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Why doesn't the light come on with newly installed RMS25KB080

JFick1
Beginner
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My Intel Xeon e3-1275 Server running VMware hyperviser 5.0 runs really well with RS2WC040 raid 0 controller card. Still some time ago I had initial trouble with that controller brilliantly solved by John on this forum. When I start my Server I can see a light go on, as it powers up, on the RS2WC040 controller card.

I have just bought and installed Intel RMS25KB080 Raid Module new right out of the box. Well the problem is NO LIGHT COMES ON!

Needless to say you don't see RMS25KB080 come up in the boot sequence. RS2WC040 of course comes up fine. The Intel literature says there is a light on my new controller.

What did I try so far without any luck?

I tried 3 different 2.0 PCI Express slots along with really pushing the device hard into the slot. The literature says it is backwards compatible to 2.0.

I verified the hard drives attached and the power source. I tried a second new Intel cable set. Nada!

I saw on the Internet someone claimed that Intel had put a block on this module so you can't use with a non-Intel motherboard. I would doubt that.

The motherboard I use is Asus P8B WS LGA 1155 Intel C206 ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server/Workstation Motherboard.

As it has the Intel C206 Chipset and as the motherboard runs the RS2WC040 just fine I would have thought it would also run the RMS25KB080 raid module. I had wanted an ATX MB with the C206 chipset and Intel did not make that board!

Advise would be appreciated. Alternatively I don't want to spin my wheels if the module is programed not to boot up.

Roe5685.

P.S. I do not have another server at this location but should I try it in a desk top? I mean should it not light up if in ANY proper 2.0 or 3.0 slot?

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1 Solution
Edward_Z_Intel
Employee
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Unfortunately Intel® Integrated RAID modules don't support 3rd party motherboards. If you want Intel RAID solution on a 3rd party board, choose an equivalent Intel® RAID controller, like RS25DB080 or RS25AB080. For more information, please refer to the http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033426.htm Intel� RAID RS2 and RS25 Family Product lists and configuration guide.

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8 Replies
Edward_Z_Intel
Employee
1,123 Views

Unfortunately Intel® Integrated RAID modules don't support 3rd party motherboards. If you want Intel RAID solution on a 3rd party board, choose an equivalent Intel® RAID controller, like RS25DB080 or RS25AB080. For more information, please refer to the http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033426.htm Intel� RAID RS2 and RS25 Family Product lists and configuration guide.

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JFick1
Beginner
1,122 Views

Dear Edward, Thankyou for that info. To complete would you kindly answer the following:

Instead of shelling out roughly an additional $500 for the RS25DB080 which is too powerful for my existing MB could I not purchase for around $200 the S1200BTLR? Appearently all its PCI Express slots will accept the raid module? Could you verify that?

Is there a better MB choice? ( given I have the case, 32GB ecc mem, the processor etc. )

Thanks,

Roe 5685.

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SBlitz
New Contributor II
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S1200BTL won't work either - you need special revision called S1200BTLRM for these cards.

http://ark.intel.com/products/69633/Intel-Server-Board-S1200BTLRM http://ark.intel.com/products/69633/Intel-Server-Board-S1200BTLRM

And yes, it's an excellent board.

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JFick1
Beginner
1,122 Views

ROC? support only on 1200BTLRM and that's what we need?

Thanks Saar you and Edward have fully answered me. Only ONE of our suppliers carries this board! ( The S1200BTLRM ).

It seems reasonably priced. The ability to access the bios from elsewhere even if the machine is "not booted" with the add on is cool. And then you can install a new op sys as if you were in the room! Wow!

I have no further questions.

Or to put it another way I have tons. of questions. For example if you have the time which more powerful boards such as the E5 boards also have this management feature? Please do not name more than 4.

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SBlitz
New Contributor II
1,122 Views

In your case, you are after pedestal (tower) systems. Most EPSD boards will do with RMM4 module.

I would use S2400SC board which is CEB size and will fit most generic semi-deep tower cases, decent EPS power supply and of course the RMM4 module for your needs.

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JFick1
Beginner
1,122 Views

I looked at the 4 different mb's in total from the both of you. Thanks.

First of all the e5-2400 price differential one cpu / two cpu is neglible. Why would I not always pick the 2 CPU mb even if I only put one CPU in it?

Secondly taking the 2400 versus the two 2600 mbs I see right away that for the $200 extra MB cost you can put in a lot more memory. That is a big consideration given we have an esix server where we have to pick and choose what VM's to have up so as not to run out of memory. Our current server memory cap is too low.

What other advantages does the 2600 MB's have over the 2400?

And what about the CPU's? What advantage there? The 2400 CPU's can work less memory so why are they the same price? What am I missing?

Would I be making a mistake to go for a pair of 2620's or 2420's rather than more powerful CPU's and more band width but much higher prices?

And lastly the several raid options / SAS / SATA have me tossed & confused.

We look to do most SAS hookups of at least 4 drives per Array on SATA III

On my home computer ( used a lot for work ) I have 4 Cherryville SSD's on MB array. Wow!

Your site appears to talk about a fee to add raid 5 to two SATA III and 4 SATA II. I must have it wrong?

Can you list the several options and rough approximate prices for each of them so I can see total cost?

I take it all of the options will operate ESIX 5 out of the box without fiddling with drivers as is the case now with my current intel raid card??

Thanks for helping me zero in on the issues.

Roe5685

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Edward_Z_Intel
Employee
1,122 Views

Wow that's a lot of questions. Let me try to answer them one by one.

As for difference between Xeon Processor E5-2600 family and E5-2400 family, the main difference is number of memory channels and number of PCIe lanes. So with the E5-2600 family you can have more memory and I/O bandwidth.

Within the same processor family, you may notice difference in QPI speed and memory speed, which also means different bandwidth and different performance. Look at the comparison: http://ark.intel.com/compare/64595,64623,64594,64617 http://ark.intel.com/compare/64595,64623,64594,64617

As for onboard SAS/SATA controllers and RAID options, yes it's kind of confusing. You may want to first check the http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033461.htm Intel® RAID Quick Reference Guide. However, please take note that neither of the onboard RAID solutions (RSTe and ESRT2) supports VMware ESXi in RAID mode. So if you want to run ESXi on RAID 5, go for a Integrated RAID module (cheaper but works only on certain Intel server boards) or a RAID controller (works on 3rd party boards but more expensive). You can find a RAID/board compatibility matrix in the http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033426.htm Intel® RAID RS2 and RS25 Family Product lists and configuration guide.

Driver is needed for add-on RAID modules or controllers. It's available here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20814 http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20814. Step-by-step installation instruction is available here: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-033313.htm VMware* ESXi 5.0 installation and Intel® RAID Web Console 2 tips and tricks

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