RHEL 8.x does not detect RAID partition | PERC H310

Question

Hi,

I just picked up a older server for a project but have ran into an issue. This is for a PERC H310 Controller on a PowerEdge R320

The HDD's have RAID 1 and are healthy according to the system diagnostic check. I applied the latest patches to the server.

I want to install RHEL 8.x and later move to ESXI. The issue i am having is the following.

I have a bootable 8.3 USB installer. I plugged it in, booted it up via the one-time boot option in UEFI Bios and went to select the desired install location (which drive)

The RAID partition does not show up and is unable to detect the HDD's.

For troubleshooting sake i then plugged in a bootable Win Server 2019 USB. During that install the RAID partition is shown as a potential location to install the OS.

I did some googling and found the documentation where it states only windows is supported but (dell_lifecyclecontroller_os_deployment_osd.pdf (wordpress.com) page 10) But then i also saw that it says there is a way to do it.

I dont have the chops/skills in this realm and am hoping there is someone else who might be able to help me?

DELL-Shine K · Accepted Answer

That would be H310 controller driver for RHEL 8. You can also refer below post on a similar issue https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/R620-EOL-and-RHEL8-support/td-p/7299632

herbboy · Accepted Answer

Hi Shine,

Thank you for all the helpful links and pathways forward. After quite a few rabbit wholes I found so great resources and got RHEL8.x to work.

For anyone that might ever find this post, the links I want to share are the following:

Index of /linux/dud/el8/x86_64 (elrepo.org)

- For PERC H310 you need the dd-megaraid_sas-07.714.04.00-1.el8_3.elrepo.iso or your preferred RHEL 8 ver.

The posts i saw said to use a bootable USB however I was never able to get that to work correctly. Therefore leveraged this video:

https://youtu.be/n1O9DrAoCAk

And to watch the entire process in action I recommend this video:

https://youtu.be/4fOAuXiynYM

Thanks

DELL-Shine K · Answer

@herbboy , Please refer below link for supported RHEL operating system for PowerEdge servers. RHEL 8.X is not supported on R320. As RHEL 8.X is not validated on R320 there could be incompatible issues. You can try RHEL 7.x versions as suggested in the below link

https://linux.dell.com/files/supportmatrix/RHEL_Support_Matrix.pdf

herbboy · Answer

Hi Shine,

First question, what makes it incompatible, the RAID controller or what?

Second, is there a situation where I can bypass the RAID controller / whatever is blocking the OS from picking up the HDDs?

I mean I dont believe its the hardware since i own a older laptop that can run RHEL 8 just fine...

Thanks in advance!

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Most of the time such issues are observed when OS media does not have required drivers to detect the storage controller and associated virtual disks. To bypass H310 you need to use software RAID which is supported on 4 drive R320 backplane configuration.

herbboy · Answer

Shine, Is there a list of the drivers I would need to provide to the OS?

herbboy · Answer

Hi Shine, Would you be able to provide a link to documentation / walkthrough of doing the R320 backplane configuration bypass you referred to? Thanks,

DELL-Shine K · Answer

You can explore below option. I can not guarantee that whether this will work as RHEL 8 is not supported and validated on R320

R320 X4 backplane server also support software RAID S110. For S110 we need to have SATA drives on the backplane. SAS drives are not supported for S110/Embedded SATA. So first you need to verify whether you have SATA drives or SAS drives on the backplane. S110 in RAID mode does not support Linux operating system. Hence you need to change it to AHCI mode on BIOS.

To get S110 enabled on the server you need to first remove H310 from the server and you can refer below link for that. Before removing H310 you can also try by disabling "Integrated RAID Controller" on BIOS. You will get this option on "Integrated Devices" page of BIOS

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-tw/poweredge-r320/r320ownersmanual/removing-the-integrated-storage-controller-card?guid=guid-ba0e66fa-4c55-4042-ba27-469d6dc9efed&lang=en-us

You can refer below link on cable connectivity. Refer "Cabling Diagram—Four Hard-Drive Backplane"

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-tw/poweredge-r320/r320ownersmanual/removing-the-hard-drive-backplane?guid=guid-877880ae-bd41-4f7e-b0e1-381e5615b990&lang=en-us

Refer below link on changing the Embedded SATA to AHCI mode

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-tw/poweredge-r320/r320ownersmanual/sata-settings-screen?guid=guid-cd0a47df-211d-42ce-a21a-c1e7a9d19d59&lang=en-us