Below testing results show how changing the driver parameters and splitting the expander zone can help improve the bandwidth performance. By just enabling the drivers setting without zoning the backplane, the performance is already greatly improved, however, double drives quantity will be detected under OS since two cores on the HBA will each scan the drive once. And by zoning the backplane, since each core is only taking care of its zone, so exact quantity of drives can be seen.
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin-left:.1in;border-collapse:collapse;border:none;mso-border-alt:
solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;
mso-padding-alt:0in .1in 0in .1in">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="bottom" style="width:100.55pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:
accent1;background:#DEEAF6;mso-background-themecolor:accent1;mso-background-themetint:
51;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Back
plane <o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="bottom" style="width:1.25in;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;background:#DEEAF6;mso-background-themecolor:
accent1;mso-background-themetint:51;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Driver
setting<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="bottom" style="width:148.5pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;background:#DEEAF6;mso-background-themecolor:
accent1;mso-background-themetint:51;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Total
drives quantity OS see<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="bottom" style="width:128.45pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;background:#DEEAF6;mso-background-themecolor:
accent1;mso-background-themetint:51;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Bandwidth
<o:p></o:p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="width:100.55pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Without splitting<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:1.25in;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
No <o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:148.5pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
16, same drives<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:128.45pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
9.2 GB/s<o:p></o:p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="width:100.55pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Without splitting<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:1.25in;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
MPIO enable *<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:148.5pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
32, double drives<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:128.45pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
13.3 GB/s<o:p></o:p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="width:100.55pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Split into two zone **<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:1.25in;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
No<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:148.5pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
8, only half drives<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:128.45pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
NA<o:p></o:p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="width:100.55pt;border:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
Split into two zone **<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:1.25in;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
MPIO enable *<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:148.5pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
16, same drives<o:p></o:p>
</td>
<td valign="top" style="width:128.45pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
border-right:solid #5B9BD5 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-alt:solid #5B9BD5 .5pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent1;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in">
14.2GB/s<o:p></o:p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>