Solved SFF 8087cable

F

freejlr

Hi

I'm going to install an LSI SAS 9207-8i on a Dell R620, nothing special, it's just for a homelab. The cables currently connected to the front panel and RAID controller are useless as I need an SFF 8087 to SFF 8087 cable.

I understand the importance of cables, I have seen these on eBay.

Cable to buy

Would this quality be good for a test server? In any case, which manufacturer would you recommend?

Thanks.
 
Given that SFF 8087 was very common for a long time, I'd have a look on offers for used/"new old-stock" cables e.g. from supermicro, dell or hp. In your case preferably dell, as there's often some additional proprietary cabling for sideband communicacions with the backplane integrated into those cables.

But TBH I wouldn't buy anything as ancient as 92xx/SAS2008 based nowadays - SAS2 and PCIe 2.0 is a bottleneck for pretty much anything flash based and even modern spinning rust. Additionally, SAS3008 based HBAs are available absolutely dirt-cheap, so that's the absolute minimum I'd look for...
 
Looking at ebay there are several backplanes for R620.

First establish what backplane you have then buy appropriate cable.

This one is not SFF8087-SFF8087 standard.
www.ebay.com

Dell Poweredge R620 8 Bay HDD Backplane Upgrade Kit KVGG1& Cable TK2VY US Stock | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Poweredge R620 8 Bay HDD Backplane Upgrade Kit KVGG1& Cable TK2VY US Stock at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
I agree even if you don't get SGPIO or i2c working your drives will perform fine.
Some backplanes might communicate with a different protocol than the LSI.
So the whole issue could be moot as they are not compatible.

Regardless sidechannel is what brings you 'blink on demand' drive bay lights from controller firmware.
You have to admit that is worth trying to achieve when trying to figure out drive assignment.
 
yuripv79 said:
I would double check that backplane uses SFF-8087 and not the fanout cables usually found on internal backplane.
Click to expand...
Phishfry said:
Sometimes they embed sideband communications in backplane cable.

Check the connector on backplane for sideband. You need to match that up with connector on LSI.
Click to expand...
Phishfry said:
Generally when shopping Dell Server parts you need the Generation as well as model.

For example you need backplane cable for Gen7 R620....

Here is an example of sideband cable at bottom of picture.
www.ebay.com

Dell Y028W 10 Bay 2.5'' Drive Backplane with All Cables for PowerEdge R620 | eBay

Hard drive backplane board for Dell PowerEdge R620 servers. Comes with all required cables.
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...

I have that same backplane, I have the same cables from the bottom, they are connected to the side of the r620 board, enumeration of backplane:

CN-03971G-74751-
45J-1636-A00
DP/N 03971G
Click to expand...

Sorry for my ignorance, but what does that cable have to do with the connection to the LSI controller? The backplane as you can see in the image also has two sff-8087 connectors that go to the PERC H710mini RAID controller.

Dell 0YRTCY
Click to expand...

Current cable

I have the LSI manual:

LSI 9207-8i man

It has two sff-8087 connectors that in my opinion have to be connected to the sff-8087 on the backplane, right where the RAID controller is currently connected, that's why my question and excuse my ignorance, those lower cables that I showed in the image of the backplane, I don't understand it at all.

sko said:
Given that SFF 8087 was very common for a long time, I'd have a look on offers for used/"new old-stock" cables e.g. from supermicro, dell or hp. In your case preferably dell, as there's often some additional proprietary cabling for sideband communicacions with the backplane integrated into those cables.

But TBH I wouldn't buy anything as ancient as 92xx/SAS2008 based nowadays - SAS2 and PCIe 2.0 is a bottleneck for pretty much anything flash based and even modern spinning rust. Additionally, SAS3008 based HBAs are available absolutely dirt-cheap, so that's the absolute minimum I'd look for...
Click to expand...

I understand your point, but this server is only for specific learning, I think I cannot put another HBA controller, since in the r620 manual only the LSI SAS 9207-8i appears as supported.

All this gave me to understand that these two server components as HBA are compatible, and I did not start to look so specifically at the cabling. I have the 10 bay r620, I think I will put 2 cheap enterprise SSDs from eBay, so I can use L2ARC in ZFS.

r620 tech manual

On page 9, I could only see in the raid controllers section, this HBA compatible with this server, possibly putting another type of more powerful HBA would end badly, I don't know.

Thanks guys.
 
I have obtained these cables, I am awaiting their arrival.

SFF 8087 Cable

As sko I have obtained some cables in this case from HP, in the connector head you can see that the assembler is Amphenol.

I guess I have chosen well, I have taken into account the length, those 5m I think will be enough taking into account that the cable that I have removed is 45cm long, those extra 5cm will be enough to reach the LSI, without much excess cable.
 
EDIT: I forgot to ask, in this case when removing the RAID controller, will the unit's status light stop being active? since it has now become connected to the HBA? Since the RAID controller has an internal S.M.A.R.T system, I suppose it will use that LED to mark the status, more specifically I am referring to this:

Dell caddy light

P.S: Sorry for multipost

P.S.2: Sorry, ignore this message, I didn't realize that it is only for RAID, the link says so... doubt clarified, the light will be off
 
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