HP Proliant Support Pack for Proxmox 4.4, any advice?

[misurbraford]

Hi all,

Actual question: I am running proxmox VE 4.4 on an HP Proliant DL380g6. "HP ProLiant Support Pack CD for dpkg-based distributions" for this machine seems to only exists for a limited set of older hypervisors (up to xen 6.x, up to debian 6.0, ...). Because I am running proxmox 4.4 (based on debian 8), I am wondering if it would be a good idea to try to install the debian 6.0-version of the support-pack. If it installs correctly, with my limited experience, I would have no way of checking if the software would be running correctly, aye, there's the rub, as the SP is supposed to be able to upgrade the BIOS etc, it would be more than a minor setback if it does not perform as it should. Any advice?

Background:
I am a computer science student, and recently bought my first server. It is a used but clean and fully functional HP Proliant DL380 g6. As this is my first venture into the enterprise-class hardware, it has been quite a learning curve, but that's why I started this journey in the first place!

The experiment was trying to passthrough a PCI device to a vm (an HP Fibre Optic network card that was included in the purchase, it was a real bargain). IOMMU seems to be functional, but trying to start the vm with the pci-passthrough, I ran into the RMRR-issue. Therefore I need to have the HP Service Pack, so I can take the next step in solving the RMRR-issue, as I don't see any other way around it. And this is where my doubts arise: would it be safe (as in, not brick my machine) to try to meddle with the bios through a SP meant for debian 6, while running proxmox 4.4?

Keep in mind, I have no real goal with this, it is an experiment for it's own sake, for the sake of solving the problem, so replies like 'why do you need pci passthrough' would be beside the question

Feel free to give feedback or ask any further questions, and I will provide information (to the best of my knowledge) accordingly!
Thanks very much in advance!
Misur

 

[brwainer]

Burn the SPP to a DVD and boot from it. It has an embedded linux environment that is able to do BIOS and other firmware updates.

 

[misurbraford]

Wow thanks! HP doesn't mention this on it's download-page. I'll be trying this out soon. As my system does not have a dvd-reader, I suspect I can get it working from a multiboot-usb-stick? I guess it would also be best to include the updated BIOS and firmware-images on the usb-stick (or have it locally available on some kind of storage)? If it works, this would allow me to do updates on firmware and BIOS, but I would be missing out on having the hp-health-software etc available to my proxmox-host?

Next, after upgrading firmware and BIOS, I will continue my struggle with PCI-passthrough. A HP-support page mentions a fix for the RMRR-vs-IOMMU issue for the Proliant gen8's, but not for my g6, and I can't seem to find any official fixes for the g6. Though, (I am not sure if g6 supoports the conrep-stuff, but if it does) I don't see any problem in trying the same style of solution as the one that is given for the g8? Any thoughts on this?

PS, as a new user, I am not allowed to post external links, so here they are (just remove the whitespaces):
download-page:
> h20565.www2 .hpe. com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=3884088&swItemId=MTX_b3d56629ca784c84979546f127&swEnvOid=4123#tab3
HP-support-page:
> h20564.www2 .hpe. com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c04781229&sp4ts.oid=5249566

 

[brwainer]

Wow thanks! HP doesn't mention this on it's download-page.

I believe this is covered in the readme that accompanies the file, or is inside of it, don't remember which.

Be aware that there are two types of ISOs - ones that contain files (most linux or Windows install ISOs you may have) and ones that are only the exact bits that need to be written to disk (e.g. the Proxmox installer itself) You can give a USB stick a try, but if normal tools like YUMI or RUFUS don't work for you, then try Etcher, which can handle bit-images, and is recommended in the Proxmox Wiki. https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_from_USB_Stick . If all else fails, then a USB DVD drive should work fine.

I guess it would also be best to include the updated BIOS and firmware-images on the usb-stick (or have it locally available on some kind of storage)?

Keep all the files in the ISO together. If you're booting off of a USB, then they should all be on the USB.

If it works, this would allow me to do updates on firmware and BIOS, but I would be missing out on having the hp-health-software etc available to my proxmox-host?

BIOS and Firmware updates only come from HP with the new release of the SPP, which is quarterly. It is expected that every quarter you download the new SPP and update all your machines to the latest. As for software, I have no idea, I haven't used Proxmox on an HP system for long enough to want to install any system tools.

A HP-support page mentions a fix for the RMRR-vs-IOMMU issue for the Proliant gen8's, but not for my g6, and I can't seem to find any official fixes for the g6. Though, (I am not sure if g6 supoports the conrep-stuff, but if it does) I don't see any problem in trying the same style of solution as the one that is given for the g8? Any thoughts on this?

The general solution that HP gives is to update to the latest system ROM, which you do via the SPP. So either the latest ROM available on the SPP works, or it doesn't. Beyond that, if you want to do NIC passthrough, then you could try to follow their other instructions but it doesn't seem like many/most of them apply. I definitely wouldn't follow the conrep instruction because that is based on specific PCI ports and I really doubt those are the same over two generations.

 

[misurbraford]

If you're booting off of a USB, then they should all be on the USB.

