2 Intern
•
18 Posts
0
2204
January 22nd, 2023 02:00
Dell PowerEdge R730XD Connect Rear Backplane 2x2.5" to PCI RAID instead of Front Backplane
I have a Dell PowerEdge R730XD . It currently has a PERC H730 mini monolithic raid controller that connects to the front backplane, PWA JXTHC, ASSY FWXJR (12x3.5") via a short BP SAS B0/A0 cable with a PERC connector on one end, and a double-connection single-headed mini SAS right angle connector on the other end (presumably the cable is P/N 8717G).
The rear backplane, PWA 7HWKR, ASSY 6WNVX (2x2.5") connects its mini SAS connector directly to the front backplane's SAS expander via a BP SAS A2 with a right angle connector on one end and a straight connector on the other end (presumably the cable is P/N 8RJM1).
I am planning on replacing the PERC H730 mini monolithic raid controller with an HBA330 controller, as I do not want to use raid with the front 12 drives. I plan on using ESXi's pass through feature on the controller to present the 12 disks to a VM for exclusive use.
Question 1: Is the cable I have (I assume it's the 8717G) proper to connect the HBA330 to the front backplane, or do I have to purchase a new cable with a different part number?
I do not want to pass through the rear backplane flex bay drives, so I don't believe I can connect it to the front backplane anymore. I plan on purchasing a PCIe RAID card (H330 or H730, as the manual claims they are supported) for me to create a mirror of the two drives in the flex bay, so that I can boot ESXi from it.
Question 2: What cable would I need to connect the new RAID controller to the rear backplane using the mini SAS connectors?
The goal is to have the front backplane on the HBA330 controller, so I can passthrough the drives connected to it, but to have the rear backplane connected to a separate controller so I can boot to a RAID mirror.
Question 3: If any of the above poses a problem with my desired goal, what suggestions could be made to resolve it? A new front backplane? Having drives externally on an external RAID card like the H830? PCIe NVMe drives? etc.
Thank you.
0 events found
DELL-Shine K
6 Operator
•
3K Posts
1
January 22nd, 2023 05:00
Cable with part number 8717G can be used to connect HBA 330 to front backplane.
I am not sure on whether on 12X3.5 config you can connect rear Backplane to another PERC controller.
DELL-Shine K
6 Operator
•
3K Posts
1
January 22nd, 2023 19:00
"P2R3R-PWA,CTL,HBA330,MCRD" is the part number of HBA 330 Mini Mon for PowerEdge R730xd.
SirLouie75
2 Intern
•
18 Posts
0
January 28th, 2023 02:00
FYI, I purchased a Dell HBA 330 Mini, Part P2R3R, connected it to the front backplane with the Part 8717G cable as directed, and it shows up without a problem.
Furthermore, I purchased a Dell H730 PCIe controller, Part 3XK31, and used the existing BP SAS A2 cable (presumably Part 8RJM1) to connect the rear backplane to it (that cable previously connected the rear backplane to the front backplane). Both controllers showed up in the Lifecycle Controller, and allowed me to configure them.
I am happy to report that my rear backplane drives showed up without a problem! I needed to import the foreign RAID configuration using the Lifecycle Controller (I chose to import one drive from my existing mirror, then clear the foreign configuration from the second drive, added it back to the array, and then rebuild the RAID, but I was just trying to be careful in case the first import didn't work) and I'm now good to go. ESXi booted without any problems. I updated the firmware of my PERC H730 from 25.5.5.0005 to 25.5.9.0001, and everything seems to be solid.
Thanks for the help with the cables. You can now verify that the rear backplane can indeed be connected to a separate PERC (PCI) controller.
SirLouie75
2 Intern
•
18 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2023 09:00
I guess I’ll just have to try it with what I can. If it doesn’t work, I can try swapping out the rear backplane maybe? Or getting NVMe drives on a PCIe card? This could get expensive.
Question 4. Can you confirm the part number for the HBA330 mini monolithic? I have 71H1J.
SirLouie75
2 Intern
•
18 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2023 21:00
Ok, thank you for the correct part number. What is part 71H1J, and how does it differ from P2R3R?
I've ordered my parts and will update this thread with the solution after testing.
DELL-Shine K
6 Operator
•
3K Posts
0
January 22nd, 2023 22:00
71H1J is for other platforms like PowerEdge C6420 and all
SirLouie75
2 Intern
•
18 Posts
0
January 28th, 2023 03:00
One more thing to note - The BP SAS A2 cable (presumably Part 8RJM1) that's being repurposed to connect the rear backplane to the PCIe PERC H730 instead of to the front backplane - that cable needs to be plugged into the mini SAS port that's closest to the PCIe slot (A0 near the bottom of the card). Unfortunately, the right angle connector on this side of the cable will obscure the other mini SAS port (B0 near the top of the card), but if you instead try to plug the connector into B0, you will get a backplane / cable error during boot.