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PowerVault NF500 upgrade options
We have a NF500 storage server that we're getting ready to rebuild. Currently it's running Windows 2003 R2 x86 Storage Server. Is there any reason I can't update to Windows Server 2008 x64? We use it strictly as a storage server with 6TB of drives now, but would also like to have the option of increasing available space.
Thanks,
Andy
amaxey
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February 18th, 2013 08:00
"What do you mean they have a different number of channels? All PERC 6 cards have two channels (so does the SAS 6/iR for that matter)."
This one claims 8 channels. Maybe a typo -
"However, the RAID controller is also perfectly capable of managing a RAID array whose disks are spread across both channels."
OK. I believe the current configuration setup like that.
"If you feel comfortable with a non-redundant RAID 0 for your OS, then there is nothing technically wrong with running the configuration you describe (single-disk RAID 0 and 5-disk RAID 5 or 6)."
In order to maximize storage within the current hardware I would image the system drive for backup. We're also considering the H700 controller and 3TB drives, but my boss is likely to balk at the term "unsupported."
"Not sure if there is anything specific here you are wondering about, but you should avoid cheap consumer/desktop drives, as they are unsuitable for use on an enterprise-class RAID controller. Your drives should be enterprise/RAID class drives, and preferably, should be certified for use on the PERC (Dell branded enterprise-class drives) and can be SATA or SAS (NL-SAS)."
I understand. I just wanted to shop around to see if I could save money over the Dell drives.
Andy
theflash1932
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February 18th, 2013 08:00
Just a difference is terminology. Typically, each connector supports 4 drives ... it is not uncommon for the total number of drives to be referred to either as channels or ports; same with the connectors - channels or interfaces.
"I understand. I just wanted to shop around to see if I could save money over the Dell drives."
Fair enough. If it helps, you can buy Dell-certified drives from third-party suppliers, often for much less than buying the same drive directly from Dell. Just do yourself a favor and don't get consumer/desktop-grade drives ... these can experience problems ranging from mild to severe - from poor performance or benign log entries in the controller log about incorrect or missing responses to controller commands to drives randomly going offline, extremely poor performance, or not even being recognized by the controller.
If your boss baulks at "unsupported", he should not even consider non-enterprise class drives.
DELL-Chris H
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February 13th, 2013 13:00
Andy,
There are a couple things that can be the issue. The install disk used on 2003 may not work on the 2008 install. Also, it may be that the processor isn't compatible with the x64 OS. I am going to send you an email, please reply with the system svc tag and I will verify compatibility.
theflash1932
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February 13th, 2013 13:00
No reason at all. You'll just need to use the drivers for the PowerEdge 2950, as Dell does not officially support anything other than 2003SS on the NF500 (the NF500 is IDENTICAL to the 2950 other than the name - marketed specifically for the OEM-only Storage Server).
Assuming you have a PERC 5/6, you can use drives up to 2TB in size. If you already have 6TB, you already probably know that it does not support UEFI, so you cannot boot to a "disk" (VD or array) larger than 2TB. What is your planned/hoped upgrade?
amaxey
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February 14th, 2013 06:00
Thank you for the reply Flash. It's a system that I inherited so off the top of my head I'm unsure of the RAID configuration. I'll be in that building a little later today and see if I can figure it out what I have to work with. I'd like to add a few more TB of space if I can. Considering the age of the current drives would it be a good idea to go ahead and just replace all of them?
amaxey
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February 14th, 2013 06:00
This is what I found -
Disk0 2 Partitions
C: 12GB NTFS Boot partition
D: 919GB NTFS
Disk1
Dynamic
E: 931.51GB NTFS
Disk2
Dynamic
E: 1860.78GB NTFS
Disk3
Dynamic
E: 1860.78GB NTFS
SAS 6 Host Bus Adapter BIOS
0 ATA Hitachi HUA72101 931GB
1 ATA Hitachi HUA72101 931GB
2 DELL Virtual Disk 1860GB
3 DELL Virtual Disk 1860GB
8 DP Backplane
LSILogic SAS1068E-IR 0.20.48.00 NV 28:06
amaxey
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February 14th, 2013 06:00
Chris,
What would I need the install disk for? Is there a chance I could boot from the original disk and run any utilities from there even though 2008 is installed?
DELL-Chris H
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February 14th, 2013 06:00
With 2003 you would have needed to use a Dell disk or have the raid drives for the OS install. With 2008, everything was in the media itself, so you wouldn't need the disk.
theflash1932
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February 14th, 2013 07:00
"Considering the age of the current drives would it be a good idea to go ahead and just replace all of them?"
Sure you could, depending on how pro-active you like to be and how much money you have to replace perfectly good drives :) While the odds of a drive fail as they age, the often will continue working away for years. It would be wise, however, to keep some spares on-hand and run diagnostics on the existing drives to get them out of there before they cause issues.
