DBS2600CP2 - 4TB HDDs and SATA ports

[luser]

Hi,

I was wondering does DBS2600CP2 by default support 4TB harddisks ? Do I need to update the BIOS or change anything?

Also, it has 14 SATA ports , so if I add seven 4TB harddisks without RAID, will it work?

Hope it is clear.Any help appreciated.

[luser]

no one ? Please help.

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Yes there are tested 4TB hard disks for S2600CP2. See http://serverconfigurator.intel.com/sctthol.aspx?search=Server+Board+S2600CP2 http://serverconfigurator.intel.com/sctthol.aspx?search=Server+Board+S2600CP2.

As for the 14 SATA ports, it's a little complicated...

You may notice those ports have three different colors. the two white (SATA 6G) and four black (SATA 3G) ports are AHCI ports. you can connect SATA drives and use them directly in AHCI mode.

The eight blue ports are SCU SAS/SATA capable ports. By default, if you don't have any storage keys installed, only four of them are functional, and only SATA drives can be used.

The SCU SAS/SATA ports can be set to either RSTe or ESRT2 mode. If you don't want RAID, choose RSTe as it supports pass-through mode. Hoever, keep in mind that you still need to load RSTe driver for OS to see the drives.

For more information, please refer to the http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033461.htm Intel® RAID Quick Reference Guide.

[luser]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for explaining the SATA ports.Could you please tell me whether it needs any BIOS upgrade/special setup for 4TB hard disks?

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Not "required", but it's recommended to apply latest BIOS/Firmware when you setup the server.

[luser]

Thanks a lot Edward.

[luser]

Hi,

I bought the Motherboard S2600CP2 (P4308XXMHGC 4U Pedestal Chassis). Under BIOS setting I can only see

six SATA port. I was wondering does it show four blue ports are SCU SAS/SATA (not using RAID key) in BIOS ?

Please check the picture. Do I need to change something ?

[Edward_Z_Intel]

The four SCU ports won't show up in BIOS. They're in either ESRT2 or RSTe mode, so you'll see the HDDs in RAID OpROM. Once you have RAID configured you can see the VD as a bootable device in Boot menu of BIOS.

[luser]

Hi Edward,

Thanks for reply. If I install ESXI 5.1 (sata0) with RST driver, will it recognize the 4TB Hard-disks

connected to SATA6&7 ? I do not want to configure RAID.

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Officially VMware is only supported on AHCI ports in AHCI mode. ESRT2 or RSTe is not supported. See http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033235.htm Operating System Compatibility

I have heard about installing VMware on RSTe pass-through mode, meaning configure the ports in RSTe mode without creating RAID volume. However I haven't tried it myself and can't promise it will work.

[luser]

Hi Edward,

I was wondering do I need to change anything in BIOS ? Also, I assumed that I need to select the 4 port sata storage unit (under pass-through) ?

Isn't that what you mean?

Also, I was wondering can you tell which intel motherboard has 8-10 AHCI ports that supports 4TB HDD without RAID ?

[Edward_Z_Intel]

You need to set the SCU ports to RSTe mode in BIOS, but don't create a RAID volume.

Go to BIOS Setup => Advanced => Mass Storage Controller Configuration => SAS/SATA Capable Controller => Intel(R) RSTe.

Without creating a RAID volume, you should see disk information during POST, and you should see those drives as bootable device in BIOS.

As for now no Intel server boards have more than 6 AHCI ports.

[luser]

Hi Edward,

I have changed it and can see two HDDs under boot options.

However, I cannot enable pass-through(previous post). Even if I give tick to Intel ...4 port SATA SCU

it does not work (ESXI removes it after restart). I have installed the RSTe driver on Esxi.

Just wondering how one can use all 8 bays(without RAID&4TB HDD)? Is it technically possible ?

I can install other OS as ESXI does not supports it.

[Edward_Z_Intel]

When I say "passthrough" I mean the onboard RAID in passthrough mode, so that ESXi can see the physical drives. "Passthrough" here means you have drives connected to RSTe, but don't create RAID volume, and RSTe will report the drives to BIOS/OS. It's different than configuring a "passthrough" device in ESXi.

Can ESXi see the drives?

[luser]

ESXI cannot see the drives. I have changed sas/sata capable controller to RSTe and installed RSTe driver on ESXI 5.1.0.

Here is the RSTe setup. Do I need to change anything ?

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Which driver did you install? If I'm not wrong ESXi 5.1 has built-in RSTe driver. No more hardware/BIOS configuration should be necessary. Check this one: http://communities.vmware.com/message/2177323# 2177323 http://communities.vmware.com/message/2177323# 2177323

What do you get in ESXi storage pool?

[luser]

Hi edwardzh,

I cannot see the HDDs in ESXI (storage->rescan all->add storage). I also changed the

Capable SATA Controller" to "ENHANCED" mode and SAS/SATA Capable Controller to INTEL(R) RSTe.

I have reinstalled the esxi5.1 and did not install any RST driver.

In previous setup I installed INTEL-ESX-5.0.0-rste-1.0.0-589846.zip.

Here is the current BIOS setup

If I install ubuntu, can I see the INTEL(R) RSTe harddisks?

[luser]

I was wondering how one can see those RSTe hardisk ? which operating supports them by default ?

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Officially Windows is supported on RSTe. Driver is required though.

[luser]

Thanks edwardzh. I can now see the drives in windows 2012. I was wondering why costly product like Vmware esx does not officially support that!