2

I'm considering several HP Gen8 Server models (e.g. DL*e series) for use with WS12R2E. For us, cost savings using a mix of SSD/HDD will likely better serve our needs than purchasing SAS drives.

I would like to use one (or RAID1 two smaller) SSD drive/s for the system volume, and pass through remaining xTB capacity HDD drives for storage configured with WS12 storage pools.

  1. Do HP RAID controllers offer pass through? Only certain controllers?
  2. If not, can I configure individual xTB HDD drives as RAID0? Any HP-specific precautions to note using this approach?
Zanon
  • 233
  • 1
  • 2
  • 13
khargoosh
  • 157
  • 1
  • 8

1 Answers1

2

Nope. HP controllers don't offer a mixed mode like what you're asking for.

Which specific server model (and storage controller) are you planning to use?

If you buy a DL3x0p series Gen8 server with an onboard P-series RAID controller, there is a secret "HBA" mode that will disable all RAID features.

If you buy a DL3x0e series, there are some messy storage issues associated with the product that will make you regret the purchase.

Community
  • 1
ewwhite
  • 194,921
  • 91
  • 434
  • 799
  • Thanks @ewwhite - Those are exactly the models I was considering purchasing and given the need for a low spec server it was likely going to be a DL320e. The base model of this server has a B120i controller. Do you know if B series controller allow multiple arrays of a single RAID type i.e. such that I can simply RAID0 every disk, or RAID1 the SSD array and HDD arrays seperately? At the end of the day I would rather not rely on secret modes that can disappear or become "differently functional" in future firmware revisions. – khargoosh Mar 24 '15 at 20:50
  • The B120i can do multiple RAID0 arrays. The only issue is drive replacement after a failure. Instead of a disk failure, it's designated as a logical drive failure. – ewwhite Mar 24 '15 at 20:54
  • It seems that I'm not going to find the answer I'm looking for through the use of smart array controllers! The other option I can attempt is to install the system volume in a RAID1 SSD array, and use storage pools to manage capacity storage through an iSCSI NAS target, but I wanted to keep things simple. @ewwhite can you suggest anything else that might suit my needs (a different server/storage controller perhaps)? – khargoosh Mar 24 '15 at 21:27