HP server with UNRAID

[cpayne]

Hi, I recently decided to migrate my unraid setup from an old desktop system over to an HP storageworks server that I had laying around. I've run into a couple issues so far, first of all my data needed to be backed up entirerly first as I was certain I would lose it if I didnt, second issue is that the server does not have any onboard ports for me to plug the backplane directly to the motherboard, so i've decided to try making multiple RAID0 containing only one drive each to get around this issue, so far all is working and unraid sees the different raids, but now i've noticed that its not able to read any of the SMART data like this. Any suggestions? The server has an old HP Smart Array P212 card currently. I'd be willing to purchase a replacement card if it allows me to get this to work, as what im getting from this is that if a drive starts failing right now, unraid wont know it and I could end up losing files or some of them may become corrupted.

 

Thanks.

[JorgeB]

RAID controllers are not recommended, and you'll run into trouble if you need to replace it with a different controller, but SMART might be available if you choose the correct default SMART controller type on Settings -> Disk Settings -> Global SMART Settings, try HP cciss.

[cpayne]

Hi, Thanks for the response, completely overlooked that fact...  Any recommendations on what SAS card I could get to allow passtrough to the board or a card that can be placed in JBOD?

[sota]

HP H240 or other H-series controller works great.  The P-series controllers are more for actual RAID work.

Edited April 12, 2020 by sota

[cpayne]

So I found one on Ebay called the HP H240ar 12Gb 2-ports Int Smart Host Bus Adapter. Do you think this one would be a valid replacement? Something that im unsure though is that the HP server I have has 12 drive bays running through one cable, will that still work with this card?

[RogueWolf33]

Hi there. I was able to get the HP P240 switched over to HBA mode and it is allowing Passthrough of my drives. 

 

Might be worth a read:

 

 

[sota]

On 4/12/2020 at 1:58 PM, cpayne said:

So I found one on Ebay called the HP H240ar 12Gb 2-ports Int Smart Host Bus Adapter. Do you think this one would be a valid replacement? Something that im unsure though is that the HP server I have has 12 drive bays running through one cable, will that still work with this card?

NEGATIVE.

the  AR variants don't plug into PCIe slots.  They plug into something called "Flexible smart host bus controller" that appeared in the Gen9 servers.

you need the NON-AR variant.