[CentOS] SCSI controller setup

[Matt Hyclak]

On Fri, Sep 09, 2005 at 02:09:57PM -0400, James B. Byrne enlightened us:
> I have an IDE based PC running Linux/CentOS4 to which I wish to 
> attach a scsi dlt.  The host controller is an Adaptec AHA3940 
> something that lspci reports as:  
> SCSI storage controller: Initio Corporation 360P (rev 02).  
> 

I'm not so sure it's an Adaptec controller if it's reporting itself as an
Initio, but I suppose I could be wrong.

> I would like to have the system load the driver for this adapter at 
> boot but I have two problems: 1. I am not sure which driver to use; 
> and 2. I do not know how to force Linux to load a driver module.
> 
> My research to date indicates that the driver module for this 
> device likely is one of:
> 
> /lib/modules/2.6.9-11.EL/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.ko
> /lib/modules/2.6.9-11.EL/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic79xx.ko
> /lib/modules/2.6.9-11.EL/kernel/drivers/scsi/initio.ko
> 
> My reading of man modprobe.conf and modprobe lead me to conclude 
> that the following needs to be added to /etc/modprobe.conf
> 
> install <name of one of the above drives>
> alias scsi_host_adapter <name used for install>
> 

Chances are it's the initio.ko module.

> Can somebody confirm whether I am on the right track or not and 
> provide some advice has to how to proceed? Which is the preferred 
> driver for this card?  Do I have to make additional entries for the 
> tape drive itself an HP surestore dlt vs80?  How do I create the 
> necessary /dev/st# and /dev/mt# entries?  Is there a Linux utility 
> program like kudzu that can probe the hardware and automate any of 
> this?
> 

Yeah, you're pretty well on the right track. Try running

modprobe initio

as root. Then run dmesg to see if it reports success. Should see something
similar to:

SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.36
        <Adaptec 3960D Ultra160 SCSI adapter>
        aic7899: Ultra160 Wide Channel A, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs

scsi1 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.36
        <Adaptec 3960D Ultra160 SCSI adapter>
        aic7899: Ultra160 Wide Channel B, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs

if it is successful. 

At that point, make your changes to modprobe.conf and you should be fine for
reboots. The OS should create the /dev/*st0 files for you. In dmesg you
should see something like:

st: Version 20040102, bufsize 32768, max init. bufs 4, s/g segs 16
Attached scsi tape st0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0

> I am a digest subscriber so replies that only go to the list will 
> reach me in about 24 hours.
> 

Thanks for noting, I CC'd you directly.

Matt

-- 
Matt Hyclak
Department of Mathematics 
Department of Social Work
Ohio University
(740) 593-1263