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June 7th, 2020 16:00
Dell PowerEdge T310 Raid Controller and OS Questions
I have an opportunity to buy a T310 from someone, but I just had a few questions about some of the hardware. First off, I read that the server only supports up to 6TB hard drives, but I will need at least 10TB because of being limited to the about of bays available. I have tried to do research to answer these questions, but I just don't know enough to search the right information, or to understand the data sheets.
I am looking to move from using my desktop computer from being my Plex server to a dedicated server that is designed to have multiple connections to it so that it can help speed up playback when I have more than 3 people connected. And also so I don't have my desktop computer running 24/7 so I don't wear out the parts on it as fast.
For the server I will want to use Ubuntu as the OS. And have as much storage space as possible. If It is possible to have the OS on a separate HDD or SSD that would be ideal.
With that being said:
Will the T310 run Ubuntu as the OS?
With the H700 raid controller, can i use 10TB HDD? or will I need to change out the controller for a different one? and if so, what one?
Or, is there a way to add more HDD's to the case (I know this will require me to update the raid controller, which might save money because I won't need to buy such large HDDs to get the space I need)
Raid Controller Specs:
PERC H700 Adapter, RAID Contro ller 512MB Cache
RAID 5 - Add-in PERC6i/H700 (S AS/SATA Cntrlr), 3-4 Hot Plug Hard Drives
I hope this is enough information and expressed clearly enough.
Dell-DylanJ
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June 8th, 2020 09:00
Heya,
I had a R710 with that same controller installed. I was running 8TB hard drives without issue. There aren't any validated 10TB drives for the platform, but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if you're able to get some working. I'd encourage you to poke around the forum a bit before buying a model, should hopefully save you some effort.
As for Ubuntu, what version of Ubuntu are you talking about? I've had several different versions of Linux (supported and unsupported) installed on my R710, but driver support can sometimes be a problem. I'm fairly confident that I had a version of Ubuntu installed on my box, but I want to say it was 16.04 (not sure). Looking at Ubuntu's documentation, I'd recommend looking at 16.04 or 14.04.
As to your question about adding drives, that part will depend on your backplane. The H700 can support a large number of drives, it won't be your limiter, the limiting factor is that the backplane option will support 4x 3.5" drives and the internal cabled configuration would also be limited to 4 drives.
If that's about as clear as mud, let me know.
Dell-DylanJ
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June 10th, 2020 14:00
Was there anything else I could do for you?
JHart101
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June 12th, 2020 19:00
Sorry for the delay. Your response is very helpful.
I hadn't thought about different versions of Ubuntu having different driver supports so I will be doing some looking into for that. I had assumed I could just download and install the latest version of Ubuntu or even Ubuntu Server.
That's great to know that I can use at least 8TB drives, but sounds like 10TB will work well too.
When you say backplane, are you talking about the PCA that the drives connect to? And then that will connect to the raid controller. Just want to make sure that I'm on the same page, this is new territory for me. And so in order to add more drives I would just need to upgrade the backplane to one with more drive support and install the firmware? Just that simple, no hickups or bumps will ever happen? (I couldn't even type that without laughing)
theflash1932
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June 12th, 2020 20:00
Yes, the backplane provides data and power connections to the drives, then the SAS connector connects the backplane (and all the drives) to a SAS storage/RAID controller. Typically you can't just change out the backplane, as the system is usually configured and ships with a specific chassis based on the backplane being used.
Sounds like you have the H700 RAID controller, but you mentioned that AND the PERC 6/i:
Dell-DylanJ
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June 15th, 2020 15:00
To the best of my knowledge, 4K disks remain unsupported. I haven't seen anything to indicate otherwise. The disks I would have used would have to have been 512e.
And like Flash was saying, switching the backplane from one to another config would be a large task. The drive cages are fixed to the chassis, so that becomes a fabrication project. It would definitely be really cool to see, but probably the least practical thing to do.