Dell Server Recommendations (Raid Controller for RAIDz2)

[Chris Dill]

My Current TrueNAS Core is running on Dell Poweredge T430. It has 72GB of RAM and RAIDZ2 with 6 5 TB disks. I tried to add in some SSD's in a mirror for boot, but the raid controller was all funked up and it had a limit on recognizing number of drives. Its was originally a PERC H730 Controller, 1GB NV Cache, But I swapped to SAS9211-8I IT Mode and it was hell to setup.

I have access to a lot of Dell servers at work, which spec would be good to add in more disks? Which Dell PERC is ideal for RAIDz2 and would allow me to upgrade storage? I have messed around with S RAID controllers which was a bad experience, obviously. I will have access to a H330/H730/H 730P in short order.

I have not built a TrueNAS in 4 ish years, so a little rusty on what I can do from a controller standpoint that will work with TrueNAS RAIDz2, Any help appreciated.

 

[ChrisRJ]

No RAID controller ever for ZFS. Get an HBA with IT mode firmware. The latter is fundamentally(!) different from running a RAID controller in IT mode.

For more information, please check the recommended readings in my signature.

 

[beagle]

A Dell HBA330 should work. I used one as a drop-in replacement for a H330 on a T630 when I installed TrueNAS.

It shows in the Lifecycle Controller and you can update the firmware using Dell tooling.

Just bear in mind that once you install a HBA330 the fans will spin up to a minimum of 20% because the system won't be able to read disks temperature. You can work around that with a fan management script to externally manage the fans speed via IPMI.

 

[firesyde424]

A Dell HBA330 should work. I used one as a drop-in replacement for a H330 on a T630 when I installed TrueNAS.

It shows in the Lifecycle Controller and you can update the firmware using Dell tooling.

Just bear in mind that once you install a HBA330 the fans will spin up to a minimum of 20% because the system won't be able to read disks temperature. You can work around that with a fan management script to externally manage the fans speed via IPMI.

There is also a fan offset in the iDRAC that can take care of this as well.