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I want to bypass the Smart Array Controller built into the HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 (P420i) with an LSI 9211-8i (I need JBOD or pass-through support). Can anyone tell me how to accomplish this?

Edit: The reason for enabling JBOD is for server fail-over clustering (with Hyper-V's). It's been explained to me that the drives cannot be listed as RAID devices but as SAS devices.

ewwhite
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thomas hill
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  • been reading the comments on the answer below, and I have some bad news for you. You can't use clustered storage (CSV, clustered storage spaces etc) without having shared storage - like a JBOD enclosure shared between the hosts. There is a block replication feature coming in Windows Server 2016, but until then your only option is having RAID on each server and using Hyper-V replication to copy VM's back and forth. – pauska Jun 08 '15 at 19:34

1 Answers1

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Two things.

  • You don't need any additional cables to do this. Just connect the SAS SFF-8087 cables currently linked to the motherboard RAID controller to your add-in LSI-9211-8i card.
  • The Smart Array P420i controller with current firmware has a JBOD mode that can be set with the hpssacli utility.

modify [hbamode=on|off|?] Turning on HBA Mode will expose the physical drives to the operating system and Smart Array configuration will not be allowed.

The target can be any valid controller which supports this feature.

modify [raidmode=on|off|?] Turning on Raid Mode will allow Smart Array configuration on the specified controller.

It would be helpful to understand why you're looking to run JBOD mode on this particular server. Are you planning on using ZFS or something like Storage Spaces? Or is it something more involved like VMware vSAN? Otherwise, this is an odd request for this type of server.

Please add some context, because it will help us help you.

edit

That controller is capable of 64 logical drives. It sounds like you're running this controller with NO read/write cache module. That's important to have. See this HP advisory.

ewwhite
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    I apologize for the brevity of my initial question and truly appreciate your response. After hours of searching everything pointed to turning RAID off on that particular controller and therefor I had to go with an external option. The reason for enabling JBOD is for server fail-over clustering (with Hyper-V's.) It's been explained to me that the drives cannot be listed as RAID devices but as SAS devices. – thomas hill Jun 08 '15 at 15:52
  • I'll see if we can get anyone who knows Hyper-V and this use case to chime in. – ewwhite Jun 08 '15 at 15:55
  • @thomashill - I'm confused - a P420i is for internal-only disks, are you looking to connect the internal disks of a server to a second server's HBA for failover clustering or have you got an external disk shelf that you've not mentioned? – Chopper3 Jun 08 '15 at 15:59
  • @Chopper3 I am trying to create a failover cluster between two identical machines with identical hardware. However, the P420i is limiting me to 2 logical drives (I have a RAID10 and a RAID0 in each.) Therefor, I was told that I need to use a 3rd party controller with JBOD or passthrough in order to accomplish this. – thomas hill Jun 08 '15 at 16:12
  • @thomashill See my edit above. – ewwhite Jun 08 '15 at 16:16
  • @thomashill - still confused, how do you see the failover clustering working? don't you need shared disk? – Chopper3 Jun 08 '15 at 16:20
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    I'm not understanding how you're implementing your storage for the failover cluster nodes. Assuming you're using Windows Server 2012 R2, are you planning on using SMB 3, Clustered Storage Spaces or a Cluster Shared Volume? – joeqwerty Jun 08 '15 at 16:26
  • @joeqwerty I planned on using a Cluster Shared Volume. – thomas hill Jun 08 '15 at 17:47
  • Ok, via SAS then right? if so can you explain how you want to cable the shared disks please? – Chopper3 Jun 08 '15 at 17:50
  • @Chopper3 Perhaps I am in way over my head here, my assumption was that I simply add the disk VIA passthrough (internal to the server) and share it as the failover? (One disk in one server and the other disk in the other server that constantly replicate across one another) – thomas hill Jun 08 '15 at 17:52
  • Oh that's not how it works at all sorry - do some reading and come back, as it stands that's just really not how CSV works sorry. – Chopper3 Jun 08 '15 at 18:04
  • @Chopper3 Wanted to thank you for your patience, I got a little lost in terminology there, here is the guide I am following to achieve failover clustering without CSV (I thought any drives could be shared as CSV's, my mistake, sorry.) https://redmondmag.com/articles/2014/07/14/windows-server-failover-cluster.aspx However, what I am running into is that the Disks have to be SAS, not RAID in order to add them as the shared storage, so, I have to bypass the Smart Array so that the OS can have direct access to the disk. – thomas hill Jun 09 '15 at 12:40
  • Please open a new question. – ewwhite Jun 09 '15 at 12:57
  • Ok Thomas, I've not seen that method used before but essentially Ed's answer above, to update your controller firmware and use JBOD mode stands. – Chopper3 Jun 09 '15 at 16:19