[CentOS] Port multiplier support in megaraid* module for LSI LOGIC LSI00042 PCI-X SATA II Controller?

Mon Nov 27 22:57:54 UTC 2006
Mike Fedyk <mfedyk at mikefedyk.com>

I have tried many permutations of search terms in google and I haven't
been able to find any confirmation that the megaraid* modules in centos4
supports port multipliers/multiplexers.

Here is a link to the controller I have in mind at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16816118032

In case anyone is interested, here is what my research has turned up
when looking for external JBOD SATA enclosures:

I'm just looking for a hot swap JBOD enclosure, so anything over $1000
USD is out of the question.  Luckily, I found a few meeting that
criteria.

The DS-1220 is rackmountable, holds 12 drives and uses two port 
multipliers.  The only drawbacks I can see is that it looks like they 
could've fit 15 drives with three multipliers, and two drives need 
direct connections to the controller.  That's 4 esata ports used ( 2 x 5
port multiplier + 2 direct to hard drive ).

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=8&modelno=DS-1220

The SC-SATA12RM is rackmountable, uses 4 multi-lane SAS connectors and 
holds 12 drives.  Having full bandwidth to each drive can have its 
advantages for streaming reads and writes, but the seeky workload I 
expect won't benefit much from the extra theoretical bandwidth.  In 
order to save on sata controller port usage, I'd probably have to get a 
few port multipliers.

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsata12rm.asp

The SC-SAT10PM holds 10 drives, uses two port multipliers, connects to 
the SATA HBA with 2 esata connections (and may be rack mountable with 
some customizations -- I need to check further).  Because of the area 
the server and storage will be in, the enclosure doesn't strictly need 
to be rack mountable.

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/

Here are some links to esata to sata, sata multilane/sas to four
internal sata ports, etc. port converters:
http://www.satacables.com/html/sata-pci-brackets.html
http://www.cooldrives.com/intoexes4pop.html
http://www.lycom.com.tw/ST130.htm