DL380 Gen10 Plus - SR100i and NVMe disk issues

[Colin Benson]

I have 3 new DL380 Gen10 Plus servers installed with Azure Stack HCI, each containing 8 x NVMe drives all located in Bay3.

I do not want RAID enabled on these drives as they are being used for HCI and want all 8 disks passed straight into the OS - however the OS only sees 6 drives no matter what BIOS settings I choose against the SR100i controller - cabled as per attached diagram etc

All suggestions welcome as to how I get all 8 disks presented to the OS - looks like disks in Slot 1 & 2 are locked to the SR100i controller which I want to remove but can't

Moderator Note: Post edited and removed the Serial number for Privacy. 

[support_s]

System recommended content:

1. HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 Plus Server Maintenance and Service Guide | Removing and replacing the HPE NS204i-p NVMe OS Boot Device option

2. HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen10 Plus Server Maintenance and Service Guide | Removing and replacing the HPE NS204i-p NVMe OS Boot Device option

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[Colin Benson]

This isn't relevant - the server contains a NS204i boot device and is working correctly with this - this relates to the onboard SR100i controller

[Suman_1978]

Hi,

I hope you have taken a look at this cabling diagram, if not please see the "Cable routing: 8NVMe P1 box 3 to system board/primary riser" HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 Plus Server User Guide

Have a look at the Risers "NVMe Direct Connect" at the QuickSpecs.

Cable spare parts

I have not done this configuration personally nor I could find a documentation for this type of configuration.

Thank You!
I work with HPE but opinions expressed here are mine.
Recent Support Video Releases

[pchops]

I do not want RAID enabled on these drives as they are being used for HCI and want all 8 disks passed straight into the OS - however the OS only sees 6 drives no matter what BIOS settings I choose against the SR100i controller - cabled as per attached diagram etc

Are you able to change the "NVM Express SmartRAID SW RAID Support" BIOS setting to "Disabled" (or something other than "Enabled")?

All suggestions welcome as to how I get all 8 disks presented to the OS - looks like disks in Slot 1 & 2 are locked to the SR100i controller which I want to remove but can't

I don't believe the disks in slots 1 and 2 are necessarily "locked" to the SR100i controller, but more that they are "locked" to the "NVME SLIMLINE" ports (cables marked "Port 1A/1B" and "Port 2A/2B") on the systemboard. My guess is that since the SR100i is a "software" controller, you should be able to disable it in the BIOS, which should make those two disk slots plain old NVMe (similar to the SATA SR100i, where disabling it sets the ports to AHCI mode instead of RAID).

Just a thought...