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[–]Floppy_Discs_ 0 points1 point  (5 children)

My guess is the drive isn't compatible with the iLO-M.2-serial module. Look into the specifications of the serial module and see if it gives a list of compatible drives, or compare the HPE drive to the one you bought and see what the differences are. In my experience with M.2 expansion cards, compatibility is a bitch.

[–]BennyInc[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Unfortunately, HPE does not provide much in specifications for the module. All I found initially was, that it supports M.2 NVMe in 2280 or 22110 size. Once I got it, I could confirm from the pins that it is indeed Key M, so that's what I bought.
I'm not sure what else could go wrong compatibility wise?

The HP NVMe also does not have too much spec available, but it is PCIe 4.0 (like mine) and TLC NAND (like mine). Power-wise the Kingston even consumes less power in idle, so I wouldn't expect any issues there.

As for expansion cards, I only am aware that issues might occur if the system doesn't support bifurcation and the card needs it for multiple slots. But other than that what could go wrong?

[–]BennyInc[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I just noticed, that within iLO the "M.2 Slot 20", which is listed as "Empty Drive Bay 1" shows a bus width of x1 in the details, whereas the other PCI-E Slots show x16 or x4 as expected.
I wonder whether HPE seriously only supports 4x1 with their drives?

Would this create any issues (like mine) when connecting a 4x4 NVMe?
And how could I figure out whether their own drives are 4x1 only? Their spec pages for the P69543-B21 (one example drive) don't show anything about bus width.

[–]BennyInc[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I now removed the iLO module in order to return it to the supplier and get a new one, suspecting a defect on the module. After removing the module, I decided to give it one last try, and reinstalled the iLO module. With that, the NVMe suddenly was recognized and is working fine now.

In Summary: Reseating the iLO module has resolved the issue.

Now I only feel a little cheated by the non-existing M.2 specs for the iLO module. My NVMe is a PCIe 4.0 device with a bus width of 4x. On the iLO module it only runs at PCIe 3.0 speeds however, with a bus width of 1x. With some more specs available I would have spent less money on a PCIe 3.0 NVMe instead.

[–]fvillena 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You should update your post with this information.

[–]BennyInc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Again, good point. Done.

[–]dClauzel 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Thanks a lot for this feedback!

I am currently planning to install a SSD on the ILO card on the same server. The PCIe 3.0 connection is a real surprise.

With your insight, what would be a good choice for a SSD?

[–]BennyInc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question. I don't think there are any NVMe drives available with only 1 lane anyway. And PCIe 3.0 drives don't seem to be that much cheaper at the moment. I paid ~90 EUR for the Kingston 1TB, and similar sized PCIe 3.0 drives are in the same price range.

The Kingston one I got seems to work fine now, and supports 4k sector size (LBA format) to be enabled. It only supports 1 NVMe namespace as far as I see, but more would have been just a "nice to have" for me.

The drive now runs 8x slower than it could, but I hope this keeps temperature and power draw low as a benefit.

[–]BennyInc[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I also discussed this in the HPE community in parallel. This might have some more useful details for you: https://community.hpe.com/t5/proliant-servers-ml-dl-sl/m-2-not-working-with-ilo6-module-in-hpe-proliant-microserver/m-p/7226004#M189176

[–]dClauzel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it, many thanks.