Unboxing, assembly and connecting the Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i controller and its battery (CVPM05) - RAID - Tutorials

Recently we changed PCs and needed a new RAID controller. Indeed, the old one did not support secure boot via UEFI.
We therefore looked for a model from Microsemi (to stay with the same brand). But delivery times were a year due to chip shortage.
We therefore turned to its main competitor. Namely Broadcom (which bought the company LSI which had itself bought the company 3ware).
It is therefore possible that you will find information regarding MegaRAID RAID controllers with these 3 brands (depending on the date): Broadcom, LSI or 3ware.

1. What products to buy when you want to buy a RAID controller from Broadcom

When you want to buy Broadcom products (the RAID controller, the cables, the protection module, etc.), you are obliged to go through an intermediary (who often only works with professionals).
Indeed, recent Broadcom products are rarely available on e-commerce sites intended for individuals (such as LDLC, Amazon, etc.).
Which is rather annoying if you are a geek and want to buy a RAID controller created by Broadcom to get better performance with your virtual machines (for example).

However, you will see that we have found a serious professional reseller who also accepts orders from individuals and who offers all the Broadcom components you will need.

In our case, we chose the Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i controller.
As you can see, this RAID controller supports SAS, SATA and NVMe drives and supports U.3 backplanes.

Note: the "backplanes" term refers to a real server, but you can also use this RAID controller in a desktop PC without any problem.

If you look at the bottom of the page, you will see that you can add protection for cache usage using the "CacheVault" module.

Warning : this component is not included with the Broadcom RAID controller and you will therefore need to find its reference by clicking on the "MegaRAID 9500 PCIe Gen 4.0..." link located just below.

By clicking on the link "MegaRAID 9500 PCIe Gen 4.0 Tri-Mode Storage Adapters Product Brief", you will see a PDF document appear where you can find:

Cache Size: the cache size of the chosen Broadcom RAID controller.
In our case, the "Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i" controller has a 4 GB cache.
Cache Protection: the reference of the module used to protect this cache is "CVPM05".

In the "CacheVault™ Technology Product Brief" PDF document, you will indeed see that the "CVPM05" module is compatible with the MegaRAID 95xx, 94xx and 93xx controllers.
Including our "Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i" controller.

To secure the battery (white in the image above) in your PC or server, you can use a plate that can be fixed in a PCIe slot on your PC or server.

Warning : again, this plate is not supplied with the MegaRAID controller nor with the "CVPM05" protection module.

Indeed, at Broadcom, if you look at the end of this PDF document, you will see that the mounting plate is optional and therefore available separately under the reference "L5-25376-00".
Note, however, that the assembly manual is in the box of the "CVPM05" protection module and not in the box of this optional mounting plate.

To find this mounting plate at your reseller, you can look for its reference "L5-25376-00" indicated in the document above or the name corresponding to it "BBU-BRACKET-05" visible on the "Cache Protection for RAID Controller Cards" page from the Broadcom website.

Finally, you need to find the cable compatible with your Broadcom RAID controller and your SATA hard drives (in our case).
Except that at first glance, none of these official cables have SATA connectors. Although SATA hard drives are supported by our "Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i" controller.
The cable you must buy if you want to use SATA hard drives is the cable with the reference "05-60006-00" which therefore has:

an "SFF-8654 (SlimSAS)" connector to plug into your Broadcom RAID controller.
8 U.3 connectors (which support SATA, SAS hard drives and normally NVMe drives too).

Important : with cable "05-60006-00" you will need a power supply with Molex connectors for your SATA hard drives.

To find out which cable to use to connect SATA hard drives to our Broadcom MegaRAID controller, we simply contacted Broadcom support who told us that:

the official cable "05-60006-00" allowed us to directly connect SAS or SATA hard drives to our "Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i" controller.
a third-party cable "1m SFF-8654 to 8 x SATA cable without sideband" sold by "PC PitStop" and which is used without problem by many customers also made it possible to connect SATA hard drives to this Broadcom RAID controller.

