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Upgrading T310 from S300 to H700i
My question is, has anybody here actually done this? If so, how did you accomplish it?
I plan to upgrade a T310 from S300 SAS with a 4 drive RAID-5 to an H700i. The reason for the upgrade is because there are simply too many problems with restoring, expanding, and working with 3rd party partitioning software. E.G. your a far less likely to be able to safely manage and restore a system using the S300 than the H700i. Fortunately, we only sold two with S300s before we discovered we were not actually getting the PERC controller, so our intention is to replace the two S300s to H700i controllers. It would be irresponsible not to.
The purpose for the post is because I've been through many calls to Dell's technical support, and there is no consensus across at least 7 different occasions as to how this can be accomplished. The only consistent comments involve apologizing for the software controllers. The opinions range from you can't, to all you need to do is replace it, import the array, and Windows will see it as new hardware and install the driver. He sounded very confident about how to go from an S to an H, so I ordered and received a new H700i with 1 gig cache from Dell parts, as parts recommended. Then on the last call, the tech said I cannot do that, but need to do a backup and restore of the system, but it will work fine and it uses the same cables. When I pulled the side cover on a T310 with an S300 controller, I found that the cabling for the S300 can't possibly connect to an H700i. Now I don't know if I bought cables if the other ends would fit the back current back plane for the hot-swap SAS drives, or if that is different too. Moreover, the S300 has a bracket that clips to the bottom of the chassis that pushes against the connector on the S300 connector to hold it in. That bracket couldn't serve the same function on a 700i, and I don't know the the H700i has a different bracket available that I should also buy or not.
At this point, I have an adequate supply of theories and opinions. My question is, has anybody here actually done this? If so, how did you accomplish it?
Thanks!
DELL-Daniel My
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January 19th, 2014 11:00
Hello jtoering
It is going to be difficult to find someone who has performed this exact procedure, but I can answer your questions.
Importing from an S300 to an H700 is not supported and will not likely work. The two cards are made by different manufacturers and write metadata differently. If you can get it to work then great, but it is not supported and will not likely work. The H700 only supports migration from a PERC 6/i or H200. You can refer to section 4.8 on page 19 of this document for clarification:
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/perc-technical-guidebook.pdf
No, the cable is not the same between an S300 and an H700 as you can plainly see. The H700 uses mini-SAS on both ends whereas the PERC6/i and S300 cable uses mini-SAS on just the backplane connection. Here are the cable part numbers:
W846K PERC7 hotplug
Y690K PERC7 cable
KNJKY PERC6 hotplug
D385M PERC6 cable
The hotplug cable is used if you have a backplane, and the cabled version is used if you are cabling the drives directly to the controller.
There is only one PCI holder for the T310.
Thanks
DELL-Daniel My
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January 19th, 2014 16:00
Yes, an H700 will work in the T310. You can replace the S300 with an H700, but you cannot migrate your RAID array from the S300 to the H700. You will need to create new RAID arrays on the H700.
The T310 backplane is single channel, so you only need one cable for the SAS A connector.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. On the PERC 6 and S300 the PCI holder is over the top of the SAS connector. On the H700 the PCI holder will be over the top of the battery.
When you order the H700 make sure you get the right one. There are 3 flavors. There is a daughter board designed for blades that is called the H700 Modular. There is an integrated version designed for a proprietary integrated storage slot that is called the H700 integrated. Then there is the H700 PCIe version that is called the H700 Adapter. It will work in a normal PCIe slot. The only version that will work on a T310 is the H700 Adapter. The T310 does not have an integrated storage slot or a daughter card slot.
Thanks
DELL-Daniel My
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January 22nd, 2014 09:00
If it is indeed the H700i then it will not likely work. The H700i is the integrated version that is designed for an integrated storage slot. The main difference between the integrated and adapter version is that the adapter version has a battery holder on the card itself. The integrated version just has a cable connector for the battery because all systems with an integrated storage slot have a battery holder in the chassis.
The integrated version may work in a normal PCIe slot, but you will have to lay the battery somewhere in the chassis. I would recommend purchasing the adapter version that is supposed to be used in the T310. Here are all of the part numbers. These kits come with the battery and necessary cabling:
342-0734 H700A 512GB for cabled HDD config
342-0735 H700A 512GB for hotplug config
342-1487 H700A 1GB for cabled config
342-1486 H700A 1GB for hotplug config
Thanks
JToering
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January 19th, 2014 15:00
Thank you for your reply.
