HPE Archives

HPE MSA 2040 iSCSI Configuration

June 14, 2025

I recently deployed an HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) MSA (Modular Smart Array) 2040 SAN (Storage Area Network) Storage unit in my home lab.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to set up the HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage with iSCSI.

The Process

The default username is manage, and the default password is !manage.

Network Setup

The first part we should do is configure the iSCSI network.

Click on System.

Click on Action > Set Up Host Ports.

Configure your ports as needed.

In my setup, ports A1, B1, A3, and B3 are iSCSI path A and ports A2, B2, A4, and B4 are iSCSI path B.

Pool Setup

Next, we should set up our disk pools.

Click on Pools.

Click on Action > Add Disk Group.

Select the Type.

I will select Virtual.

Select the RAID Level.

I will Select RAID-10.

Select the Pool.

The pool selection is for which controller will be the primary controller for the pool. It’s a good idea to make a disk group per controller to maximize the performance of the MSA.

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For the most part, PoE (Power over Ethernet) works perfectly with LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol). I recently ran into a bizarre issue with a UniFi AP and an HPE Aruba switch where the AP would reboot under load.

In this post, I will cover how I fixed it and everything I learned in this rabbit hole.

The Setup

In my setup, I have an HPE Aruba 2930F switch, specifically the JL256A version. I also have a UniFi U7 Pro Max AP. The UniFi AP is plugged directly into the Aruba switch.

Initially, everything seemed to work fine. I could configure the UniFi AP and everything, but when I was testing the speed of the UniFi AP, I noticed that the AP would reboot, which is strange. I thought at first that maybe I had a faulty AP and would need to RMA it. However, the problem could be with my switch. To rule out the switch, I moved the AP to a PoE injector, and everything worked. I was now able to put the AP under load without it rebooting.

I started digging into my Aruba switch logs and noticed that I was getting PD over current errors on the port that the UniFi AP is plugged into, port 47. The log entry I saw was 00562 ports: port 47 PD Over Current indication.

I double-checked to make sure everything was fully compatible with each other. The power delivery method for the UniFi U7 Pro Max AP is PoE+, with a maximum power consumption of 25 watts. The Aruba 2930F has a PoE budget of 370 watts and is capable of PoE+, and I have room in the PoE budget to power the UniFi AP.

I started thinking that maybe the Aruba switch didn’t want to give the AP enough power for some reason. So I started down the rabbit hole of how PoE works and discovered that much of the magic is LLDP, specifically LLDP-MED (Link Layer Discovery Protocol – Media Endpoint Discovery).

LLDP and LLDP-MED

LLDP is similar to Cisco’s CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol). The main difference between LLDP and CDP is that LLDP is vendor-neutral. LLDP is used by networking devices to provide information about themselves, such as port description, management address, system name, system capabilities, and system description.

LLDP-MED is an extension of LLDP and is commonly used by devices such as APs, VoIP phones, computers, and others. A very common use of LLDP-MED is to detect VoIP phones and place them on a voice VLAN because this lets you configure an access port with a data VLAN for computers and a voice VLAN for VoIP phones.

The LLDP information is transferred in an LLDPDU (Link Layer Discovery Protocol Data Unit). Inside the LLDPDU is a TLV (type-length-value). The TLV holds most of the information about the device.

PoE

With PoE, there are PSE (Power Sourcing Equipment) devices, which are basically your switches or PoE injectors, and then there are PD (Powered Device) devices, which are the devices that need PoE power, like a VoIP phone or an AP.

When a PoE device is plugged into a PoE switch, the PoE device uses LLDP-MED to communicate with the PoE switch to tell it what kind of power it needs, and the switch provides that. This is done using TLV in the LLDPDU and PoE types and classes.

PoE Types

There are a few types of PoE. The PoE type dictates their name and available power. Below is a chart of the PoE types.

Types	Common Name	Maximum Power
Type 1	PoE aka 802.3af	15.4 Watts
Type 2	PoE+ aka 802.3at	30 Watts
Type 3	PoE++ aka 802.3bt	60 Watts
Type 4	PoE++ aka 802.3bt	90 Watts

PoE Classes

In addition to PoE types, there are a few PoE classes. Classes dictate the PoE type they need and how much power could be required. Below is a chart of the PoE classes.

Classes	PoE Types	Maximum Power
Class 0	Type 1 aka PoE aka 802.3af	15.4 Watts
Class 1	Type 1 aka PoE aka 802.3af	4 Watts
Class 2	Type 1 aka PoE aka 802.3af	7 Watts
Class 3	Type 1 aka PoE aka 802.3af	15.4 Watts
Class 4	Type 2 aka PoE+ aka 802.3at	30 Watts
Class 5	Type 3 aka PoE++ aka 802.3bt	45 Watts
Class 6	Type 3 aka PoE++ aka 802.3bt	60 Watts
Class 7	Type 4 aka PoE++ aka 802.3bt	75 Watts
Class 8	Type 4 aka PoE++ aka 802.3bt	90 Watts

PoE Allocation

With PoE, you can allocate the power based on the device’s usage or class. Typically, the default is based on usage, and then LLDP will communicate if the device needs more power.

I tried changing between usage and class, and neither setting resolved my issue.

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HPE iLO Firmware Upgrade

March 23, 2024

HPE iLO (Hewlett Packard Enterprise Integrated Lights-Out) is a wonderful tool when your servers are remote. It’s important to keep it up to date as if not properly secured it could be a risk of compromise to your environment.

In this post, I’ll show step-by-step how to update the HPE iLO firmware on your server. This will cover iLO 5 specifically however, older versions of iLO will follow a similar process.

The Process

Download the latest iLO firmware from HPE.
Login to iLO.
Click on Firmware & OS Software

Click Update Firmware

Select the iLO firmware file you downloaded from HPE.

If you have a TPM you will see a warning saying CAUTION: Suspend or back up any software that uses the installed TPM or TM, or risk losing your data. Select the Confirm TPM override check box to proceed.

Double-check your OS documentation to see if there is a risk of data loss and if you should be disabling items like BitLocker first.

It’s normal to not see this if you don’t have a TPM. If all is safe then select Confirm TPM override.

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Aruba Access Point Firmware Upgrade

September 16, 2023

I’m a fan of doing as much as possible with CLI. It always feels more complete and can sometimes be automated. In this post, I will detail step-by-step how to upgrade the firmware image on an Aruba AP (Access Point) with CLI.

ArubaOS is also called Aruba Instant and has nothing to do with Aruba Instant On as that is another product line that is cloud-managed but not cloud-managed with Aruba Central. I’ll be using the term ArubaOS (AOS) in this post to try and keep things as clear as possible.

If you upgrade to AOS 10 you will need to manage the APs with Aruba Central. AOS 8 is the last and still currently developed version that does not require Aruba Central. You can confirm that AOS 8 is still being developed and maintained by checking the Aruba End of Life page for AOS 8.

The Process

Review the release notes for the version of AOS you want to upgrade to. Specifically the section Supported Hardware Platforms as that will help you determine your upgrade path.
SSH into the Virtual Controller

If you have more than on AP in your VC (Virtual Controller) you need to define one of them as the preferred conductor. When a preferred conductor is set that will always be the AP running the VC.

Run the command show ap-env to see if you have preferred conductor.

If the output doesn’t show iap_conductor:1 then you currently don’t have a preferred conductor. (If your firmware is really old it might show up as iap_master:1 as that was the old name for it.)

Run the command iap-conductor to set the AP that is currently running the VC to be the preferred conductor. (If your firmware is really old the command won’t be recognized and you’ll need to run the command iap-master instead.)