SAS vs. SATA question

[equazcion]

I'm using online configurators at various shops to try and build my company a new server. Most of the chassis/mobos are Supermicro, and I'm finding it hard to find one that supports everything I want. I'm starting to wonder if I want the right things.

I want dual-CPU socket 1366, redundant power, and a 6 or 8 slot SAS-II (6G/s) hotswap HDD cage/backplane.

Is this such an unreasonable configuration? It seems I could open up my options significantly if I settle for SATA instead. Is SATA preferred for servers now? Or is SAS only better for certain specialized implementations, with no clear benefit for a general-purpose server? It's hard to find anything conclusive on this in my googling.

Any help == greatly greatly appreciated. Thanks to whoever can shed light on this.

 

[mfenn]

What you've described is a pretty common config. SAS drives are still higher quality and faster than SATA drives, but are corresponding more expensive.

I'm not terribly familiar with SuperMicro's offerings, but I'm surprised that you can't find config that fits your need. Maybe you are looking at the wrong vendors? We usually don't whitebox machines at work (not worth the hassle when you buy them by the 100's), so I'm most familiar with the tier 1 vendors. Here's a few platforms off the top of my head that will do what you want.

Dell:
R510
R610
R710

HP:
DL360 G7
DL380 G7

IBM:
x3550 M3
x3620 M3

EDIT:
Here's some SM products to ask for if you really want to go that route (I don't recommend it):
1026T-6RF+
2026T-6RF+

 

[equazcion]

Thanks I'm gonna look into those -- I should've mentioned though my preference is for tower/pedestal boxes, and those are all I've been looking at. Maybe that's why I'm having trouble finding something?

The reason I like those is because it seems like there's more room to work inside them. I've never worked in a rack chassis before but nightmares of trying to navigate through cramped slimline/integrated PCs abound in my mind. Are my fears groundless?

...and for what I want should I count on having to go with a rack chassis?

Thanks for the helpful response!

 

[mfenn]

Sorry, I just assumed that you were looking for rackmount. I'd imagine that you would have a hard time finding a tower server with that many hot-swap bays.

Your fears about rackmount PCs are definitely groundless however. They're actually easier to work on that a tower PC because all the cables are pre-routed (out of necessity). In the unlikely event that you'll ever have to open one up, you'll find that once you take the top cover off (usually tool less), you have all the components laid out right in front of you with few if any screws to contend with. I can swap the mobo in a Dell R610 in 10 minutes flat.

 

[equazcion]

I hear you. That definitely does sound good. I've been dreading having to replace the mobo in our current tower server, so if rack servers make that easier then I'm on board.

Thanks so much for all the great information! This helped me a great deal.

 

[Cerb]

Also, you should be able to use SATA disks with a SAS controller. The real question about the backplane is if it uses any kind of port expansion. If not, a SAS controller and SATA drives aught to do just fine. If there aren't RAID SATA drive options to choose, though, maybe there are other considerations, too?

An LSI SAS controller, with RAID SATA drives, is an awfully common custom built choice, these days, particularly the Dell PERC 5 and 6. I don't know what they give for SAS drives, because I've only used them for SATA, and they work great for them.

Also, I've read that the H-series controllers from Dell have a Dell only parts scam going (only Dell certified drives would work). Have they changed this, or is the PERC 6 still the best/only way to get your own replacements?

 

[equazcion]

I've read that the H-series controllers from Dell have a Dell only parts scam going (only Dell certified drives would work). Have they changed this, or is the PERC 6 still the best/only way to get your own replacements?

Thanks for this info. I did some googling, and it looks like since driver version 12.3.0 (for the H700 according to the thread linked below; I'm assuming it's the same on all the H models) third-party drive blocks were removed. You still see a message saying the drives aren't "certified", but nothing is disabled.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/906/t/19324790.aspx?PageIndex=2

Re: SATA on an SAS backplane, I'm assuming there's still a performance gain if you use SAS drives?

 

[Worthington]

I don't think there are any 15K SATA drives so you'd see increased performance just based on spindle speed.. would you not?

 

[mfenn]

I don't think there are any 15K SATA drives so you'd see increased performance just based on spindle speed.. would you not?

That is correct.

 

[mfenn]

I hear you. That definitely does sound good. I've been dreading having to replace the mobo in our current tower server, so if rack servers make that easier then I'm on board.

Thanks so much for all the great information! This helped me a great deal.

No problem. One thing to keep in mind is that rack servers are quite a bit louder than tower servers because they're meant to be used in a dedicated machine room. I certainly wouldn't want to share an office with one.