R620 and HBA - tips?
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It depends on the specific PERC. You would even find some guides on TrueNAS forum. Have a look which one you have in.
Welcome, fellow R620 user. 
For flashing the Dell HBA cards, this is the process you want to be following: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html
I've personally flashed 2x H310 Mini Mono's, and 2x H710 Mini Mono's following that process with 100% working outcome every time.
The very first time I was super nervous, but it turns out to be pretty straight forward.
For flashing the Dell HBA cards, this is the process you want to be following: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html
I've personally flashed 2x H310 Mini Mono's, and 2x H710 Mini Mono's following that process with 100% working outcome every time.
The very first time I was super nervous, but it turns out to be pretty straight forward.
Thank you so much, @justinclift !! Now I feel a bit braver to try it!Welcome, fellow R620 user.
For flashing the Dell HBA cards, this is the process you want to be following: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html
I've personally flashed 2x H310 Mini Mono's, and 2x H710 Mini Mono's following that process with 100% working outcome every time.
The very first time I was super nervous, but it turns out to be pretty straight forward.
Do you know if these R620 come with an HBA by default, or is the disk controller embedded on the motherboard? I haven't received them yet, so I am doing a bit of guess work here...
I maybe have phrased it wrong. What I want to know is that if those servers usually have an HBA from factory or if the disk controller is on the motherboard. I haven't received them yet.
Ahhh. They do technically come with an onboard controller built into the motherboard.
BUT, most of the ones I've seen (up on Ebay, my R620 hunting ground
) also come with at least a basic HBA that's connected through to the drives in the front (via a backplane).
The main things to check when you get it are:
) you can then start figuring out your hardware:
Also be aware that they're quite noisy when first started up, but they'll quieten right down after they get through their bootup sequence. There are also options in the BIOS/UEFI settings that control the fan behaviour. Hopefully the previous owner didn't tell it to forcibly run them at 100%, otherwise it's going to sound like a jet engine until you find those settings and change them to something reasonable.
When you get it, you're welcome to take photos and ask questions, etc. Happy to help.
BUT, most of the ones I've seen (up on Ebay, my R620 hunting ground
) also come with at least a basic HBA that's connected through to the drives in the front (via a backplane).The main things to check when you get it are:
- Can you get into the Dell management controller over the network? (you can set its IP address on the front panel using the buttons there)
- Does that Dell management controller come with the "Enterprise" license key?
- If so get a copy of the license key (there's an "export" option among the settings) and BACK IT UP before doing anything else
- Don't even think of doing a "RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS" (or similar) until you've backed up that license (if it has one) otherwise you'll kick yourself later
) you can then start figuring out your hardware:- Processor and memory specs
- If there's add in cards (ie network or something else) in it
- What kind of default network card it has in it
- There's a range of 1GbE and 10GbE cards they can come with
- How many drives bays it has (eg, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc)
- What kind of backplane it has (eg 4 drive, 6 drive, 8 drive, 10 drive)
Also be aware that they're quite noisy when first started up, but they'll quieten right down after they get through their bootup sequence. There are also options in the BIOS/UEFI settings that control the fan behaviour. Hopefully the previous owner didn't tell it to forcibly run them at 100%, otherwise it's going to sound like a jet engine until you find those settings and change them to something reasonable.
When you get it, you're welcome to take photos and ask questions, etc. Happy to help.
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OMG, thank you so much for this amazing guide!!!! I hope that next week I will start to work on it. Will take some pics as well!Ahhh. They do technically come with an onboard controller built into the motherboard.
BUT, most of the ones I've seen (up on Ebay, my R620 hunting ground
The main things to check when you get it are:
With that bit sorted out (hopefully it has an enterprise license key in it
- Can you get into the Dell management controller over the network? (you can set its IP address on the front panel using the buttons there)
- Does that Dell management controller come with the "Enterprise" license key?
- If so get a copy of the license key (there's an "export" option among the settings) and BACK IT UP before doing anything else
- Don't even think of doing a "RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS" (or similar) until you've backed up that license (if it has one) otherwise you'll kick yourself later
Quite a lot of it upgradable. So if (say) you have a 4 drive one, you can upgrade it to an 8 drive one without too much problem.
- Processor and memory specs
- If there's add in cards (ie network or something else) in it
- What kind of default network card it has in it
- There's a range of 1GbE and 10GbE port cards they can come with
- How many drives bays it has (eg, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc)
- What kind of back plane it has (eg 4 drive, 6 drive, 8 drive, 10 drive)
Also be aware that they're quite noisy when first started up, but they'll quieten right down after they get through their bootup sequence. There are also options in the BIOS/UEFI settings that control the fan behaviour. Hopefully the previous owner didn't tell it to forcibly run them at 100%, otherwise it's going to sound like a jet engine until you find those settings and change them to something reasonable.
When you get it, you're welcome to take photos and ask questions, etc. Happy to help.
