quick question about HBA for dell?

[killmasta93]

Hi,
I was wondering if someone could shed some light on a question i have, currently have dell r610 and does not have passthough, so i was reading i need to buy a PERC9, or HBA200/300 but any ideas which one is compatible or the easiest to swap

Thank you

 

[wolfgang]

Hi,

Ask Dell which HAB is compatible with this Server.
All Dell Controller cards are mostly Broadcom (Former LSI) or some Microsemi (Former Adaptec).
Both are supported by Proxmox.
The important thing is that you have an HBA for ZFS or Ceph and no Raid with passthrough.
Dell offers normally for every Server GEN one HBA.

 

[killmasta93]

Thanks for the reply, currently have perc 6/i which does not support ZFS im looking all over place to figure out if the hba 200 would work with ZFS?

 

[wolfgang]

The H200 is a Raid Controller.
Why do you need a Dell controller?
Is this for the IDRAC integration?
You can use every other HBA on the market to.

 

[sb-jw]

You can use the H310 in a R610, but not in the internal Storage Slot, you have to move it to the regular PCIe Ports.
You can Crossflash the H310 to LSI IT Firmware. You will then get a queue Depth of 600 instead of 25.
But you will need new SAS Cables.

 

[killmasta93]

The H200 is a Raid Controller.
Why do you need a Dell controller?
Is this for the IDRAC integration?
You can use every other HBA on the market to.

Thanks for the reply, the dell r610 came with the perc 6/i and cant work with ZFS without putting RAID 0. so i was reading that perc6/i wont work with ZFS the way its intended to.

 

[killmasta93]

You can use the H310 in a R610, but not in the internal Storage Slot, you have to move it to the regular PCIe Ports.
You can Crossflash the H310 to LSI IT Firmware. You will then get a queue Depth of 600 instead of 25.
But you will need new SAS Cables.

Thanks for the reply, so i have to crosslfash the h310? well i havent opened the server just checked the specs on the idrac saw it was using perc 6/i so not sure if its embedded

 

[sb-jw]

Yes you have to Crossflash, but you can bought an original LSI controller but the H310 should be much cheaper and it's the same chip.

 

[killmasta93]

Thanks for the reply, is there a way without crossflash o controller that can go direct? was looking at the crossflash looks like a tad bit complex and risky

 

[sb-jw]

is there a way without crossflash o controller that can go direct?

Sure, if you buy the LSI Controller directly and pay a little more for not more functions and features, because its the same Chip
On eBay i pay for the Dell H310 around 29 EUR and for the LSI SAS9211-8i around 59 EUR. As a Company i have other Distributors in Europe where i buy these, there i get it a little cheaper as on eBay. But why i should pay more if i have an Dell Server and can rebrand it to an LSI Controller with a better Queue Depth?

was looking at the crossflash looks like a tad bit complex and risky

Not in my opinion, its only an Firmware Update but you have do it in a little more Steps to reflash it from IR to IT Firmware - but its the same procedure if i want to update the FW on the Controller.

Here you can find an HowTo: https://tylermade.net/2017/06/27/ho...-lsi-9211-8i-firmware-hba-for-freenas-unraid/

 

[killmasta93]

Thanks for the reply, i found this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-...:USPSPriorityMailSmallFlatRateBox!39507!US!-1

which i guess i need this also ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SAS-cable-...367559?hash=item2619f6e2c7:g:vbYAAOSwIYdcrrzV

 

[sb-jw]

Thanks for the reply, i found this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-...:USPSPriorityMailSmallFlatRateBox!39507!US!-1

AFAIK the H200 is only PCIe 2.0 and the H310 is PCIe 3.0. But the Queue Depth seems to be okay (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2014/04/17/disk-controller-features-and-queue-depth/).

which i guess i need this also ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SAS-cable-...367559?hash=item2619f6e2c7:g:vbYAAOSwIYdcrrzV

Yes you need new SAS Cables, but i doubt this will fit for you. The R610 is very large, and this seems a little short. You have to check the Connection of the Backplane and Controller too. The Plugs where "SAS A" and "SAS B" are printed on seems to be okay for the Backplane, but the other connectors, i doubt this will fit in an 1U chassis.

 

[killmasta93]

Thanks for the reply

AFAIK the H200 is only PCIe 2.0 and the H310 is PCIe 3.0. But the Queue Depth seems to be okay (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2014/04/17/disk-controller-features-and-queue-depth/).

maybe something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dell-H...bd61857:g:mnoAAOSwD-dbpl4D&LH_ItemCondition=3

as for the SAS cables any would work just long ones?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-M246M...531042?hash=item25f0e81322:g:XLYAAOSwQFVasMzA

Thank you