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Bulk Storage Using Disk Shelves?

So I have been doing some reading and am beginning to wonder if I am in trouble. The H220 seems to have a limit of 42Tb of drive space overall. I am going to be installing it in a system with 12 4Tb SAS drives, totaling 48Tb worth of drives... Is this something I need to worry about, or is there a firmware fix for this?

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1 hour ago, Kered124 said:

So I have been doing some reading and am beginning to wonder if I am in trouble. The H220 seems to have a limit of 42Tb of drive space overall. I am going to be installing it in a system with 12 4Tb SAS drives, totaling 48Tb worth of drives... Is this something I need to worry about, or is there a firmware fix for this?

1. You mean TB, not Tb. I know it seems like a minor thing, but they mean vastly different things, so when talking about storage, it's important to be precise.

 

TB = TeraByte (Big B = Byte)

Tb = Terabit (little b = bit)

 

2. The maximum listed limit was posted at the time the card was released (or whenever the documentation was last updated, but probably has never been updated). They list the maximums based on whatever the largest capacity HDD's are that are available at that time. You're 99% likely to be totally fine with larger drives - I wouldn't worry about it, unless you've found specific examples of people running into some hard limit (which is unlikely).

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1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

1. You mean TB, not Tb. I know it seems like a minor thing, but they mean vastly different things, so when talking about storage, it's important to be precise.

 

TB = TeraByte (Big B = Byte)

Tb = Terabit (little b = bit)

My apologies; I know this and haven't been doing my due diligence to check myself when writing my posts.

 

I hope that there has been a firmware upgrade that changes the limits of the controller. I haven't read any articles about people running in to issues, but noticed those numbers while skimming the manuals/ documentation for the card. (I have been trying to get into the habit of RTFM instead of asking a million questions if I can avoid it)

 

Thanks for the re-assurance; I am hopeful I will be able to build the array without problems when the controller arrives on Friday! My two replacement hard drives arrived today and I'll be putting them in to see if that fixes the problem I have been having with 2 of my disks not being properly recognized. The artic silver under the heatsink of the P420 didn't seem to help at all. The card is still reporting 88 degrees Celsius, which makes me wonder if the sensor has failed...

 

I may also try to flash the P420 into IT mode tonight, as I have a copy of the SPP software now. (Thanks @leadeater !!)

 

Thanks again for all of the help with this project!

Edited by Kered124
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So I got the H220 today and Installed it- Freenas recognized all of my drives and I built a Raid Z2 array totaling 35TB. All is well as of now except one thing; my fans are running fast. The three fans that sit in front of the H220 are all spinning at 58% while the others are at 15,19, and 35... What can I do about this?

 

It does feel nice to finally make some progress on this project, though!

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Pulled the H220 to make sure it is causing the problem- and it definitely is. Without any PCI cards, the server is barely audible. If I could make it run that way all of the time, I'd be extremely happy. Does anyone know if this is even possible to do? I am suspicious of the H220 also, because I have yet to see it called an H220 anywhere on the PC.. Its recognized as a controller from another company (other than HP or LSI) and I will get the name of it in a bit.

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Also; has this thread deviated enough from its original topic that it warrants a new thread?

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3 hours ago, Kered124 said:

Also; has this thread deviated enough from its original topic that it warrants a new thread?

Considering you're the original poster of the thread, I think you can keep it going if you want. The only benefit of a new thread would be a more accurate thread topic which might draw in new users to discuss.

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5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Considering you're the original poster of the thread, I think you can keep it going if you want. The only benefit of a new thread would be a more accurate thread topic which might draw in new users to discuss.

Good point; I think I'll let it be for now..

 

Any ideas on the HBA weirdness? I contacted the ebay seller expressing my concern- as there is no HP branding anywhere on the card, and I'm wondering if that's why the fans are running so fast.

 

Even if it is an LSI card, could I/should I reflash it with HP firmware to make it be properly recognized? 

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12 minutes ago, Kered124 said:

Good point; I think I'll let it be for now..

 

Any ideas on the HBA weirdness? I contacted the ebay seller expressing my concern- as there is no HP branding anywhere on the card, and I'm wondering if that's why the fans are running so fast.

 

Even if it is an LSI card, could I/should I reflash it with HP firmware to make it be properly recognized? 

tough call - I personally wouldn't reflash it with HP firmware. You could check the BIOS to see if there are any better Fan controls that you can override, but often these things are controlled by the firmware with no options to change how they run.

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1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

tough call - I personally wouldn't reflash it with HP firmware. You could check the BIOS to see if there are any better Fan controls that you can override, but often these things are controlled by the firmware with no options to change how they run.

