Everyone,
I was recently given a Dell raid 386 server that had drives that had gone bad. I replaced the drives with a couple terrabyte sata Seagate drives, and set up the bios for a mirrored raid configuration.
I was able to install Centos 5.2 without difficulty, but when it was time to perform the 1st boot it went to grub instead of booting off of one of the mirrored drives.
I could not figure out how to boot through grub, so I changed the bios to look at both drives unmirrored. At that point I was able to boot to one of the drives, and the second drive was not mounted.
The raid logic is within the bios and mother board of the Dell machine. Can any of you point me to some literature about making this system work as a mirrored raid system.
Thanks,
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
Everyone,
I was recently given a Dell raid 386 server that had drives that had gone bad. I replaced the drives with a couple terrabyte sata Seagate drives, and set up the bios for a mirrored raid configuration.
I was able to install Centos 5.2 without difficulty, but when it was time to perform the 1st boot it went to grub instead of booting off of one of the mirrored drives.
I could not figure out how to boot through grub, so I changed the bios to look at both drives unmirrored. At that point I was able to boot to one of the drives, and the second drive was not mounted.
The raid logic is within the bios and mother board of the Dell machine. Can any of you point me to some literature about making this system work as a mirrored raid system.
What model Dell server is this? Surely, this isn't a 386 (16 to 40mhz from circa 1989?!?) What Dell RAID controller model does it have? They are pretty much all called PERC something, but there are many generations. Is this a true raid (controller based, with a battery backed write cache), or a bogus soft (fake) raid setup? if its the latter, I'd set it up with linux native raid, and not use the BIOS raid at all
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John R Pierce wrote:
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
Everyone,
I was recently given a Dell raid 386 server that had drives that had gone bad. I replaced the drives with a couple terrabyte sata Seagate drives, and set up the bios for a mirrored raid configuration.
I was able to install Centos 5.2 without difficulty, but when it was time to perform the 1st boot it went to grub instead of booting off of one of the mirrored drives.
I could not figure out how to boot through grub, so I changed the bios to look at both drives unmirrored. At that point I was able to boot to one of the drives, and the second drive was not mounted.
The raid logic is within the bios and mother board of the Dell machine. Can any of you point me to some literature about making this system work as a mirrored raid system.
What model Dell server is this? Surely, this isn't a 386 (16 to 40mhz from circa 1989?!?) What Dell RAID controller model does it have? They are pretty much all called PERC something, but there are many generations. Is this a true raid (controller based, with a battery backed write cache), or a bogus soft (fake) raid setup? if its the latter, I'd set it up with linux native raid, and not use the BIOS raid at all
_______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid.
David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid
say huh?
Admittedly I'm not up on the newer PERCs, but the older ones I've used were mostly LSI Logic/AMI Megaraid hardware, with Dell firmware, and seemed pretty damn solid to me. These were ultra320 scsi systems, with hotswap drive bays, and battery backed caches.
On 4/27/09 6:44 PM, "John R Pierce" pierce@hogranch.com wrote:
David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid
say huh?
Admittedly I'm not up on the newer PERCs, but the older ones I've used were mostly LSI Logic/AMI Megaraid hardware, with Dell firmware, and seemed pretty damn solid to me. These were ultra320 scsi systems, with hotswap drive bays, and battery backed caches.
PERCs work just fine under Linux (new and old). There are more than a few people on this list using Dell servers (which a vast majority use PERC controllers.) They are tested and certified against RHEL, so I can't see a reason that they wouldn't "just work".
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Gary Greene wrote:
On 4/27/09 6:44 PM, "John R Pierce" pierce@hogranch.com wrote:
David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid
say huh?
Admittedly I'm not up on the newer PERCs, but the older ones I've used were mostly LSI Logic/AMI Megaraid hardware, with Dell firmware, and seemed pretty damn solid to me. These were ultra320 scsi systems, with hotswap drive bays, and battery backed caches.
PERCs work just fine under Linux (new and old). There are more than a few people on this list using Dell servers (which a vast majority use PERC controllers.) They are tested and certified against RHEL, so I can't see a reason that they wouldn't "just work".
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Okay, well to both of you. Maybe I just have heard such bad experiences that I never really cared! haha. Sorry! I heard somewhere that PERC just didn't work, but apparently I am wrong.
I've heard bad things with PERC though.
Sorry!
