Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go. We tried a few other flavors of Linux as a test and all had trouble as well. Unfortunately time didn't permit so we opted for a Windows solution to get the box into production.
We have never had a problem with IDE and Embedded SATA (Non Raid)
Next time we want to research the SATA compatibility a head of time.
Any suggestions?
What cards have worked for you?
Thanks.
Any input on the HP AIC 8130 problem?
Thanks.
_____
From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Chris Heiner Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:47 AM To: centos@centos.org Subject: [CentOS] Hardware Raid cards RAID 0 / 1
Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go. We tried a few other flavors of Linux as a test and all had trouble as well. Unfortunately time didn't permit so we opted for a Windows solution to get the box into production.
We have never had a problem with IDE and Embedded SATA (Non Raid)
Next time we want to research the SATA compatibility a head of time.
Any suggestions?
What cards have worked for you?
Thanks.
Chris Heiner wrote:
Next time we want to research the SATA compatibility a head of time.
Any suggestions?
What cards have worked for you?
Quick search of archives brought up : http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2006-June/066087.html http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2004-November/043349.html
There have been lots of others threads covering the issue.
3ware is generally a good bet, spoken highly off anywhere I've seen, and personal experience with them is excellent.
Regards,
Sean
Chris Heiner wrote:
Any suggestions?
What cards have worked for you?
I'm using 3Ware cards in two different boxes. We've never had a problem with them. Do some searching on the list for 3Ware and you'll see they are very well supported Linux cards.
Max
Chris Heiner wrote:
Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go.
you forgot to mention what the problem really was.
and can you also post a 'lspci -v' for the machine ?
- K
We were never able to install Centos from a boot CDROM, check bios setting and deleted and recreated arrays. It never found any of the drives, yet the Adaptec firmware was able to see all.
It's a driver issue I am sure as we were able to install fine with a Windows 2003 server after installing a driver from floppy (common).
Interesting though we were able to boot from a Knoppix Linux CD without an issue.
We had never recompiled a module before and time wasn't on our side so we opted for windows install and next time I want to get the right hardware ahead of time so we don't have any surprises.
Its sound like 3ware is the way to go in the future or IDE (not my first choice).
It was my error.
Hopefully that answers your question.
Thanks.
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Karanbir Singh Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:17 AM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Hardware Raid cards RAID 0 / 1
Chris Heiner wrote:
Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go.
you forgot to mention what the problem really was.
and can you also post a 'lspci -v' for the machine ?
- K
Quoting Chris Heiner cheiner@networkdesignsinc.net:
Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go. We tried a few other flavors of Linux as a test and all had trouble as well. Unfortunately time didn't permit so we opted for a Windows solution to get the box into production.
You sure that Marvell thing was hardware RAID? Currently, Marvell SATA controllers are not supported by stock Linux kernel. There's a driver source somewhere on Abit's FTP server that should work (more or less) stable on 2.6 kernels. I'm talking here Marvell SATA controllers (including fake-RAID ones), not SATA based hardware RAID controllers (if Marvell makes any of those at all).
What cards have worked for you?
Adaptec and 3ware solutins seem to work nicely. With Adaptec, I'd be carefull to get aacraid based card, not I2O. In my very limited experience, 3ware cards were not as flexible as Adaptec's aacraid based cards. The 3ware you configure once and that's it. With Adaptec, you can migrate data from individual drives into RAID arrays, expand arrays (even RAID-5), change RAID levels (migrate volume from for example RAID-1 to RAID-5) and so on. All while the host is up and running. Well, at least with those I had in my hands (like for example the SCSI based 2200S).
We are very familiar with Adaptec as their headquarters are here in California and we used them exclusively back in our Novell / NT / SCSI days.
Showing my age.
The Marvell Sata is actually an AIC 8130, I wasn't aware of it until I did a Google search. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=aic+8130
Nevertheless, I will research the driver issue before we plan another Centos install. Alternatively IDE is quick and fast installs.
Thanks for the extra effort.
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Aleksandar Milivojevic Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 2:09 PM To: centos@centos.org Subject: Re: [CentOS] Hardware Raid cards RAID 0 / 1
Quoting Chris Heiner cheiner@networkdesignsinc.net:
Last week we tried to install Centos on a brand new HP ML150 G2 with AIC-8130/ Marvell SATA Raid card and it was a no go. We tried a few other flavors of Linux as a test and all had trouble as well. Unfortunately time didn't permit so we opted for a Windows solution to get the box into production.
You sure that Marvell thing was hardware RAID? Currently, Marvell SATA controllers are not supported by stock Linux kernel. There's a driver source somewhere on Abit's FTP server that should work (more or less) stable on 2.6 kernels. I'm talking here Marvell SATA controllers (including fake-RAID ones), not SATA based hardware RAID controllers (if Marvell makes any of those at all).
What cards have worked for you?
Adaptec and 3ware solutins seem to work nicely. With Adaptec, I'd be carefull to get aacraid based card, not I2O. In my very limited experience, 3ware cards were not as flexible as Adaptec's aacraid based cards. The 3ware you configure once and that's it. With Adaptec, you can migrate data from individual drives into RAID arrays, expand arrays (even RAID-5), change RAID levels (migrate volume from for example RAID-1 to RAID-5) and so on. All while the host is up and running. Well, at least with those I had in my hands (like for example the SCSI based 2200S).
Chris Heiner wrote:
We are very familiar with Adaptec as their headquarters are here in California and we used them exclusively back in our Novell / NT / SCSI days.
Showing my age.
