Problems installing FreeNAS on HP Proliant DL180

[dexter4000]

I have a hp proliant dl 180 storage server and i want to convert it into a nas.
I have freenas on a 4G usb stick that im trying to boot from. I went thru all the usb options in the bios but i cant boot freenas over usb, it is complaining that Bootmgr is missing.
Anyone any idea whats going on?

Thank you

 

[joeschmuck]

Well you could have two things if you have checked the BIOS...

1) The USB key doesn't support booting. Sounds odd but I have seen a few that seriously will not boot yet others will.
2) You server is not able to boot from a USB Flash drive, but it might boot from a USB CD drive or hard drive.

I would try a different USB drive (different model). If you are unable to use a USB flash drive to boot then you could unfortunately install FreeBSD to a small hard drive if you want. It's not the best solution but it is a solution.

Have you ensured the motherboard of your server has the most recent BIOS version?

 

[dexter4000]

Well you could have two things if you have checked the BIOS...

1) The USB key doesn't support booting. Sounds odd but I have seen a few that seriously will not boot yet others will.
2) You server is not able to boot from a USB Flash drive, but it might boot from a USB CD drive or hard drive.

I would try a different USB drive (different model). If you are unable to use a USB flash drive to boot then you could unfortunately install FreeBSD to a small hard drive if you want. It's not the best solution but it is a solution.

Have you ensured the motherboard of your server has the most recent BIOS version?

1. The USB supports booting as i used it to install ubuntu, centos, debian and others. I also loaded on it FreeBSD and that one gives the same error.
2. The server boots fine any other os from usb but not FreeNAS.
I was able tho to boot it via pxe.

 

[dexter4000]

Another question i have. The server has a smart array p400 controller and 12 SAS HDDs.
What would the best case to set the RAID ? FreeNas only sees the drives thru the controller individually if i set RAID 0 on each drive on controller.
Would be a problem having the drive as RAID 0 on the controller and then set zfs in FreeNAS?

Thanks.

 

[survive]

Hi dexter4000,

You can do the single RAID-0 arry setup, but it's not exactly an ideal way to do it. Best thing you could do would be to bin\sell the P400 & replace it with a proper dumb HBA to give zfs direct control of the drives.

Any idea what part of the computer is giving you the bootmanager message? Does it look like it's coming from the BIOS or from FreeNAS or something else?

-Will

 

[dexter4000]

Hi dexter4000,

You can do the single RAID-0 arry setup, but it's not exactly an ideal way to do it. Best thing you could do would be to bin\sell the P400 & replace it with a proper dumb HBA to give zfs direct control of the drives.

Any idea what part of the computer is giving you the bootmanager message? Does it look like it's coming from the BIOS or from FreeNAS or something else?

-Will

Do you know where i could get a dumb HBA for 12 ports?

The problem with the bootmanager is FreeNas or FreeBSD as it built on it. I think the installer sets itself as a cdrom mode where other kernels boot in live mode and i think thats why it doesnt boot from a usb stick because it wont emulate a rom drive.

 

[survive]

Are you sure you aren't trying to boot\run the installer?

Read this: http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Installing_and_Upgrading_FreeNAS

I would suggest you make an install cd and use that to install to the USB key....you can do this on any PC, just power off the box when prompted to reboot, move the key over to the HP, check the boot order to insure the USB key is first on the boot order & see how that goes.

-Will

 

[dexter4000]

Are you sure you aren't trying to boot\run the installer?

Read this: http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Installing_and_Upgrading_FreeNAS

I would suggest you make an install cd and use that to install to the USB key....you can do this on any PC, just power off the box when prompted to reboot, move the key over to the HP, check the boot order to insure the USB key is first on the boot order & see how that goes.

-Will

I already tried that but that option installs the system on the usb, where i dont want to boot of an usb. I wanted to install the system on a harddrive and boot of it.

 

[paleoN]

I already tried that but that option installs the system on the usb, where i dont want to boot of an usb. I wanted to install the system on a harddrive and boot of it.

Then use Burning an IMG File or better yet just use a usb stick.

 

[DoulosGeek]

To the OP...what configuration did you end up using?

I just bought a DL180/G6 with a p410 RAID controller, 14 x 1TB drives, 48GB RAM, dual quad cores. I quickly found out the only way FreeNAS will see the devices is to set them up as individual RAID0 arrays. Not ideal as testing shows that FreeNAS won't report when a drive goes "down" (physically removing the drive). Won't report until you reboot, won't reattach the "failed" unit until reboot either.

I posted a few q's here...not much as for response so I bit the bullet and bought an IBM RaidServe m1015 off E-Bay for $90. I am hoping that it will see all 14 drives through a single cable as that's how the SATA/SAS backplane is configured.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ITw7Rp21o

 

[dexter4000]

If the IBM RaidServe m1015 is a HBA then should work fine. I got a LSI SAS 9211-8i and it works flawlessly. This card is a HBA but you can also configure raid on it. The 9201 version is a hba only.

Hope that helps.

 

[DoulosGeek]

I will follow up with my findings after the m1015 arrives.

 

[Lupeflores09]

If the IBM RaidServe m1015 is a HBA then should work fine. I got a LSI SAS 9211-8i and it works flawlessly. This card is a HBA but you can also configure raid on it. The 9201 version is a hba only.

Hope that helps.

Hey Dexter4000, I got a few questions.....

1) how did you flash your card?
2) do you have bios flashed with it?
3) what version flash you use?
4) are you using 1 cable only?
5) did you have to update any other firmware (motherboard, backplane, etc) to get it to work?
6) what version freenas are you using?
7) did you have to do the b5/b6 tape on 9211-8i card trick?

I'm asking because I'm still attempting to get freenas to recognize any hard drive from backplane.