LSI Logic 1068E and SATA port replicators (Sil3726)

Hello all,

[disclaimer: what follows is probably a really stupid idea after all.]

We would like to use a LSI SAS 1068E board with Sil3726 SATA port replicators. This obviously "fails" in that only 1 disk out of the 5 connected is actually visible.

I found, if SATA drivers are to support a port multiplier, they inhert from sata_pmp_port_ops. Is an analog infrastructure available for the sas-based HBAs to support SATA port multipliers? (BTW is such a setup actually supported form a protocol point of view?)

I'm not a regular kernel hacker, so I cannot really help you in getting quality sata mpm support (if possible after all) into the sas drivers. What I can definitely offer is my time and will to test the driver modifications you would send me.

Martin

Martin,
There is mention of SATA port selectors in the SAS spec (optional functionality in a SAS expander I think) but no mention of SATA port multipliers.
The reason might be that a SAS expander already includes the functionality of a SATA port multiplier.

The "ATA architectural notes" in Annex J of sas2r16.pdf found at www.t10.org might help.

Doug Gilbert