cciss hpsa Driver for HP Smart Array P400

[malleblas]

Hi,

I have a HP ProLiant ML110 G4 with a HP Smart Array P400 (eBay purchase) RAID controller. I am hoping to use ESXi 5.0. The problem is that for RAID LUN's larger than 2TB there is an issue with the cciss driver as detailed http://communities.vmware.com/thread/326902?start=0&tstart=0 and http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2006942. I noticed however that http://cciss.sourceforge.net/ states the cciss driver is deprecated in favour of hpsa which is now included in the mainline Linux kernel. http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi50_hp_hpsa_500240/dHRAYnRAZWpiZHAlJQ== makes me think that hpsa driver is available and possibly might even be a solution to the aforementioned problem. However, when I installed ESXi (by setting up a <2TB LUN, not desirable) and checked the driver that is loading, it appears to be cciss, with no mention of hpsa. Is there a way to remove the cciss driver and/or force the hpsa driver to load?

-Michael

[BharatR]

Hi,

Is there a way to remove the cciss driver and/or force the hpsa driver to load?

The following guide explains how to transition to the hpsa driver (if previously supported by the deprecated cciss driver).
It is written with RHEL and SLES in mind, but the guide may still help clarify what might be the problem here:

  HP Smart Array CCISS  driver

  HPSA How To Guide

To prevent the cciss driver from binding to hpsa-supported controllers, add the hpsa switch to boot
configuration files using either of the following procedures:
Using Yast2:
1. Select Boot Loader module from the “System” section inYast2.
2. Select a relevant Boot selection, and then click Edit.
3. Add cciss.cciss_allow_hpsa=1 to the “Optional Kernel Command Line Parameter” section.
4. Click OK to complete the changes.
5. Repeat for all relevant boot selection lines.
6. Click OK to complete changes in the Boot Loader module, and then exit Yast2.

Using an editor
1. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst.
2. Add cciss.cciss_allow_hpsa=1 to the pertinent boot line(s).
3. Save the file.

1. Reboot the server.
2. Verify all appropriate Smart Array devices are accounted for by /dev/sd* names.
3. Perform a full system backup.
4. Verify the backup media.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Communities forums.  While ESXi can rely on Linux source code for driver development, ESXi is not Linux based and thus you can't rely on instructions for that OS.

After you have installed the driver,  you'll find the driver mapping files in this folder - /etc/vmware/driver.map.d

Use lspci -p to compare the PCI id for your controller against the two driver map files.   I think you'll find it in cciss mapping file rather the hpsa file, and thus it is the driver that is loaded.  Before you try to make changes to the mapping files you could try this

1) use vmkload_mod to unload the cciss driver

2) run lspci -p to verify if the driver has unloaded

3) use vmkload_mod to load the hpsa driver - if you see it in the output of lspci -p then the driver can work with the controller.  Otherwise you'll need to wait for an updated driver.

[peetz]

From what I have read it looks like the hpsa driver does not support the P400 controller, only the P410 and upwards.

See e.g. http://cciss.sourceforge.net/

- Andreas

[AlexAT]

I had managed to run P400 on ESXi 5.1 using hpsa driver, slightly modifying cciss and hpsa drivers and making .vib's from them. The rough translation of my article (original is in Russian) with link to .zip with two .vibs to make your P400 recognize >2Tb on ESXi 5.1 is here:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://alex-at.ru/it/esxi-5-1-p400-p400i&sandbox=0

 

It will support P400i too, both PCI IDs are remapped. Use at your own risk, no detailed testing was conducted.