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Helena
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 4:34 pm    Post subject: Installing Gentoo on PROMISE FastTrak built-in RAID Reply with quote

This guide is experimental - use at your own risk
Version 0.2, date: 2004-03-13

A lot of computers have a motherboard with an inexpensive built-in RAID controller from PROMISE Technology. Although performance seems to be better with dedicated PCI-card controllers, they are still useful. For example many ASUS motherboards use these controllers. As they do work under Windows, because the MoBo supplier includes a driver, many people (like me) also want to implement Gentoo Linux on these systems. However, this is not self-explanatory.

This mini-guide is not meant to be a theoretical contribution to Linux and RAID, but just a simple guide to at least get it working.

Assumptions
a) You are prepared to install Gentoo Linux with a 2.4 series kernel (unfortunately this guide does not apply to 2.6 kernels)
b) You have a 2004.0 LiveCD
c) You have attached one or more hard disks to the motherboard's built-in PROMISE controller (PDC202{68|69|70|71|75|76|77}), which has been enabled and the array has been initialized from the controller's BIOS.
d) You know how to install Gentoo Linux or you have access to the latest installation documentation (I'll be referring to the latter)

Installation now consists of the following steps:
1. Prepare a GRUB boot disk
2. Install Gentoo, by booting from the Gentoo 2004.0 LiveCD
3. Modify all references to hard disks to accommodate a special naming scheme
4. Reboot, and use the GRUB floppy to boot the system
5. Install GRUB to the Gentoo installation
6. Reboot without the GRUB boot floppy, and boot into your new installation

Each of these steps will be detailed next.

1. Prepare a GRUB boot disk
There are several ways to do this. You need this disk at the end of the installation, because it's the only way to install GRUB. I used the following procedure. From another Gentoo installation with GRUB prepare an empty floppy disk and type
Code:
mke2fs /dev/fd0
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
mkdir /mnt/floppy/boot
mkdir /mnt/floppy/boot/grub
cp /boot/grub/stage1 /mnt/floppy/boot/grub
cp /boot/grub/stage2 /mnt/floppy/boot/grub
umount /mnt/floppy
grub
> root (fd0)
> setup (fd0)
> quit
Again, you can also do this at the end of the installation itself, but the file locations for the GRUB stage files will have to be modified accordingly

2. Install Gentoo, by booting from the Gentoo 2004.0 LiveCD
First you have to instruct the LiveCD to load the relevant kernel modules. At the first prompt, type
Code:
gentoo doataraid
(you may add other options as necessary). Note that your RAID setup will be addressed as:
Code:
/dev/ataraid/disc0
If you want to create, delete or modify partitions, add "/disc" to address the whole disk:
Code:
cfdisk /dev/ataraid/disc0/disc
When addressing a specific partition, you must instead add "/partx". For example, if your / partition is on partition #9, mount it now with
Code:
mount /dev/ataraid/disc0/part9 /mnt/gentoo
The same applies of course to the swap and /boot-partition. When you have mounted and initialized all necessary partitons you can of course now use the standard /mnt/gentoo/xxx naming scheme.

Now proceed through the installation.When it comes to configuring the kernel, you have to choose a 2.4-based kernel, e.g. gentoo-sources. Select the Promise FastTrak options in make menuconfig, and compile the kernel. Do not use genkernel for an automatic compilation!


3. Modify all references to hard disks to accommodate a special naming scheme
Whenever the manual mentions the hard disk in the format /dev/hdx you now have to replace that reference with the abovementioned /dev/ataraid/disc0/partx scheme. Most importantly, this applies to /etc/fstab of course. An example:
Code:
/dev/ataraid/disc0/part7   /boot      ext3      noatime      1 2
Furthermore, you already have to prepare the /boot-partition with the necessary GRUB configuration files. Again, an example, with boot on partition #8 and root on #9:
Code:
title=Gentoo latest compile (2.4 kernel)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /bzImage root=/dev/ataraid/disc0/part9 vga=0x31A


4. Reboot, and use the GRUB floppy to boot the system
Insert the floppy disk and type
Code:
reboot
(refer to installation guide ch. 11 for details). After rebooting, make sure that your BIOS accepts booting from a floppy!

