Hi All, I'd like to install Debian to a R310 server shipped with PERC S300 Software (only Windows supported) RAID controller card. Searching through some pages and forums I found one possible solution only: 1. PERC S300 RAID controller is a hybrid card, firmware upgraded from a simple LSISAS1068E chipset based card, according to this official white paper: http:/i.dell.com/sites/content/business/solutions/whitepapers/en/Documents/Dell-Software-RAID-Functionality-White-Paper.pdf'>'PERC S300 is a hybrid solution obtained by a firmware change for the LSI 1068E SAS controller. The advantage over PERC S100 is that SAS disks are supported in PERC S300. The conversion from LSI 1068E SAS controller to PERC S300 is done using the firmware upgrade (using DRMK bootable USB in DOS method).' If it's possible to 'downgrade' the firmware to the original LSI version, Debian could use this RAID controller with an 'mptsas' or 'megaraid' driver during installation. The suggested solution (boot into DOS mode, use SASFLASH utility with the appropriate FW files to downgrade to LSI) does not work, because SASFLASH utility cannot recognize any LSI controller, since it's id recently is a DELL S300.

Answer to question 1 - How to start after one drive failing. I could restore the RAID 1 by doing the following steps: I took a somehow formatted drive (say C) and plugged it to the same SATA port where the defective drive B was before. After that I started the computer and in.

Is there any solution to create the appropriate DRMK bootable disk or USB key, to downgrade the FW without Vendor / ID matching? I would like to avoid buying a new controller if I can. Thank for any help in advance, Peter. Hi Peter, Thanks for your inquiry.

Although the S300 does have a LSI 1068E chipset running a customized firmware, I do not have any information about other differences that may exist on the integrated package that may make it impossible for the standard 1068E ROM to operate without modification, and for that reason I would caution against forcing a flash. If I knew for sure that the only difference was the firmware then a possibility -- not a certainty -- might exist that you could flash it safely and operate correctly with the LSI Linux driver, though I would advise against this since any failure is likely to render the card inoperable. Drivers ed hidden message.

I also don't have any information about the capability of the card to recover from a failed firmware update via e.g. JTAG or similar, so in the event there is the a failure I wouldn't be able to recommend a recovery procedure. The card was sold and supported as compatible with Windows only and you would have no warranty recourse if something went wrong. Unfortunately, for this particular card I think the best thing as far as doing something that is intended and expected to function predictably and reliably is to replace it with a Dell SAS 6i/R card or a Dell PERC H200, or even another vendor with proper support for Linux if you prefer. For cabled drives the R310 SAS 6i/R part number is 342-1612 and the hot plug drive version is 342-1613.

The cabled PERC H200 for the R310 is 342-1597 and the hot plug drive version is 342-1598. If you need more information about the RAID options on this server let us know and we'll be happy to help out.

I'm trying to do a fresh install of Debian 3.0 (stable) on an intel SE7500WV2 w/ a Promise TX2000 fasttrack ATA RAID controller via netinst. Since the netinst doesn't have all the IDE drivers/modules needed to recognize the controller, I don't know how to partition my disks during the install. Also, I want to run stripe0, not stripe1 (all the promise install instructions I've seen say to set the array to stripe1) I tried partitioning both drives seperately and installing to just one of them, but upon reboot I get a boot error 21 - I'm assuming because linux doesn't recognize the RAID. I have found alot of info on fixing this with older kernels, but those all assume a running system. So, my questions are these: How should my fasttrack BIOS be configured before installation? (Right now it's set to stripe0 w/ 2 disks) and should it be changed after installation?

Is there a way to get Debian 3 to recognize the RAID DURING the installation? Full disks perhaps? If so, which ones? If It can't recognize the RAID array prior to installation, and I have to 'install' it later, how do I partition my disks during install so that they'll successfully boot a running system? Thanks in advance - I've only been using linux for about a week, so I can use all the help I can get.

Followup: After reading around a bit, I've come to the conclusion that the promise RAID controller is more trouble than it's worth, so I decided to disable the 'hardware' RAID. I'd wanted to do that earlier, just to get it to boot, but couldn't find how to disable the RAID feature.