Requirements for adding RAID controller to C220M4

[spphelpdesk]

We have one rack mountable server connected to our UCS mini that then connects to our SAN.

We want to populate the C220 with 16 x 2TB disks.  As I understand it the onboard RAID controller can only run 8 disks.

Therefore our company purchased a Cisco UCS 12G Modular RAID Controller.  It seems it did not come with any modular flash based write cache.

Can you buy and add that to the Cisco UCS 12G Modular RAID Controller separate or do I have to return the card and get a new one with the flash?

Also, I'm unsure what else we need to make this work.  The disks will be going into the front of the blade and I read that I need a UCS-C240CBLMR16 cable, is that correct?

Are there any other requirements?

[Paul Chapman]

Hi -

A C220 server is a 1U box with up to 8 HDDs.  Do you mean a C240?

Assuming that you mean a C240, the Ordering Guide can provide you with the parts required to get the additional drives installed.

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/c240m4-sff-spec-sheet.pdf

PSC

[spphelpdesk]

Ooopppsss of course it is a C240....sorry.

It seems you can buy a write cache module for the RAID card and add it.

Still unclear if I need to purchase a cable for the RAID controller for 16 disks though, no mention of that in that link.

[Paul Chapman]

Hi -

Honestly, I don't recall.  I don't typically do after-market upgrades on these.  I thought that the 16-drive backplane came with all necessary cables for use with the on-board RAID option.  I believe that they ship cables for the HBA.  What's currently in the C240?

PSC

[spphelpdesk]

Onboard RAID controller only does 8 drives, hence why the PCIe RAID controller is required for 16 drives.

No cables came with the new card...I doubt the cable will be in the C240 for connecting the 16 drives to the PCIe RAID controller but can't be that much to buy one!

[Paul Chapman]

Hi -

Easiest thing is to call TAC.  Nicely inform them that the spare you ordered didn't ship cables with the PCIe card and that there's no part number listed in the ordering guide.  See if they'll comp one for you.  Worst possibility is that they say no, but give you the spare part number to order.

PSC

[spphelpdesk]

Ha I did that today...gave me part number and need to order cable...they also confirmed you can indeed buy the MFWC separate from the RAID card.

[Kirk J]

Greetings.

Previous M3 models had some raid controllers/BBU cache combination SKUs.

Because of the difference cache size models available, they now leave them split out.

Flash-Backed Write Cache (FBWC) Upgrade Options for Cisco 12G SAS Modular RAID controller
UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB 1 GB FBWC, which includes a 1 GB MB memory plus a SuperCap for write cache
backup. Supports JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 6, 50, and 60.
UCSC-MRAID12G-2GB 2 GB FBWC, which includes a 2 GB MB memory plus a SuperCap for write cache
backup. Supports JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 6, 50, and 60.
UCSC-MRAID12G-4GB 4 GB FBWC, which includes a 4 GB MB memory plus a SuperCap for write cache
backup. Supports JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 6, 50, and 60

Thanks,

Kirk...