ML350 with p440 controller problem (freenas11) under ESXi

[mactsk]

Hi all,
I am trying to setup an hp ML350 with the included p440.
I have installed ESXi 6.5 and exposed the controller to the freeness VM
During boot the controller hangs and the fans go 100%, i searched for some info on the net and some threads says the p440 controller is not good with freeness since it lacks jbod.
I was ready to give up, but made a last attempt installing freenas 11 on bare metal, and... it just works!
The ESXi option is not mandatory, it was a nice to have to better use the hardware, so if someone has a clue on that i'll appreciate the help.

Following some screenshots of the setup

Thanks.

 

[Chris Moore]

@Stux is this something you have seen?

 

[Stux]

@Stux is this something you have seen?

Nope.

 

[bigphil]

The p440ar does indeed support jbod/hba mode...you just need to change it during the smart array config bootup. As for the boot hang I'm a bit confused...during ESXi bootup or the FreeNAS VM bootup? If its the FreeNAS vm causing it to go crazy, I wonder what happens if you try FreeNAS 9.10.2-U6 instead of 11?

 

[mactsk]

@bigphil it goes crazy during the boot of the Freenas VM inside ESXi, sometimes even shutting down the VM does not solve the problem and i have to reboot ESXi, after the reboot, in the post, a message appears briefly saying something were wrong with the controller (i don't have a photo of that, sorry)
Trying Freenas 9.10.2-U6 is a good point, i'll do it next time, but i'll have to decide if i want to get stuck with that version in ESXi or go native and take advantage of future docker and virtualisation inside Freenas 11.

 

[bigphil]

Is the p440ar running the latest firmware? You should double check it. I'm also assuming you put the controller in hba mode? While there is no right or wrong answer as everybody's needs and use case is different, virtualization using ESXi is superior to the virtualization in FreeNAS at this point in time. I'm not sure what gen your ML350 is, but I'm guessing it's gen8 or 9. That is a good work horse and running in AIO setup on the platform with ESXi as the hypervisor would be the way to go. You could then use whatever docker platform you wanted inside of a VM while serving storage from the FreeNAS VM.

 

[JeroenvdBerg]

I would guess your p400ar controller firmware is lower then 5.04(A)?

• System fans might go to 100% if connected drives were spun down.

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/pu...78cf84e3cab1587b0ec&swEnvOid=4184#tab-history

Also: this might be an option (once you update the firmware), forcing P440ar in JBOD mode: https://communities.vmware.com/thread/484114
You are using a HP build of ESXi right (with integrated drivers?) -> https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI65-HPE&productId=614