RAID cards in the Gen10

[schoondoggy 745]

Hello everyone - new MS G10 owner looking to decide if I want to add a proper SmartArray controller.

 

To clarify, does the G10 refuse to boot in UEFI mode with a P2xx or P4xx SA controller?  Or is it just you can't get into the SSA BIOS to configure arrays during POST?

 

One further semi-related question - can you fit a 3.5" drive in/above the optical bay?

 

I've spotted this 4 x M.2 SATA SSD unit

 

https://www.startech.com/uk/HDD/Brackets/4-M2-SATA-mounting-adapter~35S24M2NGFF

 

A P4x0 would allow one channel to the 4 x 3.5" bays, then the other channel to a group of M.2 SSDs.

 

I only worked on the P222, did not try any P4xx. If I remember correctly, in UEFI the server would not boot with the P222 installed.

 

There is no space for a 3.5" drive in the ODD bay.

[Harpoon 0]

 

I only worked on the P222, did not try any P4xx. If I remember correctly, in UEFI the server would not boot with the P222 installed.

 

There is no space for a 3.5" drive in the ODD bay.

 

Thank you.

 

Is it a height thing for the ODD bay?  As the 4 x M.2 adaptor is double sided, you must be able to remove it from the shell so that might shave off a few mill'.

 

If not, I've seen the photo's of people with 2 x 2.5" SSD in the top bay with a bit of tape or cable tie.

[schoondoggy 745]

 
Thank you.
 
Is it a height thing for the ODD bay?  As the 4 x M.2 adaptor is double sided, you must be able to remove it from the shell so that might shave off a few mill'.
 
If not, I've seen the photo's of people with 2 x 2.5" SSD in the top bay with a bit of tape or cable tie.

There is a chance it would fit in the ODD bay if you removed the frame, but there is a clip to attach the ODD to that I think would be in the way.
The other thing I would be concerned about, I think M.2 SATA drives require 3.3v dc power. I don't currently have a MS Gen10, but I don't think there is a SATA connection with 12v, 5v, 3.3v, or anyway to patch one in.

[Harpoon 0]

Thanks again.  I've just ordered a P410 FBWC so will report back once I can test.

[schoondoggy 745]

Thanks again.  I've just ordered a P410 FBWC so will report back once I can test.

A P410 runs SAS at 6Gb/s, but SATA only runs at 3Gb/s. I would recommend trying a P420.

[Harpoon 0]

Sorry, typo, it's a P420 I've ordered.

[schoondoggy 745]

Sorry, typo, it's a P420 I've ordered.

What OS are you going to run and how were you going to configure the drives/RAID?

[Harpoon 0]

Server 2012 R2 or 2016.  Probably going with an SSD mirror for the host OS and boot drives for the few VMs I want to run, then use the 3.5" bays for a mirror to provide bulk storage for VMs where needed.

 

I've built lots of HPE ML/DL 100/300 series in the past for work, so know ACU/SSA.

[Harpoon 0]

Been playing this afternoon.

 

In UEFI mode, there's no sign of the P420 during POST.  However, I could run SSA offline from USB and create a RAID1 mirror.  I could boot 2012 R2 from USB and that would install to the RAID1 but then with the P420 not showing in the boot options, I can't boot to Windows.

 

Going to try in Legacy mode, just waiting for my USB stick to rebuild as it was partitioned as GPT so I couldn't boot from it.

[Harpoon 0]

Hmm - even in Legacy, the P420 doesn't show up in the BIOS boot menu.

 

You can see the card during POST but once initialized, you can't even press F8 for the ACU on the card - you can just read there's 1 logical drive (visible for sub 1 second) and then the POST moves onto the Broadcom NICs.

 

Chucked in a spare SSD on Port 5 (which couldn't be found to start with - seems it's disabled unless the 8087 port is also connected on the motherboard) and quickly installed 2012 R2.  Flashed the P420 to FW 8.2x but still no sign of it as a bootable device.

 

@schoondoggy - did you boot off the P222?  Or was the OS boot drive on P5 or another controller?

Edited April 2, 2018 by Harpoon