5. Install GRUB to the Gentoo installation
From the GRUB prompt, type
Code:
> root (hd0,x)
> setup (hd0,y)
> quit

where x and y depend on the installation setup you've chosen. Remember that the GRUB numbering is differnet from the standard, so choose carefully!

6. Reboot without the GRUB boot floppy, and boot into your new installation
Voila! The system should now be operational.

Notes:
1. This guide has only been tested with a RAID-0 (striping array). Other posts suggest that a RAID-1 (mirroring array) will not work. I haven't tried it though
2. Suggestions, comments and errors in the guide are welcome


Last edited by Helena on Fri May 28, 2004 8:06 pm; edited 3 times in total
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bruor
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

this guide is great but when i tell grub that root is the partition which is root i.e.
/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1

or (hd1,0)
cause there is a disk on the standard ide controller

it detects teh right fs type, but when i say

setup (hd1) cause i want grub to start off the raid array, it cant fine the files,
i have also tried installing grub to (hd1,6) which is where / is but it still says it cant find the grub.conf or any of the other files...


if you have a fix for this please post it , i really dont want to goto lilo

does it make a difference if i am presently booted off of that drive on the standard ide channel instead of a grub floppy
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bruor wrote:
does it make a difference if i am presently booted off of that drive on the standard ide channel instead of a grub floppy

Yes it makes a difference.

Set your BIOS so RAID is ahead of IDE0 in the boot order, then boot from a GRUB floppy. This will allow GRUB to see the array as (hd0), and you will be able to install the bootloader correctly.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Moved from Installing Gentoo.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 8:42 am    Post subject: NO THIS GUIDE DOES NOT WORK ON RAID 1 MIRRORING! Reply with quote

I'm currently having problems with my Promise PDC20262 chipset. I can't seem to get any gentoo install CD to see the raid1/fasttrack66 setup. I even tried formatting and installing gentoo on a single HD then duplicating it with the fasttrack software and that didn't work! So my question is how do I get raid 1 working with software raid (/dev/md or evms)? Humm.... I've tried a lotta different permutations over the weekend and it seemed that every thing would get hosed the minute I rebooted the machine. This really SUCKS! FreeBSD saw the raid array under the /dev/ar device... Now I kinda wish I never ditched my FreeBSD setup! oh well, gentoo is better (sorta) :P


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've followed your guide, but when I'm booting, im getting this error:
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
VFS: Cannot open root device "ataraid/disc0/part5" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

The root= path is correct.
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ph317
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah the notbeing able to mount root part hit me a long time ago too, which is where my experiences diverge from the guide above. In my case, using "root=/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1" on the kernel commandline in grub.conf never worked, because apparently the kernel doesn't know that naming convention. The universal workaround for such problems is that the kernel always understands straight up major and minor numbers. So whatever your root device is, check the major/minor, encode them in hex as a pair of 8-bit numbers, and concat them into the root= line. Here's an example:

<find root partition>
[root@somehost]# grep -w / /etc/fstab
/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1 / ext3 noatime 0 0

<look up major/minor of that partition>
[root@somehost]# ls -lL /dev/ataraid/disc0/part1
brw------- 1 root root 114, 1 Dec 31 1969 /dev/ataraid/disc0/part1

<the major is 114, the minor is 1, in the output above.... Use "bc" to convert to hex if you can't do it in your head>
[root@somehost]# bc
obase=16
114
72
1
1

<So 114,1 in decimal becomes 72,1 in hex>

Now convert that to the format that root= expects, which is "root=MMmm" where MM is a two-digit hex number for the major, and mm is a two-digit hex number for the minor. Therefore, in our case above, the correct root= entry in grub.conf is "root=7201"
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:15 pm    Post subject: What about kernel 2.6 ?? Reply with quote

