HPE still sells legacy license kits for Gen8 controllers. The official part numbers are:
Cost: Typically $200–$400 USD depending on the reseller.
Process: Buy → Receive a key via email → Enter in SSA or using ssacli.
Even with a valid key, problems occur. Here is the fix for the top three errors: hp smart array p420i license key
Error 1: "License key is invalid for this controller"
Error 2: "Evaluation period has expired. Degraded performance." HPE still sells legacy license kits for Gen8 controllers
Error 3: License installed, but RAID 5 still greyed out.
On the performance front, the license enables "SSD Smart Path." Standard RAID controllers often introduce latency by intercepting I/O requests to manage caching and parity calculations. Smart Path technology allows the controller to recognize solid-state drives and bypass specific processing bottlenecks, forwarding I/O requests directly to the drives. This significantly reduces latency and increases IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second), a vital feature for database workloads. Cost: Typically $200–$400 USD depending on the reseller
The P420i’s base firmware provides standard RAID levels (0, 1, 1+0, 5) and basic cache operation. The optional license key enables HP SmartCache and HP SSD Smart Path — two features that dramatically improve performance in mixed HDD/SSD environments:
Without the license key, the P420i works perfectly for standard RAID setups. You only need the key if you plan to use SSD caching or want maximum SSD performance.