Confusion over RAID controllers for Dell R620 – what will work

delldell-percraid

I have a (remotely located) R620 server with an H310 PERC controller (Described as "405-1110 : H310 Adapter, low profile", part R1DNH – What I've got is definitely a PCIE card.

First question – What SAS connector interface is this? (According to the specs it should be an SFF8078 – but this is relevant to the next part of my question -)

Second Question – When I look at the specs for the H710 it talks about an internal SFF8088 connector – but am I misunderstanding something? I understood the SFF8088 to be EXTERNAL connectors? Is this an error on the spec sheet?

Third question: When I search on EBAY and the like for PERC H710 R620, most of the listings are not for the PCI form factor card. Do I need to use the PCI form factor card in my unit, or can I use the other type shown?

Fourth Question: The Dell Distributor quoted me on an H810 card as a replacement for the H310. Dells website describes the H810 as an EXTERNAL card – and a more expensive one at that. Is this card appropriate to replace my H310 ? Does it give me any benefit over the H710 card – if the H710 card will work ?

Best Answer

The connectors in your picture are SFF-8087
You're correct, SFF-8088 is an external connection. That is a documentation typo. The H710 does in fact have the same SFF-8087 internal connections as the H310.
I don't believe those other form factors will work, they appear to have a different connector type - I would play it safe and go with the one that matches the form factor of your existing card though. e.g. Dell part number 0GJKT
H810 is an external card, and is not a replacement for the H310. You need an H710.

Related Solutions

How to manage Dell H700 RAID controllers from the Linux command line

You didn't mention which "latest release" you used. I just tried this and it seems to work fine now. The Dell H700 is using this chipset:

# lspci -v | grep LSI
01:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI MegaSAS 9260 (rev 05)

Visit the support section of LSI's site, the 9260 is part of the "MegaRAID Value Line". That took me to MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i, click on the "Downloads" tab from there. I downloaded "MegaCLI - Linux (MegaRAID Release 5.0)", version 8.01.06 from 28-FEB-11. Unzip the package, then install/run it like this:

# rpm -i Lib_Utils-1.00-08.noarch.rpm MegaCli-8.01.06-1.i386.rpm 
# /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpAllInfo -aALL  

Adapter #0

==============================================================================
                    Versions
                ================
Product Name    : PERC H700 Integrated
Serial No       : 0000000
FW Package Build: 12.10.0-0025

I blanked the serial number here for privacy reasons. You might need to do a firmware upgrade to your card as well to make it compatible. I wouldn't be surprised that this didn't work when you tried it and has only been fixed since. I try to hold off buying these new controllers from Dell until as long as possible after they've been released because of issues like that.

How to Over-Provision an Intel SSD RAID Array via Dell H700 PERC RAID Controller

You can use the Linux hdparm utility to set your provisioning parameters in this fashion:

root@ubuntu-10-10:~# hdparm -N /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 max sectors   = 312581808/312581808, HPA is disabled

root@ubuntu-10-10:~# hdparm -Np281323627 /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 setting max visible sectors to 281323627 (permanent)
Use of -Nnnnnn is VERY DANGEROUS.
You have requested reducing the apparent size of the drive.
This is a BAD idea, and can easily destroy all of the drive's contents.
Please supply the --yes-i-know-what-i-am-doing flag if you really want this.
Program aborted.

root@ubuntu-10-10:~# hdparm -Np281323627 --yes-i-know-what-i-am-doing /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 setting max visible sectors to 281323627 (permanent)
 max sectors   = 281323627/312581808, HPA is enabled

root@ubuntu-10-10:~#

To give credit where it's due, I've got this info from a German server builder's website wiki.

But according to the Intel docs, it would be enough simply to keep the sectors in a "clean" state (in which they would be after a secure erase) by never writing to them. If you define a container/volume which only ever uses 300 GB of each of your drives, this is exactly what you are doing for half of your drives' sectors.

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