Drive Upgrades for Dell PowerEdge 2950 II


Doberbane

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I recently bought a Cisco router from a co-worker and he threw in a Dell PowerEdge 2950 for free so he could get it out of his closet. It's more powerful than what I'm using currently for unRAID and so I'm wanting to migrate everything over to it. The problem seems to be that the 2950 doesn't recognize drives larger than 2 TB and all four of my current drives are 4 TB. From what I'm seeing around online it looks like I can buy either a PCIe card like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815287006 and connect to that to each drive OR it sounds like an IBM 1015 http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-IBM-ServeRAID-M1015-SATA-RAID-Storage-Controller-Card-Adapter-P-N-46M0831-/281669275765?hash=item4194cc1075 will replace a part in the PE 2950. Does anybody know if either of these will work or is there something else that is better?

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Depending on the version of the 2950, it may have a PERC 5/i or PERC6/i.  Neither work with drives bigger than 2.2TB.

 

I can't remember what cables they use (it's been a long time since I've been inside a 2950), but I guess you could use a newer card.

 

The last remaining 2950 at work (a very late 2950-III) has a PERC6/i and a H700.  The H700 is hooked up to a Powervault MD1200 external SAS box, and it supports 4TB drives OK.

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Did you upgrade the controller card on the server? There may be a ton of firmware updates in the IDRAC that need to be done.

 

When you boot up hit F10 ( i think) to go into the Lifecycle controller and check if there are any updates that need to be done. This will need a network cable plugged into the ethernet port so you can download updates right from dell.

 

 

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Did you upgrade the controller card on the server? There may be a ton of firmware updates in the IDRAC that need to be done.

 

When you boot up hit F10 ( i think) to go into the Lifecycle controller and check if there are any updates that need to be done. This will need a network cable plugged into the ethernet port so you can download updates right from dell.

 

I've been fiddling with it all day and haven't got it to boot to any screen that would show where to update. F10 doesn't bring anything up. As far as a network connection goes I'm stuck there, too. It used to just not show any IP address during boot up, but now it lists a self-assigned address and subnet. Progress, I guess.

 

I think at this point though I'm leaning more towards buying the IBM controller card, but I'll wait a few days incase someone knows it won't work or can suggest a better (or cheaper) alternative to getting 4 TB SATA drives to work.

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Did you upgrade the controller card on the server? There may be a ton of firmware updates in the IDRAC that need to be done.

 

When you boot up hit F10 ( i think) to go into the Lifecycle controller and check if there are any updates that need to be done. This will need a network cable plugged into the ethernet port so you can download updates right from dell.

 

I've been fiddling with it all day and haven't got it to boot to any screen that would show where to update. F10 doesn't bring anything up. As far as a network connection goes I'm stuck there, too. It used to just not show any IP address during boot up, but now it lists a self-assigned address and subnet. Progress, I guess.

 

I think at this point though I'm leaning more towards buying the IBM controller card, but I'll wait a few days incase someone knows it won't work or can suggest a better (or cheaper) alternative to getting 4 TB SATA drives to work.

 

 

Here's a video:

 

Skip to 3:00. You'll see where there is an option to hit F10. You might have to manually update your LIfecycle controller and bios to the latest.  Honestly it might be worth installing Windows first to update all your firmware.

 

If you can find/afford a dedicated idrac get it, it'll make your life 10x simpler and worth it.

 

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Did you upgrade the controller card on the server? There may be a ton of firmware updates in the IDRAC that need to be done.

 

When you boot up hit F10 ( i think) to go into the Lifecycle controller and check if there are any updates that need to be done. This will need a network cable plugged into the ethernet port so you can download updates right from dell.

 

I've been fiddling with it all day and haven't got it to boot to any screen that would show where to update. F10 doesn't bring anything up. As far as a network connection goes I'm stuck there, too. It used to just not show any IP address during boot up, but now it lists a self-assigned address and subnet. Progress, I guess.

 

I think at this point though I'm leaning more towards buying the IBM controller card, but I'll wait a few days incase someone knows it won't work or can suggest a better (or cheaper) alternative to getting 4 TB SATA drives to work.

 

 

Here's a video:

 

Skip to 3:00. You'll see where there is an option to hit F10. You might have to manually update your LIfecycle controller and bios to the latest.  Honestly it might be worth installing Windows first to update all your firmware.

