R320 & PowerVault

Hey Mike,

It sounds like you're looking for a direct-attached storage (DAS) solution. If that is the case, you would need an external facing PERC. The PERC H810 would be what you're looking for. The link below will take you to our web page to purchase an H810.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-perc-h810-raid-adapter-for-external-jbod-1gb-nv-cache-customer-kit/apd/405-aadp/storage-drives-media

Now, you just need something to cable it into. The MD1220 should be right up your alley. The newer MD1400 only appears to support the PERC H830 controller, which isn't supported in the R320. 

Hopefully, that answer helps out.

Im thinking the ESXi OMSA might be a better option if that will let me add physical disks to the virtual disks. =)

What if I dont want to install OpenManage (all of my machines are Macs). Can I add drives to the virtual disk through iDRAC for example? Or at the physical machine?

Sorry about that, totally overlooked number 3. Anyway, a virtual disk can be reconfigured. In general terms, you can grow it, but not shrink. If you add the drives, then install OpenManage, you can log into OpenManage and then navigate to the Virtual Disks section of storage. The VD will have a reconfigure option. Most folks don't know there is an ESXi version of OMSA, but you can find it linked below. 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=8d1h0&oscode=xi60&productcode=poweredge-r320

You'll just need to SCP the package over, then use esxcli software vib install -d /path/to/zip

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2008939

• To install or update a .zip file, use the -d option. To install or update a .vib file use the -v option.

So I install it on a Windows VM in ESXi and then reboot or I install it as a plugin to ESXi? I was looking for a set of instructions and I have found a couple different versions.

This is my home setup so rebooting isn’t an issue.

You'll run into some hiccups, then. It's still possible, but would need a bit more work. The control + R PERC utility does not have the option to reconfigure, but it can be done via PERCcli.

PERCcli: https://www.dell.com/support/article=/sln283135/how-to-use-the-poweredge-raid-controller-perc-command-line-interface-cli-utility-to-manage-your-raid-controller

CLI Guide: https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/dell-sas-hba-12gbps_reference-guide_en-us.pdf

Pages 46 and 47 should have what you need. Example:

perccli /c0/v3 start migrate type=r5 option=add disk=e5:s2,e5:s3

I grabbed a 12G server with an H310 confirm whether or not the iDRAC7 would let you reconfigure a virtual disk using the newer firmware, but the option isn't present. You'll need to either use CLI, or OMSA. OMSA may still be a viable option, if you install on the host, then install on a Windows VM to reach your :1311. Either way, you should be able to accomplish this.

If you go that route, just keep in mind to install on the host, install on a VM, and you'll need an outage window to restart. OMSA on ESXi is unique, in that it will require a reboot.

You'll want both. Installing on the host itself will provide all the "mechanics" to actually make the change. The VM installation is there for the "Manage Remote Host" option, which will let you plug-in the host's IP. This gives you the GUI to interact with. 

This is the instruction set I would follow:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/how10613/how-to-install-openmanage-server-administrator-omsa-on-vmware-to-collect-logs

Is there a matrix with compatible cards and PowerVaults with the R320? You can find MD1120s pretty cheap on eBay, but its not lear if its compatible.

I would hesitate to pick up an MD1120, unless you got lucky enough to find a phenomenal deal. I say this because they launched in 2008, and the documentation says that they didn't support SATA II drives at that time. It looks like that MD model was intended to work with the PERC 6/E, which I see as compatible in the 10th Generation of servers. 

With the mixing of a few generations of hardware here, I'd only try it if you got a real sweeheart deal.

There's not a matrix that I am aware of, but the H810 would be the only external RAID controller. There are some other HBA options, but I would expect those to be more expensive solutions when compared to an H810.