I've just installed an HP SmartArray P410 controller into my HP ProLiant DL320G6 server. The controller seems detected by the server BIOS (it shows up in controllers list in the BIOS set-up), hard drives LEDs flash, but the controller is never offered to be configured during the boot time. It just comes to the place when it says there is no bootable disk and back.
The documentation says I should press F8 when offered to enter ORCA (Option ROM Configuration for Arrays) but I am actually never offered to press F8.
Any Ideas how to set it up?
Best Answer
Assuming you're on a recent firmware revision for the DL320 G6 server. You're going to have to pay close attention to the POST messages in order to catch the RAID controller's ORCA utility prompt.
The "Sea of Sensors" POST routine takes awhile from the first screen prompt (on a warm-boot) to step through RAM checks and to register the sensors. After the ambient temperature display, you will receive a prompt to "Press any key to view Option ROM messages" - Press any alpha-key on the keyboard at this point.
From there, you'll see a prompt for the ILO 2 configuration menu and then, you'll receive a few options for your Smart Array controller. Press
F8to enter the ORCA screen. You can configure a logical drive there.The better option for your system, given that you've just added the controller to an older server, is to download the current bootable HP Firmware DVD to bring all of the system components up-to-date. Following that, download the SmartStart CD to run the graphical Array Configuration Utility. This provides many more options for the RAID controller, including detailed definitions of logical drives, granular cache control and a nice GUI to help define the arrays.
You've asked a few VMWare questions here. Please be sure to install the HP ESXi Offline Management Agent Bundle after you install ESXi. They'll provide hardware and disk monitoring for your ESXi installation. Many people overlook this.