How to install Centos 7.0 with RAID 1 on Proliant Microserver Gen8 with Bi20i

[Trismegistul]

I have a Proliant Microserver Gen8 with Bi20i. I tried to install centos 7.0.x86_64 with RAID 1. Failed!  CentOS 7 is HP certified. It must go with raid (B120i).

I've kmod-hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.rpm and hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd drivers.

I tried this steps to use the RHEL 7.7 driver for Centos 7.0 install:

1. Download CentOS 7.0 Software Driver Update and extract it...

2. Copy hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd  to a USB Key formatted as FAT32.

3. Once the floppy driver diskette ready on the USB Key and the Array is being created, is time to begin the CentOS 7.0 installation by booting from the DVD.

4. On the main installation menu for CentOS, mount the USB Key with the driver on it, either through iLO or plug it to the server. At the installation menu, select the installation method (just highlight it) and hit “ESC” key to receive the "boot:" prompt.

5. At that "boot" prompt enter the following command: linux dd blacklist=ahci

6. Hit ENTER Select Yes for driver diskette, Select the USB drive.

7. Select the driver disk image and select OK.

8. Continue the OS installation, then just click select the logical volume where to install the CentOS 7.0.

9. Note: I did not ILO

When I give "linux dd blacklist=ahci" command after select usbstick (with hpvsa)  I receives "no iso image" message.

I tried "modprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd" (not work) I tried "linux modprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd" It works this command but i receive the same error... "no iso image"

Please help me. I need CentOS with server RAID (with B120i). I don't have a dedicate other RAID card.

I've also CentOS 6.6 but I don't found driver for this. hpvsa-1.2.4-4.rhel6u3.x86_64.dd doesn't work for CentOS 6.6. I tried but boesn't work.

Ubuntu 14.04.x is also HP certified, but in SATA AHCI mod. Ubuntu doesn't work in RAID mod with B120i. I need HP firmware RAID with B120i. I don't have another choice. My only choise is CentOS 7.0 or CentOS6.6. Please help me!

Thanks for your support!

[Keretchashvili]

Same problem here on CentOS 7.0 install. I've also tried to create an iso image containing .dd or .rpm  files in it, but doesn't work. Neither works renaming .dd to .iso or .img.

[Jimmy Vance]

I haven't had a chance to try either RHEL or CentOS 7.0 on the Microserver yet.  You mentioned Ubuntu, I posted where to get the hpvsa driver for Ubuntu in this thread

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/General/Installing-Ubuntu-Server-14-04-LTS-on-HP-Proliant-Microserver/td-p/6696535#.VMLCN7HnaRs

[SpookyX]

I have a ML310e server... but, 

I followed same steps and what I did was to rename the .dd file into .iso as well...

that found the iso file and it seems that it has extracted whatever it needed. no error, I was even able to select the kmod-hpvsa ... rpm from inside the repo inside the ISO image.

Continued, went to Centos 7 installation screen and there I don't see my RAID array, but strange I do see the 2 drives, although in RBSU it is set to RAID mode and not to AHCI... and my RAID Array is properly configured (Raid 1)...

So, how have you guys resolved this issue?

Thanks.

[Jimmy Vance]

I've tested on both RHEL and CentOS 7.0 using hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd.gz

download the driver

uncompress the .gz file

rename it from .dd to .iso

copy it to a fat formatted USB key

when you boot the installer add 'modprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd' on the boot line.

The above command is new for RHEL7.x, for 6.x it was just 'blacklist=ahci dd'. 

When the installer starts you will be prompted for the device, the file, and the package, for the driver update. When finished you have to select continue. (as hpvsa loads it may drop text on the screen where anaconda is waiting for input so the system may appear hung. If you press enter you get the driver options line refreshed)

In my case I think it was 1, 1, 1, c

When you get into the installer, you will see the HP Logical Volume in the disk selection.

At first I thought I was seeing two disks from the installer, but that was just a first glance mistake. My usb device showed up as sda at 1.90 GB, and the disk volume showed up as sdb at 1.90 TB. Once I smacked myself upside the head and selected the right device the installation continued.

[JR99]

Driver link
http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5387585&swItemId=MTX_9200a10168684afbbb4efce88a&swEnvOid=4176#tab2

[Admin:Above link is not longer valid]

Download the file :hpvsa-1.2.14-100.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd.gz
Extract the File hpvsa-1.2.14-100.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd
Rename the dd file and add .img at the end.
hpvsa-1.2.14-100.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd.img

Mount the OS iso file using ilo Virtual Drives > Image File – CD-ROM/DVD         --à>>> ( OS ISO )
Mount the above file using ilo Virtual Drives > Image File - Removable Media  --à>>> ( B120i Driver )

F11 - Boot from ILO virtual media OS ISO.

