Anyone buying Gen9 servers read the small print about the controller card it comes with very carefully. My server came with a B140i card. When the server arrived I added the hard drives but nothing happened. Could not see them in the ACU or Smart Storage as they now call it. Turns out that this card only supports SATA disks. Great. All my disks are SAS!
Some of these Dynamic Smart Array cards simply do not let you use SAS until you buy a licence but not with the B140i. I guess the lesson is to read the small print. I just never expected HP to sell a modern server that doesn't accept SAS drives. At the very least the error it gives you when attaching them could be more helpful.
So after some discussion with my supplier I am buying this card http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.aspx?sku=11112576&mfg_part=726736-B21&pagemode=ca a HP Smart Array P440ar/2GB FBWC 12Gb 2-ports Int SAS Controller
As I don't have much experience fitting these I just wanted to know what it entails. Do I simply attach the card and use the existing drive bays as they are? Do I need to disable the old card? Do I need to enable the new card in the BIOS? Is it easy to attach? Any information on this would be really helpful. As would any advise on my choice of card.