 

If you can find/afford a dedicated idrac get it, it'll make your life 10x simpler and worth it.

 

That drac looks nice. I'll definitely keep it on the wish list. But first I need to get unRaid working on the 2950 using the drives I've got. I hit F10 at the boot screen and it changes to saying I'll enter the utility mode but it never does. All of the other F button options work, so I don't know what the deal with F10 is.

 

Later today I'll order the IBM card off of eBay to run my drives. And then I'll take the current parc 5 card out. I'll try and hunt down a copy of Windows to install so I can get the firmware updates while I wait for the IBM card to arrive.

 

Thanks for the help.

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You will have a couple of different problems trying to use the 2950 for unraid.  The first is you won't be able to pass anything through to a VM.  It will break stuff.  The second is putting an IBM 1015 inside a 2950 probally wont' work for you. If you pop the top on your 2950 the raid card is mounted on the left side right above the little lcd window.  The 1015 is going to be too long to mount on the tray that is used.  My suggestion would be to sell the 2950 on ebay for 200 to 400 bucks depending on specs and start a proper unraid build.  I have been working with 2950's for 5 + years they are great machines as hyper-visors but I don't think they will be worth a hill of beans for unraid.  Just my .02 cents. 

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You will have a couple of different problems trying to use the 2950 for unraid.  The first is you won't be able to pass anything through to a VM.  It will break stuff.  The second is putting an IBM 1015 inside a 2950 probally wont' work for you. If you pop the top on your 2950 the raid card is mounted on the left side right above the little lcd window.  The 1015 is going to be too long to mount on the tray that is used.  My suggestion would be to sell the 2950 on ebay for 200 to 400 bucks depending on specs and start a proper unraid build.  I have been working with 2950's for 5 + years they are great machines as hyper-visors but I don't think they will be worth a hill of beans for unraid.  Just my .02 cents.

 

Hmmm.... no VM as in KVM? That's ok. As long as my dockers work I'm covered. The only time I'll need actual VM's is when I build a $1,500+ unRaid & gaming machine. But that's not in the budget for several years anyway. If ever. I'm just hoping to put about $100-$150 (my budget for the foreseeable future) into what I've got and upgrade past the slow, single-core and RAM-less system I'm currently running. My current system is also out of SATA ports and the 2950 came with some spare 500GB spinners that I figure would finally let me have a cache drive. A ghetto cache drive, but it's better than nothing, right?

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

You will have a couple of different problems trying to use the 2950 for unraid.  The first is you won't be able to pass anything through to a VM.  It will break stuff.  The second is putting an IBM 1015 inside a 2950 probally wont' work for you. If you pop the top on your 2950 the raid card is mounted on the left side right above the little lcd window.  The 1015 is going to be too long to mount on the tray that is used.  My suggestion would be to sell the 2950 on ebay for 200 to 400 bucks depending on specs and start a proper unraid build.  I have been working with 2950's for 5 + years they are great machines as hyper-visors but I don't think they will be worth a hill of beans for unraid.  Just my .02 cents.

 

Hmmm.... no VM as in KVM? That's ok. As long as my dockers work I'm covered. The only time I'll need actual VM's is when I build a $1,500+ unRaid & gaming machine. But that's not in the budget for several years anyway. If ever. I'm just hoping to put about $100-$150 (my budget for the foreseeable future) into what I've got and upgrade past the slow, single-core and RAM-less system I'm currently running. My current system is also out of SATA ports and the 2950 came with some spare 500GB spinners that I figure would finally let me have a cache drive. A ghetto cache drive, but it's better than nothing, right?

I am not sure if the perc 5I or 6I will go in JOBD mode. I can check for you when I get to the office on Tuesday.  They might.  If thats the case then the 2950 will made a nice barebones unraid machine for dockers.  The only downside is the 2TB disk limit.  But you can work around that depending on how much storage you need.

