This is a general question, not really a situation specific question.

Lets say I'm installing linux on a server that has a raid card. The raid card is all
setup and ready to go. When I start the linux installation, it doesn't see any hard drives.

I want to install linux on the HDDs attached to the RAID card. How do I get the linux
installation to see the raid card?

Most raid popular raid cards say they're supported in red hat or suse and supply a driver.
What if I want to use Debian or Ubuntu?

I understand that a lot of 3ware cards have support built into the kernel which solves a lot of problems.
This is OK if I'm putting together the server hardware, but if I'm buying a server that has, say, an adaptec or IBM raid controller that doesn't have built in kernel support on it. How do I install linux (say debian or Ubuntu) on these types of cards.

Can anybody give me any insight here?

Thanks.

You could load the appropriate driver from the installation cd. That being said, I think most RAID cards are supported by the current Debian and Ubuntu install CDs.

Do you have a particular server/RAID card combination in mind ? I would say check the server manufacturers website.

Debian Etch detected the SAS (Serial attached SCSI) RAID controller in my new HP Server without a problem...

Thanks your your replies.
I don't really have a particular card/distribution in mind. I was just curious of the process.

I do recall a few months ago having a raid controller card that ubuntu server didn't detect.
Was just curious if there was a way of inserting a module so that the installer would see the card if such a situation did occur again.

Same piece of hardware, Ubuntu LTS Server was unable to detect the same RAID controller, so I can feel your pain..

There are customized versions of the distros around, for instancwe the Debian on Dell Servers website that contains customized Debain install CD's that work on Dell and some other servers. you can compile your own kernel with support for the controller and make your own set of install CD's you could possibly even switch to another shell and manually load the necessary module.. I haven't had to do any of these yet, but I do believe they are possible workarounds.