Dell Perc H310 (no mini) Flash IT Mode

[nando29]

hi, sorry by my fatal english, but i try.

I have 2 controllers original dell perc h310 (no mini). Surely both work as IR mode. As my natural language isnt english, can anybody send me a link for flash it mode. In the web i found various tutorial, but i prefer a link of this forum with some experience

In adittion to this, how can a see in wich mode work this controller now?

This is my first flashing controller for HBA, please be patient to me

thx

 

[HoneyBadger]

I have had great success following these instructions for H200 and H310 "full-size" cards.

Updated: SAS HBA crossflashing or flashing to IT mode, Dell Perc H200 and H310

Default firmware for this guide is: 2118it.bin Version 20.00.07.00 Release date: 11-FEB-16 WARNING: If you have an Integrated, Mini or Mini Mono Perc H310 do NOT try to crossflash with these steps.…

techmattr.wordpress.com

If you have never flashed any firmware, they will be in IR mode as that is how they are shipped from the factory. You should be able to tell by entering their BIOS setup (Ctrl-C on boot when prompted I believe?) and looking at the properties of the controller to see if it indicates IR or IT in the firmware version.

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

Resurrecting this thread for a similar question. I'm checking out this listing on eBay and it has a Perc h310. I checked the specs for the poweredge r220 and it appears the Perc h310 is listed as an internal controller and the guide HoneyBadger linked says to not cross flash an integrated, mini, or Mini Mono Perc h310. So will that guide not work if this Perc h310 is an internal controller?

I'm not too familiar with server hardware but want something energy efficient that has ECC RAM. The RAID stuff is concerning me, if I buy it and it isn't flashable, could I pick up a new RAID card for cheap that would work and what would?

 

[HoneyBadger]

So will that guide not work if this Perc h310 is an internal controller?

Correct; if you have a Mini/Mono H310, follow this guide instead:

Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

fohdeesha.com

This covers the H310 Mini as well as the H710 Mini.

Regarding the latter part of your statement, the R220 won't really be quiet or terrifically efficient; it's a 1U rack server which typically isn't designed with either of those two goals in mind. Fitting drives may also be a challenge if you ever want to go beyond 2x3.5 or 4x2.5 - I'd suggest sticking with tower format if possible, but they are more expensive generally.

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

Correct; if you have a Mini/Mono H310, follow this guide instead:

Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

fohdeesha.com

This covers the H310 Mini as well as the H710 Mini.

Regarding the latter part of your statement, the R220 won't really be quiet or terrifically efficient; it's a 1U rack server which typically isn't designed with either of those two goals in mind. Fitting drives may also be a challenge if you ever want to go beyond 2x3.5 or 4x2.5 - I'd suggest sticking with tower format if possible, but they are more expensive generally.

I thought the rack servers drew more power because a lot of them have two power-sucking CPUs. If I used a single CPU rack server, it wouldn't use as much power would it? Also the towers in my budget only have two bays as well.

I've been eyeing up the R230 and R220 racks, and the Precision 3620 tower. I'm looking for something 300 dollars or less. The other towers I've looked at were out of that price range. In the case of the R230, I was going to pair a Celeron with it and upgrade it later if need be.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Rackmounts are designed to live in a datacenter, where power consumption is usually secondary to performance (and noise is secondary to cooling) - that said, the ServeTheHome review seems to show this specific model as being fairly thrifty in the power consumption (about 40W idling at the Ubuntu install screen, although it doesn't specify which drives are being used there.)

For tower options consider the Dell T110-ii or Lenovo TS130 - they're single-socket, Xeon E3 v1/v2 systems with four bays, and are fairly inexpensive. The RAM though is DDR3 unbuffered ECC which can be expensive if you want 8GB DIMMs; 4GB modules are fairly cheap.

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

I'm looking at the t110-ii, so how's the RAID situation? I'm still learning about that in general. Like do all HBA cards work with any system, people just don't want to have buy another and would rather repurpose their existing RAID card by flashing to IT mode? Or do I need to buy a specific one to work with the system I buy?

Because I have no idea what some of these eBay listings (for the t110-ii) have as far as RAID/HBA goes, they aren't very detailed listings, some don't even show the inside of the case.

Like if I buy any system that has PCI-E slots, am I good to go with buying a decent HBA card and running a SATA cable to that card?

 

[HoneyBadger]

In general, an HBA card will work with any system that has a PCIe slot - but not all "RAID cards" can be flashed to become an HBA. For the Dell units, the PERC H200/H310 or "6Gbps SAS" cards can all be flashed to become LSI 9211-8i equivalents. Try to find a system with one of those included, as well as the plastic drive trays for the internal bays.

For the cable, if you don't buy a system with it included, you'll need what's called a "forward breakout" cable to go from the single higher-density SAS port to the four individual SATA/SAS plugs for drives themselves.

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

I ended up finding a good buy on a Dell PowerEdge T30, it has a Software RAID: Intel Rapid Storage Controller 12.0 listed in the official spec for that model, if I put it into AHCI mode in BIOS and plug in a few SATA HDDs, would I be good to go? Or would I still need a RAID or HBA card?

 

[HoneyBadger]

As long as it can do a pure AHCI mode (no fake-RAID shenanigans) then it's perfectly fine to use. Is it possible to shoehorn two more drives in there, or are you okay with starting with just a simple mirror right now?

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

I was thinking of getting two 6TB drives, then I saw a listing on eBay for 3 4TB drives, still deciding on that front.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I was thinking of getting two 6TB drives, then I saw a listing on eBay for 3 4TB drives, still deciding on that front.

Just as long as you avoid "Shingled Magnetic Recording" or "SMR" drives.

 

[electromagnetic.jolt]

I thought about that, I hope I did. These were the models, ST4000DM000, 4000VN000, 4000VN008. I'm heading to work, I mean it can't be that bad, would it be?

 

[HoneyBadger]

Those should all be safe - ensure that the ST4000DM000 has three trailing zeroes and not two ("Barracuda Pro" not just "Barracuda") - the VN ones (Ironwolf) should also be non-SMR.

I mean it can't be that bad, would it be?

SMR drives are known to have worse sustained performance, and in the case of the WD Reds have a firmware issue that causes errors during rebuilds. So yes, it is "that bad" for this case.

List of known SMR drives

Hard drives that write data in overlapping, "shingled" tracks, have greater areal density than ones that do not. For cost and capacity reasons, manufacturers are increasingly moving to SMR, Shingled Magnetic Recording. SMR is a form of PMR...

www.ixsystems.com