hardware choose

[fisherwei]

Hello everyone,

Our company offlined 3 DELL R720 from core room, and plan to DIY them to workgroups storage server using freenas, so there are some hardware upgrade need to do.

The original hardware is:

8x 3.5in hot-plug HDD slot in the front panel (no any 2.5 HDD slot)
H310 mini card running in IR mode (not a PCI-E edition)
2x E5 2609
8x 8G REG ECC memory
2x 495W PDU

so, my question is:
1. Does H310 mini card can be flashed as IT mode or how to compatible with freenas?
2. If the 1st question is NO/NO, what card I should buy? H710/H710P mini or a LSI product(PCI-E)?
3. I plan to use 8x 4TB HDD running in RAID-Z2 mode, so does the 64G memory enough?
4. Because it only has 8x 3.5 HDD slot, should I buy one or two 400G Intel 750 as L2ARC or ZIL?(cheaper than Intel DC P3xxx)
5. For the 4TB HDD, which one is better choose: HGST 4TB(SAS), WD 4TB RED(SATA)?

:)

 

[Mirfster]

1. As far as I know, Yes the H310 can be flashed to IT Mode. I use the H200 (mezzanine cards myself without any issues); flashed to IT Mode LSI
   
2. No H700, H710, etc. Those are RAID and should be avoided
3. Should be fine with that
4. Not sure if you need those at all, perhaps others will chime in
5. Both are good drives, I tend to lean towards HGST while others stand by WD Reds. Actually, may not be bad to have a mix. Again opinions may differ on that

 

[tvsjr]

The HGST SAS drives are 7200RPM, so they're going to be louder, generate more heat, and provide a negligible performance increase. I run them because they were free, but if I were buying new, I would buy the 5900RPM SATA drives (either WD or HGST).

ZIL/SLOG - if this is just a storage server (not providing a VM datastore), I don't believe SLOG should be required.
L2ARC - IMO, you're at the bottom end of memory to make L2ARC useful. If memory serves, the R720 has 24 DIMM slots. You'd likely be better served by maxing out your RAM first, then worry about L2ARC later if required.

You still need to figure out boot devices... some people recommend USB flash drives, but I've never liked this solution. Small SSDs perform better and hold up better as well. I *think* the R720 has some storage ports on the motherboard... you could consider mounting two 2.5" SSDs internally (there may even be a bracket for this, I don't know) which would give you a mirrored boot pool, plus leave all 8 ports free for your storage array.

 

[anodos]

The HGST SAS drives are 7200RPM, so they're going to be louder, generate more heat, and provide a negligible performance increase. I run them because they were free, but if I were buying new, I would buy the 5900RPM SATA drives (either WD or HGST).

ZIL/SLOG - if this is just a storage server (not providing a VM datastore), I don't believe SLOG should be required.
L2ARC - IMO, you're at the bottom end of memory to make L2ARC useful. If memory serves, the R720 has 24 DIMM slots. You'd likely be better served by maxing out your RAM first, then worry about L2ARC later if required.

You still need to figure out boot devices... some people recommend USB flash drives, but I've never liked this solution. Small SSDs perform better and hold up better as well. I *think* the R720 has some storage ports on the motherboard... you could consider mounting two 2.5" SSDs internally (there may even be a bracket for this, I don't know) which would give you a mirrored boot pool, plus leave all 8 ports free for your storage array.

Just to add a bit to this answer.
How are you planning to share files?
CIFS - no SLOG
NFS - yes SLOG

 

[fisherwei]

1. As far as I know, Yes the H310 can be flashed to IT Mode. I use the H200 (mezzanine cards myself without any issues); flashed to IT Mode LSI
   
2. No H700, H710, etc. Those are RAID and should be avoided
3. Should be fine with that
4. Not sure if you need those at all, perhaps others will chime in
5. Both are good drives, I tend to lean towards HGST while others stand by WD Reds. Actually, may not be bad to have a mix. Again opinions may differ on that

Thanks for your reply,

For the first question, I have googled, but I found all results are about flash H310 PCI-E(non-mini) to IT using a LSI firmware.
Can you say some details about H310 *mini*?