1. Can I replace the S300s with H700is in the T310s?
2. The drives are hot plug in both cases. Which, and how many of the hot plug cables would I order?
3. "There is only one PCI holder for the T310." From this I'm assuming this holder presses on the daughter board connector on the H700i to hold it in place instead of the cable end that the S300 uses.
Thanks Tons!
JToering
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January 19th, 2014 15:00
PS: It appears that I need to order the battery separately as well.
JToering
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January 20th, 2014 19:00
The one on the left looks like the H700i that Dell parts sent. The one on the right, is about what S300 looks like. (Found images online) Where the white connector sits on the S300 is where the cable plugs in and where there is a bracket connected to the bottom of the case pushes against the connector. So then this bracket pushes against the daughterboard connector on the H700i which is approximately the same place as the S300's cable attach? I don't see a battery.
I asked parts for an upgrade from the S300 to the H700 for the T310, and didn't get it. I got an RMA today. I will be reordering at some point, but not necessarily from Dell. I need to order from someone that knows the T310 hardware and can sell me what I need to upgrade the S300 to the H700 type card. Does anybody know the part number(s) to do so?
JToering
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January 23rd, 2014 11:00
It sounds like that's what I needed to know. It also sounds like the H700i could have worked, but then I'd need velcro the battery to the bottom of the case, and hope the current bracket that holds the current S300 in place by pushing on the cable, would work on the H700i by pushing on the daughterboard. With the adapter type, the batter situation is taken care of for me by mounting a small one on the card, and I don't have to worry about using the bracket that holds the S300 in place. That is a huge help.
Thanks TONS!!!
JToering
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January 27th, 2014 23:00
I bought a new kit that includes the H700, two cables, battery, battery cable, and another cable, which I'm guessing connects inside of the computer for a disk activity light. During the process I learned the difference between the H700A and H700i. According to the Dell docs, the only difference between the H700A and H700i, is the H700i has a sled on the edge of the card to hold it in a PCI slot. According to the docs, the T310 requires the H700A with the sled. I hope to put it in this weekend, and will report back. http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/perc-technical-guidebook.pdf
JToering
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March 5th, 2014 08:00
What I did:
1. I installed the H700 in the box while leaving the S300 in there and the original array. This was so I could load the H700 drivers into the system, and have them be part of the OS backups for my restore with the new controller. I didn't leave it in because with both, OpenManage didn't work right. I figured there might be more problems if I left it in. I let it run for a week and accumulated the new configuration into the backups
2. In the mean time, I cleared off a 2TB SATA drive, and I purchased cables to run from the H700 to a SATA drive, and an extension cable to bring power to it.
3. I removed the S300 and and drives from the server. I installed the H700 routed cables through a board slot outside of the server. Then I did a bare metal restore. Everything worked great. While I was at it, I upgraded the H700 to the latest firmware.
4. The following weekend, I pulled the S300, and replaced it with the H700. It for some reason would not fit in the H300's slot, so I put it in the same size slot below it.
The problem: I fired up the server, and went into the array manager, and it only sees 3 of the 4 hard drives.
History: The fourth hard drive was added later to the S300 array. It was out of a Dell 2900 server, but I suspect now the drive may not be a Dell drive. However, it is the exact Seagate model SAS 450 drive as the other three. From what I understand, Dell used to block this, but no longer, and the H700 is on the latest firmware. I'd hate to buy another drive only to discover it doesn't fix the problem, because it shouldn't be a problem anyway.
Thanks!
DELL-Daniel My
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March 5th, 2014 10:00
Yes, only the original H700 firmware blocked the use of non-Dell drives. If it is not being detected then there is a communication issue with the drive. Our drives run custom firmware. We do not test to make sure the manufacturer firmware is compatible for standard drives.
Is the drive showing up in the foreign configuration view or the physical disk list, or is it not being seen at all by the controller? If it is not being seen at all then there is likely a firmware compatibility issue. I would suggest checking to see if there is a firmware update you could apply from a system that does detect the drive.
Thanks
JToering
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March 5th, 2014 11:00
The drive doesn't show up at all. I was blown away. So, I simply put the S300 back in, and it sees all of the drives fine.
DELL-Daniel My
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March 5th, 2014 11:00
It appears to be a firwmare communication issue. If there is a firmware update available for the drive then apply it while it is attached to the S300.
JToering
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March 5th, 2014 12:00
DELL-Daniel My
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March 5th, 2014 12:00
No, it is not. Wait until a maintenance window where you can restart the server.
Thanks
JToering
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March 9th, 2014 10:00
The Dell firmware update program doesn't work, or it doesn't work with the S300, one or the other. No surprise there. I called Dell support. They said wait until Monday.