chilemoore
asked on
vSAN and RAID pass-through
I'm configuring a VMware vSAN on a few Dell PowerEdge R720s with a PERC H710 Mini RAID Controller (embedded) running vSphere 6.5. I'm trying to surface the drives (2 SSD and 6 HD) but there are restrictions on the H710 not allowing me to convert to non-RAID. VMware documentation indicates that drives must be set up in a "pass through RAID" configuration. So, do I get another RAID controller that allows for no-RAID drives or is there a way of creating Raid 0 drives or can I mirror the 2 SSDs (RAID 1) and RAID the other 6 HDs. Maybe I'm old school but I tend to trust controller RAID more than software raid, but it's required so not sure I can get around it.
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kevinhsieh
I hear that the H330 is great for this use case.
„H330 is great for this use case” -> there are two different controllers, the H330 and the HBA330. The HBA330 is a good SAS Controller often used in current vSAN ready configs. The H330 is still a simple RAID Controller. So if a new Controller is an option, I would go for the HBA330.
But you can also set the disks as individual RAID0 in your current controller (andyalder already provided that solution)
if you need a supported solution, please verify all components on the HCL
But you can also set the disks as individual RAID0 in your current controller (andyalder already provided that solution)
if you need a supported solution, please verify all components on the HCL
Is this for experimentation (e.g. Lab) or Production ?
If for serious production, you will want to ensure that all your components are on the HCL for vSAN.
A non-HCL component which was recently sent from a vendor by Support (because it failed) and it took down a vSAN implementation, and later it was found the component, which was a SSD was not on the HCL.
Vendor had not noticed this was a vSAN implementation!
(yes VMware vSphere vSAN is troublesome!)
If for serious production, you will want to ensure that all your components are on the HCL for vSAN.
A non-HCL component which was recently sent from a vendor by Support (because it failed) and it took down a vSAN implementation, and later it was found the component, which was a SSD was not on the HCL.
Vendor had not noticed this was a vSAN implementation!
(yes VMware vSphere vSAN is troublesome!)