HPE Proliant MicroServer Gen10

Issues

Does not properly handle brownouts - Gets stuck with flashing amber power LED and won't boot properly until manually power cycled
Possibly not enough power to run 5 HDDs -- seems very unstable
Doesn't handle hot swapping drives ???
No IPMI for out of band management
No serial port for console access
No per-drive power / activity LEDs
No door for the drive bays, need to remove the front bezel to get to the drives

I/O errors on SATA drives and/or they drop off the bus / become inaccessible, apparently due to buggy Marvell 88SE9230 SATA controller

Workaround: Add 'iommu=pt' to the Linux kernel parameters
See: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-cant-recognize-hdd-on-sata.60259/
See: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1810239

Example dmesg output:

 [Sat Feb  6 15:00:15 2021] perf: interrupt took too long (4082 > 3936), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 49000
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0xe frozen
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2.00: irq_stat 0x80000040, connection status changed
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2: SError: { DevExch }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 29
                                     res 50/00:ff:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2.00: status: { DRDY }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:26 2021] ata2: hard resetting link
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:27 2021] ata2: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:27 2021] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:27 2021] ata2.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x10
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:27 2021] ata2.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
 [Sat Feb  6 15:53:27 2021] ata2: EH complete
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0xe frozen
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4.00: irq_stat 0x80000040, connection status changed
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4: SError: { DevExch }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 28
                                     res 50/00:ff:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4.00: status: { DRDY }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:46 2021] ata4: hard resetting link
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:47 2021] ata4: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:47 2021] ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:47 2021] ata4.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x10
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:47 2021] ata4.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
 [Sat Feb  6 15:54:47 2021] ata4: EH complete
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0xe frozen
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2.00: irq_stat 0x80000040, connection status changed
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2: SError: { DevExch }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 9
                                     res 50/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2.00: status: { DRDY }
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:41 2021] ata2: hard resetting link
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:42 2021] ata2: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:42 2021] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:42 2021] ata2.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x10
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:42 2021] ata2.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
 [Sat Feb  6 15:58:42 2021] ata2: EH complete
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0xe frozen
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: irq_stat 0x80000040, connection status changed
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3: SError: { DevExch }
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 9
                                     res 50/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: status: { DRDY }
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3: hard resetting link
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x10
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
 [Sat Feb  6 16:03:34 2021] ata3: EH complete
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0xe frozen
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2.00: irq_stat 0x80000040, connection status changed
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2: SError: { DevExch }
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 20
                                     res 50/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2.00: status: { DRDY }
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:28 2021] ata2: hard resetting link
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:29 2021] ata2: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:29 2021] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:29 2021] ata2.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x10
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:29 2021] ata2.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
 [Sat Feb  6 16:05:29 2021] ata2: EH complete

Status

Latest BIOS version (as of 2021-02-06 09:28:10 EST): ZA10A380 (13 Mar 2020)

Resources

Updating Storage Controller Firmware

Go here and find the latest version for the "Firmware | Storage Controller" download: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_8374214d9a3a4392878c9bba59#tab2 (e.g. firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1.x86_64.rpm

Generic method without installing a package:

root@daytapod1 ~/firmware $ rpm2cpio firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idmv
root@daytapod1 ~/firmware $ cd usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1
root@daytapod1 ~/firmware/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1 $ ./setup

Supplemental Update / Online ROM Flash Component for Linux (x64) - HPE Smart Array P408i-p, P408e-p, P408i-a, P408i-c, E208i-p, E208e-p, E208i-c, E208i-a, P408i-sb, P408e-m, P204i-c, P204i-b, P816i and P416ie-m SR Gen10  (3.21), searching...
============ Summary ============
Smart Component Finished
Exit Status: 3
Update not attempted. All selected devices are either up-to-date or have newer versions installed.

For rpm-based distros:

rpm -ivh firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1.x86_64.rpm

For apt-based distros:

apt-get install alien
alien firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd-3.21-1.1.x86_64.rpm
dpkg -i firmware-smartarray-f7c07bdbbd_3.21-2.1_amd64.deb

Reboot

Updating BIOS

Damn HP requires that you create an account to download BIOS firmware. WTF? Anyway...

