Intel Matrix Storage Manager
 

I'm trying to install CentOS 5.1 on a system with an Intel Matrix Storage Manager and two hard drives. I've discovered that I can install CentOS when the storage manager is configured with a single disk. When I configured the RAID controller as either RAID 0 or 1, the system kernel panics on boot after a completing a fresh installation. I'm thinking it might be a driver issue. I've looked on Intel's site and it appears that they don't have a driver for linux. Anyone know if a driver is available?

HI,

I am about to try the same thing with CentOS 5.2 and the Intel ICH5R controller. The info I found so far is on Intel website:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../cs-020663.htm

dmraid might be a possibility for the needed driver:

http://people.redhat.com/~heinzm/sw/dmraid/readme

You can also search in LinuxQuestions.org for threads:

"How to boot from RAID using "dmraid""
"My first RAID - need advice"

It seems that a real hardware raid controller is more reliable than software raid with intel matrix storage.

Did you make any progress so far?

Fake raid (the Intel Storage thingy) is difficult to set up and easily leads to data corruption. You should prefer software or hardware raid (but the latter will cost you $$$$).