I have purchased several Promise arrays over the years, and I have had good performance. Now, I am replacing a NetApp installation with dual controllers. What Promise does not tell you is that dual controllers will not work with SATA drives unless you buy a Promise SATA to SAS adapter for each drive. The cost of the adpaters is more than the cost of the controller, and almost the cost of a single controller array. I have tried Promise tech chat. Beyond telling me that I needed an adapter, they could not tell me where to get an adapter or the cost of the adapter. I finally found a "Blackjack" adpater, and the photo showed FOUR adapters in one pack for about $110. But, when I went to order, I was told that EACH adapter was $110. $1600 per array for $5 adapters?! Then I tried sales, who said that indeed it was one adapter for $110, and they could not explain why a single to dual controller upgrade kit did not come with the adapters required for a dual controller system. You see, a SINGLE controller works with SATA drives with no adapter, but a DUAL controller system will only work with SATA to SAS adapters. Then, I was passed to a regional sales rep who could understand the insanity of the situation, but could not help. He said his manager would call me before the end of the day. It has been a week, and nothing from Promise. So, instead of working arrays, I have 10G boat anchors. Has Promise abandoned the storage array business?
When is a 2600i a boat anchor?
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- Last Post 08 March 2017
Hi Larry,
SATA to SAS adapter used for Vess Raid 2600 series
1. Vess Raid 2000 series product family
Vess R2600 units require Blackjack adapter to be installed on the drive trays if SATA drives are used. Since SATA drives are single ported and has only one lane which only one controller can see, the 2nd controller cant see it. In a dual controller setup if this happens, the drive will be marked as 'Not usable'. Here is where the Blackjack adapter creates a dual lane, that is done by the other end of the Blackjack dongle which is a SAS port. SAS ports are dual ported and has two lanes for 2 controllers.
The SAS 6G SATA BlackJack
If customer using SAS drives no need of adapter since they are dual ported. This applies to both SAS & NL-SAS drives.
2. Vtrak Ex30/Jx30 product family
Vtrak x30 units have two different versions of AAMUX adapters, to differentiate it between different x10/x30 products its code named as BlackJack adapter.
The Adapter for Ex30 has the below product & part number,
Product ID : X30BDGLFQUAD - F29000020000148
http://shop.promise.com/index.php?p=product&id=108 - VTrak x30 Series SAS-to-SATA Adapter Card - 4 pack
On the other Hand Jx30 units use a different AAMUX adapter as seen on the shop site which is different from the one the Ex30 units use, do check the link below and description,
Product ID : V30MUXG14P - F29J83S20000004
http://shop.promise.com/index.php?p=product&id=117 - VTrak Jx30 SATA Mux adapter (Package of 4) - compatible with Jx30 Circa Nov 2009 Model (VIN: VTJ830sD, VTJ830sS, VTJ630sD, VTJ630sS)
Below is the picture link of the adapter used for Jx30 units,
https://support.promise.com/Uploads/20160307181954Photo.jpg
3. Vtrak Ex10/Jx10 product family
Vtak x10 units require AAMUX adapter to be installed on the drive trays
The SAS interface speed of AAMUX adapter is 3 Gb/s.
AAMUX adapter - x10 Series VTrak SATA 4pk for Dual-controller/Module Configurations
Product ID : VTSATAMUX4P - F29000020000091
The below link has the visual comparison between SAS-to-SATA adapter for x10 & x30 units.
Best Regards
Hariprasad
This is pretty useless information. None of the links work--they go to some kind of MS outlook page, not a web site with actual information. Simply telling me why the SAS drives do not work does not address the problem. This is just an explanation of a design flaw in the Promise array design. I purchased a single to dual controller upgrade kit. EVERYTHING required for the upgrade should be in the kit. The kit does not contain the adapters required to make a dual controller system work, and the kit does contain a fan for which there is no space in the enclosure, and the kit does not contain a fourth power supply. The arrays were advertised to work with SATA drives, and there is no mention of a requirement for adapters. Since this is a design flaw on the part of Promise, Promise should at least provide the correct adapters at no charge. I have two arrays, so I need 32 adapters.
Hi Larry,
This is not a "design flaw"; Promise sells many thousands of systems every month, some with drives integrated and some without, and with varying amounts of drives. The empty units allow customers to use SATA and/or SAS drives, depending on their needs. When this product was released, the cost delta between SAS and SATA drives was enough to make it, and the added cost of the adapters, a serious consideration. Now so-called NL-SAS drives are about the same cost as SATA drives, so using the adapters with SATA drives now will cost more.
Many systems are used in environments where high-availability is not a requirement, so running a single controller with SATA drives is acceptable. The "upgrade kit" changes the unit from a single to a dual controller system, regardless of the drive type, and since we can't know what type of drives - or how many - you are using, the SAS-SATA adpaters are not part of it.
The kit includes a fan that goes in the slot under the controller to the left of the power supply - you have to remove the blank that is present on most single-controller units.
A fourth power supply is not required to upgrade the unit to a dual-controller type; it is used for redundant power distribution. It is optional, as with all other products, higher availabilty means higher cost.
The VR2600 data sheet does say for Drive Support "SAS/SATA (6Gb/s or 3Gb/s)" and includes the note "Additonal AA-Mux adapter is required when use with SATA 3G drive, while SATA 6G drive requires 6G SAS-to-SATA Interposer adapter."
I know this doesn't help, but the last time I checked, the BlackJack 4-pack MSRP was around $329, so the street price may be lower, and ceratinly not $110 each.
~ Richard
Thanks, Richard. I suppose I have a different perspective about what a professional product should be and how it is described. Yes, Promise arrays work just fine as a single controller array in a non-critical application. What I know now is that they are just not a high-availability small to medium enterprise solution. I'll find another vendor that will actually work for HA, and if needed, work in a single controller application. I would advise others looking for a generic storage solution to do the same. The unknowns with Promise out-weigh any possible advantages.
I understand your situation Larry.
The Vess is indeed targeted at the SMB sector, and if the dual-controller configuration is used, it is a high-availability system offering full redundancy and fail-over capabilities, and is used in many large-scale VM operations.
If you install the second controller, and either add SAS drives to the enclosure, or install the SAS-SATA adapters on your drive carriers, your VR2600 too will be a high-availability storage system. But again, the more HA a system is the higher the up-front cost is.
As one of the largest manufacturers in the world, we have many millions of systems deployed in data centers globally, from small companies to most of the "Fortune" list. Our combination of value, performance, and an excellent support team, make Promise a good choice.
Cheers
