Very Computer

by **Michael Du** » Sun, 13 Oct 2002 07:39:47

Hi,

Does anyone know if there is a way of resolving the problem Redhat
seems to have with Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite controllers.
Basically on install, the controller acts as a ide controller as
opposed to a raid controller so any disk that are paired in a strip
are not detected as a single volume. There is a fix for the problem
on Promise's site under linux support, but it only applies to 7.2 and
7.3. I was hoping Redhat would fix this issue with the 8.0 release,
since they seem to be the only distro that has this problem.

Any help is appreciated,
-M

by **Whoeve** » Sun, 13 Oct 2002 08:16:36

Quote:> Hi,

> Does anyone know if there is a way of resolving the problem Redhat
> seems to have with Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite controllers.
> Basically on install, the controller acts as a ide controller as
> opposed to a raid controller so any disk that are paired in a strip
> are not detected as a single volume. There is a fix for the problem
> on Promise's site under linux support, but it only applies to 7.2 and
> 7.3. I was hoping Redhat would fix this issue with the 8.0 release,
> since they seem to be the only distro that has this problem.

Can you tell me if the controller can be used in a software RAID
configuration? I plan to get a MB with 2 standard IDE controllers, and the
Promise Fasttrak RAID. Then use the Promise in JBOD (Just a Bunch Of
Drives) mode and set up a software RAID-5 configuration for 3 of the
drives (one each on the Promise controllers and one on the standard IDE
channels).

The machine will have plenty of CPU power to compute the parity needed for
the RAID-5 configuration.

Any problems with this plan?

by **spi..** » Tue, 15 Oct 2002 23:42:38

> Hi,
> Does anyone know if there is a way of resolving the problem Redhat
> seems to have with Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite controllers.
> Basically on install, the controller acts as a ide controller as
> opposed to a raid controller so any disk that are paired in a strip
> are not detected as a single volume. There is a fix for the problem
> on Promise's site under linux support, but it only applies to 7.2 and
> 7.3. I was hoping Redhat would fix this issue with the 8.0 release,
> since they seem to be the only distro that has this problem.

Every distro has this problem. (I imagine SuSE has the same problem with
8.1) The thing is, the promise controllers CAN be used for IDE or for RAID.
Without the RAID drivers, you're stuck with IDE, and the RAID drivers in
question are the ones on the promise site.

And promise always lag behind the current kernel/distro version by a a few
months. (at least).

My suggestion, fallback to the Redhat 2.4.18 kernel.
Then the driver'll work.

by **John Mazz** » Wed, 16 Oct 2002 07:31:57

I've tried it with the SX/2000 controller and have the same problem. The
Promise driver doesn't yet work with RH 8.0.

by **spi..** » Wed, 16 Oct 2002 18:17:30

> I've tried it with the SX/2000 controller and have the same problem. The
> Promise driver doesn't yet work with RH 8.0.

As I said, the only barrier is the kernel version, so if you fall back to
the 2.4.18 from RH7.3, it'll work.

by **Splash Dav** » Sat, 19 Oct 2002 15:03:12

> > I've tried it with the SX/2000 controller and have the same problem. The
> > Promise driver doesn't yet work with RH 8.0.

> As I said, the only barrier is the kernel version, so if you fall back to
> the 2.4.18 from RH7.3, it'll work.

How does one set up drives as simply IDE. I was mirroring two
IDE's--can I just delete the Array, without losing my data and use a
single drive until an 8.0 kernel driver comes out?

by **spi..** » Sat, 19 Oct 2002 21:11:05

>> > I've tried it with the SX/2000 controller and have the same problem. The
>> > Promise driver doesn't yet work with RH 8.0.

>> As I said, the only barrier is the kernel version, so if you fall back to
>> the 2.4.18 from RH7.3, it'll work.
> How does one set up drives as simply IDE. I was mirroring two
> IDE's--can I just delete the Array, without losing my data and use a
> single drive until an 8.0 kernel driver comes out?

That's something I wouldn't know... After all, the raid uses /dev/sdX while
the ide uses /dev/hdX. Only thing I can say is check the Promise BIOS, the
mobo BIOS and the manuals and websites.

Very Computer

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite

Redhat 8.0 and Promise PDC20265R FastTrak100-lite