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I have two used HP EVA 8000 AD524B drive enclosures with 14 146gb drives in each. They have 2 Fibre controllers in each. I would like to connect these two units to an HP Proliant DL380 G4 server running Windows Server 2008 and create 1 (or 2) big drive.

I understand I need a FC HBA (card) in the machine and the cables to connect from the card to the units.

However, I am hoping Windows can then recognize the drive(s)/unit(s) and create drives without special HP software (without using HP's Command View EVA). I understand the HP software has many benefits such as multi-path, but at this point I simply want to connect the units as direct attached type storage in windows.

I believe this is the reference manual.

More info here.

UPDATE:

I was able to get a q-logic hba and connect an LC-LC fibre cable from the HP EVA to the q-logic card. My Windows Server 2008 R2 machine is now able to see all 14 of the drives! However, this is of course not a raid configuration. So I am wondering: - If I create a raid 5 volume in windows disk manager, is that considered a hardware raid and if so, do you see any issues with doing that? - Is there some way I can create a raid 5 volume in the HP EVA unit without having to purchase the HP EVA software (or is there an older version or a demo that would let me at least initially set it up)? -- update: I was able to download the HP EVA software as a demo (see comment below).

Scott Szretter
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  • Re: your last point - using the RAID logic within Windows is *not* hardware RAID because calculations are done within Windows itself. It is software RAID. Hardware RAID would be the RAID logic done on specially optimized silicon within the disk controller itself. This is normally faster, but you're more tied into a specific hardware vendor. – growse Oct 11 '11 at 12:42

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You 100% will need an FC HBA, the appropriate drivers for that HBA, some form of MPIO software such as MS's MPIO code (plus the EVA DSM) or Veritas Storage Foundation and you WILL need Command View EVA in order to configure the EVA.

Once setup you'll need to us CV to create at least one disk group, set the ports to loop/direct mode (as you'll be using them in direct connect mode without FC switches), define your server as a host, create vdisks and present them to you host. Then in your OS you do a rescan, loom for the LUNs then partition and format them.

You can't connect them in any other way, the shelves are FC only and they need a controller to manage them. Oh and the shelves are perfectly capable of acting as one,

Chopper3
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  • I installed HP CommandView EVA software, and when I start it up, I receive an error about 'no storage systems are visible to this management server...' then it lists various reasons such as it's not connected. However, one of them is 'one or more systems on your san may be running one controller' - I happen to have only one LC-LC cable at the moment, so I only plugged in one controller "A" on the unit. Do I need to have BOTH "A" and "B" plugged in to have HP CV recognize the unit and let me edit it? – Scott Szretter Oct 13 '11 at 15:52
  • No, one is enough I should imagine - have you got all your HBA drivers installed and if so when you go into their tools can you see the controller/s (LUN 0 usually) listed? – Chopper3 Oct 13 '11 at 16:44
  • I also added another LC-LC cable from the other controller on the unit to the card and no difference. In the "SANSurfer" utility from Q-Logic, it sees the two ports on the controller and shows a map from the computer to all 14 drives. Windows disk manager also sees the drives. However, still, when I launch HP CV, it says it can not find a SAN. – Scott Szretter Oct 19 '11 at 14:14
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You shouldn't need drivers, just cabling. Though, each shelf is going to be an independent disk array. Configured RAID, create a LUN, assign to the WW name of the server's HBA, the disk should appear in windows, initialize it and put it to use.

Ideally these should all be connected through a pair of fiber channel switches, and your server should always have either two ports or two separate HBAs for path redundancy to the storage.

SpacemanSpiff
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  • Do you happen to know if I need to use a specific HBA for the DL380 and these units, or are FC HBA's generic? – Scott Szretter Jul 26 '11 at 15:32
  • Generic should be fine, I usually used qlogic, its been a while since i've done FC. Just be sure which riser cards and slots your DL380 has and make sure the cards match up. You will probably end up needing two cards for your service since you have two SANs technically. In a controller failure you can move the cable to the other controller, otherwise you will need a FC switch. – SpacemanSpiff Jul 26 '11 at 15:44
  • Do I have to do anything to configure them before I attach them to the windows server? For example, they have what look like management ports, but after further research, the RS232 port says "HP use only", LCD port says "not used", and I believe the CAB port is when you connect multiple units together. This would imply I need to do all the configuration from the windows machine after connecting it? – Scott Szretter Sep 09 '11 at 16:56
  • There is probably an ethernet management port, or you can use the RS-232 serial connection to configure them. I can't write you a step-by-step guide here I'm giving you fairly generic answers. There is probably a management software available from HP used to administer the box. – SpacemanSpiff Sep 09 '11 at 17:48
  • Unfortunately no ethernet port, only the ports in the cards, but those say + RS232 Connector Only: For use HP staff. + LCD Connector Only: Not used. + Only CAB Connector: Used to EAB (RJ45). Is the address bus connector with the controller. – Scott Szretter Sep 09 '11 at 21:58
  • @Spiff, sorry dude, love your work but you're way off on this one sorry; it can act as one SAN but two HBAs does make sense to deal with hardware failure, there's no Ethernet at all, you manage it via a privileged channel over FC using Command View, sorry, it's just my 'bag', we have dozens of EVAs. – Chopper3 Sep 09 '11 at 23:04
  • @Chopper - I gave very generic answers to prompt him to do his own research. – SpacemanSpiff Sep 10 '11 at 00:01
  • Ok, good call, wasn't have a go at you – Chopper3 Sep 10 '11 at 07:22