Perc 5i - Quick Questions

[thebeephaha]

I can get a Dell Perc 5i with the 256MB RAM module, battery and battery cable for under $100 US and I'm most likely going to jump on it and test it with my motherboard but I need to know what connector I need to buy to go from the SAS to SATA.

I think I need this but I'm not sure: SFF-8484 Multilane to 4x SATA

Thanks.

 

[Blitzrommel]

You should be able to just use SATA cables for SAS controllers, provided the controller itself is compatible with SATA (which in your case, is). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, though.

 

[jawpaul]

I do believe the dell perc 5i needs that cable to break out to the individual SATA/SAS connectors.

Double check compatibility with your system/motherboard.

 

[Rocco123]

You should be able to just use SATA cables for SAS controllers, provided the controller itself is compatible with SATA (which in your case, is). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Not correct. Branded SAS cards like PERC5i/e and the HP P400s only have the larger adapters that would normally plug into the backplane. From the backplane, you can usually insert SATA drives with the right carries.

In other words, yes you need that cable.

$100 for a PERC5/i is a steal. Did it come with the battery? I'm going to warn you right now. The initial batch (for the first 6 months or so) of PERC5/i batteries had an issue where they would not charge cycle correctly. I've had to return over 50 batteries in a little over a year (out of less than 200 servers).

 

[thebeephaha]

It does have a battery, I'd have to check how old it is.

Is the battery critical for proper operation or is it just for a failsafe if the power goes out or something?

(thanks btw about the cable info)

 

[Rocco123]

The battery is for the write-back cache on the card. In case you lose power of the machine is powered off imporperly, it will prevent corruption on the cache (thus your array). I also believe you cannot use RAID5/6/ADG at all unless you have battery-backed cache (this is at least the case with the HP P400 SAS controller). It will only let you do RAID 0/1/1+0 without the battery.