HPE Proliant Servers

    Hello,
    I come back to you to give you news. Strange fact it seems that for installation and execution, if I flow through the USB port in front of the server.



    I tried to connect the SSD on the front and the USB key on the back, the bootable key was not recognized
    So when installing OMV on the SSD the USB key on the front panel and the SSD on the rear panel works, once the installation is finished, I need to connect the SSD on the front for it to be recognized.


    My concern is solved, but I do not understand why I have to go through the USB port in front.

    >>> i have a HP MicroServer Gen8 4Bay.

    1,2,3 Bay i use for Data Raid.

    Can i use the 4th bay for Backup? somehow i have no accesses to the Disk.

    Of course i do a real Backup with USB Backup.

    thx for help


    <<< No, not if you have used the 'built in' raid controller to create the raid rather than OMV's software raid option, but you may find some information here or here
    >>> ok moved everything there (now here), how can i find out which raid i use. (didnt know that there is a hardware raid :-)

    Quote from rsrsrs

    ok moved everything there (now here), how can i find out which raid i use. (didnt know that there is a hardware raid

    :) you din't have to move your post, I suggested you look in the two links I posted.


    As OMV does not 'see' your drive in the fourth bay I'm assuming it's because the raid setting in the bios is set to it's default, which would suggest why that drive is not found.


    I have Gen7, but with the modded bios, this allows me to turn off the raid function in the bios and OMV sees all the drives, I think on the Gen8 that setting is also there, but the default setting is to use raid. If you didn't change any bios settings then it's likely your Gen8 is using hardware raid.


    But what's the output of cat /proc/mdstat

    Quote from geaves

    But what's the output of cat /proc/mdstat

    Code
    root@omv:~# cat /proc/mdstat                                                                                                                                                         Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]                                                                                                md0 : active raid5 sda[0] sdc[2] sdb[1]                                                                                                                                                    5860270080 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [3/3] [UUU]                                                                                                             bitmap: 0/22 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk
    Quote from rsrsrs

    The disk is visible in

    Storage/ Disks/

    Iccan create it in

    Strage/File systems/


    but than its gone ....

    We seem to have got crossed missed posts, dis you wipe the drive before creating a file system?

    Quote from rsrsrs

    but i dont which bay in the server. is it important somehow?

    It's not important, but I keep a spreadsheet with each drives reference, bay that it's in, make, model and serial number that way I know if a drive needs replacing I know where it is.

    Hello every one,


    I installed OMV 3 back in 2016 on a Gen 8 proliant (bios J6) following the tips.


    Here is what I did :

    1. boot with debian live key in usb port and a fresh ssd in the front bay
    2. installed debian (them omv) on that ssd
    3. rebooted on the ssd
    4. from debian, I flashed a usb key with supergrub2.
    5. moved the ssd to the optic sata port
    6. rebooted and everything worked fine.
    7. installed 4 WD 3to in the front bay (software raid 5 etc.)

    Tl;dr : I used to boot on an SSD (optical drive), launched via USB (supergrub).

    Every thing worked flawlessly.


    Since yesterday I can't boot on any hard drive which ever the port I place them.


    I tried both disks on other machines (usb boot key and ssd) and I can mount them and see the partitions.

    I tried to boot from super grub but I can't see any hard drive in super grub. When I list the partition, the hard drive is there, but I can't find any boot partition (altrough I booted from it the day before). I tried supergrub and another ssd (with debian 9 already installed) but it doesn't work either.


    I can boot on a live usb image and reach the desktop where I can see my SSD partitions... But I still can't boot them.


    Every time I try to boot on a hard drive, it's skipped and it tries to boot from network (NIC) which fails after the DHCP server gives it an IP.


    What is wrong with my gen8 ? What can I do to solve this problem ?


    Any help would be greatly appreciated.


    thanks

    Quote from ananas

    Any error message ?

    Maybe something like "error: 'grub_calloc' symbol not found."


    Cheers,

    Thomas

    There's no error message...


    But I tried something else :

    I set up sata AHCI in bios and tried again.



    I can boot on the first SATA port containing a hard drive, I can't boot from USB with grub :(


    I'll try to create another key from recovery mode since it's now possible.


    Thanks for your answer

    Quote from ananas

    What boot order do you have in your setup ?

    Do you know about the power of the iLO ?


    Cheers,

    Thomas

    usb, cd, hd and the rest.

    I can do ILO (I forgotted it existed since the nas hasn't failed in 4 years).


    ---


    I created another bootable usb drive and it's not working.

    As long as there's only one drive (ssd with system) in the SATA ports, I can boot from it.

    As soon as there's another drive in the front bay it won't boot.


    It doesn't seem to boot from the usb drive anymore...


    Is there another way to boot from the 5th drive ?

    In AHCI mode, it will always try to boot from the first HD.

    I have 4 data drives, one SSD connected to the internal SATA Port and the bootloader on the internal SD-Card.

    Was a bit tricky to get it running ...

    You can use the "boot once" menu to boot from your installation/rescue media.

    Maybe remove the 4 data drives, leaving the SSD and your USB stick connected and boot once

    from (virtual) "debian-10.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso" and choose "repair grub"

    Thanks for your answer.
    I'll try that before patching the bios et setting up raid 1 for my ssd as explained here (french).

    Hello there,


    I've made some progress and here is what I found :


    My Proliant Gen 8 won't boot anymore from SOME usb keys :


    • linux distro (debian 10, 9, whatever) : fine, will boot and install a linux system on any hard drive
    • grub USB key (the one you download online and flash from another computer) : fine also (but won't see the installed linux as it used to do)
    • grub bootloader (the one you create after installing linux) : NO GOOD. WILL NEVER BOOT. It worked flawlessly for 4 years, but I can't make it work anymore

    It will still boot from hard drive (only from the first one, as you know).


    After many attempts I swaped the SSD in the first port of the front bay and the first Raid drive to the optical port.


    It works...


    As you can see on the picture, the SSD is in port 1 and the drive that used to be there is on top.

    It's the only workaround I've found atm.


    During the boot, mdadm seemed unhappy but managed to create the raid and OMV tells me it's "clean".


    ---


    I guess I could create a raid 1 with only the SSD in it as decribed here (french link, sorry) which would allow me to boot directly from the SSD...


    So, here's my question :


    1. Does creating a raid 0 array for the SSD erases his data ? I guess so. (Dynamic Smart Array B120i raid)


    ---


    I Had another question for which I've found on stackoverflow it's possible :

    2. Is it possible to recover the MDADM raid 5 from another install ? There's still important data I would like to keep...


    proliant_ugly.jpg

    So...


    To make it work I had to choose between something hazardous and something even more hazardous :


    1. have the SSD in SATA 1 and a storage disk in SATA5

    2. Activate RAID 1 on SATA 5 and reinstall everything.


    I choose the fastest way and it seems to work (MDADM is still unhappy but it finally says the raid5 is "clean"). Here's what I did :


    I unscrewed the backpanel with sata connectors, I removed the sata 1 and cut some tape to free enough lenght of cable. I pluged the SSD on sata 1.

    I plugged the HD storage in the first port, with the cables that used to connect the SSD.


    Now the Microserver boots directly on SSD, no usb/SD/raid1 required.


    It is an ugly hack which I'm not proud of, but it works.


    I guess I'll replace the whole server as soon as I'll have enough money...


    hack_1.jpghack_2.jpg

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