Does this work with kernel 2.6 ?? All my attempts with it failed with my PDC20276 onboard controller.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another tip that might be useful here where lots of new ataraid gentoo users might be looking: If you're using ataraid, you can forget about trying out kernel 2.6 for the foreseeable future. The various ataraid drivers were dropped from the kernel in 2.6.x in favor of a more elegant and universal userspace-based approach that uses the kernel device-mapper, which nobody ever bothered to implement. Until someone does, ataraid = no 2.6 for you.

There's already a kernel bug filed for it (it's been open for over a year now.... since back in 2.5.x when it was noticed that ataraid was ganked), and there's been some traffic on the linux-raid mailing lists where some people are obviously working towards an elegant solution with udev/sysfs and userspace tools - but it just isn't there yet.
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Helena
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ph317 wrote:
Another tip that might be useful here where lots of new ataraid gentoo users might be looking: If you're using ataraid, you can forget about trying out kernel 2.6 for the foreseeable future. The various ataraid drivers were dropped from the kernel in 2.6.x in favor of a more elegant and universal userspace-based approach that uses the kernel device-mapper, which nobody ever bothered to implement. Until someone does, ataraid = no 2.6 for you.

There's already a kernel bug filed for it (it's been open for over a year now.... since back in 2.5.x when it was noticed that ataraid was ganked), and there's been some traffic on the linux-raid mailing lists where some people are obviously working towards an elegant solution with udev/sysfs and userspace tools - but it just isn't there yet.
True, that's why I said it doesn't apply to 2.6 kernels. Didn't want to repeat all the backgound info...
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Helena
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:40 pm    Post subject: Re: What about kernel 2.6 ?? Reply with quote

Passe-Poil wrote:
Does this work with kernel 2.6 ?? All my attempts with it failed with my PDC20276 onboard controller.
No it doesn't. See above.
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Helena
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ph317 wrote:
Yeah the notbeing able to mount root part hit me a long time ago too, which is where my experiences diverge from the guide above. In my case, using "root=/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1" on the kernel commandline in grub.conf never worked, because apparently the kernel doesn't know that naming convention.
Why doesn't it work? If you have compiled in the Promise drivers it should. What does for example
Code:
ls -l /dev/a*
say ?
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:46 pm    Post subject: Re: NO THIS GUIDE DOES NOT WORK ON RAID 1 MIRRORING! Reply with quote

cosmic665 wrote:
I'm currently having problems with my Promise PDC20262 chipset. I can't seem to get any gentoo install CD to see the raid1/fasttrack66 setup. I even tried formatting and installing gentoo on a single HD then duplicating it with the fasttrack software and that didn't work! So my question is how do I get raid 1 working with software raid (/dev/md or evms)? Humm.... I've tried a lotta different permutations over the weekend and it seemed that every thing would get hosed the minute I rebooted the machine. This really SUCKS! FreeBSD saw the raid array under the /dev/ar device... Now I kinda wish I never ditched my FreeBSD setup! oh well, gentoo is better (sorta) :P


-Cosmic-665
Too bad it doesn't work for you. I think the chipset should work, beacuse it's listed in the kernel options. Could you specify exactly which of the relevant options you've selected in the kernel? If necessary, paste (part of) /usr/src/linux/.config...
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, if I've understanded this correctly, I can't use 2.6.x with my promise controller..?
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Helena
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ether wrote:
So, if I've understanded this correctly, I can't use 2.6.x with my promise controller..?
Well it depends. It may very well be possible to create a RAID array on your system, but NOT via the PROMISE controller. If Gentoo is the only O/S on your system this would not be a problem, maybe performance wouldn't even be impacted. You would then have to disable the PROMISE controller, which of course means you might lose all data on both HD's!

