[TriLUG] Server Distro on HP with SAS Drives

Thu Feb 25 12:30:02 EST 2016

Update:

This has been a real adventure, but I believe I have achieved a measure of
success.

In short, HP has broken off their enterprise division and they have a
software repository at: http://downloads.linux.hpe.com.  The HPVSA driver
is in the SPP repository.  I drilled down into it and found the latest
release for RH7.

The trick is to then download the driver in a .gz file and then using
another Linux system, use the data streaming tool DD to put this on a USB
stick, which will create an EXT4 volume with the necessary files.

Launching the CentOS DVD and pressing ESC at the menu brings up the boot:
prompt, at which point you can type linux dd blacklist=ahci which will
launch the utility and let you find the USB stick.  This step caused me a
lot of problems, mostly because I was dealing with / figuring out that you
need another linux system to create the volume image on USB stick.

Once it can find the drivers on the USB stick, you can tell it to proceed
at which point it will launch Anaconda and it will recognize the RAID
array.

Again, a thank you to everyone who helped point me in the right direction.

> Normally you, interrupt the menu with linux dd, which then allows you to
> load a device driver.
>
> A quick google shows this forum entry. Iâm sure you can find more HP
> specific resources as well.
>
>  https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6930
> <https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6930>
>
>
> Matt P.
>
>
>> On Feb 24, 2016, at 4:23 PM, Matt Flyer via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I think you're correct.  This is actually quite frustrating because when
>> we bought the machine I chose it based upon the compatibility lists
>> looking specifically for a fairly decent machine to run as a Linux
>> server,
>> but I'm just now getting around to it.
>>
>> It looks like disabling the RAID controller is one option.  Supposedly
>> there is another option to use the HPVSA driver from HP, which is
>> downloadable.  I'm not quit sure how it would get installed during the
>> system setup yet.
>>
>>> pretty sure,  the issue is soft raid from HP with closed-source code
>>> the detail is https://access.redhat.com/articles/118133
>>>
>>> you need to change your configuration
>>> once you configured as:
>>>
>>> For systems with the B320i SAS controller:
>>> 1. Boot the server into System Options
>>> 2. Navigate to HP Smart Array B320i Raid Configuration
>>> 3. Change to DISABLED
>>>
>>> you drive will detect as jbod drive not sof Raid drive
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 3:56 PM, Don Jerman via TriLUG
>>> <trilug at trilug.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It's a software RAID controller (c.f. winRAID) for which HP has a
>>>> proprietary driver.  You have to get it from HP or disable software
>>>> RAID
>>>> on
>>>> the controller in setup (press the key).  Presumably disabling the
>>>> software
>>>> RAID will allow you to see the drives as JBOD and configure with linux
>>>> tools.  I'd expect the driver to work with CentOS but ymmv.  Not
>>>> surprising
>>>> that CentOS doesn't include the non-free driver.
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 3:17 PM, Matt Flyer via TriLUG
>>>> <trilug at trilug.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It's a DL360e with a B320i RAID controller (configured as a single
>>>> logical
>>>>> volume of 4 disks in a 1+0 RAID) that the configuration utility
>>>>> refers
>>>> to
>>>>> as /dev/sda
>>>>>
>>>>>> what model ProLiant?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Matt Flyer via TriLUG <
>>>>> trilug at trilug.org>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have an HP Proliant machine with SAS drives that I would like to
>>>> bring
>>>>>>> online as an updated server.  After giving it a little thought, I
>>>>>>> decided
>>>>>>> to put CentOS on it, though I am not married to that distribution.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I downloaded the ISO (note, the minimal ISO would not run,
>>>> apparently
>>>>>>> due
>>>>>>> to missing drivers that are in the standard DVD version), verified
>>>> the
>>>>>>> SHA
>>>>>>> SUM and verified the GPG signature on the sums (Thank's Mint).  The
>>>>>>> system
>>>>>>> would boot and the installation manager started.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> All appeared to be going well, until I realized it doesn't see any
>>>> disks
>>>>>>> in the machine.  As I mentioned in the subject title, the machine
>>>> has
>>>>>>> SAS
>>>>>>> drives.  It looks like Red Hat has removed a lot of functionality
>>>> or
>>>>>>> even
>>>>>>> the drivers for the HP Smart Array Controller and as such it
>>>> doesn't
>>>> see
>>>>>>> any drives
>>>>>>> (
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> http://vessokolev.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-install-centos-7-on-hp-proliant.html
>>>>>>> )
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The blog I linked to has instructions for what look like extracting
>>>> the
>>>>>>> driver from an older Centos system, hacking the ISO image, and
>>>> using
>>>> it
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> install the newer version.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My question(s) is (are): has anyone run into this and do you have a
>>>>>>> better
>>>>>>> solution or is there a distribution that does work with SAS drives?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> This message was sent to: Warren <volcimaster at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org
>>>> from
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> address.
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>>>>>>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> *Warren Myers*
>>>>>> http://antipaucity.com
>>>>>> http://twitter.com/warrenmyers
>>>>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/warrenmyers
>>>>>> https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=d197a961987a
>>>>>> TXT WMYERS to 50500 | http://contxts.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> This message was sent to: djerman at pobox.com <djerman at pobox.com>
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>>>> that
>>>>> address.
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>>>>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> This message was sent to: fendy <bimasakti at gmail.com>
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>>>>
>>> --
>>> This message was sent to: Matt Flyer <matt at noway2.thruhere.net>
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>>> that
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>>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>
>> --
>> This message was sent to: M. Pusateri <mpusateri at wickedtrails.com>
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>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>
>