawa]

Thank you for your reply once again. I also think - we don't really need that much storage but we have ongoing implementation of a "big" system and that is the requirement of the software company.