Netapp HBA support

[itractus`]

Hi,

I'm running a single Proxmox server. It's a HP 380 Gen 9 with the latest BIOS.
Now I got my hands on a NetApp shelf, with HBA and QSFP cables to hook it up. HOWEVER.
Whenever I try to boot the server with the HBA installed, it goes no further then "initialising RAMdisk" The Server does go through POST.
Looking around on the web it looks like people are having varied results with these cards and Linux. FreeBSD would work according to these sources.

Maybe here, someone can set me off in the right direction to troubleshoot the issue and allow me to use the HBA in a VM. (Truenas)
The specific card is a PM8003 REV5 model 111-00341+F2.
Is there a way to log the startup errors? Journalctl doesn't show these errors sadly.

Thanks for the help!

 

[bobmc]

It's possible to use a NetApp Disk shelf under FreeNAS/TrueNAS but you may find you have to jump through several hoops first.

I've had success using a standard SAS controller with an external interface flashed to IT-Mode but you need to find a suitable interconnect cable and they're not readily available and not cheap.

Secondly, although the drives NetApp uses appear to be generic, they tend to be flashed with special firmware and they use a non-standard sector size. In addition, the drives use an intermediate pcb connector between the drive and the backplane. You may find you need to remove this inter-connector in some cases.

Finally, the shelves are noisy and eat power for breakfast so be prepared for bigger power bills!

 

[itractus`]

Well, the problem isn't Truenas/Freenas competability. The issue is that the HBA being installed prevents proxmox from starting. So I can't pass it through to a VM to use it.

 

[hec]

I would not recommend this. As i know you will not get a working MP working.

You could try to get some FAS2240 or FAS2552 and convert the Shelf to a filer (take out the IOM6 modules and replace them with the heads)

 

[itractus`]

The Netapp JBOS should just be able to connect to the HBA. I just want to use it as a fancy disk enclosure. So I'm literally only looking for a way to get the HBA to allow me to start proxmox. Passing it through and using it in a bsd environment is a problem for future me.