HPE Smart Array P408i-p - enabling cache

Posted by WannabeHawaiiSwimmer@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 6 comments

Hi, I've just inherited a DL380 Gen10 running ESXi 7.0.

The server has a HPE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen10 controller, but the cache seems to be not configured:

HPE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen10 in Slot 3

Controller Status: OK

Cache Status: Not Configured

Battery/Capacitor Status: OK

I have to expand the logical drive containing the VMFS of ESXi and I know that the cache should be enabled in order to be able to expand the LD.

Can I enable the cache without restarting the OS and above all without harming the existing data?

Thanks!

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HPE_Support@reddit

Hello @WannabeHawaiiSwimmer,

You can do this online using ssacli however please keep data backup before doing this activity.

First add drives to logical drive or add all the unassigned drive

then extend logical drive

please find the "HPE Smart Storage Administrator CLI User Guide" for reference. https://hpe.to/616970YjNc

Regards, HPE

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WannabeHawaiiSwimmer@reddit (OP)

The procedure worked perfectly, without any downtime:

1) ./ssacli ctrl slot=3 ld 1 add drives=allunassigned

To add the unassigned drives to the logical drive. I had to wait about 1 hour for the expansion to complete, but no downtime is required. My vms could run without problems.

2) ./ssacli ctrl slot=3 ld 1 modify size=max forced

To extend the logical drive to the max size. After that, I could expand the VMFS in ESXi. The parity initialization begins immediatley after, but again without downtime.

Thanks again for your support!

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WannabeHawaiiSwimmer@reddit (OP)

Thanks a lot for your help.

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HPE_Support@reddit

Hello @WannabeHawaiiSwimmer

Thank you for your post.

Disclaimer : Data integrity is customer responsibility. HPE recommends to have data backup frequently and before performing any activity so that it can be restored during disaster recovery.

It is unclear whether the SSDs are attached to the controller. If they are, the Smart Path for SSDs would be enabled. HPE SSD Smart Path is enabled by default when an array is created using SSD drives. As a result, the controller cache configuration is unavailable. If the customer wants to configure the Smart Array cache, the Smart Path must be disabled from the SSA.

We would recommend you Take a valid data back up and then perform the activity.

Regards HPE

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WannabeHawaiiSwimmer@reddit (OP)

Hello, thanks for your message.

Data backups are ok. Thanks for the info about the cache for SSD arrays, I assume that is why the cache is disabled.

I have a RAID-5 array (containing a ESXi VMFS) attached to this controller, currently using 4 SSD drives. I need to expand the array adding two more drives (bay 5 and 6):

Now I only need to know if I can expand the array "live" using SSACLI with ESXi and the VMs running, or if the operation would make the data inaccessible to ESXi, requiring me to stop all the VMs in advance.

Thanks

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Ambitious-Actuary-6@reddit

Hey, I have the same card, also in an ESXi host in a Dell T130. I only pass it through to a VM, actually, just found that there are some leds were blinking. One towards the bracket is just the heartbeatm there's another amber and green blinking on the top edge meaning some backup failed. But I am only using it as a HBA for the SAS disks. Not sure about the cache