DL 160 G6-410 CONTROLLER WITH 256 MB CACHE RAID 5on Ubuntu.

[RAJAKUMAR]

Hi,
I have DL 160 G6 WITH THREE 146 GB SAS HOT PLUG HDD's. I am trying RAID 5 for installing Ubuntu 9.04 and MYSQL for a DB Server.

Here is quick config.
DL 160 G6 HOTPLUG + 3 SAS 146 GB HDD's+ 8 GB RAM + 410 controller. As per the specification, it should support RAID 5.

So far, here is what I did.
I installed the memory + HDD's + 256 CACHE

I did updated the firmware to the hp boot key and seems to be went well.

Here are the issues that I am facing.

1. The 256 cache is detected but says the since the battery is not available , the cache is disabled

2. I went to the ROM setup utility for setting up arrays. I can see two HDD's but I cant see the third one. The two HDD's-the first and the second LED's are green and the third one has blue so the third HDD's is detected but not shwing up in the configuration utility.

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS.

1.How do I set up RAID 5?

2. Do I need to install Ubuntu 9.04 and then install HP UBUNTU SUPPORT PACK and then install RAID 5 through array config utility and then Install MYSQL to avail RAID 5?

3.In the HP-Ubuntu support doc, they are talking about option for i386 port for memory above 4gb. Here is the line.(let me know I can send you the pdf)
"If you are running the i386 port, and your system has greater than 4GB of memory, you will need
to install one of the following optimized kernels to enable access to the additional memory:"
"686-bigmem
The 686-bigmem kernel permits 32-bit systems to access more than 4GB of memory."


How do I install 686-bigman to utilize the 8gb memory I have?

I know there are lot of Linux guru's out here. Help me out.
Any help appriciated.
Thank you for all the replies.

-Raja.

[Michael Ziegler]

Im not familiar with Ubuntu on Proliant, but have one idea that might help you:

On PROLIANT DL 160 G6, there are different Backplanes for HDD, one with 2 Ports, one with 4 Ports. Make Sure you have the right Backplane, and that all Connectors are connected to your P410 Controller.

Best regards,
Michael

[RAJAKUMAR]

The correct backpane for 4 HDD is installed and that seems to be working since I have a blue LED glowing for the third HDD.
Rom configuration for arrays is not showing up the third HDD.

[TTr]

> Here is quick config.
>DL 160 G6 HOTPLUG + 3 SAS 146 GB HDD's+ 8 GB RAM + 410 controller. As per the specification, it should support RAID 5.

Verify that you have BBWC on the P410 controller. If you don't, it only supports raid0 and raid1(+0).

[RAJAKUMAR]

Thanks TTr.
Do you mean BBWC-Battery pack upgrade?
According to spec, I dont need battery pack for RAID 5 with P410 in DL 160 G6. For RAID 5 I just need 256 mb cache upgrade which is already done.

[TTr]

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13247_div/13247_div.html
The server specs clearly say

HP Smart Array P410 Controller (RAID 0/1/1+0)
HP Smart Array P410 Controller 256 BBWC (RAID/0/1/1+0/5/5+0)


The fact that you don't see the third disk may be caused by a wiring problem. Check the backplane wiring in your server.

[TTr]

Raid5 is impossible with 2 disks. So until you fix the problem with the 3rd disk you will not know if you can do raid5 or not.

Have you tested the 3rd disk in one of the other slots and is it visible? (this way you know the 3rd disk is good).

[RAJAKUMAR]

I am able to see the three HDD's.
Here is how.
I went to the ROM option for config arrays.
I did see available Logical drives which identified two HDD's in the 1st and 2nd Slot.
When I went to create logical drive the Third HDD blinked so all the three drives are being detected. However in the same utility it is not letting me select the RAID 5 OPtion that is available, it just auto selects RAID 0.

I did talk to HP Tech support which now says that I need a battery upgrade for RAID5 AND THEY SEND ME A DOC WHICH SAYS P410 needs battery upgrade to support RAID5. Here is the two line.

RAID 5 (Distributed Data Guarding): This allocates one set of parity data across drives and allows simultaneous write operations. This level of fault tolerance can withstand a single drive failure without downtime or data loss.
RAID5 is available on the SA P410/P410i only if the 256MB & Battery kit option is used

Documentation in HP says that battery pack will help in the event of power failure where we can take this battery lit & cache to another server with P410 Controller to flush the data.

The documentation for the above option seems to be really confusing.

May be.., I should just install Ubuntu in one logical drive then install Ubuntu-HP support pack then run ACU from there to setup RAID5.

[TTr · Accepted solution]

You can create a raid0 with two disks now and when you get the battery, you can add the 3rd disk and convert live from raid0 to raid5.

[RAJAKUMAR]

I did override cache write enable to enable the 256 cache thro the RBSU which did fix the cache disbled message during POST but still it is not letting me to set up RAID 5.

As TTr mentioned, I may just try and install RAID 1 and install Ubuntu then thro HP support pack, I can rebuid RAID 5 thro ACU.
Hope it works.