HP MicroServer GEN8 - SAS Controller Support

[Vodka2014]

Good Day, All

 

I am wondering what SAS Controller will work on an HP MicroServer GEN8.  From the specs the PCI-E Slot is 2.0 and will I need one in IT Mode ?

 

I have 16TB Seagate EXOS SAS 12GB/s Disks that I would like to try and use if possible. 

 

Any help and support on this please.

 

Thanks

[wanye]

i blew one of the sata ports on my gen8 motherboard when the psu blew a couple of weeks ago

 

after chatting to @WiteWulf i bought a hp p222 controller (you also need the cache board and battery for it to work, so dont just buy the bare card) off ebay for around £25 (£10 for the card, £15 for the cache/battery)

 

currently struggling with getting it setup (upgraded to dsm7) but WW has his all working nicely, although bear in mind the card runs HOT so hopefully your microserver is kept somewhere the extra fan noise isnt going to bother you

 

HTH

Edited September 9, 2023 by wanye

[Vodka2014]

25 minutes ago, wanye said:

i blew one of the sata ports on my gen8 motherboard when the psu blew a couple of weeks ago

 

after chatting to @WiteWulf i bought a hp p222 controller (you also need the cache board and battery for it to work, so dont just buy the bare card) off ebay for around £25 (£10 for the card, £15 for the cache/battery)

 

currently struggling with getting it setup (upgraded to dsm7) but WW has his all working nicely, although bear in mind the card runs HOT so hopefully your microserver is kept somewhere the extra fan noise isnt going to bother you

 

HTH

 

Thanks for this what disks are you using SATA or SAS and what I.e 6 or 12 GB/s disks

[wanye]

I just plugged it into the existing cable to the backplane. I've got 4 sata disks in there

[WiteWulf]

Have a read of my thread on getting this config working from this post onwards:

Even though I'm running DSM in ESXi, I'm passing the controller through to the VM, so as far as DSM is concerned it's the same hardware configuration.

From what you've shown me (not posted here in the forum), you're loading the correct driver for the P222, and can see connected HDDs in dmesg

 

I'm pretty sure this is a sataportmap problem

[WiteWulf]

On 8/27/2023 at 7:15 AM, Vodka2014 said:

I am wondering what SAS Controller will work on an HP MicroServer GEN8.  From the specs the PCI-E Slot is 2.0 and will I need one in IT Mode ?

 

I have 16TB Seagate EXOS SAS 12GB/s Disks that I would like to try and use if possible. 

 

You need to understand that SAS controllers and disk shelves are backwards compatible with SATA disks, but you can't connect SAS disks to a SATA disk cage and backplane (which is what the Gen8 has).

 

The disk cage and backplane in a Gen8 will not support SAS disks. To use SAS disks with a SAS controller in a HP Gen8 you'd need an external SAS drive tray or similar.

[Vodka2014]

16 minutes ago, WiteWulf said:

 

You need to understand that SAS controllers and disk shelves are backwards compatible with SATA disks, but you can't connect SAS disks to a SATA disk cage and backplane (which is what the Gen8 has).

 

The disk cage and backplane in a Gen8 will not support SAS disks. To use SAS disks with a SAS controller in a HP Gen8 you'd need an external SAS drive tray or similar.

 

Ah Dam i miss read somewhere oops. Then i need to move them to my SAS setup or to get a SAS System with the correct backplane

 

recommendations for something small @WiteWulf if you know

Edited September 9, 2023 by Vodka2014

[Vodka2014]

I found some videos where people have got some SAS Drives working. I am going to test this out and will report back on what / IF i get this right. 

[Vodka2014]

Hi @WiteWulf

 

It works

 

I used an LSI 9211-4i it is Flashed with LSI 9211-8i IT Mode and i added my 16 TB SAS Drive

 

Thanks

[Vodka2014]

It works

[asaf]

1 hour ago, Vodka2014 said:

It works

 

Was the process straightforward or you needed some tricks and magic to make it work?

