I'm looking to build a new Debian/Open Media Vault system (not my first). It's looking like finding eSATA controllers is a losing battle (and also looks like reliability can be questionable anyway), so I'm going to convert an 8 bay Sans Digital SATA tower to SAS by removing the SATA backplanes. This means I'll need to connect the cables from the SAS controllers directly to the backs of the drives, but I can deal with that. The tower is just a disk tower, it has no space for a motherboard. It has two eSATA ports on the back, which I plan on removing, and either replacing with SAS ports, or just running the SAS cables straight through the holes.
I'm pretty much a SAS noob. I'm looking for recommendations for an inexpensive SAS controller that works with Debian and can handle at least 8 external drives, and also what cables I'll need to go from the controller directly to the backs of the SATA drives. The PC I'll be using for the server is an old Dell Optiplex small form factor, which has two half-height PCI-e slots (so obviously whatever controller I buy needs to be half height).
Thanks!
ETA: I'll be buying used hardware. And this is for a NAS connected via Gig Ethernet, so no need for maximum performance.