I just installed an Adaptec AAR-2410SA SATA raid card with three discs in a raid-5 to replace a kernel based raid consisting of two discs (of which one has failed) on a SUSE 9.2 box. I used my SUSE 10.0 boot disc in rescue mode to partition the raid device and copy all the data across, and edit the boot settings and fstab. When trying to boot off it, the kernel messages show that it sees the card, but then it starts complaining (see log below) and then a kernel panic - can't mount VFS root (or whatever that standard complaint is when it cannot find the / filesystem). When booting off the old discs with the raid controller installed, I get the following in boot.log: <6>scsi0 : aacraid <5> Vendor: ADAPTEC Model: AAR-2410SA RAID5 Rev: V1.0 <5> Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02 <5>SCSI device sda: 468742144 512-byte hdwr sectors (239996 MB) <5>sda: Write Protect is off <7>sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00 <5>SCSI device sda: drive cache: write through <5>SCSI device sda: 468742144 512-byte hdwr sectors (239996 MB) <5>sda: Write Protect is off <7>sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00 <5>SCSI device sda: drive cache: write through <6> sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 <5>Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 [that much looks fine] <3>aacraid: Host adapter reset request. SCSI hang ? <3>aacraid: Host adapter appears dead <6>scsi: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery: host 0 channel 0 id 0 lun 0 [this message repeats a bunch of times] <4>SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x6000000 <4>end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 321103 <3>Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 321040 <3>scsi0 (0:0): rejecting I/O to offline device <3>Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 321041 repeated a number of times, each time with different sector/block numbers. My guess is the aacraid driver in the 2.6.8 kernel doesn't understand this controller (it's not listed in the README). I downloaded the latest driver for SUSE 9 (doesn't work) as well as the source. There are no build instructions with the source - I tried substituting it in the kernel tree, but it fails to build. Does anyone know how to build this driver? Thanks Hans
Hans du Plooy wrote:
I just installed an Adaptec AAR-2410SA SATA raid card with three discs in a raid-5 to replace a kernel based raid consisting of two discs (of which one has failed) on a SUSE 9.2 box.
I used my SUSE 10.0 boot disc in rescue mode to partition the raid device and copy all the data across, and edit the boot settings and fstab.
When trying to boot off it, the kernel messages show that it sees the card, but then it starts complaining (see log below) and then a kernel panic - can't mount VFS root (or whatever that standard complaint is when it cannot find the / filesystem).
Did you also include the aacraid module in initrd and executed mkinitrd?
My guess is the aacraid driver in the 2.6.8 kernel doesn't understand this controller (it's not listed in the README). I downloaded the latest driver for SUSE 9 (doesn't work) as well as the source. There are no build instructions with the source - I tried substituting it in the kernel tree, but it fails to build.
Getting aacraid to work with kernel 2.6 is a story filled with frustration. See http://kerneltrap.org/node/3778 for details. Good luck! Sandy -- List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply2 (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com
Did you also include the aacraid module in initrd and executed mkinitrd?
I did - see the log output I included. Driver is loaded, but it doesn't seem to support the card.
Getting aacraid to work with kernel 2.6 is a story filled with frustration. See http://kerneltrap.org/node/3778 for details. Good luck!
Tell me about it! I tried the latest mantel kernel for 9.2, but it doesn't even boot. Also tried compiling a vanilla kernel, compiled the aacraid driver into the kernel. It boots and see the controller, but doesn't see the "disc" so the kernel panics... I'm thinking of trying (I'm going to need a lot of positive thoughts for this) an upgrade to 10.0 (or maybe 9.3 - the card works in that too). But the server does a wide variety of things, which took me about a week to get working perfectly, and it's got to be up again first thing monday morning :-( Thanks Hans
Hans du Plooy wrote:
Getting aacraid to work with kernel 2.6 is a story filled with frustration. See http://kerneltrap.org/node/3778 for details. Good luck!
Tell me about it! I tried the latest mantel kernel for 9.2, but it doesn't even boot. Also tried compiling a vanilla kernel, compiled the aacraid driver into the kernel. It boots and see the controller, but doesn't see the "disc" so the kernel panics...
I don't think Adaptec has made any serious effort to port that driver to kernel 2.6. I decided to stay with kernel 2.4 and compile whatever I need myself. In this case I needed a samba server and used Suse 9.0 with kernel 2.4.
