USB is a nogo (slow like pain) and a revodrive may give problems because you need drivers.Or an OCZ revodrive? It's MLC which makes me a bit nervous. Would that work well to throw OI or would I need something a bit more reliable.
Ya, I agree with you about USB and revodrive.USB is a nogo (slow like pain) and a revodrive may give problems because you need drivers.
Use a regular SATA SSD (example Intel 320-40 GB+, MLC is ok) for ESXi and OI
What is a PCI-e SSD mounting carrier? I could not find examples on google.You need to get power inside the case to use onboard SATA. For the SSD you may use a PCI-e SSD mounting carrier
Can't do this, unfortunately.Only other option is if you have access to the backplane on a per port base (5 ports to SAS, one port to onboard SATA)
This could work as the motherboard does have a DOM power connector, but I can't find any DOM to SATA power adaptersas far as I know, Sata SSD's needs only 5V.
There may be a DOM Power connector with 5V on your board for a SSD with ESXi + OI on a local datastore
Same problem here. How can I go from USB power to SATA power?other Option: USB connector - enough power for SSD
These are a bit out of my budget at around $250USDor SATA DOM 16-32 GB
http://www.innodisk.com/production.jsp?flashid=45
Something like this would be awesome if it wasn't for the SATA-III chip onboard (marvel I think). If I could just pass through my own SATA from the MB it would be perfect. I guess I could physically modify the device if I couldn't find anything else, but I'd prefer to have SATA pass-through from the beginning.You need to get power inside the case to use onboard SATA. For the SSD you may use a PCI-e SSD mounting carrier
Yikes that thing has some scary bad reviews.Something like this would be awesome if it wasn't for the SATA-III chip onboard (marvel I think). If I could just pass through my own SATA from the MB it would be perfect. I guess I could physically modify the device if I couldn't find anything else, but I'd prefer to have SATA pass-through from the beginning.
Those bad reviews are for the crappy SATA chip, if I went that route I'd physically cut away the SATA port and use a cable connected to onboard intel SATA chip. However, $50 seems expensive for that. What looks doable is getting the Syba SY-MRA25023 for $20 and then a USB to molex power adapter and call it a day.Yikes that thing has some scary bad reviews.
Do you actually have this server yet?The motherboard doesn't have a way to connect and power a regular sata disk to use as a boot disk.
I thought about doing something like this as there are plenty of 8 pin molex connectors but then there would be issues any time I tried to take a node out as the power would be connected to a part of the chassis that does not slide out with the node. Instead I'm using a USB to molex power cable (see above) which will accomplish my goal of connecting an ssd to power (and is 100% part of the node). BTW, the SuperServer in question is the 6027TR-D70RF.Do you actually have this server yet?
I googled for an image of the internals of this server, but I could not find anything. If I had one in front of me, I'd take the top cover off and then look at the storage backplane. My guess is there are several molex connectors going from the PSU to the storage backplane. Just pull one of those off, insert a molex Y-connector, and then add a molex-to-SATA-power adapter (with perhaps an extension cable thrown in if needed), and you should be good.
All 6 Gb/s SAS HBA adapters require you to clear IR firmware before you can put on IT firmware. If your computer is rebooted after you clear IR firmware but before you flash IT, you're in trouble, so make sure you know what you're getting into and have everything you need before going on.#mount fs0
#fs0:
Confirm everything is in check with "sas2flash.efi -listall" and you're done. It's an easy process once you figure it out but it can be quite frustrating trying out a bunch of methods that ultimately don't work. I wasted more time than I'd like to admit trying to make a working DOS boot disk only to find out that it wouldn't work with my hardware!enter the follow command: sas2flsh -o -e 6
DO NOT REBOOT. If you do reboot, or if you attempt to flash the firmware and/or BIOS image and it does not flash correctly, you will have to RMA the controller.
After the flash has been deleted, run the flash command: sas2flsh -o -f <firmware_image> -b <BIOS_image>