The Dell PowerEdge C6220 Thread

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dani17

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Aug 21, 2017
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Hi.

You simply have to use SAS<>4*SATA cables, you can even use standard cables such as this (but you might still need at least one of the Dell cables for the SGPIO) :
The server have alredy the cabling. Both C6220 have exactly the same cables connected exactly in the same way to the midplan and backplane, but one server we see 4 HDD per node (the total, 1 row for each node), and the other one see 3 HDD per node (1 column of HDD per node, and 1 colum lost that seem to be for the 4th node that we don't have). We saw that exists a "C6220 HDD Zoning tool" to assing disk to each node, but it says that is only for 2.5" HDD versions, not the 12 3.5"HDD version.

Thanks a lot.
 
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Jb boin

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May 26, 2016
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The zoning app is only for C6220 II and only used to remap disks to different nodes.

On the C6220 I 3.5", you simply have to plug the SAS<>SATA cables the way you need on the midplane (you only need to plug those on the first SAS port of each slots you use) and to the backplane ports which are not remappable, its quite simple and straightforward.

If only 2 or 3 ports are working, make sure that the cable are not in bad shape and not going on the fans, i had a cable cut by fans on one C6220 and spent time trying different things before realising it got partially cut.
 

dani17

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Aug 21, 2017
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Hi.
I should have explained myself in a wrong way. We have exactly the same cables connected in the same way in 2 unit of C6220. Both with 3 nodes. The cables are connected in the SAME exact way. Appartently to get 1 row (4 disk - horizontaly) for the each server node.
In one server it works that way, but in the other one, even the conecction is done in that way, the servers sees 3 disk (A COLUMN, the 3 first ones looking up to down) per node. This is the way it appears in the manuals that the conf would be for a 4 node C6220.

If this is the server:



in a C6220 the node 1 sees the 1st 3 disk (1st disk row 1, 1st disk row 2, 1st disk row 3) ..... 2nd node sees the next 3 disks (columns 2, raws 1 to 3)...

And in the other C6220 with the same cabling connections 1 node sees the 1st row (disk 1 in column 1 to 4), the 2nd node sees the 2nd raw...

The connection seems to be in both cases to have the assignement in rows (4 disk per node) but in one of the server isn't assigned like that, thats why we thought that they may have been reconfigured with the "C6220 Zone Disk Utility", but it seems that its only for the 24 disk 2.5" backplane (acording to what it says in Dell's website when you download it).
 

Jb boin

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May 26, 2016
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It really seems that both are not cabled the same way, in my case changing SATA cables ports was definitely making the disks slots available to different nodes but power might need recabling between 3 and 4 noders as powering up the first node should power up the first "column" in 4 noders config and the first "row" in 3 noders config.
 

Tibor Demeter

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Nov 23, 2016
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Hello,

I've got a c6220 chassis with four nodes. When I start it, the bios is welcomed me as "rogue12 system". Also in the bios menu is it a "
Is it a real c6220 or not? That is why I'm a littlebit scared about firmware updates.
By service tag the dell support page show it as c6220 and there are a lot of new firmware, but I'm don't know is it sure compatbile that?!

is it a real c6220?
Anyone has any experience with firmware update?
Thanks

TiborScreenshot from 2017-09-19 09-09-08.png Screenshot from 2017-09-19 09-09-08.png
 

Tibor Demeter

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Nov 23, 2016
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I also have at least 2 different product names on mines (BANFF12 and JASPER12 if i recall correctly) without any issues with the latest firmwares or if mixed on the same chassis.
Thank you for your reply! Then I will try to update them!
 

mister_dj

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Feb 23, 2017
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Hi all, I'm popping into this thread to ask if the C6100 chassis will work with C6220 nodes. Anyone know if they're compatible?
 

frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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Hi all, I'm popping into this thread to ask if the C6100 chassis will work with C6220 nodes. Anyone know if they're compatible?
Don't even think about it, the c6100 nodes use a midplane extender board with 'male' goldfinger interface, and the c6200 nodes have the connector on the board itself, and use a 'female' goldfinger interface.

In short, the midplanes are completely different.
 

nbritton

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Nov 19, 2016
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I don't think there is a way to recover from this error. Dell's DCS boards do not handle power failures during BIOS update very well at all. In fact, during my time working there one time we bricked like twenty C6320 boards because the rack PDU breaker tripped during an firmware update automation test. None of the boards were recoverable. The problem is the DCS boards use a custom firmware that is different from the PowerEdge equipment. AFAIK they fixed this in 14th gen systems, they now do updates atomically and with rollback if it fails.

hey, everybody! it's very informative and helpfull thread here. may be someone helps me too.

