I tend to agree with this observation. Here is my setup:
3 x HP DL360p Hosts, all with the SmartArray P420i adapter installed (without FBWC module).
Each Host has 3 x 500GB SAS HDD's + 1 x 240GB SATA SSD.
There are no issues creating a VSAN Datastore using them in a RAID-0 config. Bear in mind that with the controller set to RAID mode, I only can use 2 disks - 1xSSD+1xHDD. This is due to the limitation of the P420i without having the FBWC module installed, but is good enough for a test.
I am running 6.7U1 and also use the latest and greatest FW 8.32 and the nhpsa driver 2.0.30-1OEM
Here are my observations:
- Controller in RAID mode works, BUT the Queue depth of the controller is showing 32, which is way below of what is actually capable of. According to the "Community VSAN Storage Controller Queue Depth List", this controller is listed to have a Queue depth of 1020 in RAID0 mode. In my opinion, there could be 4 reasons for this:
- nhpsa Driver issue/bug
- The mix and match use of SATA + SAS disks
- Controller Firmware issue
- No FBWC module installed
- Also interestingly, the Controller is listed with a Queue depth of 21 when used in HBA mode, according to the "Community VSAN Storage Controller Queue Depth List". I have tested this, and there is no Change in the Queue depth. Mine is still showing a Queue depth of 32. Is anyone else able to check the queue depth of the controller (possibly with FBWC module)? Command for this: esxtop,d ,f,d -> The value listed for your P420i vmhba under the column AQLEN shows the Queue depth.
- Setting the controller to HBA mode -> Unable to create a VSAN, also all the disks (SATA SSD + SAS HDDs) are detected as SAS disks, when verifying this with: esxcli storage core device list -> Is SAS: true
- I have raised a ticket with VMware for this and after some troubleshooting on their end, they have advised to get in touch with the vendor (HPE) and confirm the following:
- Does HP SmartArray P420i support SATA drives?
- Does HP SmartArray P420i support mixing of SATA with SAS drives?
- Are there any outstanding bugs related to HP SmartArray P420i which is not allowing you to utilize the complete queue depth since it is showing as 32 only.
- Are there any known issues on the hardware as we are seeing an issue in claiming the disks while enabling VSAN since we this error message: "A general system error occurred: Failed to reserve disk with exception: Failed to reserve disk naa.500a07511a52a981 with exception: Reserve failed with error code: -1 "
-> As we are not entitled to Vendor support anymore for the Gen8 HP Hosts, we are unable to ask HPE for assistance. But here is what I've found out so far according to the official Conrtoller+Host documentation (I have attached a few screenshots about this). Also here are the links to the official documentation: Controller Overview and Server Manual- YES, HP SmartArray P420i DOES support SATA drives.
- YES,HP SmartArray P420i DOES support mixing of SATA with SAS drives.
- NO IDEA about outstanding bugs or hardware isues.
- One interesting thing VMware pointed me to is indeed the HCL where the Controller is listed as Device Type: SAS. Does this mean from a VMware perspective that the Controller is ONLY considered as SAS capable? HCL LINK
It would be good to know if:
- Anyone else has the above mentioned Queue depth issue (with and/or withour FBWC module)
- Is it possible to manually override/set the Transport protocol for a disk using esxcli etc. ?
- Trying to set up a VSAN with a SAS only configuration (not mixed SATA+SAS disks).
I was hoping for a straightforward VSAN installation as I have verified and then double-checked the VMware HCL and bought specific Hardware according to this.
Any help on this is greatly appreciated. I will also try to get further help from VMware.
Attached a few screenshots for your reference.
