Thanks - love the board - have read for dozens of hours over days but hoping for a few crumbs from the experienced to save more dozens of hours.
I just bought my first server - an R510 - though I've been a computer pro for decades (DB SW and only Home HW)
I swapped out the PERC H700 to an H200 because, like everyone, I am running ZFS.
The card came flashed with Firmware 07.15.04.00 and Bios 07.11.01.00.
I flashed to Dell's latest (A10 for the H200I - integrated - 07.15.08.00 and 07.11.10.00)
I'll give more info below in case needed, but here is my question.
Main Question:
I think this card works fine in actual passthrough mode with OEM firmware as an IR device. Can someone who knows HBAs better convince me I'm wrong given the proof I'll share below?
Proof:
I plugged in a 4TB SATA drive (512e) and an 8T SATA drive (512e). The firmware says "IR" on boot, yet, finds and reports the drives WITHOUT pressing CTL-C or doing any configuring. Booting into Debian 9 (Proxmox) and viewing connection parameters, the drives are shown in /dev/disk and the connection speed on the drive that is capable of SATA 3.0 correctly shows "operating at 6Gbps".
I'm new to this HBA/RAID/IR/IT thing and I've read a lot. But doesn't this PROVE that the H200I using Dell OEM firmware is, in fact, using passthrough on drives that are not registered through the RAID control panel in the H200 (CTL-C)? I know some RAID cards can do that using RAID0 virtual drives, but surely I would have to TELL it to do that, wouldn't I?
I completely get the idea of NOT wanting hardware RAID getting in the way and adding a layer of (possible) corruption, but I keep reading that passthrough means "drive is just seen with no configuration" and this card seems to do this out of the box.
More Questons (if anyone is feeling really patient):
Do I need to mess with changing the default queuing length (was short on an H310 not sure about the H200? (I really really do not want to move to a different slot and what I read is inconsistent on whether cross-flashing to LSI firmware can be done without blowing up the integrated slot functionality and I don't want to buy and use longer cables) I will be using a Sun F20 Flash Accelerator (96GB of Over-Provisioned SSD striped as 4 devices for speed) as the ZIL and L2ARC caches on ZFS (and this device will provide battery backup caching so speed and data integrity won't be an issue I don't think with the H200).
I think the drive speeds I'm seeing prove that the backplane firmware and expander firmware are "fine" up to SATA 3.0 (6Gbps) Finding versions on these was PAINFUL and walking through the upgrade process even more so. Anyone have an R510 and want to tell me latest and greatest on all firmware and how you got there? Have tried 3 ways so far -- best option was to fight (and I mean fight) with the Dell Repository Manager, although it missed things (like the H200I and the iDRAC6 updates) that I had to do manually and I'm concerned it missed more than that. Big believer in "run the latest and greatest" but don't want to blow something up poking around pointlessly.
Here are my firmware versions (as best I can tell - Dell has some errors that make different tools say different things)
BIOS: 1.12.0
32 Bit Diags: 5162A0
iDrac: 96JYW (2.90.04)
OS Drivers: Y15C2 (15.04.00)
LifeCycle Controller: F7XJ1 (1.6.5.12_A00)
Backplane: V8Y6N (1.10A00) - I think - it reports 1.10 and I can't tell if the A00 is relevant and the file was released later than the system build.
SAS Expander: FMWT1 (1.01 A01) -- this also causes questions because on boot it reports 1.10, LCC reports 1.00.
PSU: 03.02.00
NetXtreme II Gigabit: 08.07.26
Anyone else get keyboard corruption when attached out-of-band to the iDRAC (repeating characters)?
Why in the world is a simple command line command in Debian 9 like "dmesg" scrolling the screen so slow? (Putty is lightning fast as it should be)
And finally: My server came with odd brackets that have hooks on the front and protrude 3 inches or so past the face (left ear hinges and right ear is non-existent due to the bracket) -- have looked and looked for what this configuration is. Dying of curiosity. Can someone explain what these ears are for?
Info on the H200:
Started with Dell's PERC H200I 07.02.42.00_A04 firmware with a date of 20101215
I grabbed and flashed the latest Dell OEM firmware: 07.03.06.00_A10 (H200I).
This made some interesting changes in the firmware: (using sas2flash to view):
From LSI SAS2008(B2) to SAS2008(??)
From NVDATA 07.00.00.17 to 07.00.00.19
From Firmware 07.15.04.00 to 07.15.08.00
From Bios 07.11.01.00 to 07.11.10.00
From BCD 07.00.01.00 to 07.02.04.00
Mini HW Review: As of 20180114, this system cost me about $500 all in - 2 Xeon 5640 low power, 12 bay chassis, 48GB ECC RAM, H200, 12 caddys, F20 accelerator, dual PSU's, and 2 80GB 2.5's to use as boot drives. I've seen some lucky deal snaggers get more for less, but for a Configure to Order off eBay, this is pretty darned cheap for what it is. Using my own drives -- all SATA because I've had my fill of RAID 5 -- just want nice 3-drive mirrors so I have double backup and data recovery without dealing with stripes and controllers. When done it will have 3 8TB's, 2 4TB's (for things easily downloaded again), and as many of my old 750's as still spin and probably at least 3 empty bays for a future expansion. Maybe 35TB true and 14TB usable. Personally all into not losing sleep over data this time around. The 130W idle speeds were a huge consideration too and for those worried about sound, it's louder than I hoped, but not horrible except when it first boots. Dell's claims of 45 dBA are reasonably close, but it has a pretty pronounced 4KHz tone to the fans that makes it seem much louder than meters say it is since that is a sensitive frequency for humans. Going out of my office soon and somewhere I won't hear it. Considered a Sun 4270 (but read it was LOUD) and found out later any updates require a paid subscription to Oracle (Sun's) site. Glad I went Dell.
