Array Configuration on new Proliant G6 servers with p410i array controller

Hi Juice99..

You are not alone.. I feel your pain... The problem seems to be related to HPACUBIN.exe not supporting the P410i Array controller in the DL380-G6..

I downloaded the new HP RDP (v6.0) to see if there was an update to hpacubin.exe, which their was.. however HP have built this on the IA64 platform so is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard for x86\x64 WinPE deployments...

This has completly ruined our automated process and we now have to have a seperate job in Altiris that skips the array configuration script that we use... we now have to set up the array via smart-start until HP provide us with a new version!! 

I can't take the hpacubin from the smarstart CD as this is Linux based.. :(

Will post up here if I find a solution to this.. hope you will too...

/BlUNt

Try using hpacuscripting.exe with an input file.  I have only gotten it to work by specifiying 'controller=All' as the controller is detected as being in an unknown slot and 'controller=First' doesn't seem to work when using PSP 8.30 files (I haven't tried earlier versions). 

Isn't that a Linux tool only?

I can only find this in the 8.3 Smartstart CD under:

Compaq\Utils\ACU

Is there a windows version of this or am I looking in the wrong area??

Hi,

I do not have a server with the p410i controller available, but have you tried using LinuxPE instead of WinPE to deploy your array configuration? You can save a lot of time on your deployments if you do the following in your job:

• Deploy System Configuration (LinuxPE)
• Deploy Array Configuration (LinuxPE)
• Deploy System Configuration (LinuxPE)
• Distribute Disk image NTFS (LinuxPE)
• Copy ProLiant Files (WinPE)
• etc.
• etc.

Please note the default PXE boot is Linux and for a new server the job can start imediatly. There is no reboot in the job as DS will find out the it has to switch to WinPe automatically. This methos saves you quite some time in booting PE images!

NOTE it is not the way HP sets up the jobs, nor is it actually supported by HP, but it really works and saves you a lot of boot's!

I do not know if it will solve your problem with the p410i array, but it is worth a try and could also save you a lot of time in your deployments :)

@mlogan.

Thanks for the input, but to change our process to LinuxPE would be a huge nightmare... and would mean re-engineering our automated build process significantly.. also no good from my perspective as I don't know Linux, so would have quite a learning curve there..

@PeterF.

I have managed to find the HPACUSCRIPTING.exe for windows at last!!  You are right, this does appear to replace hpacubin.exe and has the same commandline params... happy days (at least I thought)...

I don't seem able to configure an Online Spare with this tool... My config ini file looks like:
[code]
Action= Configure
Method= Custom

; Controller Specifications
Controller= Slot 0
ReadCache= 50
WriteCache= 50
RebuildPriority= Medium
ExpandPriority= Medium
SurfaceScanDelay= 15

; Array Specifications
Array= A
; Array Drive Type is SAS
Drive= 1I:1:1,1I:1:2
OnlineSpare= 1I:1:3

; Logical Drive Specifications
LogicalDrive= 1
RAID= 1
Size= 39995
Sectors= 32
StripeSize= 128
ArrayAccelerator= Enabled

; Logical Drive Specifications
LogicalDrive= 2
RAID= 1
Size= 29970
Sectors= 32
StripeSize= 128
ArrayAccelerator= Enabled
[/code]

when I try to configure the array with:

hpacuscripting.exe -internal -i "pathToFile.ini" -reset -e "PathToErrFile.ini"

the command completes successfully (nothing in PathToErrFile.ini)

when I then query the array via:

hpacuscripting.exe -internal -c "PathToFile.ini"

the resultant file details:

[code]
; Date captured: Thu Nov 12 06:27:20 2009
; Version: 8:30:5

Action= Configure
Method= Custom

; Controller Specifications
; Controller HP Smart Array P410i, Firmware Version 1.66, License Keys Supported
Controller= Slot 0
ReadCache= 50
WriteCache= 50
RebuildPriority= Medium
ExpandPriority= Medium
SurfaceScanDelay= 15
DriveWriteCache= Disabled
MNPDelay= 60
IRPEnable= Disabled
DPOEnable= Disabled
ElevatorSortEnable= Enabled
QueueDepth= Automatic
; Unassigned Drives
; 1I:1:3 (146 GB)

; Array Specifications
Array= A
; Array Drive Type is SAS
; 1I:1:1 (146 GB), 1I:1:2 (146 GB)
Drive= 1I:1:1, 1I:1:2
OnlineSpare= No

; Logical Drive Specifications
LogicalDrive= 1
RAID= 1
Size= 39991
Sectors= 32
StripeSize= 128
ArrayAccelerator= Enabled

; Logical Drive Specifications
LogicalDrive= 2
RAID= 1
Size= 29966
Sectors= 32
StripeSize= 128
ArrayAccelerator= Enabled
[/code]

As you can see there is no OnlineSpare configured!! ARGH... The nightmare begins again...

TIA

PS @ PeterF

The reason that your script doesn't work with 'controller=First' is that you need to either define 'controller=All' OR 'controller=Slot #'

controller=First isn't valid, change your config file to point to the actual slot number and you should be fine :)