[CentOS] HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller Driver

[Kaushal Shriyan]

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Simon Matter <simon.matter at invoca.ch> wrote:
>> On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 4:27 AM, Joseph L. Casale
>> <jcasale at activenetwerx.com> wrote:
>>>>Please help me understand.
>>>
>>> If the device requires an additional driver, unless its packaged as a dd
>>> for use at
>>> install, how can you install and then add a driver?
>>>
>>> Disable RAID mode, set it to AHCI, then Anaconda will see all the
>>> individual discs
>>> at which point during install you can choose to setup Linux md raid, far
>>> simpler
>>> and almost always better than software raid IMHO.
>>>
>>> Recovery and monitoring facilities are built into Linux, life's just
>>> easier...
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>>>
>>
>> Hi Joseph L Casale
>>
>>>
>>>That thing is a software raid setup iirc, although there is an rpm for it
>>>post install, you could use the ddkit from rhel to make a dd image but
>>>frankly I would just use mdraid, turn off the riad setup and just use
>>> AHCI.
>>
>> Thanks for the quick reply and explanation. You said use dd kit from
>> rhel and create a linux device driver image and supply drivers during
>> OS installation.  dd command i suppose. Please further suggest.
>>
>> I have extracted the rpm file and it has hpahcisr.o file. Am i
>> understanding you correctly ?
>
> Hi Kaushal,
>
> Maybe there's some kind of misunderstanding. The term software raid can be
> misleading because IMHO mdraid is also an software raid. So let's use the
> term fakeraid for those controllers which make one believe they do
> everything in their hardware but in fact simply do some kind of software
> raid in thier proprietary OS driver.
>
> So, what you should try to find out is whether your controller is not
> usable in raid mode because the OS has no support for it (seems obvious)
> or if you set the controller into AHCI mode in BIOS, if the controller is
> usable by the OS without any additional driver.
>
> So, go to the BIOS and set the disk controller to AHCI mode (if such
> setting exists) and try to install the OS. If you'll see any disks in this
> configuration, the just go with mdraid and you're done.
>
> Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the explanation. Please help me understand why do Hardware
Vendors provide onboard storage raid controller chipset on the
motherboard (fakeraid if its a software raid.).  Is it a marketing
term for selling servers. Since it does not add value at all strictly
speaking due to the fact that the OS is unable to determine the
Logical drives.

Awaiting your earnest reply.

Regards

Kaushal