I just bought my first server - an R510 - though I've been a computer pro for decades (DB SW and only Home HW)
I swapped out the PERC H700 to an H200 because, like everyone, I am running ZFS.
The card came flashed with Firmware 07.15.04.00 and Bios 07.11.01.00.
I flashed to Dell's latest (A10 for the H200I - integrated - 07.15.08.00 and 07.11.10.00)
I'll give more info below in case needed, but here is my question.
Main Question:
I think this card works fine in actual passthrough mode with OEM firmware as an IR device. Can someone who knows HBAs better convince me I'm wrong given the proof I'll share below?
Proof:
I plugged in a 4TB SATA drive (512e) and an 8T SATA drive (512e). The firmware says "IR" on boot, yet, finds and reports the drives WITHOUT pressing CTL-C or doing any configuring. Booting into Debian 9 (Proxmox) and viewing connection parameters, the drives are shown in /dev/disk and the connection speed on the drive that is capable of SATA 3.0 correctly shows "operating at 6Gbps".
I'm new to this HBA/RAID/IR/IT thing and I've read a lot. But doesn't this PROVE that the H200I using Dell OEM firmware is, in fact, using passthrough on drives that are not registered through the RAID control panel in the H200 (CTL-C)? I know some RAID cards can do that using RAID0 virtual drives, but surely I would have to TELL it to do that, wouldn't I?
I completely get the idea of NOT wanting hardware RAID getting in the way and adding a layer of (possible) corruption, but I keep reading that passthrough means "drive is just seen with no configuration" and this card seems to do this out of the box.
More Questons (if anyone is feeling really patient):
Do I need to mess with changing the default queuing length (was short on an H310 not sure about the H200? (I really really do not want to move to a different slot and what I read is inconsistent on whether cross-flashing to LSI firmware can be done without blowing up the integrated slot functionality and I don't want to buy and use longer cables) I will be using a Sun F20 Flash Accelerator (96GB of Over-Provisioned SSD striped as 4 devices for speed) as the ZIL and L2ARC caches on ZFS (and this device will provide battery backup caching so speed and data integrity won't be an issue I don't think with the H200).
I think the drive speeds I'm seeing prove that the backplane firmware and expander firmware are "fine" up to SATA 3.0 (6Gbps) Finding versions on these was PAINFUL and walking through the upgrade process even more so. Anyone have an R510 and want to tell me latest and greatest on all firmware and how you got there? Have tried 3 ways so far -- best option was to fight (and I mean fight) with the Dell Repository Manager, although it missed things (like the H200I and the iDRAC6 updates) that I had to do manually and I'm concerned it missed more than that. Big believer in "run the latest and greatest" but don't want to blow something up poking around pointlessly.
Here are my firmware versions (as best I can tell - Dell has some errors that make different tools say different things)
BIOS: 1.12.0
32 Bit Diags: 5162A0
iDrac: 96JYW (2.90.04)
OS Drivers: Y15C2 (15.04.00)
LifeCycle Controller: F7XJ1 (1.6.5.12_A00)
Backplane: V8Y6N (1.10A00) - I think - it reports 1.10 and I can't tell if the A00 is relevant and the file was released later than the system build.
SAS Expander: FMWT1 (1.01 A01) -- this also causes questions because on boot it reports 1.10, LCC reports 1.00.
PSU: 03.02.00
NetXtreme II Gigabit: 08.07.26
Anyone else get keyboard corruption when attached out-of-band to the iDRAC (repeating characters)?
Why in the world is a simple command line command in Debian 9 like "dmesg" scrolling the screen so slow? (Putty is lightning fast as it should be)
And finally: My server came with odd brackets that have hooks on the front and protrude 3 inches or so past the face (left ear hinges and right ear is non-existent due to the bracket) -- have looked and looked for what this configuration is. Dying of curiosity. Can someone explain what these ears are for?
Info on the H200:
Started with Dell's PERC H200I 07.02.42.00_A04 firmware with a date of 20101215
I grabbed and flashed the latest Dell OEM firmware: 07.03.06.00_A10 (H200I).
This made some interesting changes in the firmware: (using sas2flash to view):
From LSI SAS2008(B2) to SAS2008(??)
From NVDATA 07.00.00.17 to 07.00.00.19
From Firmware 07.15.04.00 to 07.15.08.00
From Bios 07.11.01.00 to 07.11.10.00
From BCD 07.00.01.00 to 07.02.04.00
Mini HW Review: As of 20180114, this system cost me about $500 all in - 2 Xeon 5640 low power, 12 bay chassis, 48GB ECC RAM, H200, 12 caddys, F20 accelerator, dual PSU's, and 2 80GB 2.5's to use as boot drives. I've seen some lucky deal snaggers get more for less, but for a Configure to Order off eBay, this is pretty darned cheap for what it is. Using my own drives -- all SATA because I've had my fill of RAID 5 -- just want nice 3-drive mirrors so I have double backup and data recovery without dealing with stripes and controllers. When done it will have 3 8TB's, 2 4TB's (for things easily downloaded again), and as many of my old 750's as still spin and probably at least 3 empty bays for a future expansion. Maybe 35TB true and 14TB usable. Personally all into not losing sleep over data this time around. The 130W idle speeds were a huge consideration too and for those worried about sound, it's louder than I hoped, but not horrible except when it first boots. Dell's claims of 45 dBA are reasonably close, but it has a pretty pronounced 4KHz tone to the fans that makes it seem much louder than meters say it is since that is a sensitive frequency for humans. Going out of my office soon and somewhere I won't hear it. Considered a Sun 4270 (but read it was LOUD) and found out later any updates require a paid subscription to Oracle (Sun's) site. Glad I went Dell.