sibi78 Posted September 18, 2018 Share Posted September 18, 2018 Hi All, I'm a newbie to home server design, and I'm trying to put together a home server to serve my NAS needs (most likely Unraid). I've bought a Dell PowerEdge R710 with 3.5 inch drives (LFF) off of ebay, and it came with the PERC 6i controller, which I believe can't be flashed into IT mode (from what I read in several forums). So, I've bought a Dell H200A on ebay. I needed some clarifications on my next steps: 1) My understanding is that the Dell H200 can be cross-flashed with the LSI IT mode firmware - so that it would expose the raw hard drives to Unraid. However, I see conflicting posts on whether after cross-flashing the H200 can sit in the "Integrated Storage" slot or should it be moved to the "External PCIe slot"? Could someone clarify? I'm ok with either, just wanted to be clear which is my best shot. 2) I don't have a different system with UEFI bios. Could I use the R710 itself to do the cross-flashing of IT firmware? Or should I be using a different system to be successful? 3) I read on several forums that this cable on Aliexpress: (CY Ultra Slim Flat Left Angled 90 Degree Mini SAS 36 pin SFF-8087 to 8087 data cables 80cm long) can be used to connect the H200 to the R710 backplane. This cable apparently is the cheaper knock off of the dell M246M cables. My questions: - Would these cables work on a LFF 3.5 inch R710 backplane with the H200? - If the H200 sits on an external storage PCIe slot (after cross flashing), would this cable (80 cm) be long enough to reach the backplane? Or are there even longer versions of the same cable. 4) I had posted similar questions on another forum (reddit). Folks recommended not cross-flashing the H200 at all, and just sticking with the stock firmware. I was confused because my H200A has the IR firmware, and I wasn't sure if the IT mode would work with this firmware..... I might have follow-up questions, but I wanted to roll the ball with these. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment
Fireball3 Posted September 18, 2018 Share Posted September 18, 2018 Welcome to the unRAID forums. 4 hours ago, sibi78 said: Dell H200 can be cross-flashed with the LSI IT mode firmware Yes, correct. The H200A is not the integrated version I suppose. See the link in my sig if you need the toolset for crossflashing. It will flash the card to the LSI IT firmware which is more up-to-date then the DELL IT fw. But the DELL firmware will also work. Haven't heard of any issues with unRAID yet. 4 hours ago, sibi78 said: "Integrated Storage" slot or should it be moved to the "External PCIe slot"? Could someone clarify? I can't tell, but if either solution is fine for you, there should be no problems. 4 hours ago, sibi78 said: Could I use the R710 itself to do the cross-flashing of IT firmware? Unless somebody with exactly the same equipment chimes in with his experience, there is no other answer than: "give it a try" 4 hours ago, sibi78 said: I was confused because my H200A has the IR firmware, and I wasn't sure if the IT mode would work with this firmware..... unRAID needs IT mode. No answers with regard to your cables, sorry. Quote Link to comment
sibi78 Posted September 19, 2018 Author Share Posted September 19, 2018 @Fireball3, thanks a lot for the reply. I'll take a look at your links about cross-flashing. Would you also happen to have the DELL IT firmware? I'll see if I can try that first before the LSI version. Also, about the cables, would you recommend posting in a different category for getting answers? I'm kinda stuck without the right length cable. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment
Fireball3 Posted September 19, 2018 Share Posted September 19, 2018 The DELL IT firmware is an intermediate step on the way to the LSI version. Thus, it is incuded in that toolset. Check the readme file to get familiar with the procedure. Quote Link to comment
scubieman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 sibi78 did you figure this out? I have a dell r710 with perc 6i. I only dont like it cause of the limit of 2tb drives. i also have to have 2.5" drives which stinks cause they are way more expensive. I just put 1 drive per a virtual raid. I dont get the SMART from the drive but I have not find anything clear yet as far as what controller to get ETC. I dont have 100's laying around to test different controllers. Quote Link to comment
sibi78 Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 On 11/11/2018 at 7:33 PM, scubieman said: sibi78 did you figure this out? I have a dell r710 with perc 6i. I only dont like it cause of the limit of 2tb drives. i also have to have 2.5" drives which stinks cause they are way more expensive. I just put 1 drive per a virtual raid. I dont get the SMART from the drive but I have not find anything clear yet as far as what controller to get ETC. I dont have 100's laying around to test different controllers. @scubieman, apologies for the late reply. I have been very busy lately at work that I didn't spend enough time on the Dell Server. That should change in the next few weeks. If I get H200A working with the IT mode firmware, I'll reply to this post, and tag you. I do have a WD Red and HGST 4TB drives ready for the Dell Server. So, I'll find if I can read their SMART data from Unraid when I get to it... If you had other updates in the meantime, please do share them here. Quote Link to comment
scubieman Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Thank you [mention=86697]scubieman[/mention], apologies for the late reply. I have been very busy lately at work that I didn't spend enough time on the Dell Server. That should change in the next few weeks. If I get H200A working with the IT mode firmware, I'll reply to this post, and tag you. I do have a WD Red and HGST 4TB drives ready for the Dell Server. So, I'll find if I can read their SMART data from Unraid when I get to it... If you had other updates in the meantime, please do share them here.Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
sibi78 Posted February 2, 2019 Author Share Posted February 2, 2019 On 12/12/2018 at 9:31 PM, scubieman said: Thank you Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk @scubieman, apologies for the late reply. See this post: I was able to cross-flash the H200A to work on the R710. I haven't tested UNRAID yet, but I'm hopeful it would work. Let me know if you have any questions, I can help to the best possible extent I can. Quote Link to comment
scubieman Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 On 2/1/2019 at 10:59 PM, sibi78 said: @scubieman, apologies for the late reply. See this post: I was able to cross-flash the H200A to work on the R710. I haven't tested UNRAID yet, but I'm hopeful it would work. Let me know if you have any questions, I can help to the best possible extent I can. I cant figure out h700 or h200 raid card. Quote Link to comment
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