Using Lenovo SA120 for JBOD SATA Storage Expansion

12 Apr 2016

The Lenovo SA120 is a good, small, 2U DAS/JBOD 6Gbps SAS enclosure. Since the Xeon-D systems ship with basically everything I need onboard, I’m planning on moving my 3ware 9750-4i4e card to it, going down to a 1U chassis, then connecting all my disks thru this enclosure.

Parts list

• I picked up a new Lenovo SA120 70F10001UX for $200.
• Then all the empty trays (03X3969)
• and 2 enclosures for 4 SSDs total (4XF0F28766)

Tools

• TRENDnet TU-S9 USB to Serial Converter
• SecureCRT
• Binaries from http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/servers/thinkserver-storage/thinkserver-storage-sa120
• DISKSPD

Configuration

• A single SA120 70F10001UX is connected via SFF-8088 to a 3ware 9750-4i4e

Power usage

I measured power usage with no drives attached, enclosure connected using a single SFF-8088 cable to the controller, booted:

• 1PSU only = 54.6w
• 2PSU connected = 90w peak, settles down to 39.5w idle/booted

Firmware

• the latest available is V1008 firmware dated 4/14/2015
• I connected SecureCRT to COM3 (given my adapter), baud rate 115200, data bits 8, parity none, stop bits 1, with RTS/CTS cleared
• I flashed both expanders from V1007 to V1008.
  • “2 - Flash Menu”
  • “1 - Update Expander image” > send it the “sxp” bin
  • “2 - Update istr image” > send it the “istr” bin
  • trigger soft reset when done, and repeat the process for the 2nd I/O module (if applicable)

Fan control

The fans can be controlled over serial with the provided RJ-11 to RS-232 cable. The settings are required after power cycle; they do not persist.

1. Connect at 115200 baud.
2. Password: lenovo
3. Misc menu: 7
4. Force debug mode: 2
5. Password: debug
6. Set all fans to 40%: set_fan_speed -all 40
7. Set power supply fan to 80%: set_ps_fan_speed -ps1 80

Compatibility

I’ve tested this enclosure with the following controllers and drives:

• Controllers
  • 3ware 9750-4i4e
  • LSI 9286CV-8eCC
• SATA
  • Samsung HD204UI (2TB, 5400RPM)
• SAS
  • HGST HUS723030ALS640 (7K3000 3TB, 7200RPM)

Benchmarks

• 3x HD204UI in RAID5
• 3x Intel S3610 800GB in RAID5