Debian 8.6 installation on ProLiant DL160 Gen9 (Smart Array B160i)

[mlopezcoria]

I've got a this HPE ProLiant DL160 Gen9 Server with Smart Array B160i using 4 HDDs. I've tryed to install Debian 8.6.0 but I could not make it boot. I also can not see the RAID5 array that I made using the Smart Array Storage tool, intead It just show the each separate HDD.

I tried disabling UEFI boot option and Smart Array Storage utility and installed Debian using software RAID, but it doesn't boot.

I've also tryed to install CentOS 7.1511 with the same result.

What can I do to install Debian or CentOS? I prefer Debian because I need to virtualize and I use ProXmoX VE which is based on Debian.

Thank you in advance.

[Jimmy Vance]

If your seeing the 4 individual drives, I'd suspect the controller is in HBA mode, but you wouldn't be able to configure an array if it was.  Debian 8.6 will see the Gen9 controllers, I tested this earlier in the week using an H240 controller in both HBA and RAID mode.  Please post some screen shots from the SSA utilty showing the controller and the drive configuration

[mlopezcoria]

Thank you for your answer. I made a mistake: the correct model of the RAID controller is HP Dynamic Smart Array B140i SATA RAID Controller, not B440.

I could install CentOS 7 -after installing the SPP (HP Service Pack for ProLiant)- by adding the hpdsa-1.2.8-107.rhel7u2.x86_64 driver (downloaded here) to the installation of CentOS 7.

But I can't find the correponding driver for Debian. Also I cannot use Intelligent Provisioning for the installation of the OS 'cos Debian isn't included as a supported OS on that software.

I need to solve this as I must install debian as CentOS isn't supported by ProXmoX VE.

I hope somebody can help me solve this!

[Jimmy Vance · Accepted solution]

Go into system configuration and change the controller from B140i RAID mode to AHCI SATA mode.  There isn't a version of the hpdsa driver for Debian.  Use the software RAID built into Linux.  Another option would be to install a supported 'H' or 'P' series Smart Array controller as they use the open source hpsa driver

[mlopezcoria]

Hey Jimmy,

Thank you for your quick answer. Can you tell me where can I find info about this open source hpsa driver. Which is the one that I can use with debian 8?

And another thing: I could add the hpsa driver to CentOS installation, but I couldn't do it with Debian, do you know how can I add a driver to Debian installation?

Best regards,

[mlopezcoria]

I've finally installed debian 8.6 on my server. I disabled UEFI mode and also the Smart Array, so I used the Legacy Boos Mode. I set up a software RAID 6 and it worked.

I just have to investigate how to add the boot option (GRUB) to the other disks, because now I just have one bootable disk and if this disk fails the RAID 6 won't help me!