3ware 9750 8i + Supermicro SAS2-836EL2 Backplane

[ashgov]

Hi,

I am hoping someone can validate what I am seeing with my new configuration. I have a 3ware 3750 8i + Supermicro SAS2-836EL2 Backplane recently installed with all hard drives connected through the backplane in the chassis.

Unfortunately when I re-installed the OS and installed HD Sentinel it fails to re-cognise any of the drives connected to the backplane. I have 1 SSD connected to the motherboard which is recognised ok but the only other entries I have are for the 2 large RAID volumes created through the RAID controller. Previously I had drives connected drives to the controller and HD sentinel could report on them with any problem.

Am I right in assuming that HD sentinel doesnt work through SAS backplanes? Are there any options for me to monitor SMART data?

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and question.

I can confirm that generally there should be no problems with such backplanes / enclosures, Hard Disk Sentinel properly worked with several different (including Supermicro) enclosures.

Do you have the latest possible firmware and drivers for the controller and the most recent version of Hard Disk Sentinel?

Please use Report -> Send test report to developer option, as then it is possible to check the actual situation and advise.

You mentioned that things previously working before the re-install of the OS. So if I'm correct, then you did not have the enclosure, just the 3ware 9750 RAID controller and the same set of drives, and then complete hard didk status reported correctly?

[ashgov]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response,

Thats right initially I had the 3ware 9690 controller with 8 drives connected directly and everything was perfect, i moved to a Supermicro chassis with a new controller (9750). The firmware and driver for the controller are the latest available (Firmware: FH9X 5.12.00.007, Driver: 5.01.00.047).

After looking through the settings in HD sentinel I can now see the status of the connected disks through the 9750 (sorry incorrectly stated 3750 previously) by using "Open status of offline disk(s)". However they are showing as offline and don't believe any of the values are being updated. Is there way to make these show as online and monitoring them appropriately?

Many thanks

Ash

[hdsentinel]

The "Open status of offline disk(s)" function designed exactly to show the last known status of the drive(s) after they removed from the system.
Yes, if they are marked "offline" then their status are not updated.
Thanks for the report, I checked it and already sent information about how to improve the situation.

[ashgov]

Thanks - I tried your solution (unchecking the Disable detection of USB and SCSI drives) and it "refreshed" all the entries, removing those that were in the offline state and now I can successfully view my connected drives! perfect.

I have another question - can HD sentinel control the way these drives spin down when they are not in use? Will it affect the way my RAID controller also controls the drives? (e.g. I don't want drives dropping out of RAID array)

Thanks again for the great support!

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and confirmation, glad to hear that now things are working!

Just to help other users, I write the message to here also, as it can be helpful if some information is missing:

The issue may be related to the fact that certain detection routines (which required to access SCSI / USB / RAID arrays) of Hard Disk Sentinel disabled. This is why we do not see anything, just "Hard Disk Device 0" and so.

I'd recommend to open Configuration -> Disk Control and un-check "Disable detection of USB and SCSI drives".

This way the complete status information may be quickly detected and displayed (again). It may appear immediately but it is possible that a restart required, depending on the configuration.


> I have another question - can HD sentinel control the way these drives spin down when they are not in use?
> Will it affect the way my RAID controller also controls the drives? (e.g. I don't want drives dropping out of RAID array)

On special RAID controllers (like this one) usually the power management of the hard disks are managed completely by the RAID controller.
I mean that (for example) if you configure Windows to power on hard disks after a period of time, usually the RAID controller ignores this and manage the drives by its own settings.
For some situations, to keep the drives spinning (preventing from entering sleep state or parking the heads) it is a good idea to use the
Configuration -> Disk Control -> Do not allow spin down of hard disks field: enter a * in that field. This way Hard Disk Sentinel periodically send a command to all hard disks, preventing them from entering sleep state and keeping the drives active (without decreasing performance of course).

> Thanks again for the great support!

Me thanks too, glad that I could help