I'm thinking of trying (I'm going to need a lot of positive thoughts for this) an upgrade to 10.0 (or maybe 9.3 - the card works in that too). But the server does a wide variety of things, which took me about a week to get working perfectly, and it's got to be up again first thing monday morning :-(
You should better decide what your priority is, getting aacraid to work as you want it to or just to get another controller that you KNOW will work so you can keep your deadline. If necessary just use the drives in JBOD mode and migrate them as soon as you get the new controller. Sandy -- List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply2 (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com
> I don't think Adaptec has made any serious effort to port that driver to > kernel 2.6. I decided to stay with kernel 2.4 and compile whatever I need > myself. In this case I needed a samba server and used Suse 9.0 with kernel > 2.4. I think what I'll try is make a tarball of my kernel source tree on 10.0 and try to compile that on 9.2. And maybe a 9.3 source tree. If that doesn't work, I'll try the upgrade. > You should better decide what your priority is, getting aacraid to work as > you want it to Considering that the client has already paid for the card, well, yes... > or just to get another controller that you KNOW will work > so you can keep your deadline. Well, there are three options there: 1. LSI - crap cards, horrible performance, enormous CPU load, expensive - I've posted about this before. I've had so much trouble with various LSI cards (SATA and SCSI, under Windows too) that I've sent them all back. 2. 3Ware (I would love to use these cards, but they're not available locally). 3. Areca - available locally, but I'm still, after two months and many promises, waiting for a demo... Oh, and it is saturday evening, so I don't really have a choice. If the Adaptec card works fine in 9.3 and 10.0 (it really does, I have a few of them in newer boxes), then I'll just have to do whatever it takes to get it working. If I have to upgrade the OS, so be it. At least I can do that on the new raid set, and I still have the old disc with the original state of the server on, so I can mess around as much as I like. > If necessary just use the drives in JBOD > mode and migrate them as soon as you get the new controller. Software Raid-1 rather, it will be easier to migrate later. But no, I cannot have them experience more downtime than they already have Thanks for your input! Hans
Hans du Plooy wrote:
I don't think Adaptec has made any serious effort to port that driver to kernel 2.6. I decided to stay with kernel 2.4 and compile whatever I need myself. In this case I needed a samba server and used Suse 9.0 with kernel 2.4.
I think what I'll try is make a tarball of my kernel source tree on 10.0 and try to compile that on 9.2. And maybe a 9.3 source tree. If that doesn't work, I'll try the upgrade.
Uh, I'm not sure if that is such a good idea. Depending on what software needs what kind of library you might run into some difficult to trace problems. I would probably try the upgrade first. At least you know it should work. (^-^)
You should better decide what your priority is, getting aacraid to work as you want it to
Considering that the client has already paid for the card, well, yes...
Maybe I'm a bit pampered. Whenever I put the choice of downtime vs higher cost in front of my boss he almost always chooses to minimize downtime. Thanks to Citrix even on weekends is difficult to get some downtime on the more critical servers permitted.
or just to get another controller that you KNOW will work so you can keep your deadline.
Well, there are three options there: 1. LSI - crap cards, horrible performance, enormous CPU load, expensive - I've posted about this before. I've had so much trouble with various LSI cards (SATA and SCSI, under Windows too) that I've sent them all back.
I have one LSI in a windows server with a raid5, and I agree, the performance, especially the write performance, is miserable.
2. 3Ware (I would love to use these cards, but they're not available locally).
Internet?
3. Areca - available locally, but I'm still, after two months and many promises, waiting for a demo...
I want one of those as well, when I have to set up my next server. (^-^)
Oh, and it is saturday evening, so I don't really have a choice.
If the Adaptec card works fine in 9.3 and 10.0 (it really does, I have a few of them in newer boxes), then I'll just have to do whatever it takes to get it working. If I have to upgrade the OS, so be it. At least I can do that on the new raid set, and I still have the old disc with the original state of the server on, so I can mess around as much as I like.
Please write about your experience when you are finished with your migration, it's always nice to see the result how things turned out.
If necessary just use the drives in JBOD mode and migrate them as soon as you get the new controller.
Software Raid-1 rather, it will be easier to migrate later. But no, I cannot have them experience more downtime than they already have
Whatever gets you the result you try to achieve. Good luck! Sandy -- List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply2 (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com
Hi
2. 3Ware (I would love to use these cards, but they're not available locally).
Internet?
Delivery time is an issue, and also, if it doesn't work out, I need to be able to take it back. Usually I can do that fairly quickly, because all our hardware suppliers are within 30 mintues' drive.
3. Areca - available locally, but I'm still, after two months and many promises, waiting for a demo...
I want one of those as well, when I have to set up my next server. (^-^)
The only thing that bothers me about the Areca card is that tiny little fan it has on. Unless you open the box from time to time to check, there's no way youll know if that fan is still running, and if it dies, well, who knows what will happen?
If the Adaptec card works fine in 9.3 and 10.0 (it really does, I have a few of them in newer boxes), then I'll just have to do whatever it takes to get it working. If I have to upgrade the OS, so be it. At least I can do that on the new raid set, and I still have the old disc with the original state of the server on, so I can mess around as much as I like.
Please write about your experience when you are finished with your migration, it's always nice to see the result how things turned out.
Well, I found out why I didn't have any luck with the Mantel kernel. I decided not to keep swapping drives around, so I added an entry on the original disc's grub.conf for the installation on the new discs. But I forgot that grub sees both the discs from the original raid, because it's a software raid that exists only once the machine has booted. So I put hd(1,0) in grub instead of hd(2,0). After fixing that SUSE booted perfectly off the raid set, no funny stuff needed. So, to recap. I have two discs, hda and hdc on the normal onboard IDE controllers, configured in a kernel based raid-1. I have to move that to a hardware raid-5 setup consisting of an Adaptec SATA raid controller (aacraid driver) and 3 SATA discs. The aacraid driver included in 9.2 doesn't support this card, and trying to compile the source for the driver seems like a futile exercise. So here's what I did: 1. Boot off a live cd 2. Create partitions and filesystems on the new raid set 3. Copy OS and data from the old raid set to the new one 4. Download the latest Mantel kernel and put that in /root on the new raid set 5. chroot into the new raid set, install the new kernel 6. make neccessary changes to /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst 7. Run grubinstall 8. Unomount and reboot That should be all Thanks!
participants (2)
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Hans du Plooy
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Sandy Drobic