HP DL380p Gen8 Smart Array Controller P420i - How to ZFS

[DD4711]

Hello,

I would like to use a HP DL380p Gen 8 Server with two Smart Array Controller P420i for an TrueNAS Core instance. My hardware knowledge is little outdated. I would like to use ZFS as pool storage. That's my question. How to do that correctly?

What I've done:

• configure two SAS drives in Smart Array Controller P420i settings in RAID 1
• TrueNAS installation on that array
• configure all SAS drives in Smart Array Controller P420i separately one by one as RAID 0. Then theses drives appears in TrueNAS Storage menu. Creating a pool e.g. with two of them as ZFS mirror.

I'm sure this isn't the best or correct way to do that. Could someone help me with setting up ZFS pools in my environment correctly?

Edit:

My current research output is:

Set HBA mode off (https://systemausfall.org/wikis/howto/Disable HP Proliant Hardware-RAID)
-> booting from attached disks won't be possible
-> then I'll have to use another boot medium as SD / USB (not really a good way)

Thanks a lot :)

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

Using the RAID functions for anything with a pool on it is a bad idea. It would probably be ok for the boot pool, but certainly not for anything else. If the 2nd controller is a PCIe card, you could easily replace that with an LSI 9207-8i (assuming these are 6G drives). The connectors should even be the same. That would be just fine.

 

[jgreco]

Hello,

I would like to use a HP DL380p Gen 8 Server with two Smart Array Controller P420i for an TrueNAS Core instance. My hardware knowledge is little outdated. I would like to use ZFS as pool storage. That's my question. How to do that correctly?

What I've done:

• configure two SAS drives in Smart Array Controller P420i settings in RAID 1
• TrueNAS installation on that array
• configure all SAS drives in Smart Array Controller P420i separately one by one as RAID 0. Then theses drives appears in TrueNAS Storage menu. Creating a pool e.g. with two of them as ZFS mirror.

I'm sure this isn't the best or correct way to do that. Could someone help me with setting up ZFS pools in my environment correctly?

Edit:

My current research output is:

Set HBA mode off (https://systemausfall.org/wikis/howto/Disable HP Proliant Hardware-RAID)
-> booting from attached disks won't be possible
-> then I'll have to use another boot medium as SD / USB (not really a good way)

Thanks a lot :)

You need to make some minor adjustments to the Smart Array controllers. Remove them from the machine, place them in ESD bags, and sell them on eBay. Then order yourself a nice pair of LSI HBA's...

https://www.truenas.com/community/t...s-and-why-cant-i-use-a-raid-controller.81931/

Do not attempt to use the P420i for your ZFS array. Much sadness may eventually result.

 

[tangles]

LOL @jgreco,
Just so you know @DD4711, I put the onboard controller into JBOD mode on my DL380p thinking I could use it for ZFS.
After creating a test pool with a single disk, transferred the disk to another FreeNAS box running the same version and I could not see the pool at all... the disk was recognised but not the pool.
Either I didn't configure the onboard controller correctly or the controller was "adding" something to the disks that ZFS did not like and I suspect the latter.

I immediately purchased PCIe HBAs, SAS cables and re-routed the new cables in place of the originals to connect up to the PCIe slots so I could still use the front drive caddies. I didn't touch the onboard controller after that.