I got them today. I didn't have time to test or anything, but I took some pics:OMG, thank you so much for this amazing guide!!!! I hope that next week I will start to work on it. Will take some pics as well!
Cool. Yep, those ones have a HBA of some variety in them. I can't immediately tell what sort, though they do look a lot like the left over H310's I have sitting on a shelf here.
They seem to have the 4x 1GbE ports for their base level of network card. At least, that's what they look like visually. There's a small possibility those are actually 4x 10GbE ports, but it's super unlikely and you can check properly later on when you have time.
Also looking at the back, there don't seem to be any additional PCIe cards. That's pretty standard though it can be a nice (random) bonus when it happens.
It'd be interesting to get photo's of the front too, in order to work out what the drive bay setup is.
From the two sets of heat sinks in each, they seem to be dual processor models. That's generally a good thing, as it means they'll likely be fairly capable.
The single processors ones have a single heat sink and a blank spacer thing in the place of the other cpu instead.
Memory wise, it looks like 16 of the 24 slots are filled, and the 8 remaining having blanks in them (can be populated with ram sticks later). Depending upon what each memory stick's capacity is, you could have anything from 64GB to 256GB or more.
What sort of stuff are you wanting to do with them? Those should be a pretty decent foundation for putting together a small clustered Proxmox system, though you might want to upgrade the network cards for better inter-node communication (not super expensive).
They seem to have the 4x 1GbE ports for their base level of network card. At least, that's what they look like visually. There's a small possibility those are actually 4x 10GbE ports, but it's super unlikely and you can check properly later on when you have time.
Also looking at the back, there don't seem to be any additional PCIe cards. That's pretty standard though it can be a nice (random) bonus when it happens.
It'd be interesting to get photo's of the front too, in order to work out what the drive bay setup is.
From the two sets of heat sinks in each, they seem to be dual processor models. That's generally a good thing, as it means they'll likely be fairly capable.
The single processors ones have a single heat sink and a blank spacer thing in the place of the other cpu instead.
Memory wise, it looks like 16 of the 24 slots are filled, and the 8 remaining having blanks in them (can be populated with ram sticks later). Depending upon what each memory stick's capacity is, you could have anything from 64GB to 256GB or more.
What sort of stuff are you wanting to do with them? Those should be a pretty decent foundation for putting together a small clustered Proxmox system, though you might want to upgrade the network cards for better inter-node communication (not super expensive).
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Oh, the management console. There's a dedicated port for it at the back of the servers. Looking directly at the back of a server, it's the individual ethernet port on the left hand side.
The ethernet address for the management server can either be automatically assigned by DHCP, or you can set a static one. Either way, it's done through the panel on the front. Setting it there is a slow process (lots of menus and submenus and messing around), but you only need to do it once. After that's done you can login to the web based interface instead to do stuff.
When you try logging in to the web based interface it'll ask for a username/password. From memory the default username is "root" (I think) and the default password is "calvin" (definitely sure of that one).
See how you go with all of that.
The ethernet address for the management server can either be automatically assigned by DHCP, or you can set a static one. Either way, it's done through the panel on the front. Setting it there is a slow process (lots of menus and submenus and messing around), but you only need to do it once. After that's done you can login to the web based interface instead to do stuff.
When you try logging in to the web based interface it'll ask for a username/password. From memory the default username is "root" (I think) and the default password is "calvin" (definitely sure of that one).
See how you go with all of that.
Hehe Thanks a lot!Oh, the management console. There's a dedicated port for it at the back of the servers. Looking directly at the back of a server, it's the individual ethernet port on the left hand side.
The ethernet address for the management server can either be automatically assigned by DHCP, or you can set a static one. Either way, it's done through the panel on the front. Setting it there is a slow process (lots of menus and submenus and messing around), but you only need to do it once. After that's done you can login to the web based interface instead to do stuff.
When you try logging in to the web based interface it'll ask for a username/password. From memory the default username is "root" (I think) and the default password is "calvin" (definitely sure of that one).
See how you go with all of that.
Answering to your question, my goal here will be to have a cluster of proxmox server, and VMs' on it that will be part of a kubernetes cluster, primarily. I got three of those, so I'll have one master and one worker on each node, to start. Since I got so much memory on some of those, I might have other VM's.
Since this will be primarily used for k8s (on top of proxmox), another thing I want to do is to configure ZFS with less focus on redundancy (as I have other nodes) and more on performance.My experience has always been to use mirror vdevs, but now I'll go into uncharted waters
Cool. They should suit that purpose pretty well. Probably pretty overkill really.
When you have a chance, use the Dell management console (iDRAC 7 for these) to figure out what kind of network card is in the mezzanine slot. That's the 4 ethernet port thing your ones have.
There are some 10GbE options that turn up pretty cheaply on ebay. The Dell part number is "165T0". Random examples (I don't know the sellers):
The fibre cables themselves I tend to get from fs.com, as fibre on Ebay seems to be a bit hit or miss and fs.com are pretty cheap:
Hmmm, I'm probably overloading you. You've just received the things after all.
