Problem installing LSI RAID drivers on SLES 11 SP1

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES Install-Boot
1

Help!

I am trying to do a new installation of SLES 11 SP1 on new hardware which uses an embeded LSI 1068E SAS RAID system - installer can’t see the drives - when attempting to add the drivers, it prompts for a CD or other media driver disk - downloaded appropriate .img file from LSI… tried burning onto CD - no joy, other utils offered to create diskette images - no floppy drive on this beast - found a PC that still actually has a diskette drive - after using the server makedisk utility - was presented with a diskette that can no longer be read by windoze so can’t even tell what files I SHOULD be looking for… (and fwiw Linux community… diskettes? really? thought we were all grown up past the use of diskettes by now)

so the challenge - Is there a simple way to get these drivers in a format that the installer can recognize? Otherwise I am sitting here with a very expensive doorstop that I could have loaded other O/S’s on in a tenth of the time. Need this server up for a GroupWise 2012 migration off of NetWare 6.5 yesterday - taking far too long to get past this hurdle and the various internet sources are as clear as mud to this misplaced NetWare hack.

And we wonder why Linux has not kicked Windows server to the curb…

Mike Giovaninni
NetWerks

2

MGiovaninni wrote:
[color=blue]

I am trying to do a new installation of SLES 11 SP1 on new hardware
which uses an embeded LSI 1068E SAS RAID system - installer can’t see
the drives - when attempting to add the drivers[/color]

You could try SLES11-SP2. It is the current SLES release. It is more
tolerant of some embedded devices and has drivers for additional
devices.

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
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3

Yes it is. I found it in 2 minutes.

Then go ahead with those other OS’s.

4

Kevin, thanks for the response - I did try both SLES 11 SP1 and SP2 - but due to availability of the LSI drivers in SP1 flavor (Kernel 2.6x as opposed to SP2’s Kernel v3.0x flavor, opted to stick with the former release)…

Ahhhh… enovaklbank, my friend - Just the snarky answer I expected someone to provide… I suspect you have partaken a little too strongly of the Linux flavored Kool-Aid

This is the first time I have had an issue installing a Linux OS - RHEL, SLES 9, SLES 10 - never had an issue… and on SATA based systems, SLES 11, never an issue - but this is the first time I have needed to use an SAS based controller and it is throwing me a curve… The server vendor just happened to shoose the LSI 1068E as their controller of choice - I realize it is a software managed RAID system, and planned to let the OS do the dirty work… I just need to get it to see the drives.

So, while I appreciate sarcasm greatly, I am looking for insight that I am obviously lacking on this install… the process fails to find storage devices - so now I am wondering if the kernel is not seeing what the device driver should be looking for. Because I can not see any verbose information during this phase of the installation, I am not certain where to look next and was hoping that some member of this forum has encountered this… any suggestions on how best to see this would be appreciated…

Since my original post - I have dug out an old USB floppy (the server has no FDD port), which at least got me in the ballpark (fwiw, office supply chains around here no longer stock or SKU floppy diskette media in their catalogs…) and bummed some diskettes off one of my competitors… and ended up with similar results, hence the suspicion that the OS is not seeing the controller for what it is.

5

Well that was entertaining - turns out after some more searching on the concept that the kernel was not interrogating the controller and getting the expected results was correct - apparently the 1068E controller drivers available from both LSI and OEM are for MPTSAS flavor - which works fine with Windoze… but Linux sees it as something different entirely -

Solution turns out to be to disable the RAID features of the controller via a motherboard jumpr turning it into a JBOD arrangement… which Linux is very happy with…

Installing 11 SP2 now and drive/RAID configuration & formatting was flawless.

Perhaps I will get these two GW 2012 servers installed this week after all!

6

MGiovaninni wrote:
[color=blue]

Solution turns out to be to disable the RAID features of the
controller via a motherboard jumpr turning it into a JBOD
arrangement… which Linux is very happy with…[/color]

Thanks for providing the solution Mike.

