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Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 30 Dec 2010, 04:33
by Ubi
Could be, but I can imagine you're then moving in to the saturated readynas-dominated market, which may be more difficult to make margins in. Bubba now is top-class of the plug-computers which is a nice position to be in.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 07 Mar 2011, 17:27
by kthu
I am considering getting a B3, but I am reluctant because of the unclear situation regarding sata multiplier support. I stumbled upon this page: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Exte ... 443575.htm

It suggests that the Stardom Sohotank ST5610 that was tested by the Bubba team does indeed support FIS based switching. Now - If the SATA controller chip in the Bubba 3 does also support FIS switching as Excito claims, could this be just a matter of compiling in the right support in the kernel? I've compiled my share of kernels in my time, so that is something i'd be willing to do, but I don't want to shell out on a bubba and a multi disk DAS just to discover that they cannot work together.

Could we have another test please? :)

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 08 Mar 2011, 02:27
by tor
Hi Kthu,

As i read the add the guy(?) who sells this also provides a "Silicon Image si3132 based PCIe card", i.e. he slips his pcie sata card for use in the PC side. Reading up on the 3132 chip it indicates that it does both FIS and CMD based switching which would explain that it works with the SOHO tank. (http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/pb3132_pb_090209.pdf)

So i still see no indication that the SOGO-tank should work. If anyone could find an enclosure with FIS-support, please let us know and we will purchase and test it.

/Tor

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 08 Mar 2011, 02:27
by tor
Hi Kthu,

As i read the add the guy(?) who sells this also provides a "Silicon Image si3132 based PCIe card", i.e. he slips his pcie sata card for use in the PC side. Reading up on the 3132 chip it indicates that it does both FIS and CMD based switching which would explain that it works with the SOHO tank. (http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/pb3132_pb_090209.pdf)

So i still see no indication that the SOGO-tank should work. If anyone could find an enclosure with FIS-support, please let us know and we will purchase and test it.

/Tor

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 08 Mar 2011, 11:17
by kthu
Indeed. Looking closer at the ad, it is the pci card he is selling, not the enclosure, that is specified to support FIS. However - according to https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/S ... e_features and http://www.siliconimage.com/products/pr ... spx?pid=32 the SI3132 only support FIS, not CBS.

I'll keep looking for enclosures that actually specifies FIS based switching, but for some reason the type of switching used is a closely guarded secret in most cases.

My impression from reading forums and specification pages is that FIS is what is supported unless otherwise noted. The PCI cards that are bundled with some eclosures are very often SI3132 based. Which chip sits in the Bubba3? Looking for bundles with that chip could be an alternative way of finding the right enclosure.

I've still got this nagging feeling that the whole thing might come down to lack of support in the current kernel.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 14 Mar 2011, 19:01
by hho
I am eagerly awaiting answers regarding Port Multiplier functionality on the B3. Hopefull that Excito will provide some answers.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 02 Apr 2011, 05:24
by Laughingman
This will probably be of no help to the question at hand but I just bought a B3 with the intention of attaching a 4 bay sata enclosure that was previously attached to my desktop. An IT expert I am not but I was extremely shocked and disappointed to discover that the b3 cannot see my external bay. Reading this forum I now believe that it never will. Am I wrong? Am I doing something wrong? This is upsetting as the on-board storage is nowhere near enough and the bay holds 8TB. I really love this product over all but now fear I wasted my money if it cannot see the drives as this was one of my main purposes in buying it. Any advice? I really do like this little server and am not against buying a different type of bay if it would work with it but if not I will probably have to resell it or return it.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 02 Apr 2011, 12:42
by albert
I have just bought a Fantec QB-35USB2 4-disk eSata disk cabinet, which needs a FIS port multiplier to work. I have upgraded my B3 to the latest excito kernel (2.6.38) so I can't tell if it works with the previous kernel (2.6.35), but it works like a charm, see the relevant bits of the dmesg output.

The bottom line, yes it works with an eSata port multiplier.