David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
Okay, well to both of you. Maybe I just have heard such bad experiences that I never really cared! haha. Sorry! I heard somewhere that PERC just didn't work, but apparently I am wrong.
I've heard bad things with PERC though.
Sorry!
We've got tons of machines with PERC5's and PERC6's running flawlessly with CentOS 4.x and 5.x. It really tends to 'just work'.
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 21:37 -0400, David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
<snip>
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid.
---- What? That's a big fib. You need to have a look at linux.dell.com!
JohnStanley
JohnS wrote:
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 21:37 -0400, David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
<snip>
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid.
What? That's a big fib. You need to have a look at linux.dell.com!
ahhh, and at the bottom of that page, the SATA "CERC" raids are fake-raid and should be configured as JBOD and use linux md, ditto the precision workstations with various Intel ICH*R sata controllers.
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 22:52 -0700, John R Pierce wrote:
JohnS wrote:
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 21:37 -0400, David M Lemcoe Jr. wrote:
<snip>
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid.
What? That's a big fib. You need to have a look at linux.dell.com!
ahhh, and at the bottom of that page, the SATA "CERC" raids are fake-raid and should be configured as JBOD and use linux md, ditto the precision workstations with various Intel ICH*R sata controllers.
--- Yes that is true.
Am 28.04.2009 03:37, schrieb David M Lemcoe Jr.:
If you are using PERC, it is simply not compatible with Linux, and should never be. It is a terrible piece of hardware. I would recommend using dmraid.
Hmm, this used to be an issue in the PERC3 days when PERC3DC was a LSI/AMI controller and PERC3Di was an Adaptec controller.
And the Adaptec stuff was known to eat your files but finally fixed by dell. But these times are long ago so please stop spreading FUD.
And btw contrary to your statement I have seen dmraid with C5/RHEL5 eat files - on otherwise rock stable server hardware.
Rainer
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 18:06 -0700, John R Pierce wrote:
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
Everyone,
I was recently given a Dell raid 386 server that had drives that had gone bad. I replaced the drives with a couple terrabyte sata Seagate drives, and set up the bios for a mirrored raid configuration.
I was able to install Centos 5.2 without difficulty, but when it was time to perform the 1st boot it went to grub instead of booting off of one of the mirrored drives.
I could not figure out how to boot through grub, so I changed the bios to look at both drives unmirrored. At that point I was able to boot to one of the drives, and the second drive was not mounted.
The raid logic is within the bios and mother board of the Dell machine. Can any of you point me to some literature about making this system work as a mirrored raid system.
What model Dell server is this? Surely, this isn't a 386 (16 to 40mhz from circa 1989?!?) What Dell RAID controller model does it have? They are pretty much all called PERC something, but there are many generations. Is this a true raid (controller based, with a battery backed write cache), or a bogus soft (fake) raid setup? if its the latter, I'd set it up with linux native raid, and not use the BIOS raid at all
Everyone,
Thanks for everyone's comments.
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
The RAID controller appears to be on the mother board to me. The CPU is an Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz. BIOS version of A02.
In the bios I can turn on RAID on but when the system boots I get a grub prompt. The only way to get the system to boot is to turn off the RAID configuration and boot to one drive.
I have not seen anything regarding PERC. The SATA drives are connected directly to the motherboard.
I have still not been able to make it work as RAID.
Thanks to everyone for your help. This is my first RAID controller.
Greg
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
As another poster noted, in this case you should disable the RAID in the bios and keep it off. If you want RAID then use software raid in linux, or get a real RAID controller, I suggest 3Ware myself but there are other options available as well.
nate
On Tue, 2009-04-28 at 19:28 -0700, nate wrote:
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
As another poster noted, in this case you should disable the RAID in the bios and keep it off. If you want RAID then use software raid in linux, or get a real RAID controller, I suggest 3Ware myself but there are other options available as well.
nate
Nate,
Thanks for your help. Guess this machine does not have a real RAID controller.
Appreciate your advise!
Greg
On Tue, 2009-04-28 at 21:20 -0500, Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 18:06 -0700, John R Pierce wrote:
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
Everyone,
I was recently given a Dell raid 386 server that had drives that had gone bad. I replaced the drives with a couple terrabyte sata Seagate drives, and set up the bios for a mirrored raid configuration.
I was able to install Centos 5.2 without difficulty, but when it was time to perform the 1st boot it went to grub instead of booting off of one of the mirrored drives.
