Using a SAS expander with SATA SSDs

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herbz7

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Feb 9, 2014
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Hey, I was wondering if there was any particular problem with using a SAS expander with SATA SSDs? I know it's backwards compatabible however on another forum a guy wrote

"Also never use a sas-expander with SSD. Ensure it is 1 SAS port to 4 ssd maximum. SAS expander will cause tons of issues with SATA SSD to SAS controller."

Can anyone here elaborate? I can't seem to find much regarding this.
 
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popatim
No real issues that I am aware of, at least with quality parts that work with SSD's to begin with. Even a 3gb/s expander will have 4 lanes back to the controller for ~ 12gb/s throughput which is enough to feed quite a few ssd's - just don't expect full performance without at least moving up to sata3 (6gb/s) controller & expander.

The issue with SSD's on an expander is one of benefit.
I mean that even a sata3 controller lane is nearly maxed out by a modern ssd so throwing an expander in the middle doesn't benefit you besides allowing more than 4 drives and 4 ssd's is already using nearly all your bandwidth. So you have to question the benefit of using the expander. Are you looking to create bigger array space, a more redundant...
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popatim

popatim

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Dec 2, 2009
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No real issues that I am aware of, at least with quality parts that work with SSD's to begin with. Even a 3gb/s expander will have 4 lanes back to the controller for ~ 12gb/s throughput which is enough to feed quite a few ssd's - just don't expect full performance without at least moving up to sata3 (6gb/s) controller & expander.

The issue with SSD's on an expander is one of benefit.
I mean that even a sata3 controller lane is nearly maxed out by a modern ssd so throwing an expander in the middle doesn't benefit you besides allowing more than 4 drives and 4 ssd's is already using nearly all your bandwidth. So you have to question the benefit of using the expander. Are you looking to create bigger array space, a more redundant array (go to raid 6 or a large 10), higher iops...?

For reference an expander connects back to the controller using up one full port which has 4 channels within it (and why you can purchase breakout cables to attach 4 drives to it directly). Some expanders can use two ports on the controller which nets them double the throughput.
 
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