There are two settings in the BIOS; I'm on the slowest one- optimal cooling. The server is honestly way too loud at this point and I'll have to do something. I got the P420 flashed to the newest firmware and IT mode enabled. I wonder if staying with the P420 is a better option for me now, since It is giving freenas access to all of the disks and the fans run more quietly.. I couldn't believe how quiet the server is without any PCI expansion cards installed- It is damn near silent. There has got to be a way to make this server run quietly with a PCI express device.. I don't want to have to mod the fans with an arduino, but I guess if that's what it comes to... Definitely turned off from HP now; I have never struggled this much with my Dell servers... It makes me feel like I am doing something wrong.

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Just now, Kered124 said:

There are two settings in the BIOS; I'm on the slowest one- optimal cooling. The server is honestly way too loud at this point and I'll have to do something. I got the P420 flashed to the newest firmware and IT mode enabled. I wonder if staying with the P420 is a better option for me now, since It is giving freenas access to all of the disks and the fans run more quietly.. I couldn't believe how quiet the server is without any PCI expansion cards installed- It is damn near silent. There has got to be a way to make this server run quietly with a PCI express device.. I don't want to have to mod the fans with an arduino, but I guess if that's what it comes to... Definitely turned off from HP now; I have never struggled this much with my Dell servers... It makes me feel like I am doing something wrong.

Server noise is one of the risks of getting a used server. If the P420 is quieter, and noise level is important to you, you should stick to that card.

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28 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Server noise is one of the risks of getting a used server. If the P420 is quieter, and noise level is important to you, you should stick to that card.

yeah, even the P420 isn't quiet in the server; but much quieter than the H220 is.. I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I really wish I knew more about HP gear to make a more educated decision; but it seems like most people having this problem are just modding the server. I guess maybe that is what I need to do? My dad told me most of the G8 servers he has worked with are relatively quiet and I probably shouldn't be seeing these kinds of fan speeds/ noise levels under idle conditions. Is there anyone on the forum who has a lot of experience with HP gear we could tag and ask some questions? I'm not really familiar enough with the people on the forums haha

 

Thanks for your input!

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1 hour ago, Kered124 said:

yeah, even the P420 isn't quiet in the server; but much quieter than the H220 is.. I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I really wish I knew more about HP gear to make a more educated decision; but it seems like most people having this problem are just modding the server. I guess maybe that is what I need to do? My dad told me most of the G8 servers he has worked with are relatively quiet and I probably shouldn't be seeing these kinds of fan speeds/ noise levels under idle conditions. Is there anyone on the forum who has a lot of experience with HP gear we could tag and ask some questions? I'm not really familiar enough with the people on the forums haha

 

Thanks for your input!

I'd check with @leadeater, as he's the local HPE guru. It could be an automatic thing, since when either of the cards are plugged in, the server is likely expecting HDD's to be installed, so it might just be pre-emptively cooling them?

 

My experience is primarily Dell servers, both at home and at work.

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36 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

My experience is primarily Dell servers, both at home and at work.

I'm in the same boat; albeit less experience than most.

 

The HP machines are priced so aggressively on Ebay that I couldn't resist though, I just feel like there has to be a good way to make this all work nicely or HP wouldn't be selling so many servers. I know servers are made to be put in climate controlled conditions and run loud; but It is in a fairly well air conditioned part of the house, ambient is like 65 degrees on a normal day in the summer and very low humidity. I know Dell server fans are controllable through software+commands, I'm hopeful something similar exists for the HP gear!

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Kered124 said:

I'm in the same boat; albeit less experience than most.

 

The HP machines are priced so aggressively on Ebay that I couldn't resist though, I just feel like there has to be a good way to make this all work nicely or HP wouldn't be selling so many servers. I know servers are made to be put in climate controlled conditions and run loud; but It is in a fairly well air conditioned part of the house, ambient is like 65 degrees on a normal day in the summer and very low humidity. I know Dell server fans are controllable through software+commands, I'm hopeful something similar exists for the HP gear!

 

 

HPE servers have just as good a reputation as the Dell ones do, in general. Typically in a work environment, no one cares about the noise, because it's in a server room that's typically sealed and climate controlled.

 

My Dell MD1200 for example, is as loud as a jet engine, and there's no way to change that without modding it.

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2 hours ago, Kered124 said:

yeah, even the P420 isn't quiet in the server; but much quieter than the H220 is.. I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I really wish I knew more about HP gear to make a more educated decision; but it seems like most people having this problem are just modding the server. I guess maybe that is what I need to do? My dad told me most of the G8 servers he has worked with are relatively quiet and I probably shouldn't be seeing these kinds of fan speeds/ noise levels under idle conditions. Is there anyone on the forum who has a lot of experience with HP gear we could tag and ask some questions? I'm not really familiar enough with the people on the forums haha

 

Thanks for your input!

