Dell Compellent SC200 enclosure?

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

KalusOne

New Member
Nov 4, 2019
4
1
3
I have 24x 900GB 10k drives in there. I'm really new to this and have just managed to get FreeNAS up and running.

I didn't know that smart data showed temps, but I looked it up... the highest is at 69 degrees celsius and coolest is 49. It shows that the drive trip temperature is 85 degrees
 

jeffsays

New Member
Feb 5, 2019
4
0
1
10k drives are going to generate a lot of heat (that's about 120-160 degrees fahrenheit), so that behavior sounds accurate. you're going to want something that moves more air than noctuas.

FWIW i'm running the noctuas withmostly 5900rpm drives (WD reds/whites shucked from easystores) and a couple 6tb 7200 drives.
 

KalusOne

New Member
Nov 4, 2019
4
1
3
Ahh, ok. I really appreciate the advice. I suppose that's why they put those screamers in, in the first place. There really is no clear route for airflow through the shelf, especially with all bays filled... and from memory, there's no opening at the front of the power supplies either.
 

neb50

Member
Aug 28, 2018
73
23
18
I am using mine with SSD's only so I have not seen any temp issues with the drives. I also currently have it off until I figure out how I want to use the SSD's so I don't have any long term data from it.
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
822
383
63
45
Can someone tell me which controller port on Xyratex/Dell HBA 1235 do I need to connect the SF-8088 cable coming from the HBA card? There are 3 ports and I couldn't figure out which one to use.
 
Last edited:

KalusOne

New Member
Nov 4, 2019
4
1
3
Can someone tell me which controller port on Xyratex/Dell HBA 1235 do I need to connect the SF-8088 cable coming from the HBA card? There are 3 ports and I couldn't figure out which one to use.
I am by no means even competent regarding all of this, but my understanding (from my SC220) is that you connect Port A on the top controller in the Compellent to the 1st port on your HBA, and port B of the bottom controller to the 3rd port on the controller. My SC220 only has 2 ports (A and B) on each controller, but from a little reading, it doesn't seem to matter.... you could also try Port A in top controller and Port C in bottom.

Again, I have very little understanding on how this works :)

Found a reference here... Cabling questions for a DAS noob : homelab
for a dual enclosure system.

Hope this helps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bert

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
559
192
43
Are you using an hba like LSI 9201-16e to connect? Did you try using other ports?
9286cv-8e, running 12 Seagate Constellation SAS drives. I do not recall if I have tried other ports. I do have 2 other shelves in the rack, but not powered. I have a homemade JBOD with an RESV240 expander hanging off port B, which is recognized and drives appear.
Port A has a netapp ds2246, also recognized and drives appear. I'm connected to the left hand controller of the DS2246 if looking at the rear, and SATA drives are recognized.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bert

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
822
383
63
45
I tried port C and it worked for me as well. It looks like my problem was due to the firmware on the LSI 9201-16e card. Fixed the card and it all started to work.

Now, I am trying to make the compellent sas controller working on DS4243 instead of the IOM6 one so that I can use regular cabling. That does not seem to be working.
 

Ryan Flagler

New Member
Aug 23, 2016
5
0
1
37
Hey, I have the Dell MD1200 and it is not compatible with 4KN drives. Can anyone here chime in on whether the SC200 has issues with them?

Example:
This drive does NOT work
HUH728080AL4200

This drive DOES
HUH728080AL5200
 

scotia

New Member
May 20, 2022
1
0
1
Hi all,
thanks for the good info. I just picked up an SC200 and plan to use it with an LSI controller in IT mode with my HP MicroServer NAS (or something better).
The unit shipped with 5 x 4TB SAS drives, but I was particularly interested in how it worked with SATA drives. So far I've only tested with an old 1TB SATA drive but my controller works with 6TB drives with a different enclosure so I'm pretty confident the 6TB will work in the SC200.

As I need more caddies I've ordered this from AliExpress: Caddy. Seems to work well and cost only AUD10.

Some caveats/notes (at least on my SC200):
  • Not all drive leds stay lit (one of the shipped SAS drives blinks for a while at startup/insertion then turns off forever. The SATA drive I tested blinks briefly on insertion then turns off forever)
  • I didn't use an interposer on the SATA drive
  • My SC200 has two EMMs: the SATA drive was recognised only when the controller was connected to the TOP EMM. The same was true even when the EMMs were swapped (the connection needed to be to the TOP to see the SATA drive)
Here's some screenshots:

Controller:
IMG_4978 2.JPG

Drives (4x SAS, 1xSATA):
IMG_4976.JPG
IMG_4979.JPG

SAS drive detail:
IMG_4974.JPG

SATA drive detail:
IMG_4977 2.JPG

FreeBSD controller and drive info:
IMG_4983 2.JPG

FreeBSD camcontrol with 4xSAS and the insertion of the SATA:
IMG_4980.JPG

A crude speed test on FreeBSD to a SAS drive:
IMG_4986 2.JPG
A write speed of about 1.35Gb/s for a 10GB file.
 
Last edited: