BloodKnight7

No issues, glad we could be of service! 🙂 Maybe this older server needs more amps/watts and that was juicing out the ups. Anyways, good luck with your future endeavors. 

Thank you! I actually read somewhere about the ILO causing issue. I wonder what fault could have hit the ILO. I'll check and get back with you. 
 
 
 

Update the iLO to the latest available version on all hosts, that should fix most bugs. 
I've also seen a certain version of the iLO driver for ESXi cause crashes. Updating to the latest version
available for ESXi 6.0 should fix that (or upgrading to ESXi 6.5/6.7 using the HPE customised image for the G6/G7). 

I would start by checking the ILO logs...if its a hardware issue you should be able to pinpoint it in the ipmi logs.... if there is nothing there then we would need to check vmware logs... specifically /var/run/log/vmksummary

Yea that sounds a lot better, glad it wasn't hardware/compatibility related

Yah, I enabled write through and no read back/ahead. I also tried force disabling the cache as well for the drives but to no avail.
 
 
So, I figured out the issue. I had, when I started this adventure, added some samba tweaks to try and help performance out and I never removed those from the file I used between tests. Turns out those were NOT helpful at all on the R630 and hindered performance. I went back and saw a slight bump on the R620 without those tweaks but the R630 really proved to be the key here I think and of course removing Bitdefender that I had installed between the time of ordering and receiving the R630 on my main machine >.>.
Now I get 10Gb/s read and write for sequential operations and about 2Gb/s for random read/writes when passing the drives through as RDM disks.

I never use the GUI, too complex/buggy, old school command line guy here.

Thx for that. I haven't gotten round to setting the switches up yet, but on both I have access to the web interface. Still, good example for when that's not available

Example commands to set up an LACP between both switches... 
 
Command
Purpose
console# configure
Enter configuration mode.
console(config)# interface range gi1/0/1-4
Enter interface-range configuration mode by entering the range of interfaces to be configured. Range command is optional.
console(config-if)# channel-group 1 mode active
Assign Group and mode active.
This creates port-channel 1 as dynamic LAG.
The number is only relevant to this specific switch. Although it best practice to match the number on the corresponding switch for ease of management.
console(config-if)# end
Exit configure mode.
console# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

@BloodKnight7
 
I wanted to give a final update in regard to using the official Dell images. I installed the Dell 6.5 U3 image and the stability with the AMD GPU was exceptionally better. I was able to install the GPU, add to VM, install drivers in VM, etc all without issue. However, I ran into an issue with trying to get it to work with Folding@Home in the VM. I could not get F@H to find the GPU and add it which was the main purpose for wanting to add the GPU in the first place. I have decided to focus on upgrading CPUs and RAM in that server only. I have a Rosewill 4U mining case on the way and will work on building out a dedicated F@H box and forgoing virtualization. I really appreciated the help with troubleshooting.
 
Thanks!
SgtKilgore406

P.S.
 
I have now since switched to Proxmox and am already enjoying the extra free features that would have cost real $$$ from VMware.

@BloodKnight7
 
The only reason I don't use the official image for my model is because the latest version they have is 6.5 U3 and I'm running 6.7. I've kind of started looking at possibly migrating to Proxmox instead so that I can use live migration and high availability. Regarding the graphics card, I think it probably is trying to pull too much power and crashing the server. I'm currently looking at the Nvidia Grid K2 cards on eBay as a better supported replacement.

Dont want to be obvious, but the info at wikipedia is quite complete.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
 

Dont want to be obvious, but the info at wikipedia is quite complete.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
 

If you want something from a more official source you can try this ebook that is based on the CompTIA Storage+ Certification
https://network.serversetup.co/e-book/comptia/Data.Storage.Networking-Real.World.Skills.for.the.CompTIA.Storage+.Certification.and.Beyond.pdf
 

Anyone has the link with the instructions on how to configure the server? I will try to get 1 or 2 up and running with similar specs to the one in this video.

As he says at the end they're not handling the software, F@H guys do it - the servers aren't something you can just set up yourself, so you'd want to contact them directly.

Hey man, worry not, your T330 is completely safe on that regard, its one of the low end offerings so there is no locked down hardware on it. You can put any SAS or SATA drive you want in that PERC no issues as long as the technology is compatible! Also, protip, make sure you keep your server with the latest bios/idrac/firmware/drivers updated. You can easily do this from iDRAC.

Agree with this.

Even if the drive is flagged as "uncertified" by the PERC, it doesn't mean it's not compatible. Drive certification using Dell's custom firmware on HDDs is only to validate engineering as an end-to-end supported solution via warranty. But yeah, it should still work regardless.

Hey man, worry not, your T330 is completely safe on that regard, its one of the low end offerings so there is no locked down hardware on it. You can put any SAS or SATA drive you want in that PERC no issues as long as the technology is compatible! Also, protip, make sure you keep your server with the latest bios/idrac/firmware/drivers updated. You can easily do this from iDRAC.

It seems like a Hyper-V Manager problem. I would only recommend some obvious things like reinstalling Remote Server Administration Tools. As an alternative, you could try Windows Admin Center https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/manage/windows-admin-center/overview. It works via a web browser and offers similar functionality as other "thick" tools do.

Yup... you want to use storage spaces. Enjoy! http://techgenix.com/windows-10-storage-spaces/

Also... another question, was this 2 disk nas operating using RAID 0? if thats the case your data is bye bye...if it was RAID 1 the data should be salvageable.

Congratulations my friend!
 
Always try to keep your iDRAC (takes care of power and cooling in the server) and BIOS to the most recent date you can manage, it can make a great difference. Same with the firmware on your cards, if you do the lifecycle update method it will check against the GA catalogue from ftp.dell.com or downloads.dell.com.
 
Hope you enjoy your server

Damn, here is the passmark for anyone wondering:

that's even better than I was expecting....

Edit: and after 5-6 HOURS of formatting per group of 4 drives (my R420 is an LFF 4 Bay) they do work as expected in the R720 , now I just have to do 3 more batches ?

Dumb question, but you have you made sure you are running the latest and greatest bios, idrac and firmware versions available for your server? You could use LifeCycle controller to update all in one go from ftp.dell.com. Newer iDRAC and BIOS versions could improve your overall performance.