Dell PERC H200 Internal 6Gb/s 8-Port SAS / SATA RAID Card

[crisman]

Hi all,

I've this Dell PERC H200 card on a server and was thinking to use it on Freenas, It seems that the I/O controller on this card is an LSI SAS 2008 and if I'm not wrong is the same as the M1015 controllers, could someone tell me if is it possible to flash this card on IT mode with the same firmware of the M1015? Are there any other firmwares for this specific model?

Here is a link for a pdf file with the card specifications: ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...ters/poweredge-rc-h200_User's Guide_en-us.pdf

Thanks in Advance!

 

[HoneyBadger]

Long delayed edit: As of FreeNAS 9.3 you'll definitely want to reflash this card into an LSI 9211-8i in order to avoid the firmware/driver mismatch.

Hi back!

If my memory is correct, the H200 supports full passthrough for unconfigured drives. Don't create any arrays, and it should show the raw drives to FreeNAS.

If it doesn't, then you should be able to flash it with the "PERC 6Gbps SAS HBA" firmware from Dell, as outlined here:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/906/t/19382192.aspx

Note that this user had to move the HBA to another PCIe slot since it wasn't recognized as a Dell-approved storage device any longer.

 

[crisman]

Note that this user had to move the HBA to another PCIe slot since it wasn't recognized as a Dell-approved storage device any longer.

Thanks for your reply, I shouldn't have that problem since this card will be used on an Intel S1200KP motherboard not a Dell one!

Reading the link on that Dell forum I was a little confused if I need to flash it or not with the firmware from LSI?

Regards.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Unless they've changed something in later firmwares I don't believe you'll have to flash it; the stock H200 firmware should pass through any unconfigured drives directly. Best thing to do is to test it out and see if the drive is reported correctly by FreeNAS and SMART diagnostics, or if the PERC is intercepting it anyways and presenting as a single-drive RAID0 array.

 

[crisman]

Yes, I'll do it when the hard drives and Intel board arrived!

Thanks.

 

[JosB]

Sorry to resurrect this (very?) old thread, but what were the results? Did you have to flash the card?

 

[crisman]

Hi,
I haven't tested the card without flashing it, I was reading some other forums about this card and everyone said that the card has to be flashed so I've done it.

Regards,
Crisman

 

[JosB]

OK, thanks for answering! :)

 

[HoneyBadger]

Original replier here; you'll want to flash the H200 into its LSI cousin the 9211-8i just to avoid the firmware/driver mismatch that FreeNAS 9.3 or later will warn you about.

Good set of instructions are located here:
https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode/

 

[JosB]

Thanks for the heads up!