DL380 Gen 10 M2 Card Connectivity

[Kevin4]

I just received 4 new Proliant DL380 Gen 10 Servers (VSAN ready nodes) to run VSAN for Horizon environment, but I have questions about the 2 M2 cards connectivity.  Ours came attached to the Smart Array S100i SR Gen 10, which is not supported under ESXi for RAID 1.  We will only be using the cards for booting to ESXi and for logs.  Could the M2 cards be connected to the  Smart Array P816i-a SR Gen 10 Storage Controller or SAS bus extender?

The M2 Drive part # is P19888-b21 on Purchase Order.  ILO shows model VR000240GXBBL  I don't see the drive in the front of the server, ILO shows their location at Port 6 | Bay 13 and Port 6 | Bay 14.  Where is that?  In the ILO it shows up connected to the Lewisburg SATA AHCI Controller.  

Is there a cable I need to connect the drives to P816i-a SR Gen 10 controller or would existing cabling work?

[sudhirsingh]

Hi @Kevin4 

You can create Raid (1) with M.2 drives using software raid only [in this case/server its S100i(embedded software raid controller)],

or you can use it in AHCI mode (Lewisburg SATA AHCI Controller) without software raid/raid mode: 

M.2 drives will be directly presented to OS.

You can not connect M.2 drives to any other controllers.

M.2 drive slot are embedded on Primary riser board(There is a special riser option for it)

See Riser board pic below:

few references:

RAID mode of Intel Corporation Lewisburg SATA AHCI Controller is not supported in ESXi 6.5 (52047)

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/52047#:~:text=VMware%20does%20not%20support%20the,AHCI%20in%20the%20system%20BIOS.

UEFI System Utilities and Shell Command Mobile Help for HPE ProLiant Gen10, ProLiant Gen10 Plus Servers and HPE Synergy

https://techlibrary.hpe.com/docs/iss/proliant-gen10-uefi/s_enabling_SATA_Config.html

So,  let embedded controller be in AHCI mode and then install VMware OS to one of the M.2 drive (ESXi 6.5 and above support AHCI mode).

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

Regards,

Sudhir

[Kevin4]

@sudhirsingh,

The picture helped some, but I would have liked to see the entire card with m2 drives populated(front and back). looking to see if there are any cable connectors on it.

How is the card or the drive connected to S100? Is the S100 on the card or is it that on the motherboard?  

I was hopeful to see if that card has sata cable to the S100, where I could get a min sas to breakout SATA cables to connect it to P816i-a similarly to someone else posted in the communities.

Thanks,
Kevin

[sudhirsingh]

Hi @Kevin4 

HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 Software RAID is embedded on the system board and manages drives connected to the embedded SATA ports on the system board.

Which mean if you want to manage your SATA drives using S100i then make sure your SATA drives are connected to onboard SATA ports, however

For M.2 SATA SSD drives there are some additionals options available :

There are three kind options available for connecting M.2 drives (See below also refer server quickspecs and User guide for more information)

Note:

•  M.2 supports software RAID only.
•  M.2 drives supported in the Primary Riser and use S100i SATA controller only.

1. Primary Riser board (Embedded M.2 SATA Ports on each side of this riser, refer the snap on last post)

 No cable required, [Check in RBSU, drive should be discovered]

2. HPE Universal SATA 6G AIC HHHL M.2 SSD Enablement Kit  : 878783-B21

   https://buy.hpe.com/us/en/options/drives-storage/server-solid-state-drives/server-solid-state-drives/hpe-universal-solid-  state-drives/hpe-universal-sata-6g-aic-hhhl-m-2-ssd-enablement-kit/p/878783-B21

Installation/cabling: (Same for Gen10), Connect SATA cables on the onboard SATA Ports:

https://techlibrary.hpe.com/docs/iss/DL80_Gen9/setup_install/240885.htm

3. HPE SFF Dual uFF SSD options:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c05379772&docLocale=en_US

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04815106.pdf

DL380 gen10 User guide:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=a00019109en_us

Server Quickspecs

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008180enw

Software RAID
• HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 SW RAID
Notes:
­ HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 SW RAID will operate in UEFI mode only. For legacy support an additional
controller will be needed, and for CTO orders please also select the Legacy mode settings part, 758959-B22.
­ HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 SW RAID is off by default and must be enabled.
­ The S100i uses 14 embedded SATA ports, but only 12 ports are accessible as 2 are leveraged to support the 2 M.2
options on the primary riser. If more than 8 SATA devices are being supported on this controller, then a Qty=1 of
the SAS 3POS Cable Kit (826709-B21) is required.
­ The S100i supports Windows only
­ For Linux users, HPE offers a solution that uses in-distro open-source software to create a two-disk RAID 1 boot
volume. For more information visit: https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/project/lsrrb/

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

Regards,

Sudhir

[sudhirsingh]

Hi @Kevin4 

Did the above reply be of helpful? If yes, you can mark it as accepted solution, if not, feel free to revert.

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

Regards,

Sudhir

[Tom99]

Hello @sudhirsingh ,

My question is if using the uFF M.2 in the front of the DL360 Gen10 can we use any HPE hardware controller and not just the S100i? Example: If using s P816i-a, could 2 x dual uFF M.2 be connected to it? I can't find any information on supported controller(s) for the UFF M.2, just on the riser version of M.2

Thank you,

Tom