From your configuration post, it looks like you have a SAS 6/iR RAID controller, which supports only RAID 0 and 1, and a total of two RAID Virtual Disks. The SAS 6/iR also supports non-RAID, which is why you have two 1TB drives on it as individual drives:
Windows disk 0: non-RAID 1TB
Windows disk 1: non-RAID 1TB (no doubt you have disk 1 mirroring disk 0 in Windows, as they are "dynamic")
Windows disk 2: two 1TB disks in RAID 0 handled by SAS 6/iR
Windows disk 3: two 1TB disks in RAID 0 handled by SAS 6/iR
Did you say ALL your disks were 1TB disks ("6TB of disks now"? If so, that means that you are running NON-REDUNDANT RAID 0's (Integrated Striping) for Windows disks 2 and 3. That means that if one disk in the RAID 0 fails, EVERYTHING on that RAID 0 is gone and recoverable only by very expensive recovery services. Also a single write error means data loss in a RAID 0 as there are no means available to verify the data ... just wanted to make sure you understood that.
So, do you already have 2008 installed, or do you have 2003 installed and plan to upgrade? The original installation disc will ONLY do you any good if you plan to reinstall 2003SS that came with the server. You cannot use any Dell installation discs to install 2008, and there is no reason you would ever need to use it if you install 2008 (the latest tools and diagnostics can be downloaded from the support site). Are you hoping to do an in-place upgrade, or rebuild it?
tommo666
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February 14th, 2013 15:00
The Dell storage server solutions are pretty much fixed. So the CD pack you received with your NF500 is for the NF500 with the correct amount of disks. The Cd's are basically are not install media as normal but a bare metal restore image that is deployed to the disks and will return the boot partition to factory defaults and leave the data partition intact. There are storage expansion options for these servers normally a raid card and an external storage shelf. The NF500 is basically a 2950 so i think a perc 5 with a md1000 shelf
Windows Storage server was only ever a OEM solution and never retail, so getting hold of a 2008 x64 version may be tricky and one designed for your system even harder.
amaxey
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February 14th, 2013 15:00
Raid 0 is not an option I can live with.
My thought is to use 2 of the current drives as one disk with RAID 1 for the OS and replace the other 4 with 3TB drives using RAID 5 for data. Is there an update for the controller available?
I have not changed anything yet. Just in the planning stage at this point. I'll be rebuilding from the ground up.
theflash1932
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February 14th, 2013 15:00
"Raid 0 is not an option I can live with."
I don't blame you.
"3TB drives"
Your controller cannot handle larger than 2TB drives (I have heard that >2TB is possible, but ONLY in non-RAID mode).
"RAID 5"
Your SAS 6/iR RAID controller cannot do RAID 5 - only RAID 0 and 1. You would need a PERC 6/i for RAID 5.
"Is there an update for the controller available?"
There have been firmware updates for the SAS 6/iR, but none that radically change the basic features - it will never support other than RAID 0 and 1, larger than 2TB will never be supported in RAID mode, and battery-backed write-cache will never be an option. Likewise, many updates have been released for the PERC 6 as well, but none that will allow >2TB drives (PERC 6 does NOT support non-RAID).
amaxey
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February 15th, 2013 05:00
Sigh... Well, I guess my last question would be - Is the controller on a card that I could replace with a higher functioning version?
theflash1932
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February 15th, 2013 08:00
Are you talking about upgrading to the PERC 6/i, or are you talking about upgrading beyond that? The cards are PCIe x8 cards in a slot dedicated to use with the controllers. An upgrade to a PERC 6/i is easy and 100% supported. If you are talking about upgrading beyond the PERC 6, to an H700 (which does support RAID 5, 512-1024MB cache, 6Gbps, and >2TB disks), then it "might" work, but it is not supported.
1. It would need to fit in the slot, which is dedicated for the SAS 6/iR and PERC 6/i integrated cards ... not sure if there is an H700 Integrated manufactured in a shape intended to fit here.
2. You would also need new cables to connect it to the backplane. The backplane and the PERC 6/SAS 6 use SFF-8484 connectors, the H700 uses an SFF-8087 connector, so you would need a cable that is 8087 on the controller end and 8484 on the backplane end.
That said, someone on Experts-Exchange reports that an H700 in a 2950 works fine.
The H700 generally runs between $500-$800, depending on the cache options (512MB/1GB/NV), but you can get it cheaper from third-parties:
Amazon - PERC H700
amaxey
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February 18th, 2013 05:00
Thanks Flash. I found several PERC 6/i cards from Dell
search.dell.com/results.aspx
At first glance they all appear to be compatible. Differences are number of channels. A few questions...
With 2 channels should I be able to use 1 drive for the OS using RAID 0 and the other 5 for data using RAID 5 or 6?
Is there anything special about the drives I need to specify?
Thank you again. I appreciate your help.
Andy