At the Initial Installation Boot screen.

Press the E key to edit the grub entry,

modprobe.blacklist=ahci
Then continue instlallation :

[Sebascho]

Hello, 

I'm trying to install centos 7 on an external usb device.

In my installation environment, I'm using 3 usb sticks...
1 - /dev/sda . Formatted Fat32 with the driver package
2 - /dev/sdb Formatted ext4 with centos installation image
3 - /dev/sdc not formatted yet - I want to use this to install centos on it with the driver

So, I followed this post (many thank's for this) and copied the .dd image as .iso image to the first usb device. 
Now I'm in the menue from DD to choose the driver, it's almost fine... But when I choose continue with "c" the centos boot to installation and displays the error "cannot read from device on /dev/sda".

I think the server will follow the installation on /dev/sda, but my image for installation, it's on /dev/sdb.

I hope you understand.
Any ideas?

Many thank's to any response!

Sebastian

[touliloup]

Here is how I installed it:

1. Download hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd.gz (make sure it's the 7u0 for RedHatEntreprise 7.0).
   
2. Extract the dd file from the gz archive.
   
3. Create the USB drive with the driver with following command:

   dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc bs=4K
   dd if=hpvsa-1.2.12-110.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd of=/dev/sdc bs=4K && sync

4. Via iLO, set your CentOS install ISO as Virtual Drives "Image File CD&DVD-ROM" (make sure you activate iLO, use a trial key: http://www.cocheno.com/2015/07/hp-ilo-60-day-trial-key/ - also make sure to use Centos 7 version 1406, not 7.1 or 7.2 http://vault.centos.org/7.0.1406/isos/x86_64/ ).
5. Start Intelligent Provisionning.
6. Choose "Configure and Install".
7. Press Continue.
8. Choose "RedHat Linux", Install method "Manual" and Source Media "Physical DVD (local or ilO virtual media).
9. Plug the usb key containing the driver to your server.
10. Press Continue.
11. Intelligent provisioning while check the installation disk and give a warning about the driver, click ok.
12. The server will restart and you'll see the centOS installation starting after a while.
13. Choose "Install CentOS 7" and press tab to edit boot option.
14. Add 'modprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd' and press enter.
15. Now select the driver when dd prompt for it (there should be only one choice).
16. When the graphical interface start to come up, remove the USB drive (if not the installer try to install the bootloader on it and fail...).
17. Continue with the installation as you would do for a standard install.

Some of the thing I did at first and that didn|t work out for me>

- Using the default centos from centos.org, the driver was not matching.
- Trying to use a virtual disk to install the driver.

[AnnaBlume]

I´m currently trying to install CentOS 7.3 on my Microserver Gen8 using RAID 10. I followed exactly the steps Jimmy suggested but it doesn´t work (extracting the .gz-file with 7-zip on a windows machine, rename to .iso, copy to a FAT32-formatted USB-stick, added the suggested text in the boot line). Looks like there are problems reading the iso-file:

DD: Extracting: kmod-hpvsa

DD: WARNING: DD repo content not a file: /media/DD-2/rpms/x86_64/repodata

Anybody has a clue and can help me out?

[touliloup]

First you should not use the same file, this doesn't fit your need: hpvsa-1.2.10-120.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd.gz

You'll need to download the driver for RedHat 7.3 ( hpvsa-1.2.16-102.rhel7u3.x86_64.dd.gz ).

Then I copied the file with dd on a USB stick. Other method didn't work for me.

Also you could try to install Centos 7.0, it might give you better result as the guide here are mainly for Centos 7.0

[AnnaBlume]

Thank you for instant reply.

I was using the proper driver version (hpvsa-1.2.16-102.rhel7u3.x86_64.dd.gz). Do you have any idea on the error message I receive? Maybe it´s because of the decompressing-program I was using (7-zip)?

I was also trying with renamed .rpm file (renamed into .iso), didn´t work either.

Best regards

[Jimmy Vance]

I can re-create the error you are seeing if I use 'modeprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd'.  If I use 'modeprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd=/dev/sda1' the hpvsa driver gets loaded and I can complete an installation.

