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PE2950 with new SAS 5i won't boot
Greetings all,
I have a Dell PE 2950 which previously had a PERC5, which I removed and replaced with a SAS 5i, in order to get large disk support. I plan to run Ubuntu Linux on this host.
At POST, the SAS 5i correctly identifies four 3TB drives installed. The Ubuntu installer (18.04.3 Server) identifies the drives correctly, and allows installation of the OS, up until the end; grub installation fails. The error given is:
"grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible."
Upon reboot, in POST/Setup, I also cannot see any of the drives. Obviously, the machine cannot find an OS.
Help?
Thanks in advance...
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 10th, 2019 11:00
Alright- I got past the grub installation errors with the equivalent of this:
https://blog.hostonnet.com/grub-install-warning-this-gpt-partition-label-contains-no-bios-boot-partition-embedding-wont-be-possible
However, I still get No Bootable Devices found during POST. It's as if the BIOS cannot "see" the drives via the SAS 5i. Help?
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
0
December 10th, 2019 14:00
I would look at testing older Linux releases to see if the behavior is consistent across releases, or if it is something more unique to newer releases. You could consider Centos6/RHEL6, as that was the most recent release that was supported.
I'd be curious to see what happens, since you had mentioned that the drives seem enumerate fine, until OS install. If the system is seeing those drives before the OS installation, I'd be more inclined to think that the server is treating them as non-bootable volumes, than not seeing them at all. If you have the bandwidth to test an older release, I think it may help in trying to isolate the issue.
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 11th, 2019 07:00
Also, I forgot to thank you for your response - thank you.
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 11th, 2019 07:00
I did some more testing. I pulled all the 3TB drives, and installed a single 300GB 10K SAS Fujitsu drive, a model # MBD2300RC. I can now see this drive in the BIOS as a bootable drive option. The installers (I've tried both xubuntu 18.04.3 LTS and ubuntu 18.04.3 server) seem to think the drive is part of some kind of RAID set;
it asked me first:
"Activate MDADM containers (Intel/DDF RAID)?"
Followed by:
"Activate Serial ATA RAID device?"
I found this article and followed it:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1034836/ubuntu-server-18-04-does-not-show-intel-sw-raidraid-0-or-raid-1-device-in-part
After following the steps in that article, I could partition and install to the 300GB drive, but I still could not install grub on it.
Why is the drive appearing as a SATA device and/or Intel RAID device? I am 100% sure the drive was completely wiped before trying it here. Is this an artifact or "surprise feature" of the 2950 mobo with the SAS 5i controller? For reference, the lspci output for this controller is:
02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)
Thanks in advance,
Josh
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
0
December 11th, 2019 09:00
The 2950 doesn't have an embedded RAID controller, but does have integrated SAS and SATA controllers. However, those are probably off, since you had the PERC installed previous to this.
The only thing I can think of is that the modern OS is misidentifying the older hardware, but that seems unlikely, since each manufacturer will have a vendor ID (like 8086 for Intel). Would you be able to throw the output of lspci -v onto the thread?
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 03:00
I'll get that shortly... In the meantime, another update.
When booting from a Xubuntu 18.04.3 LTS live USB, I see the 300GB Fujitsu is detected as /dev/sdd. For kicks and giggles, I dd'ed the xubuntu ISO onto /dev/sdd with something like
dd if=/path/to/xubuntu.iso of=/dev/sdd
Then rebooted the server. The BIOS booted directly from that drive.
So there is something about the installer that is getting confused or misdirected about the RAID stuff.