Go here: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_8374214d9a3a4392878c9bba59#tab2
Download the tar file (e.g. System_BIOS_v_ZA10A380_for_MicroServer_Gen10_Linux.tgz)
Please note that: When updating the System BIOS from version ZA10A320 (or earlier) to version ZA10A330 (or later), the following system BIOS configuration settings will revert to their factory default values:
- System time and date
- Hard drive configuration
- Boot device sequence
- System passwords
- Security setup

Extract it and apply the update

root@daytapod1 ~/firmware $ tar xzvf System_BIOS_v_ZA10A380_for_MicroServer_Gen10_Linux.tgz
root@daytapod1 ~/firmware $ cd System_BIOS_v_ZA10A380_for_MicroServer_Gen10_Linux/Lnx/
root@daytapod1 ~/firmware/System_BIOS_v_ZA10A380_for_MicroServer_Gen10_Linux/Lnx $ ./flashbios.sh 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                 AMI Firmware Update Utility v5.08.02.1189                 |
|      Copyright (C)2016 American Megatrends Inc. All Rights Reserved.      |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Reading flash ............... done                
 - FFS checksums ......... ok
 Erasing Boot Block .......... done                
 Updating Boot Block ......... done                
 Verifying Boot Block ........ done                
 Erasing Main Block .......... done                
 Updating Main Block ......... done                
 Verifying Main Block ........ done                
 Erasing NVRAM Block ......... done                
 Updating NVRAM Block ........ done                
 Verifying NVRAM Block ....... done                
 Erasing NCB Block ........... done                
 Updating NCB Block .......... done

Reboot

To Research

There is a 6th SATA port traced on the motherboard (without the SATA plug) but only 5 show in the BIOS (4 front bay and 1 on the motherboard with SATA plug). Can the BIOS be hacked to enable the 6th SATA port?

Overview

Expansion bays
- 1 x media bay (Optional (1) DVD-RW or (1) SATA SSD)
Drive bays
- 4 x 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s via caddy-less drive bays (behind front cover) -- advertised as Non-hot plug SATA
- 1 x on-board SATA port (for device in media bay)
USB
- Font: 2 x USB 3.0 ports (not blue for whatever reason)
- Rear: 2 x USB 3.0 ports (not blue for whatever reason), 2 x USB 2.0 ports
- 1 x on-board USB 2.0 port
Network
- Embedded Broadcom BCM5720 Dual Port Gbe LOM
RAM
- Type: DDR4 Unbuffered (UDIMM)
- DIMM Slots: 2
- Max RAM: 32GB (2 x 16GB) PC4-2400T DDR4 UDIMM ( DDr4-2400 )
Display
- 1 x VGA port
- 2 x Display Ports 1.2
Expansion Slots
- 1 x PCIe3 x4 (1) (low-profile only in this chassis)
- 1 x PCIe3 x8 (8, 4, 1) (low-profile only in this chassis)
Fans
- One (1) non-redundant system fan shipped standard -- not software controllable
Misc
- ACPI V5.0 Compliant
- Slot for TPM (not included) -- HPE Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 kit 745823-B21
- PCIe 3.0 Compliant
- PXE Support
- WOL Support
- EMC Class B
- LFF/SFF SATA connector on motherboard connects to backplane for 4 x HDDs
- Hard drive screws: 4 x per drive = 16
- Front bezel lock/unlock indicators
- Power on/Standby button and system power LED
- Health LED
- NIC status LED
- Drive activity LED ( single, not per-drive )
Management
- BMC / IPMI / iLO: NO

Devices

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Complex
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) I/O Memory Management Unit
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Wani [Radeon R5/R6/R7 Graphics] (rev 84)
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Host Bridge
00:02.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Port
00:02.5 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Port
00:03.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Host Bridge
00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Carrizo Platform Security Processor
00:09.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Carrizo Audio Dummy Host Bridge
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 20)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 49)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 49)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 4a)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Function 5
01:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE9230 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s Controller (rev 11)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5720 2-port Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5720 2-port Gigabit Ethernet PCIe

Drivers

ahci
AHCI SATA low-level driver
amdgpu
AMD GPU
ehci-pci
fam15h_power
AMD Family 15h CPU processor power monitor
k10temp
AMD Family 10h+ CPU core temperature monitor
pcieport
piix4_smbus
snd_hda_intel
Intel HDA driver
tg3
Broadcom Tigon3 ethernet driver
xhci_hcd

lm_sensors found the following:

k10temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:        +23.0°C  (high = +70.0°C)
                       (crit = +100.0°C, hyst = +99.0°C)

amdgpu-pci-0008
Adapter: PCI adapter
vddgfx:      750.00 mV 
vddnb:       875.00 mV 
edge:         +23.0°C  (crit =  +1.0°C, hyst = -273.1°C)

fam15h_power-pci-00c4
Adapter: PCI adapter
power1:       21.27 mW (avg =   2.27 mW, interval =   0.01 s)
                       (crit =  15.00 W)

Not that impressive, but not bad.

