[OmniOS-discuss] new supermicro server

[Kevin.Swab at colostate.edu]

We haven't used this particular system, but we had the same problem with
SuperMicro Gen 9 motherboards.  The solution for us on those systems was
to disable BIOS loading for the particular PCI slot the SAS HBA was
installed in.  This was a system BIOS setting, rather than an HBA BIOS
setting.

It looks like this MB may have an onboard SAS controller.  If you're
using that, there may be a similar option somewhere in the system BIOS.

We opened a support case on this issue with SuperMicro via our vendor,
they concluded that there was an address space limitation with the BIOS
boot process, and suggested that an HBA capable of UEFI boot might
resolve the problem.  Unfortunately, our LSI2308 HBAs were not UEFI
capable, so we were unable to test that theory.  If you're currently
using BIOS boot mode, it might be worthwhile to try switching to UEFI
boot mode to see if that helps.

Kevin


On 03/08/2017 07:36 AM, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Mar 2017, Geoff Nordli wrote:
> 
>> Hi.
>>
>> I am looking at ordering a new 3U supermicro server. as an all-in
>> one.   I have been using these recently:
>>
>> https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/3U/6038/SSG-6038R-E1CR16L.cfm
>>
>> It has the LSI 3008 HBA in IT mode.
> 
> I have one of these.  It runs OmniOS very well.  Mine has four Intel
> SATA SSDs, two for boot, and two for SLOG.  Two of the SSDs are fixed
> internal and two are accessible via optional rear slots.
> 
> However, I am encountering BIOS issues with booting.  The drives
> advertized by the HBA overwelm the BIOS so that it does not list
> internal SATA drives for booting and currently my system only boots from
> internal SATA drives if the Intel network boot agent runs.  The BIOS
> behavior is unstable.
> 
> This problem did not appear to exist when the system was delivered to me
> but appeared as soon as I tried to statically configure the BMC IP address.
> 
> Perhaps there is a way to tell the HBA BIOS to not advertize the SAS
> drives which are not needed for booting?
> 
> Bob

-- 
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Kevin Swab                          UNIX Systems Administrator
ACNS                                Colorado State University
Phone: (970)491-6572                Email: Kevin.Swab at ColoState.EDU
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