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 07:00
root@xubuntu:~# lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000X Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 12)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 5000X Chipset Memory Controller Hub
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable- Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x4 Port 2 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 24
Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: f2000000-f7ffffff
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x4 Port 3 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
Memory behind bridge: fc300000-fc6fffff
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x8 Port 4-5 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 26
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0b, subordinate=0b, sec-latency=0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x4 Port 5 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0c, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x8 Port 6-7 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0d, subordinate=0d, sec-latency=0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset PCI Express x4 Port 7 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0e, subordinate=0e, sec-latency=0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/2 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [6c] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:10.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Dell 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers
Flags: fast devsel
Kernel driver in use: i5000_edac
Kernel modules: i5k_amb, i5000_edac
00:10.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Dell 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers
Flags: fast devsel
Kernel modules: i5k_amb, i5000_edac
00:10.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Dell 5000 Series Chipset FSB Registers
Flags: fast devsel
Kernel modules: i5k_amb, i5000_edac
00:11.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset Reserved Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset Reserved Registers
Flags: fast devsel
00:13.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset Reserved Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset Reserved Registers
Flags: fast devsel
00:15.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FBD Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FBD Registers
Flags: fast devsel
00:16.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FBD Registers (rev 12)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 5000 Series Chipset FBD Registers
Flags: fast devsel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 30
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: f8000000-fbffffff
Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1
Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller #1 (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at cce0 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller #2 (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
I/O ports at ccc0 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller #3 (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset UHCI USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at cca0 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset EHCI USB2 Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset EHCI USB2 Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
Memory at fc700400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0
Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d9) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0f, subordinate=0f, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fc100000-fc2fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d8000000-00000000dfffffff
Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 09)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
Kernel modules: intel_rng, lpc_ich
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 8a [ISA Compatibility mode controller, supports both channels switched to PCI native mode, supports bus mastering])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 03f4
I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0374
I/O ports at fc00 [size=16]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
Kernel modules: pata_acpi
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset SATA IDE Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 8f [PCI native mode controller, supports both channels switched to ISA compatibility mode, supports bus mastering])
Subsystem: Dell 631xESB/632xESB/3100 Chipset SATA IDE Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at cc98 [size=8]
I/O ports at cc90 [size=4]
I/O ports at cc80 [size=8]
I/O ports at cc78 [size=4]
I/O ports at cc60 [size=16]
Memory at fc700000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
Kernel modules: pata_acpi
01:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6702PXH PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge A (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=01, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
Memory behind bridge: fc400000-fc6fffff
Capabilities: [44] Express PCI-Express to PCI/PCI-X Bridge, MSI 00
Capabilities: [5c] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [6c] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [d8] PCI-X bridge device
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [300] Power Budgeting
02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell SAS 5/i Integrated Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 72, IRQ 16
I/O ports at ec00 [disabled] [size=256]
Memory at fc5fc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Memory at fc5e0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at fc600000 [disabled] [size=1M]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [98] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [68] PCI-X non-bridge device
Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable- Count=1 Masked-
Kernel driver in use: mptsas
Kernel modules: mptsas
03:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom EPB PCI-Express to PCI-X Bridge (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=03, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=64
Memory behind bridge: f8000000-fbffffff
Capabilities: [60] Express PCI-Express to PCI/PCI-X Bridge, MSI 00
Capabilities: [90] PCI-X bridge device
Capabilities: [b0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [14c] Power Budgeting
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-18-8b-ff-fe-48-86-b9
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme II BCM5708 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 11)
Subsystem: Dell NetXtreme II BCM5708 Gigabit Ethernet
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 31
Memory at f8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
Capabilities: [40] PCI-X non-bridge device
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Kernel driver in use: bnx2
Kernel modules: bnx2
05:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6311ESB/6321ESB PCI Express Upstream Port (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Bus: primary=05, secondary=06, subordinate=09, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: f4000000-f7ffffff
Capabilities: [44] Express Upstream Port, MSI 00
Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [80] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
05:00.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6311ESB/6321ESB PCI Express to PCI-X Bridge (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=05, secondary=0a, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=64
Capabilities: [44] Express PCI-Express to PCI/PCI-X Bridge, MSI 00
Capabilities: [6c] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [80] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000
Capabilities: [d8] PCI-X bridge device
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
06:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6311ESB/6321ESB PCI Express Downstream Port E1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Bus: primary=06, secondary=07, subordinate=08, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: f4000000-f7ffffff
Capabilities: [44] Express Downstream Port (Slot-), MSI 00
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [80] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
06:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6311ESB/6321ESB PCI Express Downstream Port E2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Bus: primary=06, secondary=09, subordinate=09, sec-latency=0
Capabilities: [44] Express Downstream Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [80] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
07:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom EPB PCI-Express to PCI-X Bridge (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=07, secondary=08, subordinate=08, sec-latency=64
Memory behind bridge: f4000000-f7ffffff
Capabilities: [60] Express PCI-Express to PCI/PCI-X Bridge, MSI 00
Capabilities: [90] PCI-X bridge device
Capabilities: [b0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [14c] Power Budgeting
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-18-8b-ff-fe-48-86-bb
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme II BCM5708 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 11)
Subsystem: Dell NetXtreme II BCM5708 Gigabit Ethernet
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 32
Memory at f4000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
Capabilities: [40] PCI-X non-bridge device
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Kernel driver in use: bnx2
Kernel modules: bnx2
0f:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] ES1000 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Dell ES1000
Flags: bus master, VGA palette snoop, stepping, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19
Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
Memory at fc2d0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeonfb, radeon
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 07:00
root@xubuntu:~# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0 7:0 0 1.3G 1 loop /rofs
sda 8:0 1 16M 0 disk
sdc 8:32 1 1.9G 0 disk /cdrom
├─sdc1 8:33 1 1.4G 0 part
└─sdc2 8:34 1 2.4M 0 part
sdd 8:48 0 279.4G 0 disk
├─sdd1 8:49 0 1.4G 0 part
└─sdd2 8:50 0 2.4M 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
sr1 11:1 1 1024M 0 rom
root@xubuntu:~# lsblk -S
NAME HCTL TYPE VENDOR MODEL REV TRAN
sda 6:0:0:0 disk Dell Virtual Flash 123 usb
sdc 7:0:0:0 disk SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro 8.02 usb
sdd 8:0:0:0 disk FUJITSU MBD2300RC D606 sas
sr0 0:0:0:0 rom TSSTcorp CDRW/DVD TSL462D DE01 ata
sr1 4:0:0:0 rom Dell Virtual CDROM 123 usb
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 09:00
I tried to paste lspci -v output a few times, and the forum gives an error message to "try again later."