Potential Upgrade Parts List

HPE 8 GB (1x8GB) Single Rank x8 DDR4-2400 CAS-17-17-17 Unbuffered Standard Memory Kit 862974-B21
HPE 16 GB (1x16GB) Dual Rank x8 DDR4-2400 CAS-17-17-17 Unbuffered Standard Memory Kit 862976-B21
HPE Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 521T Adapter 867707-B21
HPE Trusted Platform Module 2.0 Kit 745823-B21
LSI 9200-8E - for connecting to external storage enclosures
ICY Dock MB411SPO-1B - HDD Hot-Swap SATA Mobile Rack for 12.7mm Slim CD/DVD-ROM Optical Bay (Fits 12.7mm height ODD Slot)
- Uses SATA port
1 x ICY Dock ToughArmor MB852M2PO-B - Dual hot swap NVME in slim ODD bay
- Needs PCI Express card with 2 x Oculink (SFF-8612)
2 x ICY Dock ToughArmor MB840M2P-B - M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe 3.0 x4 Drive Bay Adapter

My Model

My system has:

CPU: AMD Opteron™ X3421 Processor (2.1-3.4GHz/4 compute cores/8 graphic cores/2MB/12-35W) -- See on cpu-world or the useless marketing page
- CPU Core Count - 4
- CPU Core Frequency (Base – Max Boost) - 2.1 – 3.4 GHz
- GPU CU Count - 8
- GPU Frequency (Max) - 800 MHz
- cTDP Range - 12-35W
- Max DDR4 Speed - 2400 MHz
- L2 Cache - 2MB
- MMX instructions
- Extensions to MMX
- SSE / Streaming SIMD Extensions
- SSE2 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 2
- SSE3 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 3
- SSSE3 / Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3
- SSE4 / SSE4.1 + SSE4.2 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 ?
- SSE4a ?
- AES / Advanced Encryption Standard instructions
- AVX / Advanced Vector Extensions
- AVX2 / Advanced Vector Extensions 2.0
- BMI / BMI1 + BMI2 / Bit Manipulation instructions
- F16C / 16-bit Floating-Point conversion instructions
- FMA3 / 3-operand Fused Multiply-Add instructions
- FMA4 / 4-operand Fused Multiply-Add instructions
- XOP / eXtended Operations instructions
- AMD64 / AMD 64-bit technology ?
- AMD-V / AMD Virtualization technology
- Supports IOMMU (via AMD-Vi [amd_iommu])
- The processor supports configurable TDP in the 12 Watt - 35 Watt range
- The CPU is compatible with DirectX 12 API.
- Turbo Core 3.0 technology
RAM: 8 GB

Resources

Marketing: https://buy.hpe.com/us/en/servers/proliant-microserver/proliant-microserver/proliant-microserver/hpe-proliant-microserver-gen10/p/1009955118
Support: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/product/1009955119/Product#t=DriversandSoftware&sort=relevancy&layout=table&numberOfResults=25
Misc: https://forum.openmediavault.org/index.php/Thread/19388-HP-microserver-Gen10/?pageNo=2
User Manual: https://content.etilize.com/User-Manual/1046044075.pdf
Specifications: https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=a00008701enw
Storage Controller Specifications: https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/Getdocument.aspx?docname=a00017196ENW

HPE Proliant MicroServer Gen10

Contents

HPE Proliant MicroServer Gen10

Issues

Status

Resources

Updating Storage Controller Firmware

Updating BIOS

To Research

Overview

Devices

Drivers

Potential Upgrade Parts List

My Model

Resources

Navigation menu

HPE Proliant MicroServer Gen10

HPE Proliant MicroServer Gen10

Issues

Status

Resources

Updating Storage Controller Firmware

Updating BIOS

To Research

Overview

Devices

Drivers

Potential Upgrade Parts List

My Model

Resources

Navigation menu

Search