SLES never did like vendors’ software RAID but SLES11-SP2 is supposed
to be more tolerant.

The Release Notes have a lot of good information including this which
may or may not apply to you.
http://www.novell.com/linux/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/11-SP2/

I’m curious where you go from here. Are you thinking of using Linux
software RAID or purchasing a supported hardware RAID adapter or did
you want to try again with the LSI 1068E?

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
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show your appreciation and click on the star below…

7

Hi! I’m trying to upgrade a server with SLES 10 SP4 to the last 11 SP2.
The server has an Intel S3200SH mother with an integraded RAID controller and the SLES 10 works OK.
The problem I have is I can’t do the upgrade process because the installer can’t recognize the linux partitions properly, just say “Unknown linux” on every partition.

I see a couple of warnings in the log:

[INDENT]REISERFS warning (device …) sh_462 check_advise_trans_params: bad transaction max size (3340). FSCK?
REISERFS warning (device …): sh_2022 reiserfs_fill_super: unable to initialize journal space
[/INDENT]

As far as I know the installer CD has the last version of the driver.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

8

kcho wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi! I’m trying to upgrade a server with SLES 10 SP4 to the last 11
SP2. The server has an Intel S3200SH mother with an integraded RAID
controller and the SLES 10 works OK.
The problem I have is I can’t do the upgrade process because the
installer can’t recognize the linux partitions properly, just say
“Unknown linux” on every partition.[/color]

I would check out the Intel site. They have a lot of useful information.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-030451.htm
Server Products
Supported operating systems

This page contains a list of supported operating systems for the Intel
Server Board S3200SH/S3210SH. Operating systems not listed below are
not supported by this Intel Server Board.

SLES10-SP1 is listed but not SLES10-SP4 nor SLES11. Generally, that
just means it hasn’t been tested, not that it doesn’t work but there
could be issues.

Your issue may be related to your hardware settings. See this link:

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-030283.htm#
Intel S3000 and S5000 Series Server Boards have various storage options.

Run this wizard to help choose the proper storage option and find the
correct operating system driver.

Also, read the Release Notes for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
Service Pack 2:
http://www.novell.com/linux/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/11-SP2/

6.1.1. ixgbe Driver Update to version 3.3.8

This new ixgbe driver version adds support for the following devices:
82599EB 10 Gigabit Network Connection 82599EB 10 Gigabit TN Network
Connection X540-AT2 Ethernet Controller 10 Gigabit 82599 10 Gigabit
Dual Port Backplane Connection with FCoE 82599 10 Gigabit Dual port
Network Connection with FCoE 82599EB 10 Gigabit SFP+ Network Connection
82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection

6.1.2. Added the ixgbevf Driver, Version 2.0.0

This is a new virtual function driver added for SR-IOV support with the
Intel ixgbe 10 Gigabit devices.

6.1.3. igb Driver Update to version 3.0.6

Added support for the following devices: 82580 Gigabit Network
Connection 82580 Gigabit Fiber Network Connection 82580 Gigabit
Backplane Connection 82580 Gigabit SFP Connection 82580 Gigabit Network
Connection I350 Gigabit Network Connection I350 Gigabit Fiber Network
Connection I350 Gigabit Backplane Connection I350 Gigabit Connection
82576 Gigabit Network Connection 82580 Gigabit Fiber Network Connection

6.1.4. igbvf Driver Update to Version 1.0.8

This Service Pack adds SR-IOV support for the Intel(R) I350 devices.

6.1.5. e1000e Driver Update to version 1.3.16

This new version of the e1000e driver adds support for the following
devices: 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection 82574L Gigabit Network
Connection 82567V-3 Gigabit Network Connection 82579LM Gigabit Network
Connection 82579V Gigabit Network Connection 82583V Gigabit Network
Connection 82567V-4 Gigabit Network Connection 82566DC-2 Gigabit
Network Connection

If your RAID adapter is one of the supported ones and you are still
unable to get it working, you can always open a Service Request.

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
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show your appreciation and click on the star below…