The Marvell Sata is actually an AIC 8130, I wasn't aware of it until I did a
Ah, now I know exactly what you have. First of all, you do not have RAID card. It's just fake-RAID thing in BIOS that makes you think you got a RAID card, but in reality it is just an ordinary plain SATA controller and the RAID stuff is done in software by device driver. Exactly the same as using plain SATA controller in Linux and configuring software RAID using md meta devices. I remember having one of those in some SuperMicro servers.
Currently there's no device driver for Marvell chipset in CentOS kernel. Apprently there is some support for those (sata_mv driver) in latest and greatest vanilla kernels (visit www.kernel.org). When it becomes stable, it'll probably be backported to RHEL4 and therefore CentOS.
You have several options until than. You could try compiling and using latest kernel from kernel.org. Or you could spend couple of dollars and buy some cheap (but supported) SATA controller (AIC 8130 is not an RAID controller at all, it's a fake, so you are not loosing anything by going that route, simply configure good old Linux software RAID if you need mirroring or something like that).
If you really want/need real hardware RAID thing, you'd need to buy 3ware or Adaptec (watch out, unlike 3ware, not all Adaptecs are real hardware stuff, some of them are fake-RAID). Trust me, that Windows thing you installed on the box is just running on top of software RAID. It's conveniently hidden from you by BIOS and by device driver, but that is what in reality it is.
You can also check if the motherboard has another SATA controller on it. For example, the SuperMicros that I had came with hard drive bays wired to 4-port Marvell controller (AIC-8130). However, there were also two additional ports on the motherboard controlled by Intel's SATA controller (integrated into chipset). Since I had only two drives anyhow, I just moved the cables to the Intel's ports. Since most chipsets nowdays have integrated SATA contoller, there's good chance you already have SATA controller supported by CentOS kernel in the box. It's only the question if HP bothered to solder the connectors for that controller onto motherboard (SuperMicro did). If there are connectors for the integrated SATA controller, simply move the cables to them.
Thank you for the complete reply.
I did exactly what you suggested already. I went out and bought a cheap SIIG Serial ATA PCI (32 bit) card to get the OS installed. Unfortunately there seemed to be some sort of power issue (black cord from AIC to back plane) associated with the AIC8130 and the back plane (hot swappable). When I removed the AIC I could not access the CDROM to boot Centos, I am sure I could have found an USB external CDROM or something. But it we were so short on time and it was a Holiday weekend (4th of July).
Your right about the Fake Raid as Windows doesn't recognize the RAID at all. It just sees one drive and no RAID management Software either.
I will get 3ware in the feature and just hope that a future release of Centos will have better driver support for SATA.
Thank again.
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Aleksandar Milivojevic Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:33 PM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Hardware Raid cards RAID 0 / 1
Chris Heiner wrote:
We are very familiar with Adaptec as their headquarters are here in California and we used them exclusively back in our Novell / NT / SCSI
days.
Showing my age.
The Marvell Sata is actually an AIC 8130, I wasn't aware of it until I did
a
Ah, now I know exactly what you have. First of all, you do not have RAID card. It's just fake-RAID thing in BIOS that makes you think you got a RAID card, but in reality it is just an ordinary plain SATA controller and the RAID stuff is done in software by device driver. Exactly the same as using plain SATA controller in Linux and configuring software RAID using md meta devices. I remember having one of those in some SuperMicro servers.
Currently there's no device driver for Marvell chipset in CentOS kernel. Apprently there is some support for those (sata_mv driver) in latest and greatest vanilla kernels (visit www.kernel.org). When it becomes stable, it'll probably be backported to RHEL4 and therefore CentOS.
You have several options until than. You could try compiling and using latest kernel from kernel.org. Or you could spend couple of dollars and buy some cheap (but supported) SATA controller (AIC 8130 is not an RAID controller at all, it's a fake, so you are not loosing anything by going that route, simply configure good old Linux software RAID if you need mirroring or something like that).
If you really want/need real hardware RAID thing, you'd need to buy 3ware or Adaptec (watch out, unlike 3ware, not all Adaptecs are real hardware stuff, some of them are fake-RAID). Trust me, that Windows thing you installed on the box is just running on top of software RAID. It's conveniently hidden from you by BIOS and by device driver, but that is what in reality it is.
You can also check if the motherboard has another SATA controller on it. For example, the SuperMicros that I had came with hard drive bays wired to 4-port Marvell controller (AIC-8130). However, there were also two additional ports on the motherboard controlled by Intel's SATA controller (integrated into chipset). Since I had only two drives anyhow, I just moved the cables to the Intel's ports. Since most chipsets nowdays have integrated SATA contoller, there's good chance you already have SATA controller supported by CentOS kernel in the box. It's only the question if HP bothered to solder the connectors for that controller onto motherboard (SuperMicro did). If there are connectors for the integrated SATA controller, simply move the cables to them.
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On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 at 4:09pm, Aleksandar Milivojevic wrote
Adaptec and 3ware solutins seem to work nicely. With Adaptec, I'd be carefull to get aacraid based card, not I2O. In my very limited experience, 3ware cards were not as flexible as Adaptec's aacraid based cards. The 3ware you configure once and that's it. With Adaptec, you can migrate data from individual drives into RAID arrays, expand arrays (even RAID-5), change RAID levels (migrate volume from for example RAID-1 to RAID-5) and so on. All while the host is up and running. Well, at least with those I had in my hands (like for example the SCSI based 2200S).
The newer 3ware cards (95xx series, IIRC) do support RAID level migration and array expansion, all online.
-
Aleksandar Milivojevic -
Chris Heiner -
Joshua Baker-LePain -
Karanbir Singh -
Max H. -
Sean O Sullivan