[Vodka2014]

1 hour ago, asaf said:

 

Was the process straightforward or you needed some tricks and magic to make it work?

 

Yes. Moved the cable to the HBA - IT Mode. Removed disks and built the loader. Once done shutdown the server, added the disks and did the migration. 

 

Just the disk order is wrong but i can live with that for now. 

[asaf]

1 hour ago, Vodka2014 said:

 

Yes. Moved the cable to the HBA - IT Mode. Removed disks and built the loader. Once done shutdown the server, added the disks and did the migration. 

 

Just the disk order is wrong but i can live with that for now. 

 

The problem will happen when/if you need to change a HDD that died and rebuild the RAID volume...

[IG-88]

39 minutes ago, asaf said:

The problem will happen when/if you need to change a HDD that died and rebuild the RAID volume...

as long as you can see the SN of the disks it will be ok and when doing recovery you should never expect to know the order of the disks, check after reboot as adding or removing disks might change things but as long as checking the Sn of the disks it should work

thats the case with the lsi hba, i never had a hp hba with it mode so i could not check if its the case with sas controllers in general or just lsi

 

in general dsm (that is using mdadm) can handle the change of disk positions as mdadm can keep track of that by itself

[Vodka2014]

13 minutes ago, IG-88 said:

as long as you can see the SN of the disks it will be ok and when doing recovery you should never expect to know the order of the disks, check after reboot as adding or removing disks might change things but as long as checking the Sn of the disks it should work

thats the case with the lsi hba, i never had a hp hba with it mode so i could not check if its the case with sas controllers in general or just lsi

 

in general dsm (that is using mdadm) can handle the change of disk positions as mdadm can keep track of that by itself

 

Thanks mine is an LSI 9211-4I my HP one is on the way and will test this out as well. there is an fix for this that Peter-Suh mentioned i just need to know how it should be added and will give it a try. 

 

Checking the SN yes i am making notes of what disk is in what slot

[asaf]

34 minutes ago, IG-88 said:

as long as you can see the SN of the disks it will be ok and when doing recovery you should never expect to know the order of the disks, check after reboot as adding or removing disks might change things but as long as checking the Sn of the disks it should work

thats the case with the lsi hba, i never had a hp hba with it mode so i could not check if its the case with sas controllers in general or just lsi

 

in general dsm (that is using mdadm) can handle the change of disk positions as mdadm can keep track of that by itself

 

Is that a sure thing?

I have read not one explanation, that in case of an HDD failure the newly added HDD will show up on the last DSM "bay".

Hence the complaint that the recovery and the rebiuld of the Volume for that matter will be a mess and hard to achieve.

[Vodka2014]

8 hours ago, asaf said:

 

Is that a sure thing?

I have read not one explanation, that in case of an HDD failure the newly added HDD will show up on the last DSM "bay".

Hence the complaint that the recovery and the rebiuld of the Volume for that matter will be a mess and hard to achieve.

 

I removed my 1 disk and added a new one and it showed up in the same spot that it was showing in DSM

[Vodka2014]

Bad news right now my system has done something odd and in recovery. Do not know the cause busy with it now to see what has broken. 

[jaydee]

On 9/9/2023 at 2:26 PM, WiteWulf said:

 

You need to understand that SAS controllers and disk shelves are backwards compatible with SATA disks, but you can't connect SAS disks to a SATA disk cage and backplane (which is what the Gen8 has).

 

The disk cage and backplane in a Gen8 will not support SAS disks. To use SAS disks with a SAS controller in a HP Gen8 you'd need an external SAS drive tray or similar.

The Gen 8 absolutely supports both standards natively. I have 2, one stuffed with SAS EXOS and the other full of Seagate SATA disks connected to P222s. You can even mix types in the same system but you cannot use cross standard RAID.

[Vodka2014]

Hi @asaf

 

Please do not proceed with what i have done until i can find out what is going on.