Ubuntu server 14.04 installation on HP Proliant Gen9 Server

Question

Our HP Proliant M150 Gen9 Server with hardware RAID was delivered yesterday. We wanted to install Ubuntu Server 14.04, however the system could not boot after installation. We've tried a lot of configurations. We also tried other OS, CentOS, OpenSUSE, Red Hat Linux, but failed. With no reported error, the system will reboot and return to the Boot Options. It was a long day.

On the same day, this was posted but was tagged on hold: https://serverfault.com/questions/697295/ubuntu-server-14-04-on-hp-proliant-gen9-server

So today, I came across this question: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/CentOS-won-t-boot-after-fresh-install-Proliant-DL160-G6/m-p/5231554/highlight/true#M121779

I took Computer Science but I'm more of a front-end person. Can someone explain to me WHY the configuration (AHCI + Legacy) worked? Thank you so much.

(I realized that Legacy would automatically stopped RAID but perhaps we overlooked it yesterday.)

Solution

Indeed, it is probably the RAID being disabled. Ubuntu HP Dynamic Smart Array Driver (HPDSA) binary needs to be installed. http://downloads.linux.hp.com/SDR/project/ubuntu-hpdsa/

Comments

[Andrew Eisenberg]

This link is incorrect. I think this is the correct one: downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/project/ubuntu-hpdsa