Options for managing Smart Array P400 on an ESXi 5 host

Question

I'm about to install ESXi 5.0U2 on a RAID10 exposed by an HP Smart Array P400i. (The server is a DL580 G5.) However, I notice that the ROM-based utility lacks many of the features of the browser-based HP Array Configuration Utility, but the latter only runs in Windows or Linux distros.

I can't do any PCI passthrough on this server, so as far as I can see I can't just install ACU into a guest OS and expect to get anywhere.

The only way I can see to use ACU is to have an installation of Windows on a separate drive to boot to when I need to do array management, but this is very inconvenient and also does nothing for monitoring.

Do I have any better options for managing the hardware RAID on such a host?

Solution

There are several good options for handling this nowadays. The HP BIOS-based RAID utility is only meant for quick and simple logical drive configuration. For more complex arrangements, you need to use one of the following:

• The HP SmartStart and Service Pack for ProLiant bootable disks allow fine-grained array configuration, as they boot the server into an offline Linux configuration environment.

• The new Array Configuration Utility Offline CD is a 100mb bootable CD and a quicker way of doing the initial configuration. It boots into either an ACU command line tool or a full ACU graphical interface.

• A Linux boot disk with the hpacucli tool was my old approach before I start making use of the bootable HP CD's.

My typical VMware ESXi install would look like below, where I'd carve out a 16GB or 18GB logical drive for ESXi to live on, then give the rest to VMFS:

/opt/hp/hpacucli/bin # ./hpacucli ctrl all show config

Smart Array P410i in Slot 0 (Embedded)    (sn: 5001438010A99E30)

   array A (SAS, Unused Space: 0  MB)

      logicaldrive 1 (18.0 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)
      logicaldrive 2 (392.1 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)

      physicaldrive 1I:1:1 (port 1I:box 1:bay 1, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:2 (port 1I:box 1:bay 2, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:3 (port 1I:box 1:bay 3, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:4 (port 1I:box 1:bay 4, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:5 (port 2I:box 1:bay 5, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:6 (port 2I:box 1:bay 6, SAS, 146 GB, OK)

   SEP (Vendor ID PMCSIERA, Model  SRC 8x6G) 250 (WWID: 5001438010A99E3F)

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Once you have ESXi installed, you should be adding the HP CIM drivers and HP Utilities packages. These will give you HP-specific reporting to VMware and the HP ILO and array command-line configuration utilities.

This will give you the ability to fully manage your storage array from the VMware command line.

Note:
PCI-passthrough of a Smart Array controller works when the server hardware supports it. The system in question is too old and doesn't support VMware VMDirectPath I/O. In newer ProLiant systems, I'm fully able to pass a Smart Array controller or otherwise to a virtual guest.

Comments

[WookieeKushin]

Thank you for the tips. As for the passthrough, @joeqwerty was referring to the specific case of passing through (for management purposes) the same RAID controller that the hypervisor is stored on - a trickier situation. But HP's VMware-based management tools you mention should make this unnecessary anyhow.