Short tip: Configure HP Smart Array Controller using EFI Shell

New HP Smart Array controllers built into a  HP Integrity machine are basically unconfigured. When running the EFI Shell, you will probably see the following message:

1HP Smart Array P800 Controller     (version 7.22)  0 Logical Drives
21785-Drive Array Not Configured
3     Run Smart Array Configuration Utility
4...
5Press <F8> to run the Option ROM Configuration For Array Utility

It's bloody simple - no arrays have been configured, yet. Normally, pressing F8 starts the controller's BIOS. This will not work if you're using the Management Processor (MP) rather than the console. It seems like the shortcut is dropped.

In the HP board I found the solution: instead of pressing F8, the keys ESC and 8 need to be pressed. By the way: if you're too slow, you need to restart the server as the EFI shell only initializes the particular firmwares during the first start. The next time, the error message above is now displayed and the shortcut has no effect:

1[server-mp] MP> CM
2[server-mp] MP:CM> RS
3Execution of this command irrecoverably halts all system processing and
4I/O activity and restarts the computer system.
5
6Type Y to confirm your intention to restart the system: (Y/[N]) Y