TRUENAS SCALE 22.02-R2 problem boot sd card HP Gen 8

[johndoedoe]

Hi everybody,
i am trying to install truenas Scale on my old DL380p Gen8 HP server.
the issue is that when i put the P420i raid card in HBA mode i can't boot on the hard drive, i have to boot on usb or internal SD Card.
when i put grub on the sd card i have a grub rescue shell.
The message is "no such device : " and a suit of hex character

i tried to install grub on the sd card by a lot of ways but i always have the same message :/

 

[jgreco]

The P420i is a RAID card; don't use it. See:

What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

 

[ClassicGOD]

like @jgreco wrote - P420i is not good for ZFS. Thankfully DL380p Gen8 has plenty of PCIE expansion to install a dedicated SAS controller.
You will need a controller with 8 internal channels (2 mini SAS connectors) and new mini SAS cables as the original ones are 90 degrees and wont really fit into most standard controllers. Once you have a compatible controller I recommend disabling the P420i in bios and removing the FBWC and it's capacitor bank if present.

To boot from P420i afaik you have to set the boot drive in the controller settings (setting P420i as a boot device in bios is not enough, look for key command to enter Smart Array configuration during post). It will be similar with dedicated controller once you get it - setting controller as boot device in bios is not enough.

What I use in my DL380p G8 is an optical drive cable (I got one designed for DL360 - the only difference is length and it was much cheaper) plugged into port on the motherboard (there is one slimline SATA port on the board with power and data) with slimline SATA to SATA converter and SATA SSD connected to it. That way I don't use up one of the bays for boot media.

 

[johndoedoe]

thanks for your answer the strange thing is my actual storage server use ZFS on debian buster and boot from an SD card without any issue and the server is the same with a p420i in HBA mode

i have 25 disks to manage so i think i will need a lot of channel no?
do you have some good hba card to recommand ?

thanks

 

[jgreco]

no

No. Normally, prebuilts with more than 8 bays would be using an SAS expander, so I would doublecheck your system to see what's actually going on. The P420i is an SAS RAID controller with 8 lanes, so in theory you should only need a typical LSI HBA with 8 lanes. Which one works best for you depends on what cabling changes might need to be made.

 

[johndoedoe]

yes i double check it you're right there are only 2 SAS cable so i think there is a sas expander in the front sas backplane board
i heard about stong fan noise with LSI HBA card does some solution exists to avoid that ?

 

[ClassicGOD]

@jgreco is right - the standard 25 drive SFF backplane in DL380p Gen 8 uses only 2 x4 SAS links and an expander. Later Gen 9 had configurations like 12 LFF backplane requiring 3 connections because it had no expander.

When it comes to SD Boot - booting from SD is not an issue - I had no problems booting Scale from internal USB and internal SD. I never tested booting only GRUB and then booting to HDD but that sounds like a config issue maybe? Anyway you should be able to boot directly from one of the HDD bays if you configure H420i for the correct drive.

 

[johndoedoe]

i have a P420i not a H420i i don't know if it's a mistake or an other hba card ^^
on the p420i in HBA mode we could not boot on a hard drive as i know :/

 

[johndoedoe]

if i undestand thing correctly this card could be ok : https://www.techbuyer.com/fr/h240-lp-hp-h240-smart-host-bus-adapter-low-profile-bracket-71629
am i right ?
they speak about hba card and when i go on the hp website i see some raid mode... so i am a little bit lost

 

[jgreco]

The H240 is, IIRC, one of the HP SmartArray controllers. It's not an LSI HBA.

 

[johndoedoe]

thank you @jgreco
I am a little bit lost tou found a real hba card wich is compatible with my servers. I see that the H220 is an LSI9205 so i though that it was the same for the H240.
This one should be ok ?

HP H220 9205-8I PCI-e 3.0 x8 Host Bus Adapter 660088-001 638834-001 Controller | eBay

Les meilleures offres pour HP H220 9205-8I PCI-e 3.0 x8 Host Bus Adapter 660088-001 638834-001 Controller sont sur eBay ✓ Comparez les prix et les spécificités des produits neufs et d'occasion ✓ Pleins d'articles en livraison gratuite!

www.ebay.fr

Is that's a real HBA card ?

 

[fdodd]

DL360 Gen8 used two SSD 120 disk in Raid 1 configured on P420i Raid Card, have attached Storage Array using HP220 Card in IT Mode

 

[ClassicGOD]

i have a P420i not a H420i i don't know if it's a mistake or an other hba card ^^

The H in my post was a typo, it was meant to be 'P420i'. Sorry about the confusion.

on the p420i in HBA mode we could not boot on a hard drive as i know :/

You might be right. I didn't look too closely at P420i capabilities as I knew from the start that I won't be using it. I got my LSI 9210-8i for like 25eur and never looked back.

 

[johndoedoe]

wow 25euro it sound like magic thank you @ClassicGOD
On internet it sound like a HBA RAID Sas Sata card you never have problem with the hba mode ?
where did you find it ? ebay ?

@fdodd thanks for your return, i have 25 hdd and there is 12 hdd by SAS cable due to the integrated sas expander so if i want to use this kind of stuff il will loose 12 hdd.

 

[ClassicGOD]

wow 25euro it sound like magic thank you @ClassicGOD
On internet it sound like a HBA RAID Sas Sata card you never have problem with the hba mode ?
where did you find it ? ebay ?

I had to flash it to IT firmware (there are plenty of tutorials online), other than that it just works. I got it from a local used server hardware reseller and it was sold without PCI bracket. You can find it here but I don't know if they ship internationally: https://ripe.pl/pl/p/LSI-9210-8i-DELL-h200-SAS-SATA-6GB-RAID-JBOD/14853

 

[johndoedoe]

Thanks @ClassicGOD I will ask to my niece she live in poland ^^

 

[johndoedoe]

Thanks very much @ClassicGOD I received my cards from ripe.pl it's perfect !
juste a last question. Do you add a fan on the card ? do you know how can i check the temperature ? I don't found the information on the web.
I juste see some people have overheat problems with LSI cards.
The airflow of the DL380p Gen 8 is ok for the passive cooling or have i to add a fan on the heatskin ?
Thanks !

 

[ClassicGOD]

Thanks very much @ClassicGOD I received my cards from ripe.pl it's perfect !
juste a last question. Do you add a fan on the card ? do you know how can i check the temperature ? I don't found the information on the web.
I juste see some people have overheat problems with LSI cards.
The airflow of the DL380p Gen 8 is ok for the passive cooling or have i to add a fan on the heatskin ?
Thanks !

Airflow in DL380p G8 is definitely enough for the card, no need for extra fan - the card was made for forced airflow like the DL380p G8 offers.

By default the airflow is even higher than needed because the server will spin up the fans to 43% when it notices non-HP card installed. If you want to make it a bit quieter take a look at this thread on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/hix44v/silence_of_the_fans_pt_2_hp_ilo_4_273_now_with/