I could not figure out how to boot through grub, so I changed the bios to look at both drives unmirrored. At that point I was able to boot to one of the drives, and the second drive was not mounted.
The raid logic is within the bios and mother board of the Dell machine. Can any of you point me to some literature about making this system work as a mirrored raid system.
What model Dell server is this? Surely, this isn't a 386 (16 to 40mhz from circa 1989?!?) What Dell RAID controller model does it have? They are pretty much all called PERC something, but there are many generations. Is this a true raid (controller based, with a battery backed write cache), or a bogus soft (fake) raid setup? if its the latter, I'd set it up with linux native raid, and not use the BIOS raid at all
Everyone,
Thanks for everyone's comments.
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
The RAID controller appears to be on the mother board to me. The CPU is an Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz. BIOS version of A02.
In the bios I can turn on RAID on but when the system boots I get a grub prompt. The only way to get the system to boot is to turn off the RAID configuration and boot to one drive.
I have not seen anything regarding PERC. The SATA drives are connected directly to the motherboard.
I have still not been able to make it work as RAID.
Thanks to everyone for your help. This is my first RAID controller.
Greg _______________________________________________
Sorry forgot to add that this was identified in the RAID setup as :
Intel RAID for Serial ATA - RAID BIOS v3.5.0.2568
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
oh, we thought you said a SERVER, such as a Dell PowerEdge, so we went down the wrong bunnytrail :)
"XPS Gen 2" could refer to either a Inspiron XPS laptop, or a desktop XPS Gen 2. If its a P4, then its likely the desktop, as the laptop used the Pentium-M.
The RAID controller appears to be on the mother board to me. The CPU is an Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz. BIOS version of A02.
In the bios I can turn on RAID on but when the system boots I get a grub prompt. The only way to get the system to boot is to turn off the RAID configuration and boot to one drive.
I have not seen anything regarding PERC. The SATA drives are connected directly to the motherboard.
I have still not been able to make it work as RAID.
Thanks to everyone for your help. This is my first RAID controller.
no, its not. its not a raid controller. its 'BIOS raid' aka 'fake raid'
BIOS fake raid such as that isn't supported by Linux, instead, set the controller for JBOD/ATA mode, and use the built in MD driver mirroring in Linux.
see the comments here under "SATA", http://linux.dell.com/storage.shtml#sata
the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 laptop has the same ICH6 southbridge IO chip as the Precision Workstation this page mentions, while the Desktop XPS Gen 2 had the previous version ICH5
On Tue, 2009-04-28 at 19:43 -0700, John R Pierce wrote:
Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
To make things as clear as I can this is a DELL XPS Gen 2 Series a 32 bit machine using an i386 Centos OS 5.2 that was automatically upgraded to 5.3 by yum.
oh, we thought you said a SERVER, such as a Dell PowerEdge, so we went down the wrong bunnytrail :)
"XPS Gen 2" could refer to either a Inspiron XPS laptop, or a desktop XPS Gen 2. If its a P4, then its likely the desktop, as the laptop used the Pentium-M.
The RAID controller appears to be on the mother board to me. The CPU is an Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz. BIOS version of A02.
In the bios I can turn on RAID on but when the system boots I get a grub prompt. The only way to get the system to boot is to turn off the RAID configuration and boot to one drive.
I have not seen anything regarding PERC. The SATA drives are connected directly to the motherboard.
I have still not been able to make it work as RAID.
Thanks to everyone for your help. This is my first RAID controller.
no, its not. its not a raid controller. its 'BIOS raid' aka 'fake raid'
BIOS fake raid such as that isn't supported by Linux, instead, set the controller for JBOD/ATA mode, and use the built in MD driver mirroring in Linux.
see the comments here under "SATA", http://linux.dell.com/storage.shtml#sata
the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 laptop has the same ICH6 southbridge IO chip as the Precision Workstation this page mentions, while the Desktop XPS Gen 2 had the previous version ICH5
John,
Thanks much for your help. Sorry for the confusing information. My plan is to use this desktop as a mail server.
Appreciate your help!!!!
Greg
Gregory P. Ennis wrote on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:20:21 -0500:
The RAID controller appears to be on the mother board to me.
It's then Intel fake RAID.
Kai
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David M Lemcoe Jr. -
Gary Greene -
Gregory P. Ennis -
John R Pierce -
JohnS -
Kai Schaetzl -
nate -
Rainer Traut -
Ryan Pugatch