Re: [opensuse] Hardware Compatibility : Adaptec 1430SA / OpenSuSe V11.0

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:54 AM, PaPa NoeL <elpapanoelfr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
2008/12/3 Greg Freemyer <greg.freemyer@xxxxxxxxx>

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 9:48 AM, PaPa NoeL <elpapanoelfr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello,

I'm trying to work out this raid card Adaptec 1430SA under OpenSuse.
I know it's fake raid, but I'm not to keen on buying a new 3Ware card
or a HighPoint (provided they are compatible).

I have tried to compile the binary driver from Adaptec's web site with
no success. Furthermore, my installation should take place directly on
the RAID array.

What I was wondering is:
1- is it really possible to compile this driver? (has anybody already
done it? google told me "not really")
2- is then possible to make a driver disk? (linux dd)
3- Will I have to rebuild the driver for each kernel upgrade?
4- Can someone nice provide me a pre-built driver? ^^

Thanks for the replies as I am a bit desperate on this one!!
Also, except nvidia's or Ati's driver compilation, I'm quiet hopeless
in kernel building.

Best regards,

ElPaPaNoel

Do you "need" the fake-raid to work as opposed to pure software raid?

If not, set the controller up in JBOD mode (just a bunch of disks, no
raid functionality)

Then use MDraid (pure software raid) to implement your raid setup.

Pros:
-You don't have to find / test a little used fake-raid driver for your card.
-MDraid and DMraid (fake-raid) both use the same amount of CPU
resources, so no increased cpu load.
-If the controller crashes, you can move the drives to any other
supported controller because the config data is not proprietary to the
controller. You can even split the drives between multiple
controllers. Or put a couple off the MB controller, and the rest off
of a PCI-express card, etc.

Cons:
-The mdraid config data is linux specific, so you won't be able to
have a dual boot setup with an alternate OS. (ie. windows).

Greg
--
Greg Freemyer
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
First 99 Days Litigation White Paper -
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Thanks for the fast reply.
I have been "googleling" for weeks so in a way I know you are right.

However, here is my point:
1- I have bought that stupid card because the ICH9R was not supported
(the raid fonctions), so even if I did a mistake, I've got the card
and the performances are higher than the ICH9R.

I assume the standard JBOD driver for your card is in the vanilla
kernel and thus supported by OpenSuse without doing anything.
Correct?

If so, use the card and get the performance, just consider using it as
a standard JBOD controller, not a raid controller per se.

2- I didn't manage to build RAID10 using dmraid, and there was
something I didn't like in the trick of building a BIOS RAID 1 and
using Raid0 in DMraid (which should not work)

Neil Brown is the maintainer of mdraid and mdadm. I note he now
appears to be a Novel employee and working aggressively on both the
kernel and userland support of mdraid. If you can't get something to
work by asking here, then ask on the mdraid mailing list. He monitors
it closely as do many other knowledgeable people.

linux-raid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

3- MDRaid or Dmraid might be lower in terms of performances

Why are the drivers provided by Adaptec such pain ?


They get out of date fast because the kernel changes rapidly and they
are not "in-kernel". If you can find in-kernel drivers you are much
more likely to get a stable solution because the kernel policy is for
the person changing a feature set/functionality in the kernel to also
update all in-kernel users.

I'm will not have a dual boot because all this is about a NAS server.

Am I correct that if I have the driver built for kernel-2.6.XXX-X, I
will have to rebuild it again for Kernel-2.6.YYY-Y?

I normally use in-kernel drivers, but I am pretty sure you are
correct, out-of-kernel drivers have to be compiled for the specific
kernel they need to work with.

I think even a suse security kernel update will trigger the same
thing. I know with VMware I have to recompile every time I get a new
suse kernel.

Best regards,

ElPaPaNoeL


Greg
--
Greg Freemyer
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
First 99 Days Litigation White Paper -
http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf

The Norcross Group
The Intersection of Evidence & Technology
http://www.norcrossgroup.com
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