The latest servicepack for debian that HP publishes on it's website is from 2011 (Link is in my previous post. I might be wrong, please correct me if you can!). Also, as it's size is only 54MB.

I did find the latest servicepack (Q2 2017), but it doesn't specify debian as a supported OS. I bought the server with a 2013 BIOS, and proxmox is running fine (apart from the passthrough, which is not a OS-problem but a BIOS problem), so I guess the 'supported OSes' don't really apply?

The debian-SP's size compared to the 2017Q2's 1+GB: I assume there isn't any firmware or live linux environment included in the debian-SP?

Apart from that, I am running into a paywall on the HP website for the 2017Q2-SP. As I don't have a support subscription, the only thing HP gives me, apparently, is a 54mb-iso with hp-health etc on debian 6, and a lot of updates for the HP SAC driver, so no BIOS for me... Thank you, HP...

As for the passthrough, should I be able to get my hands on a more recent BIOS, it still isn't guaranteed it solves the problem, as HP apparently likes to use RMRR-black-magic on my LPe1150 FC card (which I am trying to passthrough) for their management software. I also see why you advise against using the earlier mentioned solution, and have put that idea out of my mind now, thanks!

Keep in mind, I am a student, not planning on actually using the server for anything, I just want to solve the problem as a learning experience. I took the red pill, let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes!

 

[brwainer]

Ah I forgot about the paywall. My only HP server is a DL380g5, which they stopped supporting in the SPP around 2014/2015. I remember that particular SPP was the last one that would be freely available as well. You definitely don't have the full Service Pack, because it would be 4+ GBs. I don't know what other advice to give you, sorry.

 

[alexskysilk]

would it be safe (as in, not brick my machine) to try to meddle with the bios through a SP meant for debian 6, while running proxmox 4.4?

No.

Also, it wont solve your problems if you could as it provides software/interface to specific hp functionality, namely ILO and raid. the firmware updates might.

as for your PCI passthrough issues- search the forums. There's a good chance you'll find the solution.

 

[misurbraford]

The problem that arises trying to do the passthrough, are related to RMRR. It is a known problem, and RHEL explaines it here in a whitepaper.
This is the exact problem I am having. Sections 1, 2 and 3 are really good explanations of what is going wrong.

I have searched the forums, and can't seem to find any other solution for the RMRR problem, apart from the behind-the-paywall-solution for selected configurations, as HP apparently doesn't care for pci-passthrough on kernel 4.x apart from some selected devices. I am not yet willing to apply the acs-override, as that is a kernel-level-solution, and I conclude not a stable nor secure one.

I think upgrading the BIOS might solve my problem, as it might not reserve the card at all, although I seriously doubt it. If that doesn't work, I'd have to try managing individual PCI-slots on platform level myself, excluding the slot (and by extent, the card) for RMRR-based-memory-allocation. This would effectively solve my problem, and is my current goal. For this, I'd need the 'interface to specific hp functionality', as you describe it, namely the hp-scripting-tools, so I can do the exclusion.

For now, I see three things I can try:
1) Get a fully fledged Service Pack, as it includes a BIOS, a live environment (as brwainer pointed out), and a compatible scripting-tools-package. But it seems I'm hitting a paywall. Is there any way I can get a free Service Pack? I guess it doesn't matter if I get a recent Service Pack or not, and it also doesn't matter what it's target host-os is, as I can use the live environment and scripting-tools compatible with the included BIOS to apply the conrep-solution (in case a simple BIOS-upgrade doesn't do the trick).

2) I have set up iLO now, and haven't yet activated my free advanced trial licence. Would activating it give me access to scripting-tools compatible with my current BIOS, and by doing that, avoid the paywall?

3) Temporarily install debian 6, install this service pack they give for free (which doesn't include any firmware or live evironment), try these tools to apply the scripting-tools-solution to the current BIOS. Then reinstall proxmox. Would the fix persist? I suppose it would?

All three of course require I can adapt the conrep-solution to my gen6 proliant, or find another fix to exclude the slot from RMRR. I don't see any other options on platform-level. I'm willing to go very deep on this, as I believe it's injust to abuse RMRR this way and only provide non-free fixes to select configurations as they please. Also, I think it's just interesting . I'm sorry for dragging this thread off-proxmox and into platform-territory. If necessary, you can point me to a more suitable forum, where I would happily continue this thread.

 

[misurbraford]

Now my final exams are over, I had some more time to work on this. I have found a non-paywalled download-page of the latest SP supporting G6-servers. It does require a HP-login, but no paid licences or anything (It works for me, and I've never paid for anything HP). It's a real slow download, and it keeps stopping as 'download failed', but a simple 'retry' continues the downloading on firefox. After downloading, I'm going to try option 1 I gave in my previous post.

Edit:
I think I've gone out of scope of my original post, and I don't have any further questions at the moment, and you can regard this thread as closed. I will pursue my goal. Feel free to pm me if you have any further questions, or are in a similar situation!

Kind regards, and thanks for all the help here!
Misur

 

[Bogdan Dumitru]

Has it worked though ? (sorry for digging this up from the grave)
Were you able to exclude the pci slots with the HP tools ?