No driver for Perc 4e/Di Controller

[Joe Kislo]

Live CD on Dell PE2850 Does not Recognize Perc 4e/Di Controller

I am using a Live CD downloaded from the ubuntu site on 3/16/05

I believe this raid controller is part of the megaraid2 module, not the megaraid
module. I can find the megaraid module on the CD, but not the megaraid2 module.
 Loading the megaraid module does not show any scsi devices

lspci output:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. Server Memory Controller Hub (rev 09)
0000:00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Memory Controller Hub PCI Express Port A0
(rev 09)
0000:00:04.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Memory Controller Hub PCI Express Port B0
(rev 09)
0000:00:05.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Memory Controller Hub PCI Express Port B1
(rev 09)
0000:00:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Memory Controller Hub PCI Express Port C0
(rev 09)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #1
(rev 02)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #2
(rev 02)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #3
(rev 02)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI
Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) Ultra ATA 100
Storage Controller (rev 02)
0000:01:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 80332 [Dobson] I/O processor (rev 06)
0000:01:00.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 80332 [Dobson] I/O processor (rev 06)
0000:02:0e.0 RAID bus controller: Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID controller 4
(rev 06)
0000:05:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. PCI Bridge Hub A (rev 09)
0000:05:00.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. PCI Bridge Hub B (rev 09)
0000:06:07.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82541GI/PI Gigabit Ethernet
Controller (rev 05)
0000:07:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82541GI/PI Gigabit Ethernet
Controller (rev 05)
0000:08:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. PCI Bridge Hub A (rev 09)
0000:08:00.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. PCI Bridge Hub B (rev 09)
0000:0b:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY
[Radeon 7000/VE]

[Joe Kislo (joe-k12s)]

Created an attachment (id=1695)
lspci -n

lspci -n output

[Chuck Short (zulcss)]

Correct its handle by the megraid_mbox driver.

chuck

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Unfortunately, the kernel requires that we choose between the old megaraid
driver (which doesn't support the PERC 4e/Di) and the new one (which hasn't been
tested at all, and seems to have some regressions)

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

*** Bug 14221 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Joe Kislo (joe-k12s)]

kernel modules for 2.6.10-5-386 are attached to bug 14221

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

Is there a workaround for this bug? I have a server I would like to install
Ubuntu to, but I can't.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

*** Bug 14530 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

Dicussion follows. There appears to two mainline drivers in the 2.6 tree. Their
compilation is mutually exclusive:

scsi/megaraid: This is the "LSI Logic Legacy MegaRAID Driver" that Ubuntu is
currently including in the kernel/installer/livecd.
scsi/megaraid/[megaraid_mm megaraid_mbox]: This is the "LSI Logic New Generation
RAID Device Driver" that Ubuntu in not currently including.

Matt notes the newer drivers have regression issues. Both drivers support the
same core set, but the implication is that the newer drivers are the future.

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

On the other hand, the next generation megaraid drivers are having new hardward
support being added to them. This could be considered good as they're actively
maintained. This could also be considered bad, as it means they're a moving target.

http://lxr.linux.no/diff/drivers/scsi/megaraid/megaraid_mbox.c?v=2.6.10;diffvar=v;diffval=2.6.11

vs.

http://lxr.linux.no/diff/drivers/scsi/megaraid.c?v=2.6.10;diffvar=v;diffval=2.6.11

[Joe Kislo (joe-k12s)]

Well part of the problem with not including the newer driver is that I'm pretty
sure *most* new dell servers (2850 and 1850 lines atleast) ship with the Perc
4Di controller, which only works with the new megaraid driver. I'm pretty sure
the 2850 and 1850 have been shipping for atleast like 6 months, so I'm guessing
they're pretty common. I know knoppix will boox up fine on one of these boxes
(2.4 kernel I believe... so obviously a different beast).

I think you'll find this to a problem a number of people (who have fancy new
hardware) complain about. You could have a driver disk or something people can
supply with the megaraid2 kernel modules installed on it for people to use while
doing the install.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Since we're now at the start of a new development cycle, I don't see a major
problem with switching to the new driver by default, and working out the issues
over the next six months.

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/fa.linux.kernel/msg/b0ff5ad5ff085ffc as seen
from Kernel Traffic discusses the mutual exclusion of the two drivers.

This may change?

[Tore Halset (halset)]

Is there a workaround for people wanting to install Ubuntu (amd64) on a Dell PowerEdge 2850 with a Perc 4e/Di?

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

Nothing easy.

I spent a good three days working on it. You need to custom compile a kernel,
slipstream the udebs and new kernel debs into the installation media, and then
deal with the fact that it hates you anyway and doesn't provide sysfs links on
the older kernel version.

[Chuck Short (zulcss)]

Im working on a possible workaround.

chuck

[Fabio Massimo Di Nitto (fabbione)]

Thanks to Chuck idea, I found a solution. Basically the only reason why the old
megaraid driver
exists is to support the AMI megaraid 1 and 2.
According to the code, the new driver supports all the other controller.
I did split the controllers list so that we can build both the drivers without
making them
overlapping, but it will still need some testing from people that have this kind
of hardware.

Fabio

[Sebastien Estienne (sebest)]

Hi fabio,
If you need some testers, i have some spare hardware (dell servers) with this
raid controler, and i would happily test some things for you.
Just mail me,
thanx

[Tore Halset (halset)]

I just got a Dell 2850 with 2* xeon (64bit) that I want to install Ubuntu on.
I can do some testing if you have anything to test.

 - Tore.

[Fabio Massimo Di Nitto (fabbione)]

*** Bug 16487 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Fabio Massimo Di Nitto (fabbione)]

(In reply to comment #17)
> Hi fabio,
> If you need some testers, i have some spare hardware (dell servers) with this
> raid controler, and i would happily test some things for you.
> Just mail me,
> thanx

thanks for the offer but i have very serious reasons for delaying the upload
right now
and some manual setup is not exactly the easiest thing to do with a brand new
kernel.

Fabio

[Chuck Short (zulcss)]

New kernel will hit the archive soon for breezy.

[Vitor Choi Feitosa (vchoi)]

Added <email address hidden> to CC list.

[Tomas 'tt' Krag (tt)]

Just wanted to say that I have a Dell Poweredge 1600SC that I am willing to test
stuff on as soon as there is something to test.