Running on ML3xx Gen 10 - A no no

[Doftorul]

Greetings Unraiders !

 

I am struggling to run unraid basic on a couple of ML350 Gen10 that are equipped with the new P408i-a SR Gen 10 controller able to run in mixed mode (RAID + HBA) but the slackware kernel has no clue about the drivers to be able to drive the disks exposed.

The old trick on exposing the disks as individual RAID0 arrays does not work either.

 

Just for giggles i have booted the servers with RedHat and Ubuntu and the drives are visible to the OS.

 

Edit: this new controller needs the smartpqi driver

 

Any clues ?

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Doftorul

[1812]

UnRaid historically has not played well with hp 4xx raid controllers. Or at least, inconsistently with them.

[Doftorul]

A clean Slackware install with the latest stable kernel can see and operate the disks with no issue.

In the end it might be just the smartpqi driver support in the kernel.

 

Not playing well is not a good enough answer there is a cause, at least in my case that seem to be lack of support in the unraidos kernel.

 

Can i upgrade or otherwise use a different kernel for unraid ?

[1812]

1 hour ago, Doftorul said:

A clean Slackware install with the latest stable kernel can see and operate the disks with no issue.

In the end it might be just the smartpqi driver support in the kernel.

 

Not playing well is not a good enough answer there is a cause, at least in my case that seem to be lack of support in the unraidos kernel.

 

Can i upgrade or otherwise use a different kernel for unraid ?

 

I believe your options are: make recommendations for a proven fix to unRaid, compile your own unRaid version, or use a known working pcie hba.

[JonathanM]

20 minutes ago, 1812 said:

make recommendations for a proven fix to unRaid

@Doftorul, by proven, he means it works and more importantly doesn't screw up any existing functionality. Last thing we need is a change that breaks unraid for others.

2 hours ago, Doftorul said:

A clean Slackware install with the latest stable kernel can see and operate the disks with no issue.

Does it pass SMART information and commands properly? Does it support spin down? Does it pass the serial numbers without modifying them with added or truncated ID strings?

[Doftorul]

SMART seems to work properly, serial numbers are passed in full.

i am reinstalling slackware again to check for the spin down and test some deep commands, too bad i didn't thought of checking that as well. In the meanwhile i installed proxmox on the servers but i am willing to dismantle one again for further tests.

Will report back with the findings.

[Doftorul]

Confirming that slackware works seamlessly using the smartpqi driver with the HP P408i-a SR controller Gen 10, tested with ML350 Gen10, ML380 Gen 10

Kernels tested: basically the entire range of 4.19.xx

Disks tested: SATA and SAS, either work, never tested mixes of SAS + SATA

 

Can we still use the wiki to try and inject the smartpqi driver into the current UnRaid kernel ? https://wiki.unraid.net/Building_a_custom_kernel

 

Is there a valid reason why this mainstream driver is removed ? Basically all Gen10 servers are shipped with the same family of controllers able to work in mixed mode RAID + HBA at the same time...

Edited June 7, 2019 by Doftorul
added wiki link

[JonathanM]

The next step is asking @limetech to include the driver. The reason it's not in there at the moment, is likely that no one has done the homework and asked. Since Unraid runs in RAM, only drivers that are truly needed are included. If you need something added, you can ask, and if there are no show stoppers it will likely be included in the next release, which may be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months away.

 

I suggest composing an email using the contact us link at the bottom of the page, and include a link to this topic.

 

You can certainly compile your own kernel using the resources available here on the forums if you wish, as that is the only way to get the driver in the current release.

[emrepolat7]

Hi Guys,
I have asked some questions (pre sale forum) regarding my hardware but I didn't get any reply. I see that you have similar hardware. I have  P408i-p SR Gen10 card. I have no problems but let me repeat my questions once again.
My setup
•    HPE ML110 Gen10 4208
•    HPE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen10 
•    64 GB Ram
•    3 x 4TB SATA HD

With using HPE Smart Storage, I have created raid 5 logical storage drive. I installed unraid trial version. Unraid detected my hard drive as one 8TB logical drive. I have zero problems with installing vm (macos, windows, linux)  docker, apps vs so on. 

Q1) With this setup I do not have any Parity disk. Is this going to be a problem? Since I have a hardware raid 5, I believe all my data should be fine against any hard disk failure.
Q2) In the future, I believe I can add more disk to my Raid 5 Storage. Is it so?
Q3) is there any things that I should be careful about this setup?

 

thanks

[sota]

 

 

1) you have parity; it's striped in the RAID5 array you created. you just can't see, manage, or know critical information about it inside unRAID.

2) that depends on your controller.  probably yes though.

3) you can't see or manage the actual RAID5 array within unRAID, and you'll never know via the OS if there's a problem.

 

hardware RAID under unRAID isn't really a supported setup, and you're taking away the ability to use unRAID for what its designed for, and does best.

[emrepolat7]

Thank you for your reply.
You are absolutely right. I missed that part. 
on the other hand, unraid offers a lot of easy to use features that I am amazed.