HP MSA 2040 Cable Configuration Guide (729691-001, July 2013)

3 Connecting the MSA 2040 array to expansion drive
enclosures
To connect the MSA 2040 array to expansion drive enclosures, connect a Mini-SAS to Mini-SAS
cable from the SAS expansion port on each MSA 2040 controller to an I/O module in the drive
enclosure. Cabling varies, depending on which of the two supported cabling schemes you use:
• Fault-tolerant cabling
• Straight-through cabling
For more information about these cabling schemes, see “Fault-tolerant and straight-through
cabling” (page 7)
For more information about your MSA 2040, see the HP MSA 2040 Best Practices guide, available
on the HP website (http://www.hp.com/support/msa2040/BestPractices).
Supported expansion drive enclosures
The MSA 2040 supports the following drive enclosures:
DescriptionDrive enclosure model
3.5” 12-drive enclosureHP MSA 2040
3.5” 12-drive enclosureHP P2000
2.5” 25-drive enclosureHP D2700
Drive enclosure connection guidelines
• Expansion drive enclosures can be connected to an operational MSA 2040 array.
• Use only supported cables. For more information, see the MSA 2040 QuickSpecs, available
on the HP website: http://www.hp.com/go/msa2040/quickspecs.
• Mini-SAS to Mini-SAS 0.5 m (1.64 ft) cables are provided with the MSA 2040, P2000, and
D2700 drive enclosures (one for each I/O module).
• The maximum length cable supported for connecting drive enclosures is 2 m (6.56 ft).
• Cables longer than those supplied with the drive enclosure must be purchased separately. For
a list of cables available from HP, see the HP MSA 2040 QuickSpecs.
• Eight enclosures maximum (including the array enclosure) are supported.
Fault-tolerant and straight-through drive enclosure cabling
MSA 2040 firmware supports both fault-tolerant and straight-through SAS cabling.
Fault-tolerant cabling allows any drive enclosure to fail or be removed while maintaining access
to other enclosures. When connecting multiple drive enclosures, use fault-tolerant cabling to ensure
the highest level of fault tolerance.
Straight-through cabling does not provide the same level of fault-tolerance as fault-tolerant cabling,
but does provide some performance benefits as well as ensuring that all disk are visible to the
array.
Fault-tolerant cabling example
The following figure shows an MSA 2040 array connected to two D2700 drive enclosures using
fault-tolerant cabling.
Supported expansion drive enclosures 7