DL320e Gen8 v2 Drive options

[T_1_6]

Hi, I hope someone can help.

Ive got a DL320e Gen8 V2 server with the two LFF non-hot plug drive blanks.

From what I can see, there is no actual backplane to support Gen8 Drive trays. From what I can see, its the following part thats fitted..:-

http://partsurfer.hp.com/ShowPhoto.aspx?partnumber=725275-001

Can I fit an HP Gen8 Hard drive in the new carrier and this means the LEDs will not work?

I see other Gen8 Models have the B120i controller that allows Gen8 Drive tray LED control, could I fit the Hot-Plug Backplane for 2 LFF and use this with the B120i controller for a pair of LFF disks?

I dont care about "hotswap" as such, I just want a pair of G8 drives in the front with the LEDs working in SATA mode.

If I went for the SFF backplane and front bezel, does this mean the only way of getting the 2.5" drives working as SATA is to connect the SFF backplane to an internal RAID card? I cannot do this, as both PCI slots will be full with NICs.

Could I also get the HOT PLUG LFF Backplane, connect it to the B120i with a Mini SAS cable, and just run SATA drives off it?

If someone can help that would be GREAT!

Seems strange that HP can say the Gen8 drives work on this, but there are no G8 drive LED contacts on the Non hot plug backplane as shown in my link above.

I really need this, as I have to boot from SD Card, and then use two other SATA drives in the bays for vmware vSAN experimentation.

[Jimmy Vance]

The Gen8 hot-plug drive carriers will plug into this system, but it is not recommeded as they don't really fit properlly and you have to force the latch to close.  My suggestion would be to remove the drives from the Gen8 carriers and put them in the non hot-plug carriers that shipped with the server

[T_1_6]

Jimmy,

Can you give me more details?!

Thanks for your speedy reply. The DL320e v2 says it supports Hotswap Gen8 Carriers, what exactly is the issue with using them? Its even pictured with LFF Gen8 carriers on the web!! :)

Also, if I got the LFF backplane, and hooked it up to the onboard B120i with the HP mini Sas cable and used the Gen8 carriers, would that mean the Drive LEDs would function? I take it this is a supported configuration, or did ALL Hotswap DL320e V2 servers ship with a separate raid card for the backplane?

An add-in raid card I just do not have the room for.

Any more details would be great, ive spent a fortune on this, and hope to have a nice solution with working front drive activity lights.

Thank you again!

[Jimmy Vance]

Sorry, I was thinking more along the lines of the Microserver which uses the same non hot-plug carriers. If you want to switch over using the hot-plug drives, then yes, you will need to change the backplane.