Thanks again.

 

[fisherwei]

The HGST SAS drives are 7200RPM, so they're going to be louder, generate more heat, and provide a negligible performance increase. I run them because they were free, but if I were buying new, I would buy the 5900RPM SATA drives (either WD or HGST).

ZIL/SLOG - if this is just a storage server (not providing a VM datastore), I don't believe SLOG should be required.
L2ARC - IMO, you're at the bottom end of memory to make L2ARC useful. If memory serves, the R720 has 24 DIMM slots. You'd likely be better served by maxing out your RAM first, then worry about L2ARC later if required.

You still need to figure out boot devices... some people recommend USB flash drives, but I've never liked this solution. Small SSDs perform better and hold up better as well. I *think* the R720 has some storage ports on the motherboard... you could consider mounting two 2.5" SSDs internally (there may even be a bracket for this, I don't know) which would give you a mirrored boot pool, plus leave all 8 ports free for your storage array.

OK, understood. Thanks.

Our R720 didn't have 2.5 SSD space(both internal and external), but it has a USB port in the motherboard and can install a 2 SDCard slots(mirror) reader in the case(a extend card, looks like a PCI-E x1 card, price about 35 USD).

 

[fisherwei]

Just to add a bit to this answer.
How are you planning to share files?
CIFS - no SLOG
NFS - yes SLOG

SMB, so, it seems I don't need both ZIL/SLOG and L2arc, correct?

 

[anodos]

SMB, so, it seems I don't need both ZIL/SLOG and L2arc, correct?

No need for a SLOG. If you have performance issues, I'd add RAM first before considering an L2ARC. But honestly, you shouldn't have performance issues with the system you have.

 

[Mirfster]

For the first question, I have googled, but I found all results are about flash H310 PCI-E(non-mini) to IT using a LSI firmware.
Can you say some details about H310 *mini*?

Sorry, just realized you asked this.

While I don't have first hand knowledge on the H310 "mini", here is my reasoning:

1. I use the H200 Mezzanine (this connects to the MB via a specialized connector of the C2100/FS12-TY similarly like yours does on the R720)
   • It has the same controller as the other standard H200's
   • I was able to flash it fine to "IT Mode" and use LSI's Firmware (I heard that Dell has one too, but never tried it)
2. Per the "Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller H310" PDF
   • It lists the "SAS Controller" as "LSISAS2008"
   • It shows "Non-RAID: 32" under "Maximum number of physical devices" (Also lists other RAID Modes, but that doesn't matter)

Now, I did notice this - Per "Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC)":

So, I guess that it would come down to if you have the "Mini Mono" or "Mini Blade"? Kind of weird though since they are are based off of the "2008".

 

[anodos]

Sorry, just realized you asked this.

While I don't have first hand knowledge on the H310 "mini", here is my reasoning:

1. I use the H200 Mezzanine (this connects to the MB via a specialized connector of the C2100/FS12-TY similarly like yours does on the R720)
   • It has the same controller as the other standard H200's
   • I was able to flash it fine to "IT Mode" and use LSI's Firmware (I heard that Dell has one too, but never tried it)
2. Per the "Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller H310" PDF
   • It lists the "SAS Controller" as "LSISAS2008"
   • It shows "Non-RAID: 32" under "Maximum number of physical devices" (Also lists other RAID Modes, but that doesn't matter)

Now, I did notice this - Per "Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC)":

View attachment 10166​

So, I guess that it would come down to if you have the "Mini Mono" or "Mini Blade"? Kind of weird though since they are are based off of the "2008".

FYI, here's the dell datasheet on the Perc H310. http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/dell-perc-h310-spec-sheet.pdf

It looks like you can get P20 firmware for it here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=C19GP

Even if there's no IT firmware available, you will probably be fine with the P20 IR firmware. Just leave it in "Non-RAID" (don't configure any RAID).