I used the latest version of the hpvsa driver for RHEL 7.3
Unziped the dd.gz image
Renamed the image from .dd to .iso
Copy the .iso file to a USB key

I normally install via PXE boot and use a syntax similar to this  'modeprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd=http://directory/hpvsa-filename.iso

[Francyz]

Sorry for my English!
Faced with this problem. I downloaded the latest drivers from the official site. I copy them to a USB flash drive: 1st - renamed dd ISO. 2nd copied by the rules in Ubuntu as described in the instructions. But in both cases it is given the same error: no file in the folder repodata. Here's a screenshot: 

I take this stick and open it in the ubuntu - where this folder is, here is a screenshot: 

But why, then, when you install an error is that this folder does not exist?
how to solve this problem?

[Jimmy Vance]

instead of just specifying inst.dd use inst.dd=/dev/sdX where X is the device name of the USB device. In my case it was /dev/sda

Or 'dd' the contents of the image to the drive  dd if=filename of=/dev/sdX again X ebing the device name of the USB drive key

[Francyz]

As I wrote above: "I tried two ways." Changed to expand and copy on the rules of using the "dd" command. Error is issued in both cases.
Variant with an explicit inst.dd = / dev / sdX does not work. The system just skips this error, and continues to boot without a driver.

СentOS 7.2 works without problems. This problem only 7.3

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@Francyz wrote:

As I wrote above: "I tried two ways." Changed to expand and copy on the rules of using the "dd" command. Error is issued in both cases.
Variant with an explicit inst.dd = / dev / sdX does not work. The system just skips this error, and continues to boot without a driver.

СentOS 7.2 works without problems. This problem only 7.3

---

Are you using the correct driver image for 7.3?  I tested this with 7.3 last week, that is where I discovered if I used inst.dd without specifying a device I would get an error

[MPASTORINI]

Dear Srs. i installed Centos 7.2 with driver hpdsa-1.2.10-114.rhel7u2.x86_64.dd 

drive it's recognized, but i have this error:

Warning: Can't get kickstart from /dev/sda1:/ks.cfg

can you help me

thanks

[Jimmy Vance]

Refer to the Anaconda boot options documentation.

inst.ks

Give the location of a kickstart file to be used to automate the install. Locations may be specified using any of the formats allowed for inst.repo.

inst.repo information is here

https://rhinstaller.github.io/anaconda/boot-options.html#inst-repo

[MPASTORINI]

In the ISO is not that file.

:(

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@MPASTORINI wrote:

In the ISO is not that file.

:(

---

What ISO? a kickstart file is just a text file you need to coppy to some type of media, or make it available over the network

[BatiD]

Hi Anna,

I also got the error "DD: WARNING: DD repo content not a file: /media/DD-2/rpms/x86_64/repodata".

Did you fix the problem? how to ?

Many Thanks,

Bati

@AnnaBlume wrote:

I´m currently trying to install CentOS 7.3 on my Microserver Gen8 using RAID 10. I followed exactly the steps Jimmy suggested but it doesn´t work (extracting the .gz-file with 7-zip on a windows machine, rename to .iso, copy to a FAT32-formatted USB-stick, added the suggested text in the boot line). Looks like there are problems reading the iso-file:

DD: Extracting: kmod-hpvsa

DD: WARNING: DD repo content not a file: /media/DD-2/rpms/x86_64/repodata

Anybody has a clue and can help me out?

---

[arcadius]

"DD: WARNING: DD repo content not a file: /media/DD-2/rpms/x86_64/repodata" is just a warning.

Ignore it & continue installation. See https://luppeng.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/1423/

[JLFH]

Thank you, the 60 day license trial did the trick, I was able to use iLo to mount centos image, and the driver worked for me renaming it in windows to dd.img and mounting in iLo as a Image File removable image, and everything worked just fine

[Waxhead42]

Hi,

Things went as described but I noticed an error just after hitting "c" to continue with install:

"modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'hpsa' : Invalid argument"

Previously "Extracting: kmod-hpsa" said to me it got the driver okay

I am doing Centos7 on HPE DL120G9 withth Smart Array B140i.

The driver I was using is:

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=7304563&swItemId=MTX_090fe0d487ed4bd2b07234b37f&swEnvOid=4184

hpdsa-1.2.10-123.rhel7u3.x86_64.dd.gz 

The line I added was: modprobe.blacklist=ahci inst.dd

I then did Cntl-x that allowed the installation to continue

Any ideas?

Thanks/daveb

[Waxhead42]

Is this driver:

hpdsa-1.2.10-123.rhel7u3.x86_64.dd.gz

only for Centos 7.3?

should I be using:

hpdsa-1.2.4-140.rhel7u0.x86_64.dd

for Centos 7.0?