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PowerEdge R710 with PERC H700 Contoller, RAID 0 in only option.
Bringing an old R710 back to life. I have a question about the RAID controller. When I go into the Setup for the RAID (CTRL R) configure the VD's, the only option for a RAID type that shows up is "RAID 0".
There are no other RAID options available as far as I can tell. Hitting SPACE, TAB, UP, DOWN, SCROLL, etc. doesn't show any other options besides RAID 0. I've got a total of 6 2 TB HDD installed in the drive bays, 5 seagate and 1 some other brand, but all the same size. I also have a 500 GB SSD in the SATA II slot where the DVD once was. Just wondering if that is some sort of limitation related to the hardware setup that I have or if there is a simple way to see other options than just RAID 0. For now, I just have 2 6 TB VD configured, but I'd like to have some other options also.
theflash1932
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September 18th, 2020 15:00
Ok, forgive me for asking ... regarding RAID 0 as being your only choice: you said you tried "SPACE, TAB, UP, DOWN, SCROLL" to change the RAID 0 option, but did you try ENTER? I believe Enter will bring up the RAID options.
And as for speed, the onboard SATA ports are only optimized for optical drives ... from the Technical Guide:
"Serial ATA (SATA) ports with transfer rates up to 300 MB/s (R710 supports two SATA ports for optical devices or tape backup)"
The R710 can boot to PCIe devices - many of the FusionIO-branded items are listed, so if the hooks are compatible, you may be able to get another device to boot.
theflash1932
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September 18th, 2020 21:00
Yeah, that server won't boot from "native" NVMe, but when you stick it in an adapter in a PCIe slot, it doesn't present as NVMe ... so that's your "way around it".
Are you talking about restoring your IMG, created in BIOS, on a non-RAID disk to a RAID volume running in UEFI?
I'm not sure that will work - I'm not expert with Linux, but I suspect that like Windows there will be driver and config issues restoring the image from BIOS to UEFI and/or to a different controller (without the ability to insert drivers and/or activate drivers/configs).
I'm not sure it will boot, but I think there is a better than average chance that it will - the one you linked is the same brand as the ones that are validated to work, although the BIOS may be looking for specific dev ID's. That first link appears to max out at 600MB/s, so theoretically, double your transfer speed. The bus should be able to handle it, if you aren't flooding it with HDD I/O, but it's still theoretical and likely to be less. (If your RAID controller is in the "integrated" storage slot, then there are some dedicated lanes for PERC-managed volumes.)
DELL-Young E
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September 18th, 2020 00:00
Hi, During host system boot up, press <Ctrl>+<R> when the BIOS banner displays.
The Virtual Disk Management screen displays and check your configuration and let us know. Hope this helps and have a good weekend
sscotti
20 Posts
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September 18th, 2020 08:00
I did that. The System Config is quite different from the original: ST:
BIOS: 6.6.0
iDRAC6: 1.6, 2.92.05
BP FW: 1.07
The BIOS says Bus 3, Device 0, PERC H700, Firmware 12.10.7-0001 for the RAID. The BIOS Config Utility says 2.02-0025.1.
The current config for the RAID is 3 2TB HDD assigned to 2 VD's, RAID 0, so 2 6 TB drives. The only RAID option available is RAID 0. I attached a photo. I was in the process of setting up the backup drive again when I took the photo.
BTW, couple of other questions now that I've been able to experiment a bit with the server. I want an SSD for the system disk. I have an adapter to put one as a RAID 0 VD under the PERC, and that worked, but then I put an SSD on the SATA port where the DVD optical was, which is sort of preferred because I'd rather use the RAID for data storage, and it is pretty easy to swap out the system disk using the drive caddy that I have for the SSD that fits into the DVD slot.
The performance for the SSD in the SATA does not seem that fast (250 Mbs) for the SSD, although I did not benchmark it under the RAID, whereas the HDD (?write) speeds are above 1Gbs for the RAID. I could put an SSD under the RAID and check again, but I guess another option would be to get a PCe adapter to put an SSD in one of the PCI slots, which might be a problem since the OS might not boot from that. I did find a controller on Amazon for a PCe adapter (PCIe SSD Adapter - x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe / AHCI / NGFF / M-Key - Low Profile and Full Profile) that might work, although sure Dell does not support that. Apparently the speed would be much faster that way ?
Also, was able to install a USB dongle WiFi interface. Kind of a luxury, but only cost about $20.00 and nice to have sometimes. Also a GeForce 710 graphics card, although not using that at this point since not really needed. Just wanted to see if that could work.
theflash1932
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September 18th, 2020 08:00
Go to the PD MGMT screen ... do you see all your drives there? Are they in a READY or FOREIGN status? Do you see a FOREIGN tab (VD MGMT, PD MGMT, CTRL MGMT, FOREIGN)?
Which drives do you see and in what status?
sscotti
20 Posts
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September 18th, 2020 12:00
Screen shots. I don't think any of the disks are "certified".
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sscotti
20 Posts
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September 18th, 2020 17:00
Thanks. That is / was part of the issue (ENTER). That now shows 0,1 and 5 as options for the RAID with 3 vacant disks left yet.
Regarding the system disk config. I currently have one in the SATA which you say has rates capped at 300 Mbs, although it is really convenient and it leaves the PERC slots for 6 HDD's and a RAID setup. When I had the system on a VD RAID volume it actually did not seem much if any faster, but I forgot to benchmark it.
I installed the OS (UBUNTU 20.04) using the BIOS rather than UEFI (did that before though also) and I have an .img backup of the disk as well. Am I able to restore that whole disk to a new RAID VD (1 disk) if I want to transfer that whole backup to a RAID volume ? I really don't want to have to reinstall the whole system, although I've gotten accustomed to that. That would be one option for better performance, although the SATA actually isn't bad despite the slower transfer rates. Using a PCIe for the system would be an option if I can boot from that and it works on the server.
Regarding the PCIe options:
https://www.amazon.com/PC-Server-Parts-Fusion-IO-81Y4532/dp/B07CSGRRGD is a card on Amazon, and also:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FU9JS94/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
as an adapter for NVMe, although I don't think the server can boot from NVME, but there are ways around that.
Can the first reference there actually be used to boot a system disk, and if so, what would be the transfer rates using that ? I kind of like that option also, but probably not worth it unless the performance will be 2-4 times what I'm getting with the on board SATA where the optical once was.
Just trying to arrive at what seems like the best arrangement for where I should put the system disk for performance and ease of backup. I don't really want to get a PCIe card unless I'm pretty sure that'll work and that I can boot the system from it.
It has taken a couple of weeks, but I've kind of brought the thing back to life.