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P411 and MSA50

 
Jeff Frantz
New Member

P411 and MSA50

I have two DL385 G6 servers with additional Smart Array P411 controllers in them. I was planning on using existing MSA50 boxes but the P411 will not recognize any drives in the MSA50. Anyone have any ideas on how or why or should I just replace the P411 with a P800?

Thanks!
-Jeff
4 REPLIES 4
Antonio de Martino
Frequent Advisor

Re: P411 and MSA50

Hello there,
sorry for the delay of this answer but I'm newly on this forum and I'm looking for question never answered only now...

So in according to the official Hp QuickSpecs for server DL385G6 only controller P800 is listed and only this one is installable to manage HP StorageWorks 50 Modular Smart Array. So I think that the only solution should be replace P411 controller with a new P800.

Have a look here:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13360_div/13360_div.HTML
Never say never
TTr
Honored Contributor

Re: P411 and MSA50

P411 is supported on the DL385G6. look under the "Additional Options" section and under the "Storage Controllers" subsection.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13360_div/13360_div.HTML#Additional%20Options

However officially the MSA50 is not supported on the P411 controller.

Have you upgraded any firmware on the MSA50 and the P411? There must be something with the P411/MSA50 combination. Do you have the right cable and have you plugged in the the right port on the MSA50?

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12245_div/12245_div.html

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13202_na/13202_na.pdf

Otherwise you would need to buy another controller.
Jeff Frantz
New Member

Re: P411 and MSA50

I ended up purchasing two P800s but I still see no reason the P411 will not work with the MSA50. There are no firmware updates for the MSA50 but there have been two updates for the P411 since my original post, however I have not tried those yet. I will try updating the P411 firmware to version 2.74 and see if that makes a difference. The release notes for firmware v2.72 say support was added for the MDS600 so perhaps the MSA50 will now work. It's worth a try.

I spoke with an HP engineer back in November about this and he could not think of a reason the MSA50 wouldn't work with the P411. He ended up telling me to use the P800.

Anyway, I'll try the newer P411 firmware with the MSA50 within the next few weeks and post the results.

-Jeff
Jeff Frantz
New Member

Re: P411 and MSA50

I just wanted to update anyone interested on using the P411 with an MSA50. I updated the P411 firmware to 3.00 and, unlike firmware 2.50, it did recognize the MSA50 and the disks within. The disks had an array created on a P800 but the P411 did not recognize the array. From the P411 setup I was able to create a new array. I then booted from SmartStart 8.30 which also showed the array but upon displaying a physical view of the array, two of the drives were listed twice. Obviously this is quite odd. Another thing I encountered was the drive status LEDs were yellow rather than the normal green color.

I booted ESX 4.0 and it recognized the array and I was able to format and use the disk space.

All in all, the P411 sort of works with the MSA50 but I would certainly not use them together in a production environment or any environment where you care about the data.

-Jeff