Re: Using RAID chipsets in the motherboard.

[Ramasubramanian Ramesh <rramesh@ti.com>]

Henrique,

   Thanks for your reply. I suppose there is no point in buying a mobo with these extra chipsets as
most of them seem to be not supported at this point. 

   A simple followup. This is what I understand from your answers. Please correct me if I am wrong.

1) SATA is usable as host. Therefore Linux will see the disks attached to this     controller just
like other IDE disks - but perhaps as scd0 and scd1. For   
   this I need a driver for ICH5R (intel) driver for this SATA host adapter.
   Is this included in stock kernel source (I mean source 2.4.18 or 2.6.xx)

2) Other IDE RAID controllers are not even usable as host adapters as they
   need drivers for those chipsets and at this point the drivers do not exist.
   My target controller is the VIA chipsets included in ASUS P4P800 Delux mobo.
   (Mobo says VIA6410 Raid gives access to 2x ultradma 133 in raid 0, 1, 0+1 or
   JBOD)

Thanks and Regards
Ramesh

Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 30 Dec 2003, Ramasubramanian Ramesh wrote:
> > 1) All most all of the newer motherboards come with SATA RAID. Is this usable
> >    as is without any additional kernel drivers. I ask this because I read in
> >    many knowledge base resources that  a HW controller looks just like an IDE
> >    controller.
> 
> It is usable as a SATA host (controller).  The RAID function is not usable
> yet, and since it is crap (software-assisted winraid), you are better off
> using linux native software RAID anyway.
> 
> > 2) What about additional on board RAID controllers? Like the VIA/PROMISE
> >    Chipsets built into some of the ASUS mother boards? Do they require
> >    additional drivers or can I use them just like any other IDE controller?
> 
> In _any_ case, you need the kernel to have the drivers for the chipsets
> compiled in (or appropriate modules loaded).  The SATA disks will show up as
> scsi disks, I believe.
> 
> Not many chipsets are supported, but hopefuly the Promise ones are... you
> _will_ need a very recent kernel (2.4.23, 2.4.24-pre or 2.6.0) and maybe the
> libata patch.  Search google for more details...
> 
> --
>   "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
>   them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
>   where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
>   Henrique Holschuh