Install Oracle Linux 6.4 on HP ProLiant DL380e Gen8 Server

fakeraidhphp-prolianthp-smart-arrayoracle

installation does not detect the raid 1 logical drive created from ACU.
the installation shows the two 2T disks, and after the installation is complete, I can not boot up to the system.

I have been searching, and I am looking for the right procedure.

Do i need to an extra driver for smart array ? if yes which one and how to install it!

PS : on ILO interface within Storage section i have the message below :
No Smart Array Controller found.
HP Smart Array Controller or HP Dynamic Smart Array RAID Controller is required to display drive array information.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Continuing my search for full correct installation procedure, kindly check and advise about the procedure below. If i am missing any important detail

Download RHEL 6.4 Software Driver Update and extract it.
Copy hpvsa-1.2.4-4.rhel6uX.x86_64.dd to a USB Key formatted as
FAT32.
Once the floppy driver diskette ready on the USB Key and the Array
is being created, is time to begin the EL 6.4 installation by booting
from the DVD.
On the main installation menu for EL, mount the USB Key with
the driver on it. At the installation menu, select the installation method and hit “ESC” key to receive the "boot:" prompt
At that "boot" prompt enter the following command:
linux dd blacklist=ahci
Hit ENTER Select Yes for driver diskette, Select the USB drive.
Select the driver disk image and select OK .
Continue the OS installation, then just click select the logical
volume where to install the EL (version 6.4).

Installation tested and works as expected.

Best Answer

I blame HP for convincing people to buy the ProLiant DL360e/DL380e series of servers. The storage controller is a big compromise on those servers. Here, you basically installed onto one of the two disks.

The HP Dynamic Smart Array needs a binary driver to really function... See this Red Hat knowledge base article. You'll have to slipstream it into the installation.

In order to install onto your server model, you'll require a driver disk for use during the installation process. The driver you need is the hp-vsa module. The install will need to be performed with a USB key.

Here's the link to the driver. Choose the right binary driver for your EL version (6.4)

Here are the installation instructions.

Related Solutions

Oracle Enterprise Linux – Fix Disk Detection on HP ProLiant DL360e Gen8

You need the equivalent of EL5.7 or 5.8 in order to have an installer that supports the newest generation of Smart Array controller.

Please see the footnotes on the HP/OEL technical exceptions matrix.

You need Oracle Linux/UEK 5.8. That's the minimum-supported installer version.

What version is your OEL installer?

Edit:

This was an issue with multiple elements. First, the OS the original poster was installing was too old for the server hardware. That was resolved by viewing the technical exceptions matrix from HP for Oracle Enterprise Linux. The same applied for RHEL and CentOS.

Second, I assumed the OP was using a proper Smart Array RAID controller. The P420i is the right controller for this setup. Instead, he is using a "Dynamic Smart Array B320i", which is a fakeraid controller. See these notes from the CentOS forum. It uses a software-side closed-source driver to enable RAID functionality. Terrible.

Red Hat explains that the servers with this controller are shipped in a bad default configuration that will prevent installation.

Resolution: Systems with these controllers will ship from HP with the Software RAID mode enabled by default. You can either load a driver disk/USB key at installation for your OS or disable the RAID...

This mode requires a closed source driver that is not shipped or supported by Red Hat. In order to install RHEL on these systems without the closed source driver and RAID support, the Software RAID mode must either be disabled (B320i controller) or switched to SATA AHCI support mode (B120i SATA controller).

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

Proliant ML310e Gen8 – Smart Array Predicted Failure with SSD

I'm running an ML310e Gen8 v2 with SATA SSDs on the built in b120i port 5/6 (no arrays/jbod - just using controller to make port 6 bootable) and have found a solution to stop the SSD drives showing as failed on reboot! This is homelab running linux/zfs, but I would certainly use in production.

Open Smart Storage Administrator (SSA) - I did this on POST using F5 once controller was detected. You can also do through Intelligent Provisioning (F10).
Go to Modify Controller Settings and disable "Surface Scan Analysis Priority". This will stop the controller from trying to surface scan your SSDs which stops them being marked as failed.
Enjoy 3rd party SATA SSDs without them being disabled as failed on boot.

The HP Smart Storage Administrator User Guide had the hint at the solution. It appears the surfacescanmode causes the issues with SSDs being marked failed. This manual shows other ways of accessing SSA - and I believe surfacescanmode can be turned off per slot using the ssacli tool (maybe via serial/iLo also?) if you really want to use this on other drives (however I didn't try this since I don't use any of the array controller functionality...use smart monitoring instead)

Per the SSA user guide, this setting should work with Gen9 also. Also with Gen6, Gen7 (access SSA through download image) - I suspect Gen5 would work also since it supports ssacli.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Oracle Enterprise Linux – Fix Disk Detection on HP ProLiant DL360e Gen8

Proliant ML310e Gen8 – Smart Array Predicted Failure with SSD

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