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I'm not at all familiar with Dell server products. We recently purchased 2 r710s to use in split mode with a MD1220.

Each host runs its own H810.

Cabling: Server 1: From port 0 on the H810 to the EMM1 (Should see bays 0-11) Server 2: From port 0 on the H810 to the EMM0 (Should see bays 12-23)

I cannot see any drives in bays 0-11. I can see drives 12-23 though.

I have switched both H810s and can see drives 12-23 after the switch, but not drives 0-11.

The split mode switch is down and the top LED on the MD1220 is blue. I rebooted the MD1220 after switching it from unified to split mode. I've rebooted the servers several times as well.

The servers and MD1220 have been in the office for almost 2.5 months in this state. We are either going to have to get these working, or we're going to have to send them back. I'm giving up on Dell products if we can't get these working. I'm not sure where to go to get answers on how to successfully get the drives to be seen on both sides of the enc

This is also the second MD1220 that we have tested. Both units are doing the exact same thing. Only 1 side of the MD1220 works, period.

For anyone answering, please note that I don't have enough rep points to accept your answer, unfortunately.

EDIT:

Not sure if this helps, but when I put the MD1220 in unified mode, the drives are seen starting from bay 0. This should indicate that there is nothing wrong with the HDD connections within the bays themselves.

Jim
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  • Hopefully you take this in the spirit in which it's intended, but after two and a half months have you considered contacting Dell support? – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 00:59
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    At this point, I'm not taking anything personal, but yes, I've contacted support 2 times and it seems that without a service contract, I'd have to pay $595.00 for the incident. After the purchase of all this equipment, unfortunately, there's not money left for the support. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:23
  • OK. I'm assuming you've followed the cabling instructions in the Hardware Owner's Manual? What color are the EMM LED's? – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 01:31
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    Thanks, Joe. I have, yes. I have 2 hosts (both r710s) having its own PERC H810. Each 810 is connected to an available "IN" port on the EMM unit on the back of the MD1220. All of the lights on the MD are green and the indicator light on the front, at the very topmost left is blue. There are no amber lights anywhere on the MD1220. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:38
  • The R710 is an 11th generation server. The support matrix lists the H800 as a supported HBA for 11th generation servers. The H810 looks to be supported on 12th generation servers. So maybe you have the wrong HBA? – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 01:43
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    I thought of that too, Joe, but let me ask you a question. Maybe I'm crazy, but one of the 810s is already working in one of the servers. This is the server that sees bays 11-23. If the MD is already seeing one of the H810s, wouldn't that mean that it should see the other one too? I just downloaded a matrix. Let me look at that and I'll let you know what it says. You may be onto something with this. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:46
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    I'm not able to find that matrix. The one I downloaded was for the 710. I'll keep looking though in the meantime. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:51
  • There's a member here who works for Dell in the storage arena. Hopefully he'll see this and can provide some insight. @JimNim is his username. - https://serverfault.com/users/166684/jimnim – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 01:53
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    I did find this though: PERC H810 Adapter The PERC H810 Adapter supports the following Dell PowerEdge systems: R620, R720, R720XD, R820, M620, R220, R320, R420, R520, R920, T320, T420 and T620. **Notice there is no 710 listed?** – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:53
  • Right. Have a look here as well - http://downloads.dell.com/manuals/common/md1200_md1220_supportmatrix_en-us.pdf - That lists the supported controllers for the respective generation. - And this is a list of the PE 11th gen servers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dell_PowerEdge_Servers#Generation_11 – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 01:54
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    That's what I downloaded earlier. Thanks for the link. On that document, did you see anything pertaining to the RAID controller? I don't see anything that would indicate that the 810 can't be used. I'll bet you're right though! This has to be the issue! And yes, JimNim helped me last week. Nice guy too! – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 01:58
  • You can find H800 adapters on eBay, ServerMonkey, etc., etc. but it'd be a bit of an expensive experiment to purchase two of them to see if that fixes the problem. I saw prices ranging from about $150.00 to $400.00. – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 02:06
  • Thanks Joe! I really appreciate you looking for me. I think I'm going to downgrade to the H800 and see what that gets me. Also, JimNim said that I should upgrade the EMM firmware to 1.06. I can do that tomorrow. If it works, I'll try using the H810s for a while. If not, I'll order a couple H800s and see what that does. In lieu of that, I don't know... – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 02:12
  • Glad to help. Post back here with updates. I'm curious to see how it winds up. – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 02:15
  • I most certainly will. I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks again, Joe!! – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 02:18

1 Answers1

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Cabling: Server 1: From port 0 on the H810 to the EMM1 (Should see bays 0-11) Server 2: From port 0 on the H810 to the EMM0 (Should see bays 12-23)

You're correct on how these should be showing up, as it is "reversed" by design. (pages 19-20 of the Hardware Owner's Manual)

The only thing I can recommend that might be awry here would be EMM firmware - ensure that the EMMs are running the latest available firmware (should be v1.06 currently).

If you just bought these from Dell, you should be calling support for help with this. You are not going to find the level of vendor-specific knowledge needed in this forum more easily than via Dell support, and this sounds like something I would be engaging development engineering groups for.

It's also worth noting that even though the H810 card does seem to be "working" in that server, there's no guarantee it won't up and stop working for you down the road without warning. It's completely unsupported on 11th gen servers (as already mentioned in the comments on your original question).

JimNim
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  • I was hoping you'd show up, Jim! Is the H810 HBA supported in a PE R710? – joeqwerty Jun 06 '18 at 02:01
  • Hi Jim, and thank you! I'm really glad that you're here. JoeQwerty mentioned above that maybe the issue is that the 710 can't run the H810. Is he correct on that? I will update the EMM firmware tomorrow and see what that gets me. These items were actually purchased off eBay. I had no idea I could even buy these from Dell because they are obsolete now. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 02:02
  • Surprisingly, the MD1220 itself CAN still be purchased (even with its age) because it's still the "supported" expansion enclosure type for MD3 RBODs that are still being sold. Updated my answer above w/ card support info. The behavior you're seeing is certainly a bit odd - not something I've seen in the 7+ years I've been supporting Dell storage products. – JimNim Jun 06 '18 at 02:04
  • Thanks Jim for the help. Actually, it makes sense that Dell would still be selling these. I wasn't aware that it could be used to expand a newer system. Maybe I should just buy one from Dell if only to get the support. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 02:07
  • Ah, I didn't think about the ebay-sourced system's impact on support... You might contact the seller and see if they can complete an "ownership transfer" for you (just google it) so support will actually let you get help. – JimNim Jun 06 '18 at 02:13
  • That's a great idea, thanks Jim! I'm also going to seriously consider purchasing the MD1220 from Dell and just returning this one. I'm also going to downgrade these cards. – Jim Jun 06 '18 at 02:21