ML110 Gen10 swap LFF drive cage for SFF

[flathat]

I have an ML110 Gen10 ( SKU# P03685 ) with an LFF drive cage and SATA HDDs.  I would prefer to use SFF SSD drives.  Is it possible to swap in  HPE ML110 Gen10 8SFF Drive Backplane Cage Kit SKU #874007-B21 and use drives such as:

• HPE 480GB SATA 6G Mixed Use SFF (2.5in) SC 3yr Wty Multi Vendor SSD ( SKU# P18432-B21 )
  or
• HPE 480GB SATA 6G Mixed Use SFF (2.5in) SC 3yr Wty Digitally Signed Firmware SSD ( SKU# P07922-B21 )

If it isn't can you explain why?

[ShruthiSK]

Hi, 

As per the ML110 Gen10 server quickspecs, the mentioned SFF drive backplane and the mentioned SFF SSDs are supported. 

Quickspecs: https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=a00021851enw

Regards,

Shruthi 

[flathat]

Thanks, ShruthiK.  I'm going to try it.  Will post results here.

[daniver]

hello,

did you succed with the mentioned swap?

I'm in the exact same scenario now. 

Also, I guess it'is necessary another mini-sas cable? Since the 8SFF cage requires 2 of them.
I can't seem to find a product ID.

[flathat]

I'm sorry for the late reply.

Swapping in the SFF cage went very well. I only put two drives in it. I didn't
run into a need for a second cable.

Eric Lee
Co-owner
The Tech Support Co-op
Toronto, ON Canada
elee@techsupport.coop
1-844-267-3767
Direct: 416-532-8301

[GKNOLA]

I know this is a delayed response but in case you haven't found it

Four-bay LFF/eight-bay SFF hot-plug drive Mini-SAS cable 878327-001

[daniver]

Thanks both of you. Sorry for my late reply as well.

I've managed to buy a drive cage, not from the official store since it was not available, but from amazon (I don't know if I can post the link here).

The pakage arrived today. I've mounted it and all seems perfect so far. Once powered up the server, it seems the cage is not recognized, even with just 1 SSD mounted, there is no sign of it in the BIOS under storage info.

Everything is in place: 8-pin power cable, even 2 mini-sas cables (2 were included in the pakage) connected to the 2 ports on the mainboard.

Something odd I've noticed: the external pakage reports part number "874007-B21", wich should be the correct one, it was even the one listed on the amazon article. BUT the cage itselfs has a ticket on the side with the following info:

P/N: 674844-002, HDD CAGE, 8SFF, HOT PLUG, 4U GEN8 ENHANCED

It this a wrong cage, designed for a GEN8 and not for GEN10 thus not working nor even powering up the disks?
In this case I'm gonna have to send it back and hopefully find another reseller not taking ages... I have to put this in production shortly.

I'm attaching a couple of photos.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[GKNOLA]

The cabling instructions are very explicit and can be found on page 188 of the

HPE Proliant ML110 Gen 10 Server Maintenance and Service Guide

(if you haven't done it, you should download a copy and treat it a a bible)

The diagram shows color coded connectors for illuustration purposes only to be sure that you see which terination points each cable goes to.

Looking at your pictures and matching them to the manual. turn the backplane picture 180 degrees so that the connectors are on the left. Then the upper connector should go to SATA Port 1 and the lower connector should go to SATA Port 2.

I'm curious, why did you populate the drives in positions 6, 7 and 8 rather than 1, 2 and 3?

Provantage (provantage.com) is an authorized HPE reseller and is very good about providing parts and information. Their pricing is competitive. (Disclaimer: I have no relationship with them other than that of a customer)

[daniver]

Hello,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I did check out the mentioned guide, and the cabling was done correctly just as you described.

At the time of the photo the cage was empy, no drives connected. That leads me to another concern of mine, but maybe I'm not too handy with HPE hardware:
Those 3 black inserted are just SFF drive blanks (P/N 670033-001), which makes this cage a 8SFF non-hot plug model if I'm not wrong.

As per official documentation, the ML110 Gen10 does not have this option, only a 8SFF HOT-PLUG: the vendor sent a me the wrong model, that's why it's not even showing up in the BIOS info?

I'm attaching a photo with one 2.5" SSD drive connected on slot 3, just as an example.

Thanks for the website advice, I've found this one, with (in theory) the correct Manufacturer Part Number 874007-B21:

https://www.provantage.com/hpe-874007-b21~7HPE931U.htm

The only problem would be I'm not in the US, I'd need s shipment to Europe.

[GKNOLA]

The Drive Blank is the correct part (page 8 of the service manual). The blanks are just to make sure that the installed drives get proper airflow and cooling.

I haven't used HPE SSD's so I have no first hand experience but they all spec as Hot Swap

I have a cabling question for you. Are the SATA data cables installed correctly? They have a label which specifies which connector goes to the motherboard and which one to the cage backplane.

[GKNOLA]

On HPE's US website the ML110 direct sales are done by 2 vendors. (You can also buy them from many other places,) one of which is Provantage who was able to provide me with parts that other vendors didn't stock.

Is that done the same way in your country? If so, check with the direct sale vendors as a parts source. 

