Installation on DL580 G7 with HBA H220

[FuriousPy]

Hi there...

I tried to install the Proxmox on an HP DL580 Gen7 server with an HP H220 HBA card without success.

I have 8 SSHD Firecuda 2.5" of 2Tb each ST2000LX001 1RG1
The server has 64GB of ECC RAM, INTEL processors, a SmartArray P410i card with 512MB of memory and built-in backup battery and I have purchased an HP HBA H220.

The server comes with a Smart Array P410i card, on which I can install and run Proxmox without problems, i did it days ago, but I want to avoid installing the Proxmox on the P410i, for which I bought the HP HBA H220 based on LSI 2308 (9207-8 although in the decal of the card figure 9205-8i)

I have followed several instructions in various topics regarding the BIOS settings, versions, firmware of the HBA card and others unsuccessfully..

I have already tried the following:
DL580 with firmware BIOS 2015 and with BIOS 2011, it does not matter, same error.
HBA H220 with firmware of LSI 2308 20.0.0.7 and 19.0.0.0 same error (they come with different versions of NVDATA and ROM).
HBA H220 with HP firmware 15.10.10.0, and 13.10.53 same error
HBA H220 with Broadcom firmware 20.0.0.7 same error

(the only thing I can emphasize is that the only mptsas2.rom that allows me to open the configuration of the HBA card without errors is the one in the HP firmware 15.10.10.0, the others give error "PCI fatal error" when i try CTRL C to open the configuration utility)

Proxmox ISO 4.4 and ISO 5.1-3 with the same error (i did not try the 5.0)

I have also tried installing on SAS HP HDD and it has also given me errors saying that they are not valid block devices.

Therefore one would think that the H220 card has problems and does not work, but...

I can install and run Windows 10 without problems on the H220, runs several diagnostic software and CrystalDiskMark gives very good results. I can also install and run Windows Server 2016 without problems. Only FreeNas and Proxmox fail...

I can start the installation until IP and Domain configuration, then when the install try to format the HDD i got this error "No such device or address" after I/O error, then it show error on partition HDD in the installation...

Randomly something like "rejecting I/O to offline devices" before installation start, after select Install Proxmox VE in the first screen, and then i cant select that hdd, they are not present, but this is rare...

Some idea ? i really want to use HBA with Proxmox, and not the P410i HW Array...

im stuck...

 

[wolfgang]

Hi can you try to install a Ubuntu 17.10 on this controller.
Because we use this kernel.

 

[FuriousPy]

Yes... i will download, try en back with the results

 

[FuriousPy]

ubuntu-17.10.1-desktop-amd64 installed and working...
Is not having the best day of his life, but is working...

 

[wolfgang]

Can you tell me witch kernel is running on the Ubuntu?
And please update the Ubuntu to current version.

 

[FuriousPy]

It is almost impossible for me to use the ubuntu, the mouse practically does not respond, the system seems to freeze every half second.

I have requested a new H220 card... i will post updates when arrive

 

[FuriousPy]

Well the new H220 has arrive, same problems during installation

 

[wolfgang]

May be the Mainbord is damaged?
Did you tried Ubuntu again?

 

[FuriousPy]

May be the Mainbord is damaged?
Did you tried Ubuntu again?

I find it unlikely.

Over the H220 I can install and run Windows 10 and Windows 2016 Server without any problem and with very good writing and reading speed on the hard drives, stable and running for days without problems.

The DL580 G7 server comes with a HW Raid P410i card and I can install and run Proxmox on it without any problem.

I chose to add an HBA card because I want to use ZFS and because the HW Raid P410i is not very friendly with non-HP hard drives, it lowers the speed of SATA drives to 3GB/s and detects them as overheated, with which fires the fans at 80% of its maximum speed.

So I guess it's not the motherboard, I'll try Ubuntu again, the last time I installed it on the H220 it ran very slow

 

[FuriousPy]

Well, I'm already given up

I have tried everything, even install it from a CD (and not from USB), placing (with "de" on install menu, in linux boot line) parameters like intel_iommu=on iommu=soft mpt3sas.msix_disable=1 and there is no way to make the installer see the drives.

