Please Help: C220 M3 will not show 9271-8i raid array in the boot order

[johncfenton]

A C220 M3 rack mounted server with an LSI MegaRaid 9271-8i raid card in slot 2.  

The optionROM is enabled, onboard storage is disabled.

The boot post shows two physical drives and one virtual drive.

The raid array cannot be added to the boot order and will not show up in the boot order.

I saw another thread here that had the same problem and was solved, but the solution was not posted.
https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12348291/cannot-enter-bios-or-boot-lsi-megaraid-sas-9271-8i

Can someone please enlighten me as to the magic necessary to get this standalone server up and running from the local SAS drives.

Thank You!

[mjafri]

Hi John,

What is the boot order configured? Are you able to see the RAID card while going manually into the boot order (F6)?

Have a look to the below link:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/sw/gui/config/guide/2-0/b_Cisco_UCS_C-series_GUI_Configuration_Guide_201/b_Cisco_UCS_C-series_GUI_Configuration_Guide_201_chapter_011.html#d84457e1001a1635

Regards,

MJ

[Saurabh Kothari]

hey,

Kindly let me know if the VD is configured as boot drive.

Storage >> Virtual Drive info >> you should see a field 'Boot drive'  that should be marked as true.

if you see 'false' written there then make the VD as boot drive and configure the boot order as PCI RAID adapter.

thanks,

Saurabh

[johncfenton]

Thanks to those answering, here was the problem and the solution:

ALL server related settings were set correctly but in Configure Boot Order, the local HDD which pointed to the raid 1 virtual drive on the pci card in slot 2 that had esxi-5.5u2 loaded on it, would not add to the current boot order.  The server refused to see the raid card as a boot source.

In order for the c220 to recognize the raid card as a boot source, even though the physical and virtual drives could be accessed and were visible in the post information, the MegaRaid BIOS Config utility had to be accessed by pressing CTRL + H.  Then, in the Controller Properties, you must find the controller bios setting and change it from disabled to enabled.

Now, the configured boot order entry that contained the raid virtual drive was added to the boot order and the server then booted to the esxi load installed on that virtual drive.

I have attached an image that shows the setting I had to find.  My BIOS was set to DISABLED.

[Saurabh Kothari]

hello,

Thank you for apprising us all of the solution.

it should help other colleagues chasing such problem.

Regards,

Saurabh

[mjafri]

Hi,

Glad to hear every thing is working fine. Option ROM is enable by default on LSI RAID cards, not sure how that was disabled. Since it was disabled, system BIOS will not able to call the BIOS for PCI card during initialization.

Regards,

MJ

[johncfenton]

MJ,

Option Rom was enabled, Option Rom has nothing to due with the setting I had to change.

That's the problem here. All the computer bios and management settings were correct.  You have to go into the actual raid card utility and then into the advanced settings to make sure the raid bios is enabled.

[mjafri]

Hi,

Sorry, i mean to say the BIOS of the LSI card, which is enable by default. 

Thanks,

MJ

[johncfenton]

MJ,

Thanks for the follow up!

I have seen raid card bios' in other servers of different brands disabled before so it did not catch my attention.  If the setting is on by default, I will have to track back to its previous use and see who disabled it and why it was disabled.

Just one of the odd items not readily apparent!