The Dell specialist said specifying two controllers was not possible, however I don't understand why not.
The R730XD does support dual controllers. Dual controllers are not supported in your specific configuration. Dual controllers are only supported on flex-zoning backplanes on the R730XD.
Can I reconfigure the front backplane/System board to not expect the rear backplane to be connecte
No.
Will a newer RAID controller be properly recognised by the BIOS and therefore recognise that the backplane is plugged in elsewhere?
No.
Any help would be gratefully received!
You ordered the wrong server for what you are wanting. Rather than try to get this server to do something it was not designed to do I would look into buying a server that does what you want.
If you ever get it to work it will not be running a supported configuration. If you contact support with any issues with the configuration they will not likely be able to assist.
To add to this beyond OP's use case, I think people are ALSO landing here searching for how to use two separate controllers to manage disks in the 12x3.5" backplane present in the front of the Chassis. At least I was because I can't find this information anywhere. But there's some discussion about it with people claiming both sides are true.
I think most are aware that a separate flexbay option exists that adds support for 2 additional 2.5" drives in the back of the chassis. People may or may not be aware that this is managed by a separate H330 controller. And when you say that multiple storage controllers can be used in the R730xd, they are confused because they assume it is possible to use them both to manage the disks in the primary storage backplane via a new card installed in a PCI-E slot and connected to the primary Backplane.
So, to my understanding, it is NOT possible to have two separate storage controllers in the R730xd managing separate disks collocated the 12x3.5" backplane
Daniel My
10 Elder
•
6.2K Posts
0
November 6th, 2016 17:00
Hello
The R730XD does support dual controllers. Dual controllers are not supported in your specific configuration. Dual controllers are only supported on flex-zoning backplanes on the R730XD.
No.
No.
You ordered the wrong server for what you are wanting. Rather than try to get this server to do something it was not designed to do I would look into buying a server that does what you want.
If you ever get it to work it will not be running a supported configuration. If you contact support with any issues with the configuration they will not likely be able to assist.
Thanks
dailytech
1 Message
0
March 10th, 2020 04:00
https://downloads.dell.com/solutions/general-solution-resources/White%20Papers/DellEMCMicrosoft_StorageSpacesDirect_ReadyNode_DG.pdf
States
Storage Adapter ~ HBA 330
Additional Storage Adapter ~ H330
Boot device ~ 2.5inch SSD in FlexBay
please confirm which is wrong.
TJ Zimmerman
2 Posts
0
April 20th, 2020 11:00
@dailytech @DELL-Daniel My
To add to this beyond OP's use case, I think people are ALSO landing here searching for how to use two separate controllers to manage disks in the 12x3.5" backplane present in the front of the Chassis. At least I was because I can't find this information anywhere. But there's some discussion about it with people claiming both sides are true.
I think most are aware that a separate flexbay option exists that adds support for 2 additional 2.5" drives in the back of the chassis. People may or may not be aware that this is managed by a separate H330 controller. And when you say that multiple storage controllers can be used in the R730xd, they are confused because they assume it is possible to use them both to manage the disks in the primary storage backplane via a new card installed in a PCI-E slot and connected to the primary Backplane.
So, to my understanding, it is NOT possible to have two separate storage controllers in the R730xd managing separate disks collocated the 12x3.5" backplane