Poweredge R710 Migration

[helmkamp01]

Hello,
So i started playing around with FreenNAS about 5 months ago wanting to learn file sharing servers and just server stuff in general. I am a networking/VOIP administrator by trade. So i had a computer collecting dust and installed a cheap 2TB drive in and started playing around with FreeNAS and really enjoyed it. Well fast forward to now i am starting my degree and wanted a server that would run FreeNAS and virtualize a linux box and GNS3 for coursework. Well luck has it i inherited a dell poweredge r710. With that being said what is the best way to transfer all of my media and files from the 2TB hard drive to 2-3 new 2TB Hard drives when i buy them and still be able to use the old 2TB hard drive in the RAID array. The server came with 3 500GB hard drive and i have a spare 500 in my computer that is not used that i could utilize as well for the data transfer, i am just not sure how to go about it. Next question is what is the best RAID choice for my situation (mainly media and some important documents)? Also this R710 has a PERC 6i raid controller that everyone says does not work with FreeNAS but i have it setup currently and it works with the 3 500GB hard drives. Also, do i just pass all the disks to FreeNAS and let it handle the RAID or what? That is one area that confuses me still i am new to the whole configuring RAID stuff. Also sorry if this has been posted before i could not find anything like my situation but may have not been searching for the right terminology.

Hardware:
New:
Dell Powerege R710
X2 Xeon Quad-core Processors
24GB of Ram
PERC 6i Raid Controller
2-3 2TB HArd Drives (soon)
4 3.5 inch drive bays
OLD:
ASUS Dekstop with AMD A8-6700
3gb of Ram
2TB Hard Drive

 

[melloa]

If you really want to play with FreeNAS, you will need to understand it's based on FreeBSD and uses ZFS. With that said your PERC 6i RAID Controller is most likely not in IT mode, so ZFS wouldn't see the drives directly.

Please start doing some research on ZFS and also read the hardware requirements. You will find several articles in the forum resource session.

Here's some suggestions:
Resources
Hardware recommendation
ZFS Primer

Have fun and good luck.

 

[Chris Moore]

PERC 6i Raid Controller

You need to get that out and replace it. It will not work properly with FreeNAS / ZFS. Here is what you need to use instead:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-...i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/163142320696
The guy selling these has flashed the card correctly so they will work in the storage slot of that server.
Here is the video he did about it:

How to fix: "Invalid PCIe card found in the Internal Storage slot!" error in Dell PowerEdge R710
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0AEHVdc_go

 

[melloa]

@Chris Moore It is amazing the things you guys find out there! My thanks to you and all from this forum.

 

[ronclark]

You need to get that out and replace it. It will not work properly with FreeNAS / ZFS. Here is what you need to use instead:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H200-...i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/163142320696
The guy selling these has flashed the card correctly so they will work in the storage slot of that server.
Here is the video he did about it:

How to fix: "Invalid PCIe card found in the Internal Storage slot!" error in Dell PowerEdge R710
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0AEHVdc_go

I just flashed my H200 with instructions i found, not really too hard to do and it been working great for my R710. I went that route since the IT H200 were more money than a not flashed internal slot H200 was

 

[Chris Moore]

I just flashed my H200 with instructions i found, not really too hard to do and it been working great for my R710. I went that route since the IT H200 were more money than a not flashed internal slot H200 was

Did you watch the video I linked above? There are some H200 cards that already have the correct settings, not all of them do.

 

[ronclark]

Did you watch the video I linked above? There are some H200 cards that already have the correct settings, not all of them do.

No i did run across that video then i did it, this was over a year ago. i used the write up i found here https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/7p2lzq/how_to_keep_crossflashed_perc_h200_in_dell_r710/

 

[ronclark]

I forgot to mention I only flashed the firmware and did not flash in the BIOS to save on my boot times, the downside is i can't boot off the LSI cards.

 

[helmkamp01]

Thanks for the write ups that were linked in the first i did learn alot.