Albert

[ 25.909687] ata2: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl F300)
[ 25.916588] ata2.15: Port Multiplier 1.2, 0x197b:0x0325 r0, 15 ports, feat 0x5/0xf
[ 25.933337] ata2.00: hard resetting link
[ 26.439929] ata2.01: hard resetting link
[ 26.949925] ata2.02: hard resetting link
[ 28.019755] ata2.02: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 28.025440] ata2.03: hard resetting link
[ 29.099821] ata2.03: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 29.105500] ata2.04: hard resetting link
[ 30.179757] ata2.04: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 30.185439] ata2.05: hard resetting link
[ 31.259755] ata2.05: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 31.265441] ata2.06: hard resetting link
[ 32.339755] ata2.06: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 32.345439] ata2.07: hard resetting link
[ 33.419752] ata2.07: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 33.425433] ata2.08: hard resetting link
[ 34.499822] ata2.08: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 34.505501] ata2.09: hard resetting link
[ 35.579757] ata2.09: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 35.585441] ata2.10: hard resetting link
[ 36.659757] ata2.10: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 36.665440] ata2.11: hard resetting link
[ 37.739755] ata2.11: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 37.745439] ata2.12: hard resetting link
[ 38.819753] ata2.12: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 38.825431] ata2.13: hard resetting link
[ 39.899821] ata2.13: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 39.905500] ata2.14: hard resetting link
[ 40.979757] ata2.14: failed to resume link (SControl 0)
[ 41.019714] ata2.00: ATA-8: WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0, 01.00A01, max UDMA/133
[ 41.026475] ata2.00: 976773168 sectors, multi 0: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32)
[ 41.069716] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 41.149708] ata2.01: ATA-6: HDS722580VLSA80, V32OA6MA, max UDMA/100
[ 41.155945] ata2.01: 160836480 sectors, multi 0: LBA48
[ 41.259713] ata2.01: configured for UDMA/100
[ 41.264150] ata2: EH complete
[ 41.267372] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA WDC WD5000AADS-0 01.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 41.276310] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 GiB)
[ 41.284128] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 41.289812] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 41.294584] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 41.294885] scsi 1:1:0:0: Direct-Access ATA HDS722580VLSA80 V32O PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 41.303235] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 41.313728] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] 160836480 512-byte logical blocks: (82.3 GB/76.6 GiB)
[ 41.321882] sd 1:1:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 41.327526] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 41.332321] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 41.332527] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 41.784789] sdc: sdc1
[ 41.788459] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[ 41.825674] sdb: sdb1
[ 41.829034] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 03 Apr 2011, 13:53
by hho
albert wrote:I have just bought a Fantec QB-35USB2 4-disk eSata disk cabinet, which needs a FIS port multiplier to work. I have upgraded my B3 to the latest excito kernel (2.6.38) so I can't tell if it works with the previous kernel (2.6.35), but it works like a charm, see the relevant bits of the dmesg output.

The bottom line, yes it works with an eSata port multiplier.
Great news! I hope that Excito can make this official.

I have ordered two devices from Fantec on your advice. I will try both QB-35US2 and QB-35US3 (with USB3 interface). Though I will connect the device to a B3 using the eSATA interface.

Cheers!

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 05 Apr 2011, 10:44
by kthu
albert wrote:I have just bought a Fantec QB-35USB2 4-disk eSata disk cabinet, which needs a FIS port multiplier to work. I have upgraded my B3 to the latest excito kernel (2.6.38) so I can't tell if it works with the previous kernel (2.6.35), but it works like a charm,
Great news! Thanks for letting us know.

I have now placed an order for a B3 and a LianLi EX-50B. Will report back.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 03:21
by hho
hho wrote: I have ordered two devices from Fantec on your advice. I will try both QB-35US2 and QB-35US3 (with USB3 interface). Though I will connect the device to a B3 using the eSATA interface.
I have now successfully connected the the QB-35US3 with two disks. At first I was running kernel 2.6.35 and dmesg stopped after:

Code: Select all

[4364554.189263] ata2: EH complete
but after a kernel upgrade to 2.6.38 I got:

Code: Select all

[   41.602509] ata2: EH complete
[   41.605731] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      WDC WD20EARS-00S 80.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[   41.614668] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   41.622746] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[   41.628427] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[   41.633203] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[   41.633505] scsi 1:1:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      WDC WD20EARS-00S 80.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[   41.641788] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[   41.651712] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   41.660502] sd 1:1:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[   41.666149] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[   41.670989] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 06:26
by albert
I looked a bit further into it ("just Googled") and found that a regression had been introduced into the 2.6.35 kernel regarding the Marvel Sata stuff connecting to a port multiplier. So your experience makes sense. So the bottom line is just to upgrade your kernel to 2.6.38 before using a port multiplier. Once you done that it works fine. Thinking of Tor's (of Excito) problem with a disk cabinet previously that should have supported port multiplier I can imagine that it would work fine as well with this new kernel.

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 26 Apr 2011, 12:35
by kthu
I got my B3 a while ago and today a LianLi EX-50 arrived together with a stack of disks. The B3 was already running the 2.6.38 kernel. I plugged in the EX-50 with its internal RAID set to just present the disks as they are and rebooted. This is the result:

Code: Select all

[ kjetil@b3 ~ ]$ dmesg |  grep "logical blocks"
[   22.529150] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 78165360 512-byte logical blocks: (40.0 GB/37.2 GiB)
[   40.292088] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   40.329222] sd 1:1:0:0: [sdc] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   40.376440] sd 1:2:0:0: [sdd] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   40.423579] sd 1:3:0:0: [sde] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[   40.470857] sd 1:4:0:0: [sdf] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[ kjetil@b3 ~ ]$ uname -a
Linux b3 2.6.38 #1 Tue Mar 22 16:27:55 CET 2011 armv5tel GNU/Linux
Yay!

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 26 Apr 2011, 13:22
by Ubi
This is so cool I'm sure it must be illegal :mrgreen:

Re: Do the e-SATA ports support Port Multiplier?

Posted: 27 May 2013, 12:58
by ahoff
Have anyone tested this hub?
Acording to the specs it shuld work:
EX-3460 works only with the following ChipSet in your computer system: Silicon Image SIL3132
Support FIS-based and Command-based Switching Methods