urgent controller hba for hp G7

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jonaspaulo

Member
Jan 26, 2015
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Hi,

I have at the company a HP G7 with 12x 120gb SSD with HP 410i controller.
I wanted to be able to pass through these SSDs directly to a VM on KVM to be able to install a Openstack Ceph mode with direct access to the drives.
I have checked the recommendations on the website for nappit and I think the best one to accomplish this is either SAS 9207-8i or 9211-8i but these only allow me to have 8 disks instead of the 12 I need. So what is the 16 disk version of these LSI controllers you recommend for the HP G7 specific hardware?

Also will that card fit on the server? Or do I need some kind of riser card?
Will it work out of the box or do I need to flash it with another firmware?
The best way is to present the disks to the ceph node as a JBOD I guess.

Thanks a lot
 

psannz

Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Sers,

please don't forget the SAS expander backplane in your G7.

Your current 410i only has 2 connectors, too. Same as the 9207-8i or the 9211-8i. What's important is how many drives behind a connected expander can be addressed.

For your current predicament: If you can not get the 410i to present the drives in IT Mode, you could always buy an HP H220 SAS HBA. Should fit perfectly, and you won't get any fan or boot issues.

Grüße,
Philip
 

jonaspaulo

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Jan 26, 2015
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Thanks a lot for the help.
I haven't opened it yet but I have 12 ssds. Maybe they are spread to the 410 controller also.

Can you share a link of that expander? I though I could just buy the 16i version and avoid any expander

I didn't know I could change the 410i to IT mode. Will it work ok within a vm in kvm? Do you have any tips on how to do that?

Gonna check the h220 then but I read that it was only oficcialy supported on G8. I though the LSI ones were better/cheaper

Thanks
 

psannz

Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Thanks a lot for the help.
I haven't opened it yet but I have 12 ssds. Maybe they are spread to the 410 controller also.

Can you share a link of that expander? I though I could just buy the 16i version and avoid any expander
Good heavens...

For starters, could you give out a few more details on your server? G7 is basically just the generation. Is it a DL160, 380, 580, etc? Or even a SE326?

As for the expander:
Virtually all HP rack servers come with a backplane on which the harddrives connect.
That backplane does usually contain an expander, which allows many disks to be connected via one or more sas cables. Think of it as an ethernet switch, if you will.

If the backplane does not have an expander, each disk is directly connected to the controller. This is often the case when only 4 or less disks are supported by the chassis.

Please read Serial Attached SCSI - Wikipedia right away.
 

jonaspaulo

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Jan 26, 2015
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Thanks once again and sorry for the trouble.

Yes it is a dl380.

Currently I have 14 disks on the chassis ( of which 12 SSDs) hence I suppose the expander is already there.. since I have a 410 and 410i controller
 

psannz

Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Thanks once again and sorry for the trouble.

Yes it is a dl380.

Currently I have 14 disks on the chassis ( of which 12 SSDs) hence I suppose the expander is already there.. since I have a 410 and 410i controller
I'd swap the P410, or whichever controller is connected to the front HDD backplane, with the HP H220 SAS HBA. Even if it isn't officially supported.
Alternatively, go for a more modern 12G SAS HBA. Those have the benefit of supporting more IOPS, even when running the links @ 6G.

And yes, if you are inclined to experiment, the P410 can be flashed into IT mode, though it is said to be a proper pita.
 

jonaspaulo

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Jan 26, 2015
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Thanks a lot.
Will the h220 work out of the box in pass through mode and as a JBOD array to the VM on kvm? Or do I have to flash any fw on it?
 
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psannz

Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Thanks a lot.
Will the h220 work out of the box in pass through mode and as a JBOD array to the VM on kvm? Or do I have to flash any fw on it?
It should work out of the box. I see no reason to modify the firmware. May ought to update it, but there should be no need to flash a "foreign" one onto it.