Have a look in iLO for the component temperatures. HPE servers monitor a lot of sensors and if any of them are high the server will increase the fan RPM in the zone it needs to keep that temp down, that includes PCIe cards. The H220 may just run hotter than the P420, is there a difference in heatsink of them? Like does the P420 have a much better one?

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5 hours ago, leadeater said:

Have a look in iLO for the component temperatures. HPE servers monitor a lot of sensors and if any of them are high the server will increase the fan RPM in the zone it needs to keep that temp down, that includes PCIe cards. The H220 may just run hotter than the P420, is there a difference in heatsink of them? Like does the P420 have a much better one?

So that was what I had assumed originally; and I promptly checked when the fans kicked up at boot. The P420 runs obscenely hot, 85-88 degrees C. A quick google search shows me that the P420 normally operates at this temperature and I shouldn't be surprised by it. This results in fan speeds between 35-45% during idle. The H220 sits at 40 degrees C with the fans at 58% at an idle state. I have updated the all of the firmwares available except the H220, as it came pre-flashed in IT mode.

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11 minutes ago, Kered124 said:

So that was what I had assumed originally; and I promptly checked when the fans kicked up at boot. The P420 runs obscenely hot, 85-88 degrees C. A quick google search shows me that the P420 normally operates at this temperature and I shouldn't be surprised by it. This results in fan speeds between 35-45% during idle. The H220 sits at 40 degrees C with the fans at 58% at an idle state. I have updated the all of the firmwares available except the H220, as it came pre-flashed in IT mode.

What is your HD Max reading at?

image.png.3ea6f8078584286926089984321ff847.png

 

Can confirm non genuine disks can cause the high fan RPM due to that sensor not reporting correctly.

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7 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Can confirm non genuine disks can cause the high fan RPM due to that sensor not reporting correctly.

Here are my results:

Fan_Speeds.PNG

Temperatures.PNG

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I have a feeling that the issue is the H220 not being recognized as an HP device- but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I think I could flash HP firmware onto it? my worry is that if I do, I won't be able to keep IT mode and it won't help me. Slot 3 is where the H220 is plugged in.

Device_Inventory.PNG

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2 minutes ago, Kered124 said:

I have a feeling that the issue is the H220 not being recognized as an HP device- but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I think I could flash HP firmware onto it? my worry is that if I do, I won't be able to keep IT mode and it won't help me. Slot 3 is where the H220 is plugged in.

Device_Inventory.PNG

When you boot the server and get it to show device initialization what does the H220 show as during it's initialization? Does it show any HPE branding/text or just LSI? My guess is that could be part of the issue, when the sensors don't report correctly the minimum safety fan RPM is used which are pretty high.

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9 minutes ago, leadeater said:

When you boot the server and get it to show device initialization what does the H220 show as during it's initialization? Does it show any HPE branding/text or just LSI? My guess is that could be part of the issue, when the sensors don't report correctly the minimum safety fan RPM is used which are pretty high.

No, it shows up as something else; let me reboot quick and see what exactly is says. I will try to get a screenshot of it. i contacted the ebay seller and got a somewhat confusing response back upon asking if its an HP card. I am skeptical because there are no HP logos on the card, but when I google the H220 the pictures show a logo next to the heatsink.

H220_Questionable.PNG

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Alright, during POST, the device shows up as:

 

Avago Technologies MPT SAS2 BIOS

MTP2BIOS-7.39.02.00 (2015.08.03)

Copyright 2000-2015 Avago Technologies. All rights Reserved

 

After that is lists all of the hard drives I have plugged in, and moves on.

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3 minutes ago, Kered124 said:

No, it shows up as something else; let me reboot quick and see what exactly is says. I will try to get a screenshot of it. i contacted the ebay seller and got a somewhat confusing response back upon asking if its an HP card. I am skeptical because there are no HP logos on the card, but when I google the H220 the pictures show a logo next to the heatsink.

H220_Questionable.PNG

OK that explains it, so as far as the HPE server is concerned the card you have is an LSI 9207 not an HPE H220. Still usable just messes with your fans. There is the official HPE firmware in the SPP I gave you isn't there? You could flash it back to that

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2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

OK that explains it, so as far as the HPE server is concerned the card you have is an LSI 9207 not an HPE H220. Still usable just messes with your fans. There is the official HPE firmware in the SPP I gave you isn't there? You could flash it back to that

Can I flash the LSI card to the H220 firmware without issues? I don't know much about these/ how to flash them.. and if I do that will IT mode still be an option?

 

Sorry to ask so many questions, I'm just trying to get an handle on what I need to do haha

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