MD1400 with H810

The documentation confirms that the H830 is the controller that should be used. I've seen a couple of instances where an older controller was attempted, but failed. That's not to say that you couldn't get it working, only that the only solution I've seen is to use the validated controller.

Dear Dylan,

thank you for your reply, 

later this evening i'll provide you with some pictures (screenshots) to better understand the problem, maybe you'll be able to provide any suggestions, in short - it works, the server and the MD1400, but it doesn't "see" 8 TB drives correctly, it just shows much less capacity.

In the meantime, can you please suggest if we can use PERC H730P mini (the customer also already have it) and to use it along with MD1400 with any HBA?

Thank you,

Best Regards,
Andrey  

The H730P is intended for use with internal storage only. We do have a 12Gbps SAS HBA that would work. If you're asking if you can use both controllers concurrently, then yes, you should be able to do so without issue.

As to the rest, screenshots are usually really helpful. I'll be watching for your reply.

Dear Dylan, 

as for the PERC 730P and HBA, yes, i understand that we can use H730P and HBA simuteneosly, but HBA won't provide RAID levels, right? So i just wanna to understand if we can use HBA to connect MD1400 and to use PERC 730P to build some RAID groups? 

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Andrey 

Dear Dylan,

thank you for your reply, please find some screenshots attached. 

Server R530
JBOD module MD1400
HDD drives SAS12Gbps 8TB 7.2 Seagate ST8000NM0195.
Raid Controller Dell PERC H810.

1. If you go into the raid settings through the controller's BIOS (by pressing Ctrl + R), then it sees the disks, but writes that they are locked (please see H810-01.jpg).
2. On the second page of this section, the strange entry is "Supported: No" (please H810-02.jpg).
3. And accordingly, if you click F2-Operations on this page, a menu appears of what can be done with the selected drive, but all menu items are not active (please H810-03.jpg).
4. If you go to the BIOS settings of the server (System Setup) and then go to the device settings and then select H810 and go to "Physical Disk Management", then no disk is displayed there (please see  H810-04.jpg).
5. I updated the firmware to version SAS_RAID_Firmware_H810_Adapter_RELNOTES_21.3.5-0002_A09 (this seems to be the latest version), but this did not help.

Thank you,

Best Regards,
AndreyH810-01H810-02H810-03H810-04

The H730P is not intended for use with external storage. It can only create RAID volumes from drives running through the controller. The HBA does not support RAID, but will interface with the external enclosure. If you want RAID, a software option could be considered. However, if you want a hardware RAID, you would need a hardware RAID controller, the H830. The H730P wouldn't be able to create a RAID volume from drives attached to the other controller, unfortunately.

As for the drives being in a blocked state, there can be issues using unsupported storage configurations. I doubt this has anything to do with the older controller being in a newer server, though. Are these Seagate drives with Dell firmware? If not, it isn't uncommon to see a drive fall into a blocked state. If they are Dell drives, then I'd start looking at the controller again. It does look like we used the same Seagate part number, but the firmware would be different, if they aren't Dell branded.

If you're able to obtain a controller log, I'd be happy to give it a review to see if there is any actionable information I can give you. The 13G servers have the ability to create a hardware log and collect a RAID log all through the iDRAC< but I don't know if it would work with the H810. You may be able to export it using the Dell Support Live image, though.

Dear Dylan,

thank you for your reply, regarding H730P - got it, thank you, we can use it only for the drives connected to it directly.

I'll try to manage to get controller log. Regarding drives - it's with Dell firmware and was bought from Dell together with MD1400 (please find photo attached). 

Also please suggest regarding the following questions: 

- one of Dell distributors told me that it's enough to use HBA, cause MD1400 itself has Enclosure management modules (EMM) and RAID levels (from datasheet):

EMM: 2 EMM provide redundant enclosure management capability
RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60

i.e they told me that we can build hardware RAID in MD1400 and just connect it to R530 using HBA. 

It's not true? 

Best Regards,
Andrey

Dear Dylan,

thank you for your reply, regarding H730P - got it, thank you, we can use it only for the drives connected to it directly.

I'll try to manage to get controller log. Regarding drives - it's with Dell firmware and was bought from Dell together with MD1400 (please find photo attached). 

Also please suggest regarding the following questions: 

- one of Dell distributors told me that it's enough to use HBA, cause MD1400 itself has Enclosure management modules (EMM) and RAID levels (from datasheet):

EMM: 2 EMM provide redundant enclosure management capability
RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60

i.e they told me that we can build hardware RAID in MD1400 and just connect it to R530 using HBA. 

It's not true? 

Best Regards,
Andrey

It sounds as if the seller is giving you the impression that one of the EMMs functions is to create an array, but an EMM doesn't have an interface (like a PERC config utility) where you can create an array and is used to connect multiple enclosures and/or provide redundant pathing. The function is more to facilitate upstream drive access to a controller at the signal level, whether it's a RAID controller or an HBA. The EMMs are able support arrays created by upstream controllers.

As for the drive(s), I looked into the part number and saw that it was validated for the 13th and 14th generation servers and controllers.  As to the logic for why they show roughly 1 TB, compared to the full 8 each, my guess would be that since the older controllers had more limited support for 4kn drives, and I say that having looked at a few models where I was only seeing a couple of drives with a 4kn specification, in addition tp the drive firmware not having been validated with the controller firmware, and I could see the potential for a problem.