I also tried xubuntu 16.04.6 installation, which also exhibited the problem.
Summary so far:
1. on 2950, sas 5/i can see 3TB SAS drives but OS cannot seem to see them for boot; 300GB SAS drive IS seen by OS.
2. on 2950, an OS can see the drives, but seems confused about how to handle the controller, and installer will not make them available for partitioning (300GB and 3TB), giving grief about MDADM and/or Intel DM SATA raid, even though there are no SATA devices (except for DVD-RW) in the machine;
3. Things work just fine on a 1950 with sas 5/i with 900GB drives.
I have ordered PCIE NVME adapters and will try that route for the boot devices;
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 13:00
It seems that one of my previous attempts to paste lspci -v finally showed up...
Is there a limitation in the 2950 bios that prevents seeing a larger drive (3TB) as available for booting? identical configuration, 3TB drive does not show up, 300GB drive DOES show up.
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
1
December 12th, 2019 15:00
BIOS won't boot to greater than 2TB, and the largest drives validated for the server were 2 TB drives. The PERC firmware did receive an update to support >2TB disks, though. Essentially, you could use the 3TB disk as a data volume, but not as an OS volume. This would definitely be a part of the problem. I looked through the posted BIOS revisions, but there were no notes indicating that the BIOS storage limit ever changed.
I can't recommend using PCI NVMe storage as a boot volume, unfortunately. It's a relatively new technology with a fairly old server platform that never supported NVMe storage. You may be able to get a PCI card to work, but I would only order from a supplier with a good return policy.
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 18:00
I'll let you know how the PCIE NVME works out. I have ordered one of these from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Controller-Expansion-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink/dp/B07LDFSFTR/
...and I have a couple of 256GB NVME laying around from laptop upgrades, to test with.
Thank you for the updates on using PERC controllers for data volumes with > 2TB drives. I have both PERC5i and PERC6i available. Can you point me to the firmware that supports the larger drives?
Thanks,
Josh
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
0
December 13th, 2019 07:00
You can pull the driver from the support page for the 2950. Search for "SAS 5/i". You should be able to pull the firmware there. SAme for the PERC, but search for "PERC 6/i".
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/poweredge-2950/drivers
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 13th, 2019 12:00
The PCIE -> m.2 PCIE NVMe experiment did not pan out. The OS installer (ubuntu server 18.04.3 LTS) had no trouble seeing the NVMe drive, the install went just fine to the SSD (including grub installation). It just seems the 2950 BIOS cannot see/will not present the NVMe device for booting.
Thanks for the PERC BIOS thing, I will give it a shot - I guess I'm stuck with a RAID 1 pair of 300GB spinning rust drives for boot wasting two of my six slots, and four 3TB spinning rust for a data volume in RAID 5, if the updated firmware works, and stuck with hardware RAID for both . But at least the hardware still has life.
Thanks,
Josh
DragoJ
15 Posts
0
December 18th, 2019 13:00
Alright - I tried to download and find the latest firmware for my PERC 6/i - and it seems I am already running the latest version (that I could find), which is:
Adapter 0: PERC 6/i Integrated
Vendor ID: 0x1000, Device ID: 0x0060
Package version on the controller: 6.3.3.0002
The latest I could find on Dell's support site was the same version, located here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=f96nr
However, the controller does not play nicely at all with 3TB drives, in any capacity. Help?
Thanks,
Josh