Install problems on Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX300 Blade server (RAID issue)
Hi there,
I really want to run Debian on a Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX300 Blade server
(using RAID 1), but that Promise FastTrack RAID driver issue is giving
me all sorts of problems.
I'm trying to use Debian sarge (snapshot Rc2 20041112, I think) and it's
failing on me.
Fujitsu actually supports RedHat on these blades and they have a special
floppy driver disk for this (downloadable on their website). I was
thinking of using this, but it seems that I can't use driver floppy
disks in the sarge installer! (at least I am seeing no option to use one
in the set up) What gives?
To cut a long story short, Linux2.4 on Sarge actually recognizes the
promise FastTrack driver. I keep issuing the boot command "noprobe dd"
including all the Fast track ide hexadecimal settings, (entered even
during expert installation of modules) but regardless, it still tries to
probe it. I get a message saying that "modprobe -v" bombs out with some
kind of error for the promise driver.
When it's time to partition, I notice the SCSI emulated RAID device is
available (visible alongside the physical hard drives), but Debian won't
actually create a readable partition on it. Once I managed to force it
to install the initial installation on there, but then GRUB and MBR
installation failed leaving me with an unbootable mess. Most of the time
creating the ext3 file system on the SCSI emulation device fails with an
error. On expert mode, the installer warns me that there's no partition
table on the SCSI device and that I should reboot and make this first
(oh ha ha, very funny. I can't see the SCSI emulation from outside an
Operating system) so proceeding anyway results in an error.
Linux 2.6 just won't recognise the RAID at all, so I guess it's out of
the question (although I think that's a bit stupid. Why shouldn't 2.6
see the RAID if 2.4 can?).
I tried going backwards and installing Woody (because it lets me use a
driver disk), but since the blade only allows Floppy drives via USB,
woody's installer thought I had no floppy drive. So much for that idea.
I've pretty much tried loads of different boot parameters and
installation settings, scoured the net for more information (telling me
how to install the driver when Debian is already working, which is no
use to me when Debian won't even install on the system) and I am nearing
the end of my rope.
Obviously this install isn't impossible, so can someone help?
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