Drivers for B120i for RHEL 7.4

[vbezhenar]

Hello. I want to install RHEL 7.4 on server with B120i raid controller (using raid configuration, not AHCI). I couldn't find image with drivers for RHEL 7.4, latest for RHEL 7.3. Should I want for new drivers or I can use old ones?

[Jimmy Vance]

The drivers are kernel specific and I do not know the status of driver updates being offered beyond RHEL 7.3.  The B120i is a chipset AHCI SATA  controller that requires a kernel specific proprietary driver for software derived RAID functionality.  Many refer to these chipset SATA controllers as 'fake raid'.  Since you are doing a fresh installation the HPE recommendation is to use the 'mdadm' software RAID feature included with the OS.  For Gen9 and Gen10 with UEFI, HPE offers documentation on how to make both disks bootable and available in the UEFI ESP.  You could do something similar for an older BIOS based system to make the 2nd disk bootable in case the primary disk fails.

LSRRB (Linux Software Raid Redundant Boot), refer to the LSRRB users guide available here
https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/project/lsrrb/

[vbezhenar]

Thanks. I'm forced to use B120i Raid because otherwise server's fans are too loud and I didn't find a way to make them quiet with AHCI mode. I tried to use RHEL 7.4 with new kernel and indeed hpvsa driver causes kernel panick on boot, I guess the only way is to wait for new driver.

[fredo1664]

I have the exact same problem after upgrading to 7.4

Do you have a workaround? Use 7.4 with the kernel from 7.3 ?

[Ken Green]

Have you tried to see whether the driver from 7.3 works on 7.4? The hpsa driver (for HW SmartArrays) is fairly tolerant of kernel versions. I've not tried with the SW SmartArray drivers.

[vbezhenar]

It doesn't work, server panics.

According to previous releases, HP builds new driver about a month after RHEL release. So I think that driver will be available soon.

[CCS1]

I was able to do a fresh install of RHEL 7.4 using the current HP 7.3 B120i Driver.

But doing a upgrade from RHEL 7.3 with the current HP 7.3 B120i Dirver to RHEL 7.4 the kernel panics 

Driver used kmod-hpvsa-1.2.16-102.rhel7u3.x86_64

[Jimmy Vance]

The driver is kernel specific, really suprised it even tries to load. I wouldn't trust storing any data on it without a known good backup.

[vbezhenar]

So it's two monthes, driver is not available yet. Is there any new information? Centos 7.4 was released as well. If it's abandoned, it would be good to know.

[gregorgregor]

Now I'm also hit by this problem on three Servers.

Any news here? Has anybody a support subscription and is able to create a support case?

[fredo1664]

I still have the issue.

I found out that HP actually released a SPP for RHEL 7.4, here: https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/repo/spp-gen8/rhel/7.4/x86_64/gen8.0_postprod/

... but the hpvsa driver is still for 7.3... :-(

[MagicUK]

Hi all,

I'm also in the same situation. Like others have said, I was hoping that as CentOS and RHEL 7.4 have both been out for a while that HP would have provided updated hpvsa packages by now.

It would be handy to know if HPE plan to release a new version? I'd rather not have to re-install my server if possible.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@MagicUK wrote:

It would be handy to know if HPE plan to release a new version? I'd rather not have to re-install my server if possible.

---

Yes a RHEL 7.4 version of hpvsa is currently in the QA process.  I don't have a release date, but unless an issue is discovered during QA, I would assume the driver will be released soon.

[fredo1664]

That's very good news Jimmy, thanks.

I'm not very knowledgeable of RPM packages. Couldn't the hpvsa package be made dependent on the specific kernel version so that the kernel doesn't upgrade if the driver is not available, so that a simple 'yum update' doesn't end up in a kernel panic?

[MagicUK]

Hi,

Sorry to nag, is there an ETA from HPE?

Thanks,

Neil.

[K_Mu]

@Jimmy VanceThank you for the information. However, another month has passed. I don't quite understand why it takes so long. RHEL 7.4 has already been released on August 1st. For comparison:

SLES 12 SP3 was released on September 7th, the HPE driver was released on September 15th.
On September 15th a new driver for SLES 11 was released.

Is Red Hat no longer supported? I haven't been able to patch my system for four months, despite some security flaws.

[wagnerfl]

Hello Togehter,

i'm facing the same problem and i was chatting with HPE Support for about an hour and i dont even get a hint. Just:
There will be a driver for 7.4 and it is in testing process.

But not even a hint on the time of realse.

The support guy is driving me crazy on all the time repeating that i should contact the OS Company! On a HPE driver related problem.

[K_Mu]

The kernel module for RHEL 7.4 is now online: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_fc9cb2b56d854a7aacc6a9c0b5

[fredo1664]

Thanks!

I have installed it manually and it worked.

[MagicUK]

Thanks for sharing the link - worked for me also.

I did see several dracut errors when installing the RPM, but after examining syslog this appears to be from trying to insert the new kernel module into the initramfs for the older kernels.

Now running with the 3.10.0-693.11.1.el7.x86_64 kernel :-)

Cheers,

Neil.

[CCS1]

Anyone have a link to download the driver diskette image for the B120i for RHEL 7.4

[K_Mu]

Link to driver diskette image: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_a5fb52d146a24af58ce84731c8

[CCS1]

Thanks for sharing the link

[MagicUK]

Hi all,

Has anyone tried with Centos 7.7?

Cheers,

Neil.