Does the Ml 110 G7 support RAID setup?

[Geraldo45]

Hi All

To clarify I bought an ML 110 G7 (Intel E3-1220) and have 2 drives, the server can see both drives but I do not see th

Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA) during boot up.  I expected the stock ML 110 to come with a raid card that I could configure an array with.  When I go into BIOS and then boot controller order I can see 2 Intel Pro controllers, when I googled that it said it supports raid but mentioned a particular model but I do not know which model it.

I sent an email to the place where I got the server from for further information but wont here from them till tomorrow at the very earliest.

So does anyone know if the stock card supports configuring an array and if yes why do I know see any option in the boot up process.  There is no OS on the server yet and I tried the HP offline ACU which you put onto a USB stick, when I did a rescan of controllers it said there were no identifiable controllers.  I think I've answered my own question but want a 2nd and 3rd opinion :)

Thanks

G

[Jeffrey D Chard · Accepted solution]

It comes with a b110i raid controller. it is a software raid.  It is turned on by a biOS setting.

if you are installing server 2012, I would think twice about using it, as 2012 offers has more flexible storage solutions. 

[Geraldo45]

Thanks Jeffrey

I will check now, and I plan to run ESXi 5.1 on it. I always say understood for example software raid in w2k3 and w2k8 to be inferior to hardware raid. Now is this software better because it's at a lower level below the OS?

Also silly point but how did you know what raid card it had? I tried rtm but must have missed that.

Thanks G

[Jeffrey D Chard]

I have a ml110g7. With similar hardware As you described. It is my understanding that the controller is embedded in the mother board.   It only does raid 1 or 0.

the ml110g7 I have came with ws2008r2. 

When it installed, it instaled using the legacy Sata Controller. I  then had to convert it to raid.  ,I  learned a fair bit what the controller canot do.  The embedded controller is not that smart. I eventually found it easier to do a reinstall and them restore from back up. 

i had the same belief that a lower level software raid, would be better than the server version.  That is probably correct, but I did not notice any real performance improvement. 

The beauty of ws2012 is that it will allow you to mix different drives in the same raid.

[Geraldo45]

Update:

ESXi 5.1 (maybe earlier too) does not detect software RAID, I have to purchase a physical RAID card.