10 disk RAID 10 across 2 cages in ML350 G8p ??

[RobTowns]

I have a server as follows
J2Q95A   HP ML350p Gen8p 8x SFF with P420i 512 (factory setup)
Later added P420 with 1GB cache along with an 2nd 8x SFF cage 

I'm planning on ripping out the 300GB drives and replacing with 10x 1.2TB as can source them at a great price

Can I create 1 array across 2 cages?
I also have 2x 718139-001  800GB SSD

The plan is to run the HyperV host from the SSD mirror and have the Raid 10 to store the guests.

Is this even possible??

Cheers Robert

I am not sure if I can spread a 10 disk Raid 10 array across 2 cages?? They have individual controllers

I don't care about migration or how it is achieved as I'll restore everything from backups

[Srinath_Raju]

Hi Rob,

It does not matter if the drives are in two different cages.  You can go ahead and create raid.  Theoretically its possible to run HyperV host from the SSD mirror and have the Raid 10 to store the guests.

Regards

Srinath

[ldoodle]

I think the question is if a single (hardware) array can be spanned across multiple controllers; so 2 controllers, 14 1.2TB disks, 1 RAID 10 array.

I don't think HPE (any) controllers can do controller-spanning arrays. I've certainly never worked with ones that can - but then apart from simple mirrors for OS I haven't done "hardware raid" in years.

You're looking at more modern technologies like ZFS or Windows Storage Spaces, which can absolutely do these kinds of things (even hybrid HDD + SDD deployments for tiered performance). In which case you don't really need "P" series HPE controllers with FBWC or BBWC. "E" series are fine because the "volume manager" handles protection from power outages etc.

PS: Software-based volume managers require that the disks are presented to the OS as-is, i.e. not behind some raid technology so you'd need to turn your current "P" series controllers to true HBA mode.

[ldoodle]

PS: If you're using Hyper-V, are you clustered? If so, check out Storage Spaces Direct (S2D).