When you have a chance, use the Dell management console (iDRAC 7 for these) to figure out what kind of network card is in the mezzanine slot. That's the 4 ethernet port thing your ones have.
There are some 10GbE options that turn up pretty cheaply on ebay. The Dell part number is "165T0". Random examples (I don't know the sellers):
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/355686090045
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/166730225736
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/225825755054
- Heh, someone's selling them in lots of four for the same price as 3
- Heh, someone's selling them in lots of four for the same price as 3
The fibre cables themselves I tend to get from fs.com, as fibre on Ebay seems to be a bit hit or miss and fs.com are pretty cheap:
Hmmm, I'm probably overloading you. You've just received the things after all.
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Not at all, on the contrary!! Thank you so much for all the info and details! I hope that this week I can start to have hands-on on these servers and starting to configure.Cool. They should suit that purpose pretty well. Probably pretty overkill really.
When you have a chance, use the Dell management console (iDRAC 7 for these) to figure out what kind of network card is in the mezzanine slot. That's the 4 ethernet port thing your ones have.
There are some 10GbE options that turn up pretty cheaply on ebay. The Dell part number is "165T0". Random examples (I don't know the sellers):
The 10GbE ports in those take "SFP+" modules, Dell part number "0WTRD1", also cheap on Ebay:
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/355686090045
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/166730225736
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/225825755054
- Heh, someone's selling them in lots of four for the same price as 3
The fibre cables themselves I tend to get from fs.com, as fibre on Ebay seems to be a bit hit or miss and fs.com are pretty cheap:
Hmmm, I'm probably overloading you. You've just received the things after all.
I also want to have 10gb, so it's important to me that the nics support that - if not, I'll go the eBay route!
Your second picture shows the 4 port network card from the top (inside the case), and although it's pretty blurry it's almost possible to read the model number on the back.
Pretty sure it's one of these: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/276433289029
The 2nd picture on this Ebay listing matches up identically to the blurry details in your pic.
If that does turn out to be the case then yeah, it's a 4x 1GbE port card rather than 10GbE. Fortunately the 10GbE options aren't expensive via Ebay.
Pretty sure it's one of these: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/276433289029
The 2nd picture on this Ebay listing matches up identically to the blurry details in your pic.
If that does turn out to be the case then yeah, it's a 4x 1GbE port card rather than 10GbE. Fortunately the 10GbE options aren't expensive via Ebay.
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I am now trying to flash the card, but I've tried two usb sticks and so far all I got is "isolinux.bin missing or corrupt". I don't know why, is there any setting on the R620 that will treat the usb as a hard disk? I google this and folk says that on an R710 you need to do that, otherwise the USB is recognized as a floppy disk and it won't work.
Ahhh. I have a cheapo USB (Cruzer Blade) that point blank refuses to let anything boot from it. It's pretty useless for its intended purpose. 
However, I also have two cheapo Verbatim "Store 'n Go" USB drives that although very slow do let things boot from them. That's what I used for the flashing of the HBAs.
The other approach you could use is the "virtual" USB drive that's available through the Dell Management interface (iDRAC).
That's a thing where it provides a remote (HTML5) virtual console to the given server. That has the ability to mount or connect an .iso image to the server (via the HTML5 console) to the server, and you can boot from that.
Be aware that it's super, super slow. It makes the Verbatim USB drives (already very slow) look like speed champions, and that's from a PC that was hooked directly into the same 1GbE switch as the server.
However, I also have two cheapo Verbatim "Store 'n Go" USB drives that although very slow do let things boot from them. That's what I used for the flashing of the HBAs.
The other approach you could use is the "virtual" USB drive that's available through the Dell Management interface (iDRAC).
That's a thing where it provides a remote (HTML5) virtual console to the given server. That has the ability to mount or connect an .iso image to the server (via the HTML5 console) to the server, and you can boot from that.
Be aware that it's super, super slow. It makes the Verbatim USB drives (already very slow) look like speed champions, and that's from a PC that was hooked directly into the same 1GbE switch as the server.
Thanks again @justinclift !Ahhh. I have a cheapo USB (Cruzer Blade) that point blank refuses to let anything boot from it. It's pretty useless for its intended purpose.
However, I also have two cheapo Verbatim "Store 'n Go" USB drives that although very slow do let things boot from them. That's what I used for the flashing of the HBAs.
The other approach you could use is the "virtual" USB drive that's available through the Dell Management interface (iDRAC).
That's a thing where it provides a remote (HTML5) virtual console to the given server. That has the ability to mount or connect an .iso image to the server (via the HTML5 console) to the server, and you can boot from that.
Be aware that it's super, super slow. It makes the Verbatim USB drives (already very slow) look like speed champions, and that's from a PC that was hooked directly into the same 1GbE switch as the server.
The thing is that this server’s license was not present or expired, according to the console. So maybe I borrow some other usb sticks to try? I tried two of them, as I said, but no go.