Re: Debian 6.0.0 squeeze unable to detect RAID Controller and NIC Card on Dell R720 2U Rack Server
On 10/13/2012 6:42 AM, Kaushal Shriyan wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 4:45 PM, Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
>> On 10/13/2012 5:06 AM, Kaushal Shriyan wrote:
>>
>>> I am installing Debian 6.0.0 squeeze with kernel version
>>> 2.6.32-5-amd64 on Dell R720 2U server(
>>> http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/dell-poweredge-r720-spec-sheet.pdf),
>>> the installer is unable to detect the RAID Controller and NIC Card.
>>> Details of lspci -> http://paste.debian.net/199820/ Any clue to this
>>> issue?
>>> Please let me know if anyone needs any further information.
>>
>> A quality sysadmin would have checked and ironed out OS compatibility
>> issues before ever ordering the hardware. Keep that for future
>> reference. You'll need to do that legwork now:
>>
>> Check Dell's website for Debian Stable and Testing support. Also check
>> the minimum Linux kernel version required to support the H series RAID
>> cards and Broadcom 5720/5800 series embedded NICs. I don't keep up with
>> Dell, but this appears to be relatively new hardware: PCIe 3.0, embedded
>> 10GbE NICs, hot swap PCIe SSD, etc. 2.6.32 was released Dec 2009,
>> almost 3 years ago. I'm guessing the latest 2.6.32-5 Squeeze kernel
>> doesn't include the necessary drivers and/or firmware blobs for these
>> devices.
>>
>
> Hi Stan,
>
> What is the difference between drivers and firmware blobs.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Kaushal
Drivers are Linux kernel code that executes on the host CPU,
facilitating communication with a hardware device. Firmware is code
that is executed on the device itself. To save money by reducing
components, and to make code updates easier, some hardware makers do not
include firmware in the device itself, but make it available to the OS
vendors bundled with the driver code. When the driver is initialized by
Linux, the firmware is uploaded to the device. Same with MS Windows
drivers for the same devices.
The term "blob" is irrelevant. If you really want to understand it,
read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blob
and/or watch the movie.
--
Stan
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