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September 27th, 2014 04:00
Replacing PERC S300 adapter
I would like to upgrade a PowerEdge R310 server from Windows Server 2008 R2 to 2012 R2. Unfortunately the PERC S300 is not supported and I could not find the necessary drivers.
I found that the PERC H700 has the right drivers and is compatible with the R310, can anyone confirm that please?
Are there cheaper alternatives? Otherwise I think I have to disconnect the PERC controller and connect the disks to the internal SATA ports, but then I would have 4 independent disks with no RAID whatsoever since the embedded PERC S100 is not supported as well... (is there a SW raid solution?)
Thanks
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theflash1932
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September 27th, 2014 07:00
The H700 is a supported controller on the R310, but you would have to do a clean install or backup/restore.
The H310 is also supported on the R310. It is a low-end hardware RAID controller and would also require a reinstall/restore.
The S100 might handle a direct migration of disks from the S300, but as you read, it is not supported under 2012 either.
You can move the disks to the onboard SATA and get rid of the S300, but it would also require a clean install/restore. If you did the onboard SATA (in AHCI/non-RAID), there would be no RAID managed by the system, but you could set up RAID in Windows, which would provide at least some redundancy. Performance would not be worse than the S-series controllers.
My advice? Never skimp on storage, no matter what it is being used for. Always get the top controller (H7x0) when configuring a server.
giovanni79
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September 29th, 2014 03:00
Thank you for the answer TheFlash. Either I can do a cheap upgrade and get one more years of live out of it, or I change the whole server. The H700 is a little too expensive, the H310 seems a more interesting option.
Since we moved most of our data to the cloud, the storage of the server is only used for archiving data.
giovanni79
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September 29th, 2014 07:00
I found this on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PERC-H700-RAID-512MB-Controller-Kit-for-HotSwap-PowerEdge-R310-Servers-/151257498366?pt=US_Server_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item2337a642fe
Can anyone please advise that this is all I need to upgrade from PERC S300 to H700? Thanks.
theflash1932
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September 29th, 2014 08:00
It would appear as all the hardware you need is included. Server 2012 R2 should have the H700 drivers built in, but you might make sure the H700 firmware is up to date so the driver is fully compatible with it.
giovanni79
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September 29th, 2014 08:00
Wonderful, thank you.
giovanni79
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September 29th, 2014 08:00
Thanks. Yes, I know I need to reinstall the system, but I am doing this in order to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2 anyway (clean install).
I was planning to add the drivers to the Lifecycle Manager, I am triple checking that the ones for Windows Server 2012 R2 are actually there.
I would like to avoid opening the server and start installation once again on a Saturday evening (the only time when working on the server is not really disruptive for the whole team) only to find out I am missing one more cable or driver...
theflash1932
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September 29th, 2014 08:00
Looks like all you'd need. Now the "upgrade" is not a drop-in direct migration ... you will need to do a backup/restore to the new controller, either 1) providing the H700 driver during the restore process, or 2) installing the H700 in the system to load the driver for it prior to the backup.