HP Microserver G8 Install - Internal USB

TrueNAS General
1

Hello,

I have been given a G8 Microserver, and I want to install Truenas on it. I am trying to install Truenas on a USB flash drive

  • Downloaded Truenas Scale (latest)
  • Used Ethcher to put the ISO on the flash drive
  • Inserted Flash drive in USB A port on the motherboard
  • Set to boot from USB DriveKey
  • Kept going in a loop when trying boot
  • Using the iLO, I mounted the Truenas ISO

Although it seems to find the flash drive, it keeps erroring when trying to install to the flash drive, no matter which options that I pick. It won’t let me insert the images on the post here.

I would really really appreciate any help you guys give to get this working.

Thanks

2

No UEFI support. Needs MBR code.
ISO should have both but of course you didn’t give us the options you used in Balena…

3

Welcome to the forums!

It’s not clear to me from your post’s words, but it seems that you might have been expecting TrueNAS to be installed on the same USB key on which you installed the ISO?

You need to install to another drive on the PC from which you will boot TrueNAS.

Apologies if this is actually what you did and I misinterpreted your words.

4

Rufus have the capability to properly flash the USB as MBR, you can easily achieve this.
IMHO avoid the use of an USB stick for the boot pool, worst if Isn’t neither MLC, a cheap SATA - USB adapter with a small SSD Is way better and reliable

5

Also later installers fail with the MBR-only capabilities of the G8. I tried a fresh install of Dragonfish some time ago.
I don’t know if they have fixed the installer but you can use the installer of something before Dragonfish and then upgrade to a current version step by step.
(I know Angelfish works for sure because I used this back then for my first install of Scale on a G8.)

6

I have a Gen 10 plus V2 and am having problems creating a new bootable USB stick with Fangtooth. What is the problem of the G8 and could this be the cause of my problem? (See https://forums.truenas.com/t/core-to-scale-upgrade-with-backout/50317)

7

The problem with the G8 is that more current installers of Scale fail on the G8 when it comes to installing GRUB.
I was pretty much an early adopter of Angelfish when it was released. Now around Dragonfish I retired my G8 as my main system. After moving the HDDs with the data and putting in some other ones i had lying aroud I wanted to do a new clean install of Dragonfish.
Wouldn’t work, used Angelfish as installer again and upgraded afterwards to current.

8

Hi!
I have been setting up TrueNAS on Micreserver gen8 the last month. Oh-my is it a special box…:face_exhaling: First of all it has Legacy BIOS, no UEFI, and it have several hoops if you want to use it like a new machine.

The Microserver boots in this order (if using ACIH)

  • USB/SDcard
  • Non hotswap bays from left to rigth
  • CD-drive/ODD-SATA
    • the system will NOT let you boot first from this whitout a CD.. except if you remove every other drives, then you can boot from ODD-SATA on the MB

And no you can’t change the boot order like a regular computer, because the onboard HBA (sata contorller for non-hotswap bays) have priority.

You can trick it with disabling ACHI, and running legacy raid controller. But then you don’t have accses to S.M.A.R.T. data from the drives. I tried this don*t recomend it.

The recomended method is using GRUB chain loader. That did not say much for me when i started this project but I found several guides online. But those was sett up so you had to have accsess / iLo to the macine to chose boot drive if a drive was missing.

With the help from Gemini i got a GRUB fil that try to boot from every drive in the opposit direction until it finds the boot drive. My theory is if i now have a drive failiure and the macine reset it will boot regardless.

My setup atm is a SSD connected to the ODD port in the motherboard, and HDD in the non-hotswap bays. I use a GRUB chanloader to change boot order

Feel free to ask if you have any queestion.

9

:rocket: TrueNAS Boot from SSD on HP ProLiant Gen8 (AHCI Boot Fix)

This guide provides a robust solution for enabling S.M.A.R.T. monitoring on your main storage drives when TrueNAS is installed on the ODD port (Port 5) of an HP ProLiant Gen8 server.

:bullseye: Goal & Problem Overview

  • Goal: Enable S.M.A.R.T. monitoring for the drives in the four main front bays (Ports 1-4).
  • The Conflict: TrueNAS installed on the ODD port (Port 5) often requires the BIOS to be set to Legacy Mode for booting, but Legacy Mode disables S.M.A.R.T. for the main drives.
  • The Solution: Switch the BIOS to AHCI Mode (to enable S.M.A.R.T.) and use a small, dedicated GRUB Chainloader on an internal MicroSD or USB stick to reliably force the boot process to the TrueNAS installation on the ODD port.

Prerequisites

  • A dedicated any size MicroSD Card (or internal USB DriveKey).
  • A separate Linux machine or a Live Linux USB for preparing the card. (I used Ubuntu USB on the Microserver)
  • Familiarity with basic Linux command-line operations.
  • :warning: IMPORTANT: Always double-check device names (/dev/sdb, etc.) to prevent data loss.

