Dell certified drives only with PERC H700?

Excellent, thank you so much for your speedy response!

Might anyone know if/when the firmware update to allow non Dell labeled drives was released? Or perhaps what the version number of the firmware is?

It was 12.3.0 that was released July 2010.

Download file: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R269684&SystemID=PWE_R710&servicetag=&os=WS8R2&osl=en&deviceid=20602&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=5&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=46&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=397306.

You can see it under the fixes and enhancements.

NOTE: this is not the latest version anymore.

Off-hand, I can't tell you the version number, but if you go to the download page for the PERC firmware and check the release notes (or click other versions and check Fixes), you'll be able to find out.  If you have an older version, just update to the latest to make sure it is unlocked. 

Note that even though the firmware update allows non-certified drives to be used, you will still see messages in the controller logs indicating they are not certified.

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So the H200 did not receive the lockout release, only the H600/H700.  Thanks Dell (((

I'm setting up a new T710 with an H700, and it has firmware version 12.10.1-0001 from March, 2011. However, none of the non-certified drives i've added are showing up anywhere.

The drives i've added are Seagate 3TB 7200/6GB Sata/64mb cache drives. One of the recent firmwares added support for drives >2TB.

Any ideas? Is there an option or setting somewhere that I need to configure to allow the server to see the drives?

What OS do you have installed?  Are you "not seeing" the drives in CTRL-R or in the OS?  Just remember, you MUST configure the drives in the controller (CTRL-R or OMSA) before they can be seen by the OS.

correction - I think that the H700 IS at the latest firmware, so I'm not sure if 651 would matter.

Comparison between H series and the Perc 6/i

www.dell.com/.../dell-perc-h700-h800-transition-guide.pdf

2008 R2 SP1. They are not being seen using Ctl-R at all. I was under the impression that they were compatible, because drives with these specs were one of the choices when I ordered it. DSM doesn't see them either. Initially I tried to get the box to see them without the OS. Then I tried installing the OS, ran the Dell Server Updates v 6.5.0, and installed DSM. No luck. I have not tried DSU v 6.5.1 yet, but I don't think the H700 is already at the latest firmware.

Looks like an oversight on my part. According to this doc, 6Gbps SAS, but SATA is 3GB only. Is that correct? If so, restock fees, here I come! :-|

Before I return these drives, can anyone CONFIRM that 6GB SATA is NOT supported on the H700 (only 6GB SAS)? thanks!

Another thing that I noticed is that when I run the initial Build a Server application from the DVD included, in the RAID setup configuration section it has this warning:

"Disks that are not certified by Dell will not be included in the Array Disks list"

This seems contrary to what I'm hearing about the newer firmware supporting non-Dell drives. Are the drives supposed to show up after adding/configuring them with Ctrl-R? Did Dell change the firmware but leave the warning message the same?

Bueller?

As far as SBUU not using the drives ... it "may" be because you are using an older version of SBUU ... or it may simply not support non-certified drives, in which case, you would need to do things manually (I realize you are having problems currently with that ... just saying).

Just because the firmware was changed to "allow" non-certified drives doesn't magically make them certified.  You will always get a warning in the controller log that the drives are not certified ... the firmware update simply lifted the block on them.  In the end, they are still not drives with certified/tuned firmware to work with Dell controllers.