Request for Written Confirmation – PERC H755 eHBA Mode for Ceph Storage Nodes on PowerEdge R760xs

Dear Dell RAID controller Team,

We are currently designing a Dell-certified Ceph/OpenStack storage solution for our customer. The proposed configuration uses PowerEdge R760xs with a PERC H755 controller, where all OSD (data) drives are configured in enhanced HBA (eHBA) mode. The operating system boot volume is placed on a separate RAID-1 pair (or BOSS card), leaving the data disks entirely under direct pass-through.

The customer has highlighted a requirement that the storage controller must be explicitly listed as Dell-certified and recommended for Ceph storage nodes. Their concern stems from the fact that many existing Dell Ceph reference architectures name the HBA355i (or HBA330) as the tested HBA, while the H755 is often seen primarily as a RAID controller. They have asked us to demonstrate how our design complies with Dell certification and Ceph best practices.

We understand that the PERC H755 in eHBA mode is architecturally equivalent to the HBA355i – both are based on the Broadcom SAS3808 silicon, and eHBA mode provides full SCSI inquiry data, S.M.A.R.T. passthrough, and no RAID metadata or I/O abstraction, meeting Ceph's requirement for direct disk access. However, to formally close this compliance point, we kindly request a written confirmation from your OpenStack team covering the following:

That the PERC H755, when configured in eHBA mode, is functionally equivalent to the Dell HBA355i with respect to drive pass-through semantics and behaviour.

That this configuration is fully supported by Dell for Ceph storage nodes (including OpenStack/Ceph deployments) on the PowerEdge R760xs platform.

That using the H755 in eHBA mode does not deviate from Dell's recommended hardware practices for software-defined storage, nor does it invalidate any Dell Ceph reference architecture guidelines.

A short technical confirmation email or a configuration advisory letter would suffice. This will be shared directly with the customer to satisfy their audit and compliance requirements.

Thank you in advance for your support. We look forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Hao Ran