HP dl380 Gen7 with Smart Array 421

[jmginer]

Hello,

we have a HP dl380 Gen7 with Smart Array 410.

The server has 12 cores + HT and 144 GB RAM, is a good server and we don't need upgrade to a Gen8.

We want add a new RAID card to improve the performance with SATA SSD disks, using Linux (not Windows).

We are looking on the Smart Array 421 but on the PDF (page 32) don't says that is compatible with G7.

What is the problem? is not certified by HP or didn't run anything.

¿Anybody has tested?

Thanks.

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.BINARYPORTLET/public/kb/docDisplay/resource.process/?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.rid_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=docDisplayResURL&javax.portlet.rst_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-resourceState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01608507-11%257CdocLocale%253D&javax....

[Torsten.]

This smart array is not listed in the servers quickspecs and hence not supported. I guess the reason is the server has pci-e gen2 slots only, the HBA is Gen3. I think it will work (downshift), but a bit slower than expected ... but it remains not supported.

[waaronb]

Ditto the above comment.  It *might* work, but you're probably better off with a P410/P411 anyway.

I don't recall the differences between a 410 and 420 off the top of my head, so there probably are some things you'd sacrifice, but if the PCI bus was downshifting the 420, it might not even matter.

[jmginer]

I'm looking for a 6Gbps SATA ports and good support for SSD, like TRIM.

¿What about to install a aftermarket LSI 9266-8i?

[waaronb]

The P410 is 6Gb/s for SAS, but yeah, only 3Gb/s for SATA (which seems weird to me).

I could be mistaken, but support for TRIM is going to be OS and drive dependent.  I'm not sure how much the array controller will have to do with that.  Unless the ACU isn't passing through the full capabilities of the drive to the OS.

That's a good question... you might need to research that.  HP offers their own SSD options so I'm going to guess that it will report TRIM support to the host OS, but that's a wild guess.

Anyway, here is the quickspecs page for the P410:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html#spectype=worldwide&type=html&docid=13201

If you need the 6Gb/s SATA support, then the P420 has that, but using non-HP drives on the P420 and up controllers seems to be increasingly more difficult.  It will work but it will complain about non-HP drives on boot-up and will mark your system status in a warning state.  At least on a G8 server with either the P420i or P420 controllers.  That might be something that only the G8 server bugs you about and it's not coming from the array controller.

There's probably nothing that would prevent a P420 from being installed in the G7.  The DL380 G7 does have a PCIe x8 slot, which is what the P420 runs.  Just make sure you use that slot otherwise it won't be running at full speed.

I forgot about one feature of the P420 over the P410, and that's the inclusion of advanced RAID levels without extra licensing (RAID 60 for example).  If that's important to you.

[IsaacRo]

@jmginer - if it's of any help, here is a page that can help you browse through all HP Smart Array controllers -

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/iss-controllers/index.html?jumpid=sc_7epymnkr2q#!view%3Dgrid%26page%3D1

Please let me know if you need additional information. I'll be happy to connect you with one of our specialists.

[davidisko]

Hi there,

We have the same problem.

Have you resolved this somehow?