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You will have a couple of different problems trying to use the 2950 for unraid.  The first is you won't be able to pass anything through to a VM.  It will break stuff.  The second is putting an IBM 1015 inside a 2950 probally wont' work for you. If you pop the top on your 2950 the raid card is mounted on the left side right above the little lcd window.  The 1015 is going to be too long to mount on the tray that is used.  My suggestion would be to sell the 2950 on ebay for 200 to 400 bucks depending on specs and start a proper unraid build.  I have been working with 2950's for 5 + years they are great machines as hyper-visors but I don't think they will be worth a hill of beans for unraid.  Just my .02 cents.

 

Hmmm.... no VM as in KVM? That's ok. As long as my dockers work I'm covered. The only time I'll need actual VM's is when I build a $1,500+ unRaid & gaming machine. But that's not in the budget for several years anyway. If ever. I'm just hoping to put about $100-$150 (my budget for the foreseeable future) into what I've got and upgrade past the slow, single-core and RAM-less system I'm currently running. My current system is also out of SATA ports and the 2950 came with some spare 500GB spinners that I figure would finally let me have a cache drive. A ghetto cache drive, but it's better than nothing, right?

I am not sure if the perc 5I or 6I will go in JOBD mode. I can check for you when I get to the office on Tuesday.  They might.  If thats the case then the 2950 will made a nice barebones unraid machine for dockers.  The only downside is the 2TB disk limit.  But you can work around that depending on how much storage you need.

 

Everything I've found says the perc 5i didn't have a jbod setting. Everything had to be run as a raid through it. Plus it does have the 2TB limit. Those two factors are why I'm replacing it. My new card is in the mail and I'll be sure to update here once it comes in case someone else ever gets in the situation I'm in.

 

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I ordered and have received a SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card since it was cheaper and still had good reviews here for unRAID. It is installed in the x8 PCIe riser in the PE 2950, but doesn't seem to be recognized during boot up. I never see anything on screen about it, and I'm supposed to get to a section to hit control-m to enter its settings. My Windows 2008 sees the card, and after hunting all over for drivers for it I got it recognized and installed but Windows doesn't acknowledge any drives connected to it. Did I end up with a bad card or is there something I'm missing?

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Ok, so I ordered and have received a SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card since it was cheaper and still had good reviews here for unRAID. It is installed in the x8 PCIe riser in the PE 2950, but doesn't seem to be recognized during boot up. I never see anything on screen about it, and I'm supposed to get to a section to hit control-m to enter its settings. My Windows 2008 sees the card, and after hunting all over for drivers for it I got it recognized and installed but Windows doesn't acknowledge any drives connected to it. Did I end up with a bad card or is there something I'm missing?

What are your drives connected with? Specifically, how are you making the transition from the card connector to the individual drives?
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Ok, so I ordered and have received a SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card since it was cheaper and still had good reviews here for unRAID. It is installed in the x8 PCIe riser in the PE 2950, but doesn't seem to be recognized during boot up. I never see anything on screen about it, and I'm supposed to get to a section to hit control-m to enter its settings. My Windows 2008 sees the card, and after hunting all over for drivers for it I got it recognized and installed but Windows doesn't acknowledge any drives connected to it. Did I end up with a bad card or is there something I'm missing?

 

I don't think the backplane on the 2950 will support anything other then a dell card I believe it is a vendor lock in issue..

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Ok, so I ordered and have received a SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card since it was cheaper and still had good reviews here for unRAID. It is installed in the x8 PCIe riser in the PE 2950, but doesn't seem to be recognized during boot up. I never see anything on screen about it, and I'm supposed to get to a section to hit control-m to enter its settings. My Windows 2008 sees the card, and after hunting all over for drivers for it I got it recognized and installed but Windows doesn't acknowledge any drives connected to it. Did I end up with a bad card or is there something I'm missing?

What are your drives connected with? Specifically, how are you making the transition from the card connector to the individual drives?

 

Using a SFF-8087 to SFF-8484 cable from Monoprice, and it connects to the backplane.

 

I don't think the backplane on the 2950 will support anything other then a dell card I believe it is a vendor lock in issue..

 

Doh! Really?

 

So this whole project is a no-go? Does anybody want a 2950 with 32 gigs of RAM? ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've got two PE 2900 towers that I no longer use, they are terrible on power, both of mine had dual power supplies and they just about killed my electricity bill every month when I was using them. Being Dell they are rather proprietary in nature so your best bet would of been to look for a newer Dell RAID card that offered JBOD and larger drive support.

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