HP DL380e Linux not seeing drive array for installation

Question

I am trying to install Linux and FreeBSD on a HP DL380e. However, during the installation process all of the OS's are stating that they can't find any disks to install to. Even RHEL. If I try to use HP's Intelligent Provisioning tool to install RHEL - it didn't see it mounted in iLo RHEL 6 DVD.

I have created a RAID10 volume. Why would this be?

Solution 1

All modern Linux distributions should see the disk array using the HPSA driver module (older distros would see the outgoing CCISS driver).

The reason you're not seeing any disks is that you may not have configured a logical drive. You can do this in the BIOS by following the prompts when the HP Smart Array controller shows up (usually, press F8). Create a logical drive containing the disks you want and the RAID level you wish, and save it. From that point, you should be able to install your Linux operating system.

Also see: Why am I getting "Input/output error during read on /dev/sda" during a CentOS text-mode installation?

EDIT:

Just revisiting this. The problem here is the fact that the ProLiant DL380e (not DL380p) systems use the Dynamic Smart Array RAID Controller. It's very close to the ugliness of a fakeRAID without actually being one. The support for this controller is limited, as the driver is distributed as a binary. Typically, OSes that don't support the controller are forced to work with software RAID. That's the issue here.

See:

Poor SQL performance on HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8 v2 with raid10

HP ProLiant DL380e Gen8 server - SPP use

Install Oracle Linux 6.4 on HP ProLiant DL380e Gen8 server

Installing Ubuntu 12.04 on HP Proliant DL380e with 1TB SAS Drive

Oracle Enterprise Linux installation can't see local disks on HP ProLiant DL360e Gen8

Solution 2

Yes. All of the OSes you mentioned will run on a DL380e with HP's hardware RAID (SmartArray) controllers. All of them can also install to a SD in the internal slot if you're interested too.

Open iLO (needs to be configured before using, see the BIOS F8 prompt for details), mount the media to the server's virtual CD drive (either an ISO file or a physical disk in your drive, the ISO is much faster and the whole process is very slow to begin with). Boot the server, push F12 during the boot process (either from the actual console or from a Remote Console) and select the CD drive to boot from. Normal install process.

I would not recommend trying to use any HP installation media unless you're install Windows (and even then I wouldn't recommend it for advanced installations).

Comments

[ItsGC]

that's some pretty hot reediting-fu you got there. Have an upvote.

[RSMan]

Thx for help.But there is one problem - any of those OSes didn't see my HW raid.. Says smth like "No discs detected". I configured iLo, and was trying to install all those OSes ( Ubuntu, CenOS, RHEL ) from iLo virtual DVD-Rom. But failed(

[RSMan]

I already created raid 0+1, and also created logical volume. I found HPSA driver for RHEL6.3, but how can i use in during install progress? Thanks

[ewwhite]

The HPSA driver is built into the OS. It's in the Linux kernel.

[Philip]

Those OSes definitely support the hardware, so you must have the hardware misconfigured. Please see HP's SmartArray Guide for instructions.