The issue is about BIOS recovery. I tried to upd my mobo with Win64 package 2 7 1. During the update there was a problem with electricity... so bios upd was not finished. After poweron the motherboard starts with a regular\ normal visual simptoms: 2 LEDs are blinking and then on the power btn fires Solid Green light led... but without usual post to screen.((
I did the NVRAM\cmos clear: closedjumper and booted the mobo... so i started a normal procedure of biosreset. After boot(without visual, only light black screen in vga on monitor), after some enough time (more than 15minutes, enough for 1x cpu and 1x 4gb memo without hdd, only the board) i powered off the mobo, removed closing from abovmentiond jumper, and powered on mobo in a usual order. and... now
Then my looks:
1. no vga post signal to monitor (monitor works as light dark), if i press the little btn 'reset' on the motherboard the monitor firstly has no signal, then starts work as a lightdarkmode again.
1.1. two usb ports probably work, the mouse is lighting, the keyboard in one of those two usb ports must work probably, but does not light numlock or capslock leds on it during possible boot of the motherboard.
1.2. the idea was to close the jumper BIOSRECOVERY, to use the usbdisk\pendrive with maybe something software onit and to use the keyboard... to start somehow the recovery. But screen is lightdark, keyb doesnt operate (ctrlesc,f2,f12...etc), usbdisk\pendrive doesnt show any attempts. so noresult. leds are properly blinking, solid green light is on pwrbtn, lightblack monitor... so, noresult.
2. i tried to use rj45 bmcport to reach BMC in 2 ways: with switch (usual cable) and by direct connection with a cross cable... 'arp -a' command inline in my laptop doesn't show any difference between connected cable or not in both of two methods. i tried to scan possible ip-ranges when used the cross cable for direct connect with my laptop and... noresult. The idea was to update\overwrite the bios in BMC interface.

Guys, help!(
 

vrod

Active Member
Jan 18, 2015
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Hi all, I have been happy with my C6220 for a year now. I’m making some changes and was wondering how many disks I can connect to a single node? I know there’s a limit of 6 drives for the built-in sata controller but would it be possible eventually to have 8 disks connected? I was thinking of adding a Lsi 9211 to use for this.
 

Ferdasyn

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Feb 13, 2018
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Hi All,

I currently have a C6220 II with LSI SAS 9265-8is installed, but I am planning to change these to either an LSI SAS 2008 or LSI SAS 9210-8i for JBOD Mode.
Does anyone have part numbers of the cards/cables required for each of these controllers?
 

cmpufxr

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Apr 25, 2015
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I have a c6220 v I, I have had it running esxi 5.5 6.0 and now 6.5 on all four nodes using vsan with the original BIOS for years. The issue I have is node 1 will only post so far and then I get a 0025 in the lower right side of a black screen. If I power down the chassis and hold the power button for 30 seconds I can get it to boot into the OS but after an hour or so esxi freezes. I am currently running memtest on it as the Dell boot code show 0025H as a memory error. Have you guys ever run into this before?


SOLVED - Turned out to be a corrupt esxi install, not really sure how that would prevent it from posting but I reloaded it via cd-rom and now all is well.
 
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c6100

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Oct 22, 2013
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I am looking to quite down my c6220 as I need to move it into the house. I recall replacing the fans in the c6100. Has anyone has luck doing this in the 6220?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

jfoor

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Feb 4, 2017
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Does anyone know if C6220 gen 1 nodes are compatible with the C6220 gen 2 chassis? I know the C6100 nodes won't work with the C6220.

I just received a chassis that was listed as gen 1 and the service tag lists that as well...but there's a handful of Dell refurbished stickers on the chassis that list it as a gen 2.

It's 100% dust free and except for the outside of the case, it looks brand new. No dust, nothing. I was thinking it was originally a gen 1 that was sent back to Dell for refurbishing and they did so with gen 2 parts?

I obviously would prefer a gen 2 chassis, especially one that's as clean as this but I wanted to make sure it would work with the gen 1 nodes that are already purchased and en route.

Thanks for any info..this and the C6100 thread have been excellent resources.
 
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naclosagc

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May 10, 2018
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I have a question about the dynamic disk bay reallocation on the C6220 II. I found the Powerpoint prestentation packaged with the software. It shows reseting back to a 4 node, 6 drive system, and it shows setting up a 2 node 12 drive system. Is it possible to set up 4 nodes with different drive values? For instance, I would want to set up 8/8/4/4. Thanks.
 

jfoor

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Feb 4, 2017
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I'm also interested in this. I have the .zip of the utility used to assign drive slots to nodes but I've not yet experimeted with it. I do remember reading than all 24 drives cannot be allocated to one node but I see no reason why 8/8/4/4 would not work.
 

naclosagc

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May 10, 2018
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I was wondering if anyone tried putting an SSD inside the sled, attached to one of the SATA ports on the board, and powered by the USB2.0 port on the board? I would like to try fitting one in to give me 1 extra drive per storage pool, but was wondering about heat. I could put it on plastic stilts or something to keep it off the board if needed.
 

naclosagc

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May 10, 2018
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Hi. Idon't have one of these yet, but was wondering something. Can you fit a mezzanine card, and LSI card, and another card in the 1U sled? I see there are ports on the mezzanine side, and there are two PCI slots on the other side, but Iwasn't sure both PCI slots were usable if an LSI card is installed. It almost looks from the pictures like the heat sink blocks the other port. Thanks.