I have an HP DL180 G6 12 bay server with a P212 Raid card. I can not open the server to see inside but I would like to know what connections the backplane has. Right now it has 6 1TB hdd attached. According to the HP raid array configuration program; the 6 drives are on one SF-8087 connection. (i can not find any hp documents about the backplane)
What I would like to do is add another HP raid card with 2x SAS connectors to create a 8 drive raid 10. Is this possible or how is the backplane set up?
Best Answer
The HP ProLiant DL180 G6 12-bay LFF drive backplane has a single 4-lane SFF-8087 SAS connector (See #4 on the graphic below).
The backplane has an integrated SAS expander that accommodates the 12 bays. The expander actually supports 14-ports, with two backplane-mounted SATA connectors to interface to the rear-mount 2-drive cage option (HP #488234-B21).
If you're interested in replacing your Smart Array P212 controller, you can safely use a Smart Array P410 or Smart Array P812 controller to accomplish your goal. Only one SFF-8087 port will be used.
Also see the DL180 G6 Service Guide.