FreeNAS does not see disk.

[NinjaLee]

Hello,

I'm very new to FreeNAS and apologize in advance if I sound stupid.

Hardware:
HP Proliant DL380 G6
All 16 slot filled with 1.2TB drives.

I first started testing FreeNAS with 16x 300GB hard drives. Then upgraded to the 1.2TB hard drives, but now FreeNAS does not see the drives. I assume I did it the improper way.

This is what I did:
1. Shutdown FreeNAS.
2. Replaced 300GB drives and replaced it with the 1.2TB, thinking FreeNAS would automatically recognize them.
3. Boot up FreeNAS.
4. Detached the old storage configuration.

Is there something I'm missing? I even tried reloading a fresh copy of FreeNAS and the drives still don't show up....

 

[HoneyBadger]

HP Proliant DL380 G6

This server, by default, comes with the HP P410-series RAID cards which are not suitable for FreeNAS.

Have you installed an additional, supported HBA (Host Bus Adapter) for access to storage?

 

[NinjaLee]

This server, by default, comes with the HP P410-series RAID cards which are not suitable for FreeNAS.

Have you installed an additional, supported HBA (Host Bus Adapter) for access to storage?

I checked and there's 2 HBA.

HP P410i & HP P410

I plugged the old drives in and FreeNAS sees them. Why would it see the old drives but not the new ones?

 

[jgreco]

I checked and there's 2 HBA.

HP P410i & HP P410

Ok, so, two RAID controllers. We don't care about those, they're not useful. Now, what model numbers are the HBA's you say you have? (trying to drive home the point)

I plugged the old drives in and FreeNAS sees them. Why would it see the old drives but not the new ones?

The P410 is not an HBA. The term "HBA" means something very specific. If it has a battery, it's a RAID card. If it has a DIMM on it, it's a RAID card. Even if it doesn't, it might still be a RAID card. A HBA is a card that only acts as SAS attachment. It doesn't mangle the stuff between the server and the drives like a RAID card does.

Your plugging in the old drives and having FreeNAS "see" them suggests that there are configured virtual disks on the old drives but not on the new drives. That's a tragic configuration, because it means that if ever anything happens to those disks and you need to move them to another system, you might not be able to recover your data from them. We shudder in horror at that sort of configuration, which is just one of the reasons you're being told in no uncertain terms:

You want to remove the P410's and replace them with a supported LSI HBA. Or HBA's.

FreeNAS is not designed to work with RAID cards. While some will sort-of work with it with a minimum of fuss, it still hides the actual disk behind a layer of management that interferes with the ability of FreeNAS to monitor the drive's health, etc. FreeNAS really wants direct access to the low-level disk without impediments in between.

The typical method for this is to use an HBA such as the LSI 9211-8i, or an LSI RAID controller that can be reprogrammed ("cross-flashed") into HBA mode, such as the LSI 9240-8i or any of its OEM equivalents.