Cannot setup raid on ML350 Gen10 - Disks not accessible

[lukos]

This server was previously setup to run Windows Server with 4 500GB SSDs configured as a single 1TB virtual disk with raid1 and worked fine. The 4 disks are in a single box plugged into the SATA2 port (for some reason).

I am wiping it to run proxmox and ran the proxmox installer, expecting it to see the raid disk but it only saw 4 separate physical disks. I didn't care too much and attempted to install to disk 1 but after rebooting, it didn't find the new installation.

I decided to try and setup the raid controller again as 2 x 500GB in raid 1 so I could attempt the installer again but I can't do it.

When I go into SAS, it shows the E208i controller with no raid configuration but it also shows 4 physical disks under an Intel "unmanaged host bus adaptor" which cannot be used to create a RAID array. I went into the bios and changed the storage mode from EHCI to SmartArray but then when I go back into SAS, it doesn't show any physical disks and they are still not available to configure raid.

I have also tried a full reset of the system in case the proxmox installer made some changes but still the same.

Does anyone have any pointers please? Since this used to work fine, I don't suspect any hardware issues!

[msobers22]

Hello,

Once you make the change from AHCI mode to Smart Array you must restart the server for the change to take affect. Another to check is what boot mode does Proxmox require is it legacy or UEFI that will make a difference on how you see the E208i in Smart Storage Administrator (SSA).  

[pchops · Accepted solution]

I believe you are confusing the E208i (-a or -p) Smart Array controller with the embedded S100i software RAID/SATA controller. From your description of the original configuration:

@lukos wrote:

This server was previously setup to run Windows Server with 4 500GB SSDs configured as a single 1TB virtual disk with raid1 and worked fine. The 4 disks are in a single box plugged into the SATA2 port (for some reason).

the drive cage would have been connected to the S100i (via the "SATA2 port"). If there was a RAID1 configuration via the S100i, it would have either been via S100i software RAID under Windows (the only OS that supports the S100i in RAID mode) or perhaps some Windows-native RAID volume (which I lack any knowledge of). I believe the latter is the case, since when you ran the Proxmox installer, you "saw 4 separate physical disks", which would seem to indicate the S100i was in AHCI mode.

When I go into SAS, it shows the E208i controller with no raid configuration but it also shows 4 physical disks under an Intel "unmanaged host bus adaptor" which cannot be used to create a RAID array. I went into the bios and changed the storage mode from EHCI to SmartArray but then when I go back into SAS, it doesn't show any physical disks and they are still not available to configure raid.

The reason for this is because when you changed the "storage mode from EHCI (AHCI) to SmartArray", in the BIOS, you are changing the mode of the S100i controller, not the E208i(-a, -p). Also, if the drive cage is still connected to the "SATA2 port", then it will only be seen by the S100i and not the E208i(-a, -p).

In order to setup two of the 500GB disks as a RAID1 logical drive on the Smart Array E208i(-a, -p), you will need to cable the drive cage containing the target drives to said Smart Array. After that, you should then see the physical disks attached to the E208i(-a, -p) Smart Array in SSA.

Hope this makes sense...

---

[Sunitha_Mod]

Hello @lukos, 

We do see you have marked the reply as solved. We are glad to know the problem has been resolved.