HPE Proliant ML110 Gen10 - SSD's using SATA 9 & 10

[GKNOLA]

My ML110 Gen10 is presently a lab machine that I'm planning on converting to a production server later in the year. The hardware is pretty much maxed out and there's one more thing I'd like to try before stabilizing the hardware and moving the system to production.

I've provided the physical spec of  the system at the end of the post.

I want to maximize storage. I have no need for an internal DVD drive and therefore SATA 9 & 10 are unused as is the S100i Controller which supports Software RAID1 for SATA drives. There is plenty of physical space in the DVD cage (above the HDD cages) to mount 2 x 1TB SSD's in a drive holder secured with double sided tape.

I would like to get verification that I can configure these 2 SSD's as a RAID1 Arrray and specify the resulting drive as the UEFI boot drive for the OS.

My next question concerns power for the SSD's. There is a power connector for the optional DVD which would be the logical place to obtain power for the 2 SSD's. I will hopefully be able to obtain a commercial power splitter cable and a separate adapter to mate with the system provided connector. I don't know the designation for the system provided DVD power connector which appears to be some type of fan connector. Can someone provide me with the correct designation? Even better, can someone provide me with information on obtaining an adapter to convert the installed connector to either a 15 pin SATA power connector or splitter or a Molex? 

 TIA for any assistance.

The physical spec of  the system

All 6 DIMM slots are in use (176 GB total). 2 LFF Drive cages are installed and are full. The drives are connected to a P408i-p. 1 cage has 4 x 8TB SAS in a RAID5 Array and the other has 4 X 1TB SATA , 2 in a RAID1 with 2 hot spares. I hope too repopulate this cage with 4 x 8TB SAS added to the existing RAID 5 Array if my plan to move he core OS to 2 SSD in a RAID1 array is successful. If not, I'll replace the 2x 1B hot spares with 8TB SAS and add them to the existing Aarray.

Alll 5 PCI slots are in use, 1 slot has the P408i-p and the other 4 slots each have a 4 port gigabit NIC for a total of 18 NICs + the ILO. All NICs have Static IP''s and critical ones are teamed. 

The OS is Microsoft Server 2019 Datacenter Edition.

[pchops · Accepted solution]

I think the only supported configuration for using the S100i SATA ports 9 and 10 for SSDs would be via the 878783-B21 HPE Universal SATA 6G AIC HHHL M.2 SSD Enablement Kit, but that would require an available PCIe slot (which you don't have at the moment). Also, for a potential production machine, you might want to rethink the "double sided tape" and unsupported power delivery approach, IMHO.

[KevinSpringPM]

This is not a supported configuration.

[GKNOLA]

I realize that it would be an unsupported configuration and your point about that is important.

While the system will be important when moved to production, it won't be critical. The primary function will be running secondary AD's for some smaller clients and those will also be running on a separate Datacenter Edition server at another physical location. It will also be used for testing and as an emergency backup for those same clients production systems. 

It's obviously not a high powered machine but should fill this need due to the relatively low cost for the system.

I'll agree with your assessment that it isn't a good move but still wonder if the standard SSD's would have worked.

Thanks for your thoughful response

[GKNOLA]

Yes, I'm well aware of that (see the previous response to my question and my reply). 

I do thank you for emphatically pointing it out. 

I'm sure that the responses from pchops and you will dissuade anyone else with a similar idea who reads this thread.

[ldfandian]

In the case of "using the S100i SATA ports 9 and 10 for SSDs would be via the 878783-B21 HPE Universal SATA 6G AIC HHHL M.2 SSD Enablement Kit", may I use the new M.2 SSD as ESXI OS system drive, and let ESXI passthrough the only intel Lewisburg SATA AHCI Controller to my TrueNAS vm ? (I am not sure, coz the M.2 SSD Enablement Kit use onboard SATA 9&10, which probably also depends on the SATA controller?) @pchops 

[GKNOLA]

@Idfandian, I’ll start my response with a major caveat.

I don’t encourage others to emulate my decisions when it comes to experimentation and the use of non- manufacturer supported hardware and solutions. While I don’t make what I consider to be permanent changes, I do take the system outside the realm of manufacturer support and possible warrantee.

I ‘ve obviously received a lot of negative opinions in this thread for deviating from the ‘norm’ and I don’t have a problem with that. I look for ways to maximize the capabilities of equipment to suit my purposes and the reason I’ve posted the things I’ve tried, both successfully and unsuccessfully, is to save others from wasting time wondering whether or not something works.

Now, for your question. I don’t feel qualified to answer whether or not it will work. I have no first hand experience with the Enablement Kit. IMO, if it does, it’ll be a waste of hardware. Using M.2’s into a SATA, limited capability controller, makes no sense to me. I also have no experience with or knowledge of the ESXI OS or hardware you  refer to.

[pchops]

As far as I know, you should be able to use either M.2 drive on the 878783-B21 enablement kit as your ESXi boot drive. However, just from searching a bit, it seems less likely that you could passthrough individual SATA ports. All of the ML110 Gen10 SATA ports (including ports 9 & 10, which would connect to the enablement kit drives) appear to be part of the C621 (aka Lewisburg) chipset, and it would seem that the passthrough criteria is at the controller level, meaning all ports. I don't have any hands-on experience though, so I could be all wet about this...

@GKNOLA, I wouldn't say the opinions expressed about what you were proposing were necessarily "negative", just that of a contrarian view. I, for one, appreciate the innovative approaches that people take to come up with a solution to a problem or to get around physical restrictions. However, for production environments, ah hoc solutions can sometimes bite you (or your successors) in the bottom. Also, there is rarely a grey area when it comes to supported versus unsupported, if that is a concern.