I think there is some kind of incompatibility with the mpt3sas driver loaded from GRUB and this card, that is mpt2sas.

Proxmox, Ubuntu, RedHat and FreeBSD do not see the hard drives, and if they do see them fail during the formatting of the partitions.

I can install any of these operating systems over the HW P410i without problems but not over the HP H220 based on LSI SAS2308.
I cant install Windows 10 and Windows 2016 Server over the H220 without any problem.

I even gave myself the luxury to remove the heatsink and see if the chipset was an LSI 2308 or a 2008 and it is actually a 2308 (it should be noted that the decal on the H220 says 9205-8i) enjoy the picture


If someone comes up with more ideas, I'm willing to continue experimenting.

What you guys think about the idea of buying an HP H240 and try with it, or you recommend something else, have to keep in mind that the server is an HP Proliant DL580 G7

 

[wolfgang]

I would by an original Broadcom(LSI) Controller and not the rebrand version.

 

[FuriousPy]

Im Back with Great News....

The HBA HP H240 has arrived.
With firmware 4.52 (which it brought from the factory) I had problems, but with the SPP I updated it to version 6.30 and I was able to install the proxmox without problem.

Conclusion: the HP H220 card (sas2) has some kind of conflict with the HP DL580 G7 server and Linux (or rather GRUB), (it works perfect with Windows) therefore if anyone have this server go directly to the H240 card (as long as you need to pass over the P410i that it brings of factory)

Thank you all for the help you have offered me.

Best regards

 

[LoJo]

Hi,
I have a HPE Proliant ML110 server, with a HBA H240 card, and I have problems with Grub and ZFS RAID10 when installing Proxmox 5.2. Proxmox doesn't boot.
I was able to successfuly update the firmware by "Intelligent provisionning" to 6.06 version, but same problem at boot.
How did you do to update it to 6.30 ?
The server is OS less...
Thanks !

 

[FuriousPy]

Hi,
I have a HPE Proliant ML110 server, with a HBA H240 card, and I have problems with Grub and ZFS RAID10 when installing Proxmox 5.2. Proxmox doesn't boot.
I was able to successfuly update the firmware by "Intelligent provisionning" to 6.06 version, but same problem at boot.
How did you do to update it to 6.30 ?
The server is OS less...
Thanks !

Hi...

In https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/home/driverHome?sp4ts.oid=7553524&pmrsr=0
You select as "Software Type" -> FIRMWARE and as "Software Sub Type" (hidden until you select the software type) -> SOFTWARE CONTROLLER

Direct links here:
Windows:
https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/pu...=MTX_474aac7a3deb45da8b5acb1cfe&swEnvOid=4184
or
Linux:
https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/pu...=MTX_2729501f721b42dab91f5cfe80&swEnvOid=4184

You can put it on the "Intelligent provisionning" CD (or USB) and then it does the job for you

 

[LoJo]

Thanks !

I finally extracted bin.fw file from the exe, and update it directly in the BIOS (in the firmware info menu).
The HBA H240 is now under 6.30 firmware.

But I still have the Grub boot problem with Proxmox 5.2 : Grub doesn't find any bootable disk on the HBA H240 :-(

- Legacy BIOS
- HBA H240 in HBA mode
- ZFS RAID10 proxmox install

I don't know how resolve that :-(

 

[FuriousPy]

Did you try to place (with "de" on install menu, in linux boot line) parameters like intel_iommu=on iommu=soft mpt3sas.msix_disable=1 ?

 

[LoJo]

Could you give some details for that procedure ?
Thanks

 

[FuriousPy]

Could you give some details for that procedure ?
Thanks

When you are about to install Proxmox, in the install menu hit "de" in the keyboard, it will popup the Debug windows install, then put this in the parameters intel_iommu=on iommu=soft mpt3sas.msix_disable=1

 

[LoJo]

Thanks.
It doesn't work : intel_iommu command is not recognized.
I saw that it was possible to change the delay of zfs grub detection (https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/grub-rescue.33696/), but I don't know how to do that from the "grub-rescue" prompt :-\

 

[FuriousPy]

Did you upgraded the firmware to 6.3 ? thats important