Proxmox installation failed on Dell R340

[leixl]

I try to install Proxmox 9 on Dell R340 server, but it failed due to the "open3: exec of sgdisk ...... /dev/sda failed" error.
The server has 8TB x 4 HDD with H730P raid card. I see lots of post that H730P is not true HBA mode and can cause issue, so I just
use its default RAID5 mode with one whole virtual disk around 22TB.
Because ZFS cannot be used on virtual disk, I choose the ext4, but the installation immediately failed. I have attached the screenshot
in the post.
It looks like the creation of partition of disk failed but I cannot find the exact root cause, can anyone help on this, thanks.

 

[UdoB]

Reading https://www.dell.com/support/manual...4e55fb-921b-4445-9ee3-768d80807f2a&lang=en-us shows that it has a "Non-RAID or pass through mode".

Activate that and use ZFS on the four HDDs as a dual striped mirror (Raid 10), directly in the PVE installation process.

Later, when the system is up and running, add two fast devices (SATA SSD or NVMe) as a mirrored "Special Device"...


That's what I would do (I am "ZFS everywhere") - but of course your mileage may vary...

 

[leixl]

Reading https://www.dell.com/support/manual...4e55fb-921b-4445-9ee3-768d80807f2a&lang=en-us shows that it has a "Non-RAID or pass through mode".

Activate that and use ZFS on the four HDDs as a dual striped mirror (Raid 10), directly in the PVE installation process.

Later, when the system is up and running, add two fast devices (SATA SSD or NVMe) as a mirrored "Special Device"...


That's what I would do (I am "ZFS everywhere") - but of course your mileage may vary...

Thanks for the reply.
But I see lots of web post said that H730P pass through mode is not true pass through, it's the firmware emulation between OS and physical disk so it may cause data corruption later, not sure whether this is true

 

[UdoB]

it's the firmware emulation between OS and physical disk so it may cause data corruption later

I do not speak out of experience in this manner, but: a still present emulation layer was a real problem when one had to create multiple single disk Raid0, practically as faked disks.

The test I would do is to access SMART-data, via "smartctl -i /dev/sdX" + "-A". If that shows the correct information then you have direct access to that drive. This test failed when an old controller presented a faked Raid0.

There might be a performance penalty for this approach and there still may be a firmware emulation layer somewhere, but I would give it a try.


Disclaimer, as already said: I fight hard to be able to use ZFS everywhere...

 

[waltar]

I/O error on volume, looks like 2 disk are bad in your raid5, couldn't even fixed with zfs as needs a couple of good disks in either way.

 

[jrowe]

I am having the same issues on a Dell R710. I have tried several different versions of Proxmox. The only noted version(8.1.2) to work can't be found anywhere.

 

[leixl]

anyone can help on this? Does Proxmox has any certified hardware list etc.?
currently our company is using VxRail, I am considering the Proxmox after the current contract expires.
But it seems support is quite some issue if there is many weird problems

 

[MarkusKo]

There is no HCL for Proxmox VE but you can check the Ubuntu HCL because Proxmox VE is based on Debian with a slightly modified Ubuntu Kernel.
But i assume they just checked basic functionality on the Ubuntu HCL, not all possible components and configurations (different RAID controllers ....)