Installation with SATA, RAID and kernel 2.6
I had some trouble figuring out how to do a new installation of Debian
3.1r0a with kernel 2.6 using RAID1 and dual SATA drives on a Dell Poweredge
750 (no hardware RAID). I couldn't find any messages with a solution, but
I've now figured it out and this message will hopefully help someone else
trying to do the same thing.
Using the installer CD, you can run the installer with the 2.4 or 2.6
kernel. Since device files for SATA drives are named differently in the two
systems, and since the device file names are stored in the RAID
configuration, it is necessary to do the installation using the same kernel
as is installed on the target system. The 2.4 kernel from the CD loaded the
piix module which properly detected the internal CD-ROM on the IDE channel,
and the two SATA drives on the SATA channel. However, with 2.4 I had device
names hdc and hdd, which wouldn't boot later when the raid configuration
running under 2.6 couldn't find any devices with those names (under 2.6 they
are sda and sdb).
Using the 2.6 installer kernel, it loaded ata_piix and found the SATA
drives, and later loaded piix, but it never found the CD-ROM. I was stuck at
this point until I finally tried disabling the ata_piix module at the point
where the installer is trying to detect the CD-ROM hardware. That loaded
piix, which found the CD-ROM, and I could proceed with the installation.
Before the disc partitioning step, the installer is aware that it has
detected hardware for which no module has been loaded, and it again goes
through a list of modules, including the ata_piix module. This second
detection process loads the ata_piix, which properly detects the SATA
drives. From this point the installation proceeds normally: partition
drives, configure raids, install and reboot.
This may be unique to the Dell Poweredge 750, but I suspect not. What's
interesting is that when the installed system boots, it also loads ata_piix
first, but the CD-ROM is detected properly. Perhaps someone can explain why
this sequence doesn't work during the installation.
- Mark
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