HighPoint Rocket 1108A User manual

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Rocket 1108A (R1108A)
8x M.2 Port to PCIe 3.0 x16 NVMe HBA
Quick Installation Guide
V1.00

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System Requirements
PC Requirements
•Any PC System or Motherboard with an industry standard PCIe x16
physical slot
•VMware vSphere/ESXi
•Red Hat Enterprise Linux
•SuSE Linux
•Ubuntu Linux
•Citrix XenServer
•CentOS Linux
•Debian Linux
•Oracle Enterprise Linux
•Fedora
•FreeBSD
R1108A Kit Content
•1x R1108A
•1x Quick Installation Guide

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R1108A Hardware
Front View
Full-Length anodized aluminum heat sink
Full Height Bracket
Low-Noise Cooling Fan
External power port
PCIe 3.0 x16 Host Interface

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R1108A Hardware Installation
Step 1. On the rear of the R1108A, remove the six screws that secure
the unit’s heat sink to the PCB.
Step 2. After removing the screws, carefully remove fan’s power cable
from the right-side of the heatsink as shown below, then carefully
flip the heatsink to the left (like turning a page from a book).
Note: Take care when moving the heatsink to prevent damaging
the left fan’s power cable.

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Step 3. After removing the casing, carefully turn it over to view the
thermal pads. The blue film must be removed from each pad
before reinstalling the panel. The film protects the pads from
damage and foreign objects prior to installation. However, it will
also prevent the thermal pad from conducting the heat away from
the NVMe SSDs if not removed.
Step 4. These 8 screws are used to install the NVMe SSDs.
The R1108A can support 2242, 2260, and 2280 form factor M.2
NVMe SSDs.
Step 5. Please remove these screws from each of the M.2 slots.

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Step 6. Gently insert the NVMe SSD into the M.2 slot.
Note: If the NVMe SSDs were used previously, make sure the
connectors are clean and free of dust prior to installation.
Step 7. Refasten the screw to secure the NVMe SSD.
Repeat Steps 5 to 7 to install the remaining NVMe SSDs.
Note: Make sure the NVMe SSDs are carefully, but securely
installed into each M.2 slot. Loose connections can cause a
variety of stability and performance issues, and may ultimately
result in data loss.
The following example shows eight M.2 NVMe SSDs installed
into Ports 1-8:

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Step 8. After installing all SSDs, carefully flip the heatsink to the right.
Step 9. Carefully reinsert in the power supply cable of the cooling fan
that was removed in step 2.
Step 10. On the rear of the R1108A, refasten the 6 screws that were
removed in step 1.
Note: Make sure the aluminum cover is properly aligned with the
HBA board (PCB), and that it makes full contact with the thermal
pad, before refastening it to the R1108A. If the cover is improperly
installed, the fan and thermal pad will be unable to sufficiently
cool the NVMe SSDs and HBA componentry, which may result in
damage to the SSDs or HBA hardware, performance loss,
unstable I/O, and the loss of data.

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Step 11. Power up the NVMe SSD external power supply.
Note:If the external power supply is not powered on, the NVMe
SSDs may drop offline or remain undetected, which could lead to
data loss.
The R1108A relies on two power sources to support eight NVMe
SSDs; power supplied through the PCIe bus, and power from the
system’s PSU via an external 6 pin PCIe power cable. If the
external cable is not connected, there will be insufficient power to
support all 8 NVMe SSDs; this may cause the SSDs to drop
offline.

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Step 12. If you are using a 2019 Intel Mac Pro Workstation or 2023 M2
Mac Pro Workstation, you will need to purchase the Belkin AUX
Power Cable Kit from the Apple Store. The kit includes seven
AUX power cables; four 8-pin to 6+2 pin cables (for use with the
Rocket 1108A), two 6-pin to 6-pin cables, and a single 8-pin to
dual 6-pin cable.
a. Connect the 8-pin power connector of the Belkin AUX Power
Cable to the 2019 Intel Mac Pro Workstation.
b. Connect the 6-pin power connector of the Belkin AUX Power
Cable to the side of the R1108A.

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Resources
A variety of manuals, guides and FAQs are available for the R1108A
NVMe HBA.
Document Downloads:
https://www.highpoint-tech.com/nvme-aic/r1108a
FAQ & Troubleshooting:
FAQ - HighPoint Technologies, Inc.