HP DL380P Gen8 P420i controller HBAMode

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mrwizardno2

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
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Perhaps I'm overlooking something, but I would like to pass my p420i through from ESXi into a VM for ZFS. I'd like to present the individual disks to the OS, which requires placing the SSA into HBAMode. I've come across various documentation online of people running the command "controller slot=0 modify hbamode=on forced" but this does not seem to work for me.

My question is, how would I go about this? Do I need a different controller? I believe I'm on the most current firmware - and see no reason for this to fail unless it has been removed in the recent version.

I know there is the possibility of placing the drives into their own RAID0 arrays, but I've read that this is an unsatisfactory solution (something with ZFS being unable to detect HW changes / replacements without rebooting due to IDs). Anyone have any other thoughts?

I have a DL380P Gen8 with the P420i and 2GB of cache. It's the 12LFF version of the chassis.
 
I called HP support this evening to discuss. It turns out they're working on a new firmware that enables this particular configuration, but it is not ready. I was given a case reference number and told to expect to hear from them by or on February 24th (next week). I'll let everyone know the outcome, in case anyone else is in the same boat as me.
 
Here are the steps HP prescribed to convert the P420i into HBA mode.

1. Boot to HP Service Pack for Proliant disk.

2. Select the interactive mode when booting off the SPP Disc.

3. Select HP Smart Storage Administrator.

4. Delete all arrays

5. Exit HP Smart Storage Administrator and go back to the HP Service Pack for Proliant maintenance screen.

6. Press Ctrl + Alt + d + b + x

7. In the CLI window type the following commands

a. cd /opt/hp/hpssacli/bld/

b. ./hpssacli controller slot=0 modify hbamode=on forced

c. Exit​

8. Exit HP Service Pack for Proliant and reboot the server.​

I can verify this works. I've passed the controller through to a Windows Server 2012 R2 VM using PCI Passthrough, and the VM can see the individual disks attached to the controller.
 
So no firmware updated needed on the controller? Just basically forcing it to hbamode through the CLI was all you did?

Wonder if this works on the older P400 or P800's?
 
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