Struggling to get Proxmox booting via NVME on a SuperMicro server .. all help appreciated

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pookieman

New Member
Aug 30, 2021
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So in need of help with this SuperMicro server X10DRU-i+ | Motherboards | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.

I’ve been googling about booting from an NVME and found this article - FAQ Entry | Online Support | Support - Super Micro Computer, Inc.

It seems I have to set the PCI-E slots to EFI .. did that ..

Then I set the boot mode to UEFI (done)

The USB proxmox installer is recognized .. and runs. In the installer you pick the disk .. and I can see the Kingston disk (250gb) etc

Install completes normally. I remove the USB media. Then it reboots.. But no matter what I do I can’t get proxmox to boot. I don’t think the motherboard is recognizing which disk to boot from. Spent a few hours on this now. I’m convinced this should work.

This is the riser the disk is plugged into .. Supermicro RSC-W2-66 2U WIO Left-Side Passive Riser Card - 2x PCI-E x16 Signal and 2x PCI-E x16 Output

So where am I going wrong here? I can boot into the UEFI shell and run commands etc. I thought there might be a way of identifying the PCI devices and make sure they are being found, but I’m not familiar with it enough.

Really appreciate someone that has some insights here. Proxmox is installed on the drive.. so how do I get the machine to boot from it?PXL_20210830_043407611.jpgPXL_20210830_043928471.jpgPXL_20210830_043631352.jpgPXL_20210830_043706257.jpg
 

zer0sum

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2013
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If you go in to "UEFI Boot Order #1", can you see the nvme drive and/or partitions?

UEFI hard disk is really generic, and it's just skipping through all of those until it hits the #8 entry.
 

dswartz

Active Member
Jul 14, 2011
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Or you could just install proxmox on a random SATA SSD and use the nvme for guest storage. AFAIK, nothing on the proxmox install itself is particularly performance critical.
 

pookieman

New Member
Aug 30, 2021
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Or you could just install proxmox on a random SATA SSD and use the nvme for guest storage. AFAIK, nothing on the proxmox install itself is particularly performance critical.
So this is the way I am learning as well. I had a couple of glasses of wine .. then started the process of learning about modding the latest bios ..

Stopped when I realized I could do some damage in the process.

The server is 12 x hot swap. My plan was to install 6 disks for now which is "storage"

Then use 2 x SSD for VM disks and the single nvme as the boot .. but now I am thinking .. install proxmox in RAID 1 on the 2 SSDs. Boot from those. I think this is all supported out of the box. The SSDs would plug into the SATA ports on the motherboard.

Then keep the 12xhot swap via the LSI?! separate just for storage. I want to run Freenas on a VM and do direct pass through.

Then I still have a spare nvme that is accessible but I just can't boot off it.. maybe I can use it as a cache drive or something for proxmoxor freenas?
 

sboesch

Active Member
Aug 3, 2012
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Columbus, OH
So this is the way I am learning as well. I had a couple of glasses of wine .. then started the process of learning about modding the latest bios ..

Stopped when I realized I could do some damage in the process.

The server is 12 x hot swap. My plan was to install 6 disks for now which is "storage"

Then use 2 x SSD for VM disks and the single nvme as the boot .. but now I am thinking .. install proxmox in RAID 1 on the 2 SSDs. Boot from those. I think this is all supported out of the box. The SSDs would plug into the SATA ports on the motherboard.

Then keep the 12xhot swap via the LSI?! separate just for storage. I want to run Freenas on a VM and do direct pass through.

Then I still have a spare nvme that is accessible but I just can't boot off it.. maybe I can use it as a cache drive or something for proxmoxor freenas?
I have pretty much the 12 bay server as you do, as well as two other Supermicro's for compute. I boot all of my Supermicro from Sata DOMs. I have 4 of these Innodisk SATADOM-SL 3ME4 64GB and they work great. They are MLC and reliable.
 

pookieman

New Member
Aug 30, 2021
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This looks great. As I have the SSDs already do you know if there is an adaptor that can plug into the sata port on the motherboard and i can plug the SSD drive into it?
 

pookieman

New Member
Aug 30, 2021
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So this is what I'm thinking now ... stop me if you think this isn't a good idea ..

I will velco the 2 SSD drives I have to the inside of the case as shown in a red rectangle ..

Then I'll plug them into the SATA connections on the mother board (yellow)

For power I'll get a cable like this - Cable Matters 2-Pack 8 Pin PCIe to Molex (2X) Power Cable 4 Inches : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Then use one of these GPU power connectors and plug into the SSDs

Is this a nutty idea? I'm a bit worried the power from that connector isn't suitable for the SSDs.. It's safe right?

I also found a spare molex connector near where the HD drives are located at the front.. suppose I could use that for power too.. just need to keep the cabling tidy.. what do we think?
 

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pazmobile

New Member
Aug 18, 2021
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So this is what I'm thinking now ... stop me if you think this isn't a good idea ..

I will velco the 2 SSD drives I have to the inside of the case as shown in a red rectangle ..

Then I'll plug them into the SATA connections on the mother board (yellow)

For power I'll get a cable like this - Cable Matters 2-Pack 8 Pin PCIe to Molex (2X) Power Cable 4 Inches : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Then use one of these GPU power connectors and plug into the SSDs

Is this a nutty idea? I'm a bit worried the power from that connector isn't suitable for the SSDs.. It's safe right?

I also found a spare molex connector near where the HD drives are located at the front.. suppose I could use that for power too.. just need to keep the cabling tidy.. what do we think?
I’m currently doing the same project for mine. From my research, you don’t want to do this as the pin outs don’t match. Molex/sata power cables carry 5 and 12 volt, these Gpu splitters are likely aggregating 12v only. I bought an 8 pin extension cable and molex to sata adaptor and will heat up the soldering iron. Should be able to tap into the extra backplane power connector if I get the pins right….