Re: OSR507 on Dell 1850 with Perc 4E

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Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 11:42:40 +0000 (UTC)

Bela Lubkin wrote:
> "RedGrittyBrick" wrote:
>
>
>>I'm attempting to install OpenServer 5.0.7 on a Dell 1850 which has the
>>Embedded Perc 4E/SI SCI RAID controller (not my choice). There are two
>>34 GB disks.
>>
>>Booting the OSR507 CD produces this message:
>>"WARNING: hd: no root disk controller was found."
>>
>>I've tried various things including ...
>>
>>- Using Dell's setup (F2 during early boot) to change the Embedded RAID
>>controller from "RAID" to "SCSI" (Boot messages then show first disk at
>>HBA=0, ID=0, LUN=0).
>>
>>- Downloading the amird 2.25 BTLD and using that. I'm not sure my boot
>>string is correct: 'defbootstr link=amird Sdsk=amird(0,2,0,0)'. I did
>>try (0,0,0,0). Despite reading the README I don't feel confident in
>>these numbers.
>>
>>The CHWP suggests that this install is possible. Should I revert to RAID
>>and set up a mirror?
>>
>>Thanks for any clues you can spare.
>
>
> Different generations of Dell Perc controllers are completely different
> inside. Are you sure "amird" is the right HBA vendor driver for your
> generation of Perc?

I'm pretty sure, based on
http://wdb1.sco.com/chwp/owa/hch_model_cert_page?f_model_id=96782&f_release_id=378
which says:

   Certified on Openserver 5.0.6A and 5.0.7 using
   the PERC4E/SI controller. 5.0.7MP3 was installed
   for the certification of Openserver 5.0.7

   Please read the README and Release Notes for the
   2.25 version of the amird driver. Take special no
   te of the bootstring required to load the driver.

   There has been an issue with the Dell provided
   cdrw's on this machine. To make sure you don't have
   a problem with this please make sure your Dell
   server is configured with a stock CD drive for
   installation.

   Peripherals:
   CDROM: - CD3010A
   Network: Intel Pro/1000
   Graphics: ATI Mach64 GT (264GT) aka 3D RAGE internal RAMDAC Radeon
   HBA: AMIRD 2.25

> The bootstrings you're using are too specific. Boot with:
>
> Boot
> : defbootstr link=amird
>

Thanks, I've just tried that (see below).

> Go through the driver linking rigmarole. When the kernel boots up, look
> for a "%adapter ... type=amird". If it appears, you have the right
> driver;

It doesn't ask for any info but there are messages about the driver.o
being loaded etc. I guess this is the driver linking rigamarole.

Amongst the usual boot messages are

%adapter - 11 - type=amird ha=0 id=7
%tape - - - type=S ha=0 id=2 lun=0 bus=0 ht=amird unit=0
%cd-rom - - - type=S ha=0 id=5 lun=0 bus=0 ht=amird unit=0

This machine doesn't have SCSI tape or CD so I'm assuming these are just
default values for such devices, which I can ignore.

(If I ignore the fact it can't see the HD and proceed with the install,
the installer is able to read the SCO CD in the IDE CD-ROM. Which I take
to be a good sign concerning CD-ROM drivers. Obviously the install
doesn't get much beyond that before it complains that there is no HD :-)

> if it doesn't, it's the wrong driver, try again. Once you've
> successfully probed the controller then you can start worrying about
> "Sdsk=" boot arguments (though you shouldn't generally need one at all).

I'm now getting:

NOTICE: Sdsk: Spurious interrupt
WARNING: hd: no root disk controller was found

Which the amird225 README mentions ...

   New Installation
   ----------------

   Insert a boot disk or installation CD and boot the system.
   At the boot prompt, for a dual channel controller, you MUST type:

     boot
     : defbootstr link="amird" Sdsk=amird(0,2,0,0)

   where Sdsk=amird(HA, BUS, ID, LUN). This is because you are
   installing on the first logical drive, which (as described above)
   is mapped to a (bus, id, lun) value of (2, 0, 0).

   For single channel controller such as a 320-1, you would type:

     boot
     : defbootstr link="amird" Sdsk=amird(0,1,0,0)
        
   If you fail to type the Sdsk=amird(0,n,0,0), the installation will
   fail and you will get this error message when the hardware
   configuration is listed:

      %adapter - 5 - type=amird ha=0 id=7
      NOTICE: Sdsk: Spurious interrupt
      WARNING: hd: no root disk controller was found
      hd: a Boot-Time Loadable Driver may be required

It looks like I do need to work out the appropriate Sdsk arguments. I'm
not sure how to derive the correct values (other than by trial and
error). The README's "as described above" isn't well enough described
for me to make any sense of it. This machine has a default setup of two
~35 GB drives striped into a ~69 GB logical volume (but see my footnote).

>
> According to the thread around:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.sco.misc/msg/4043c2f38cf9846f
>
> "SCO are working with LSI to release a new version of the amird driver
> that will include support for the Dell PERC 4e. I dont have an date for
> availability at this time." -- posted 2004-12-15. So it looks like
> "amird" is the right name, but you'll need a version issued within the
> last 11 months. The article also says "Customer will need to contact
> their DELL sales rep. to obtain the required driver for this
> controller." -- you might have to follow that procedure (and good luck
> finding one that can spell "SCO" or even "PERC"...)

I saw that (sorry I should have mentioned that), and downloaded amird
2.25 dated Feb 2005 from
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/openserver5/507/drivers/amird225
I built a BTLD floppy from that by following the README.

The README doesn't mention the Perc 4e/Si but the CHWP page does.

Footnote:

I'm not especially keen on RAID for this application. I don't really
like striping either (1/2 the reliability of plain disks, 1/4 the
reliabity of mirroring?). If I go into the Dell BIOS I can set the RAID
controller from "RAID" mode to "SCSI" mode, whereupon boot messages
suggest it emulates a non-RAID SCSI controller "LSILogic 1020/1030".
Maybe if all else fails I can try finding an "lsil" BTLD?

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