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Server for ESXi and Hardware question
Hi all,
This is going to be my first time building a server and dealing with raid controllers. I built out a PowerEdge R630, was going to go with 8 bay chassis, like 96 gigs of ram, and then filled with SSD SATA hard drives. I have three questions hopefully you guys can help with.
First, I was planning on using the PERC H730P with 2 gigs cache for my raid controller. I feel like this is a dumb question, but I just want to validate. This controller could could two different RAID arrays at the same time right? If I wanted RAID 1 for the OS and RAID 5 for data storage? I don't need two controllers to do this, I assume.
Second, I am likely going to put ESXi on this server. Would you just get two small SSDs maybe 128 gigs in a RAID 1 array and use that for ESXi, and then the rest of your disks for RAID 5 data storage? Or would you boot ESXi off a USB drive (I would need to look up how to do this, but heard it was an option) and use all your disks for storage?
Finally, I am looking at the documentation on the H730P controller (http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/documents/dell-poweredge-raid-controller-h730p.pdf), and at the bottom it shows it works with ESXi 5.1, and 6.0. Obviously 6.5 is out and available, I assume that this controller would work with 6.5 but can anyone confirm (or deny) this?
Thanks for your help and time.
Anonymous
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April 16th, 2018 07:00
ServerFlynnn,
1) "I was planning on using the PERC H730P with 2 gigs cache for my raid controller. I feel like this is a dumb question, but I just want to validate. This controller could could two different RAID arrays at the same time right? If I wanted RAID 1 for the OS and RAID 5 for data storage? I don't need two controllers to do this, I assume."
Yes the controller actually supports up to 16 Virtual Disks per disk group, so no you wouldn't require another controller to do this.
2) "Second, I am likely going to put ESXi on this server. Would you just get two small SSDs maybe 128 gigs in a RAID 1 array and use that for ESXi, and then the rest of your disks for RAID 5 data storage? Or would you boot ESXi off a USB drive (I would need to look up how to do this, but heard it was an option) and use all your disks for storage?"
You can do either of those options, as well as the option of installing ESXi 6.5 on the IDSDM ( Internal Dual SD Module) if it is installed. As it is an optional part.
3) I am looking at the documentation on the H730P controller (http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/documents/dell-poweredge-raid-contr...), and at the bottom it shows it works with ESXi 5.1, and 6.0. Obviously 6.5 is out and available, I assume that this controller would work with 6.5 but can anyone confirm (or deny) this?
The document you mentioned was released 2 years ago, which was likely why 6.5 wasn't included on the list. The H730p will support ESXi 5.1 and above, to include 6.5 U1, which you can verify the supported versions here.
Hope this helps clear things up for you.
If you private message me the svc tag I can confirm the hardware installed is compatible.