[GKNOLA]

I think that it's time for an HPE Employee to step in to review hardware issues.

I believe that you are correct that the incorrect Drive cage assembly, specifically the backplane is the issue.

The Gen8 and Gen9 servers use a different Storage Controller (the Gen9 has 2 different ones) and the SATA cables are different for each controller. So the backplane on your cage is probably incompatible with your Storage Controller and the cables that came with it are probably different as well. 

I would return the parts and wait for the correct ones. 

One other option might work, the use of a 208 or 408 RAID Controller (preferfably the 408 which uses hardware RAID vs the 208 or internal controller which use software RAID) with the correct SATA cables. You can probably use the existing backplane with either of them. You'll get far superior performance and reliability from the 408 but it dodes require the battery kit and is obviously more expensive. I do have to assume that you're usinf the SSD's for performance and the 408 will make a diffference, especially with write caching.

Anyway - time to hear from the HPE experts. 

Good luck. 

[daniver]

Actually I don't care much about hot-swap or not, the case I have atm does not have the front panel for hot swap openings. And for starters I won't be using HPE SSDs. Just standard 2.5" ones.

About the cabling yes, the label BP goes to backplane on the drive cage, and label Controller goes to the mainboard.

I've mailed Provantage asking about that article, to be sure it's the right one and to check about shipping out of US.

I guess you're right about incompatible backplane and storage controller... I just think it's a bit absurd the absence of informations on this kind of strict compatilibty issues. Apart from the vendor assembling and selling non compliant hardware, which has nothing to do with HP.
In one of the previous photos of the backplane, you can see the model: "A13DGT1 HDD BKPLN 8SFF Gen9", p/n 765757-001.
Clearly a Gen9 version also searching the web for its p/n... And not even for a ML110 it seems: I find only other models (ML30, DL, etc.).

About your suggestion for a RAID storage controller, it seems a great piece of hardware (though expensive), but for the moment I'm doing software RAID with ZFS which can't work with hardware controllers.

Anyway thanks for all your suggestions and your patience.

The final question for an HPE expert would be: is the "HDD BKPLN 8SFF Gen9, p/n 765757-001", NOT compatible with ML110 Gen10 server?

Then I will return this cage to the vendor, and hope to find a correct one soon... Elsehow I'm gonna have to use the LFF cage with 2.5" drives, which to me seems unstable and not very safe relying only on the SATA connectors to keep my drives up and in position.

[GKNOLA]

My ML110 Gen10 has 2 LFF cages, 1 with 4XSATA and 1 with 4XSAS and I'm about to replace 2 SATA's with SAS drives. But they're conneccted to a P408i-p RAID Controller. According to the specs that I received from a different reseller you can mix SATA and SAS drives in the safe cage conneccted to the internal SATA controller. I haven't tried it and can't vouch for it.

[daniver]

All of those are 3.5" drives?

I was wondering, attaching a 2.5" drive in a 3.5" bay would give any problem, or physical unstability?
SSDs are very light, all the weight would be on the SATA connectors.

Not that the SFF cage has any particular support for drives to stay aligned or to offload the weight... There's no fastening at all. I guess only with hot-plug bays and screws you can have that.

About resellers, they can't ship out of the US. And I can't find any local store with a 874007-B21 in stock.

[flathat]

I had SFF drives in an LFF cage for a while just to see if they would  work, which they did; propped and "stabilized" with modelling clay, but, no, too risky for very long.

What country are you needing to ship to?  Insight ships to Canada.

[daniver]

I thought so... I would not like a workaroung like this, of course.
I can't believe I can't find a proper channel to buy this kind of parts. We are not talking about 10 yrs old hardware here.

I need to ship to Italy, Europe. Kinda out of north america.

Thanks for your feedback tho. I appreciate very much your help guys.

[GKNOLA]

Yes, All of those are 3.5" drives.

I agree than using 2.5" drives in a 3.5" cage would be a major physical mistake. I would write to HPE Management asking for help. A nice lettter will often yield quick assistance. I'd get a support case started to show that you're following propeer channels and then write to the head of support. Unfortunately, in today's world you'll probably get a response blaming COVID-19 and the effects it's having in their supply chain.

I don't know if this will work for you but I've used 2.5" to 3.5" mounting brackets in many desktops hat my customers wanted to speed up inexpensively. They would provide the pysical support IF the connectors line up properly. You could try one and see if it works. It would be an inexpensive temporary solution to allow you to use your existing LFF cage until you can obtain an SFF cage. (I'm assuming that your system came with a LFF cage.

I just checked and that won't work. The adapter bracket centers the 2.5" drive but the connector on the HPE cage doesn't line up

[daniver]

Actually I already wrote a quote request on the HPE store, twice now. The first was on the 22nd of March and is still pending.

I had tried already with adapter brackets, and yeah they don't align up... I was able to use them only on a hot-plug bay of an Asus chassis.

A side note, is the stability of 2.5" drives supposed to be guaranteed by these "contacts" on the bottom? (see photo)
It doesn't seem to me such different from attaching it on a 3.5" bay. The drive is aligned only thanks to the SATA connects anyway.