If you search for "u.3 tri mode" in Google Images, you will easily find the diagram below where you will easily understand that the 3 connectors (SAS, SATA and NVMe) are supported by the U.3 connector.
Indeed, depending on the "pins" that make contact, the connector is able to know which connection is used on the connected disk.

Now that you have the part numbers for ALL the components you need to purchase, all you need to do is find a Broadcom product reseller.
To do this, go to the "How To Buy -> Find a Partner or Distributor" section of the Broadcom website and select:

Product Type: Hardware.
Region: your continent. For example: Europe.
Location: your country. For example: France, Belgium, ...
Distributor: All.

Then, click: Go.

Note: as you will have understood, these resellers expect to be contacted by professionals with a VAT number and potentially a company name (unless they are independent).

2. Buy Broadcom RAID components from Senetic

If you wish to purchase your Broadcom RAID controller, as well as its associated components as an individual or as a professional, we recommend that you go through Senetic which is available in many countries.
Indeed, Senetic S.A. is part of the Microsoft Cloud partnership program.
Note that the Senetic site is available via several domains depending on your country. If necessary, click at the top left on "United Kingdom" to choose your country.
The links in this article point by default to the site dedicated to United Kingdom.

Important : we personally placed an order with them and we received the various Broadcom components.

Source : Welcome APAC #MSPartners to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program - MAICPP APAC.

To start, we purchased the RAID controller: Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i RAID controller PCI Express x8 4.0 12 Gbit/s - Senetic.
This Broadcom RAID controller has the following references:

EAN : 830343007479
Part number : 05-50077-01

Next, we purchased the cache protection module: Broadcom CVPM05 Cache protection module - Senetic.
This component has the following references:

EAN: 5901165781504
Part number: 05-50039-00

We also purchased the optional mounting plate for the CVPM05 module: BROADCOM Remote Battery Kit - Battery backup module remote mounting board - Senetic.
This component has the following references:

EAN: 830343002252
Part number: L5-25376-00

Finally, we purchased the official Broadcom cable to connect our SATA hard drives to our Broadcom RAID controller: Broadcom 05-60006-00 - 1 m - x8 SFF-8654 - 8 x U.3 SFF-8639 - Senetic.
This component has the following references:

EAN: 830343007608
Part number: 05-60006-00

3. Unboxing the Broadcom MegaRAID Tri-Mode 9560-8i controller

To begin, here is what the box of the Broadcom MegaRAID Tri-Mode 9560-8i controller looks like.

On the label stuck to this box, you will find:

Item number: the item number, as well as its name "BROADCOM MegaRAID Tri-Mode 9560-8i SGL 8 - ... 12Gb/s PCIe 4.0".
PN: the part number (Part Number).
In this case: 05-50077-01.
SN: its serial number.

At the bottom, you will notice that Broadcom asks you to provide sufficient airflow for this RAID controller.
Indeed, the RAID controller processor heats up and the air flow must therefore be sufficient to prevent it from overheating.

Behind it, you will see that the manufacturer is "Avago Technologies, Inc" (who owns the "Broadcom" brand).

On the side of the box, you will find a label with:

the name of the RAID controller and its cache size: MegaRAID 9560-8i 4GB.
its EAN code (bar code): 830343007479.
its part number (PN): 05-50077-01004.
its serial number (blurred in the image).

Inside the box, you will find the Broadcom RAID controller and low-profile PCIe adapter in a plastic case.

Here is the low-profile adapter provided.

This is what the "Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i 4GB" controller looks like from the front.
The only interesting thing is the connector on the top right where you will plug in the "SFF-8654 (SlimSAS)" connector of the cable connecting the RAID controller and your hard drives.

Here is a close-up of this "SFF-8654 (SlimSAS)" connector.

This is the back side of the Broadcom MegaRAID 9560-8i 4GB controller.