Compatibility and Expansion Questions – HPE MSA 2040 with 24 × 900 GB SAS Drives

[HPE-Dude]

Hello everyone,

we are currently managing an HPE MSA 2040 (K2R80A) system that is fully equipped with 24 × 900 GB SAS 10K SFF drives.
The customer would like to expand the system’s storage capacity, and I would like to confirm the following details before proceeding.

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Expansion via HPE D2700 Disk Enclosure (AJ941A)

• Is it technically possible to connect an HPE D2700 Disk Enclosure to an MSA 2040 via expansion Port ans miniSAS-HD Cable?

• If yes, are the existing 900 GB SAS 10K SFF drives from the MSA 2040 mechanically and firmware-wise compatible with the D2700 Enclosure?

• Are there any firmware or controller limitations we should be aware of (e.g. maximum drive size, specific part numbers, or supported drive generations)?

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Expansion using 3.2 TB SSDs

• According to the QuickSpecs, the HPE MSA 3.2 TB 12G SAS MU SFF SSD (N9X92A) is listed as a supported model for the MSA 2040.
  However, this drive is no longer available as new stock.

• Since the original drives (N9X92A) are discontinued, are there any current HPE SSD models that remain compatible with the MSA 2040, such as P09925-001 or similar?
  
  Out Goal:

  Goal:
  Our plan is to use SSDs  as the primary performance tier, and move the existing 24 × 900 GB SAS 10K drives to a secondary cold-storage enclosure such as the D2700, if confirmed compatible.

  Any official documentation, compatibility matrices, or field experience from HPE engineers or partners would be highly appreciated.

  Thank you in advance for your support.

  Best regards,

[ArunKKR]

Hi,

900GB drives in MSA 2040 controller enclosure should work in D2700 disk enclosure as well.
It would be possible to connect MSA 2040 to D2700 using mini-SAS to mini-SAS cables.
D2700 disk enclosures are usually shipped with compatible SAS cables.
MSA 2040 supports linear vdisks and virtual pool.
To use SSD disks as part of  performance tier disk group/virtual pool in MSA 2040 , performance tier license would be required.
You could issue the command license from putty SSH session to confirm whether the array has performance tier license installed.
If the license is not installed, you would need to use SSD disks to create linear SSD vdisks.
However, tiering wont work with linear vdisks.
The performance tier license is also end of life, and it might not be available for purchase.

MSA 2040 option parts list:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c03819847&page=GUID-A2183ED1-D717-4F89-921D-C7D3C14EB3FA.html&docLocale=en_US

Refer to the pages 21-22 of the MSA quickspecs sheet for information on compatible hard drives:

https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c05183822

Ensure that the controller firmware is updfated to latest version GL225P002.

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_963950744579459aae30fc9690

MSA 2040 cabling guide:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c03821278&docLocale=en_US

https://h20272.www2.hpe.com/SPOCK/index.aspx

As MSA 2040 is an end of support life product the chances of finding spare parts and option parts is quite less.
You may consider investing on newer genertation MSA storage.
You may also reach out to support team/reseller to check for any options to renew the support contract or for spare part availability.

[ArunKKR]

Hello @HPE-Dude ,
 
Let us know if we were able to answer your queries.
 
If you have no further query and you are satisfied with the answer then kindly mark the topic as Solved so that it is helpful for all community members.