Step 1: Prepare the MicroSD Card (The GRUB Chainloader)

You will use the entire MicroSD card for this purpose. Always double-check the device name (e.g., /dev/sdb) to avoid data loss.

1.1 Partitioning (MBR)

Use fdisk to create a single MBR/DOS partition covering the whole card, and set the Bootable Flag on it.*

1.2. Formatting

Format the partition (e.g., as ext4):

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

1.3. Mounting

Mount the newly formatted partition:

sudo mkdir /mnt/grubboot
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/grubboot

1.4 Install GRUB

Install the boot files to the mounted partition and write the boot code to the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the device itself (/dev/sdb):

sudo grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/grubboot /dev/sdb

Step 2: Create the Robust grub.cfg Configuration

This configuration file is crucial. It uses a search loop to automatically find your TrueNAS boot drive (which is Partition 3, gpt3) on one of the potential SATA ports, regardless of which ones are populated in the front bays.

sudo nano /mnt/grubboot/boot/grub/grub.cfg

2.2 Paste the Configuration

Paste the following code, which searches for the ZFS Boot Pool Partition 3 starting from disk hd5 down to hd1:

set default='0'
set timeout='10'

insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
insmod chain

# Search for the ZFS Boot Pool (Partition 3) on hd5 down to hd1 (ODD is often hd5).

for i in 5 4 3 2 1; do
    # Check if GPT Partition 3 exists on the current disk.
    if [ -e (hd$i,gpt3) ]; then
        set root=(hd${i})
        break
    fi
done

menuentry "TrueNAS Scale (Automatically Found ODD)" {
    if [ -n "${root}" ]; then
        echo "Found TrueNAS on drive: ${root}"
        # Chainload the boot sector of the drive found above
        chainloader +1
        boot
    else
        echo "ERROR: Failed to find TrueNAS ZFS boot pool (partition 3) on any disk (hd1-hd5)."
        sleep 5
    fi
}

2.3 Save and Unmount

Save the file, exit, and safely unmount the MicroSD card:

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Step 3: BIOS Configuration on the HP Gen8

Insert the completed MicroSD card into the internal slot of the Gen8 server.

3.1 Change SATA Mode to AHCI

  • Start the server and press F9 to enter BIOS/System Utilities.
  • Navigate to System Options→ SATA Controller Options → Embedded SATA Configuration.
  • Change the setting to Enable SATA AHCI Support.

3.2 Set Boot Order

Go to Boot Options → Boot Order
Ensure that Internal MicroSD Card (or Internal USB DriveKey if you used a USB stick) is set as the first boot device.

Note: The server will now boot from the MicroSD card, which will execute the GRUB script. The script will find your TrueNAS installation on the ODD port and chainload the boot process, enabling you to boot TrueNAS while maintaining the necessary AHCI mode for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring.

Core to Scale Upgrade with Backout
10

Thank you for this @wimpy87 - it’s a project I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of for nearly a year.

I’d like to add a couple of things for people researching this and coming across this fix. The G8 seems very temperamental when it comes to booting up. I suggest clearing the BIOS before you start. You do this by either/and flicking Dip switch 6 on the small collection to the rear of the motherboard on the left hand side underneath the PSU and/or remove the battery and restart a few times.

My internal MicroSD card reader doesn’t work (don’t know why, don’t really care at the moment) so I recommend a USB stick for the GRUB Chainloader. Talking of which, you’ll need access to a fully functioning linux machine (I used Linux mint - debian base) to get the GRUB files and properly create the USB disk/files.

I booted my windows laptop, from a linuxmint ISO, then created the USB I needed. Thanks to your instructions, it was flawless and because I used a debian base for linux, installing grub was a piece of cake.

If you’re having issues with GRUB versions etc or error messages, look at the version of linux you’re using to create the USB stick first… (a good few hours with the wrong base there for me).

You’ll need the USB GRUB Chainloader, a disc with the TrueNAS scale image on it and a ‘target’ install disc. That last one being the disc you’ll eventually boot your NAS from.

Follow the previous instructions from @wimpy87 on what to do with each bit.

When you power up your G8, when you get to the HP Proliant processor initialization screen, and you get the options at the bottom F9,10,11 - Choose F11 and then ‘3) One Time Boot from USB Drivekey’ - You’ll then be taken through the normal TrueNAS installation setup. Remember to select your target disk for installation. I attached this to the blue connector on the motherboard, then up through the chassis into the disk balanced on the top. I bought a power cable to attach to the computer PSU and the back of the new disk (SSD).

Shut down, remove the USB and ISO source disk, leaving only the booting disc (with the new TrueNAS installation) remaining.

Once you’ve done this, power-up, go back into your BIOS (F9 at HP Proliant Processor initialization screen) and set to boot from HDD first.

Exit the BIOS (Esc key) and make sure you save your changes (F10) when asked to do so.

Your machine will reboot and (after a while) display the usual console setup.

@wimpy87 - again, so many thanks. I was thinking this may become a very expensive door stop, or I was going to try and get rid of it on ebay.

1 Like