In that case let Linux create a new RAID array on the 2 HD's that will have been recognized as 2 separate IDE HD's. How to exactly do that is another story. This may also be the only possibility to create a RAID array with 2 S-ATA disks.

However if you want to dual-boot with Windows this is not possible.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I need to dualboot.. damn :)
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok for some reason when I boot off the 2004.0 LiveCD (Pentium4 if that makes a difference)
For some reason it doesn't even detect any of my hd's I have the mirror array set up bios. There both 125 gig hd's and this has worked on redhat and FreeBSD. I loaded knoppix and it detected my hd's. I did do gentoo doataraid like the tutorial said to. Help would be appreciated.
I have a Promise* Technology PDC20267 ATA/100 IDE RAID controller
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vyeperman wrote:
Ok for some reason when I boot off the 2004.0 LiveCD (Pentium4 if that makes a difference)
For some reason it doesn't even detect any of my hd's I have the mirror array set up bios. There both 125 gig hd's and this has worked on redhat and FreeBSD. I loaded knoppix and it detected my hd's. I did do gentoo doataraid like the tutorial said to. Help would be appreciated.
I have a Promise* Technology PDC20267 ATA/100 IDE RAID controller
If you have a mirrored setup that would mean a RAID-1 array, right? I dont understand why, but as I said it seems not to work (I haven't tested it myself).
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hi together,

I would like to follow this guide but
when i'm booting with Live CD 2004 Pentium 4 i get the message
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(8,2)

when i'm booting with Live CD 2004 universal i can not see any
/dev/ataraid directory

I have an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Board with 2 SATA Maxtor Harddisks
on Raid0 on Promise Controller and currently Windows XP installed on it.

Do I have the wrong Live CD? Or what can I Do

Thanks for help

Klaus
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why even use the Promise RAID controller? Just use the md RAID built-in to the kernel.

I did some research on this, and there's no benefit to using proprietary IDE RAID. There is NO performance benefit because it's still just software RAID, just with a proprietary interface. So actually it's worse -- same performance but proprietary and more difficult to get working.

Carl
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

carlivar wrote:
Why even use the Promise RAID controller? Just use the md RAID built-in to the kernel.

I did some research on this, and there's no benefit to using proprietary IDE RAID. There is NO performance benefit because it's still just software RAID, just with a proprietary interface. So actually it's worse -- same performance but proprietary and more difficult to get working.

Carl
Well I can agree with that, if Linux is the only O/S on that particular system. However, many people want to dual-boot with Windows. While both Windows and Linux offer built-in RAID they are of course incompatible. So using a driver is the only method AFAIK to get dual-booting on such as system.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

klausjulius wrote:
hi together,

I would like to follow this guide but
when i'm booting with Live CD 2004 Pentium 4 i get the message
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(8,2)

when i'm booting with Live CD 2004 universal i can not see any
/dev/ataraid directory

I have an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Board with 2 SATA Maxtor Harddisks
on Raid0 on Promise Controller and currently Windows XP installed on it.

Do I have the wrong Live CD? Or what can I Do

Thanks for help

Klaus
I'm sorry but the guide assumes you're using IDE/ATAPI disks; serial-ATA RAID unfortunately is not possible under Linux yet AFAIK. Of course it can be done if you remove Windows from your system but then using quite a different scheme...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

carlivar wrote:
Why even use the Promise RAID controller? Just use the md RAID built-in to the kernel.

I did some research on this, and there's no benefit to using proprietary IDE RAID. There is NO performance benefit because it's still just software RAID, just with a proprietary interface. So actually it's worse -- same performance but proprietary and more difficult to get working.

Carl

Really?!?
How would I go about doing this??!.. I thought there was no hope... /me excited.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This thread is a nice guide for setting things up.
Software RAID 0 HOW-TO
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

umm I want raid1 like stated above ;)
Can raid1 be done with the kernel?
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