Is this a fake hardware RAID controller (RAID implemented in BIOS firmware and a special OS driver)? If so, then you need either a proprietary Linux driver from LSI or you can use the "dmraid" program to detect the arrays (below).
If there is a proprietary driver module, you must copy the driver from a floppy or CD and load the driver BEFORE using "cfdisk" or "setup".
If you don't have a proprietary driver from LSI that can access the arrays, then continue reading to use the standard drivers in Linux with the "dmraid" program. Below is a link to the "dmraid" program and a modified "setup" script.
http://erikfl.no-ip.com/raid/dmraid.zip
To use the program, copy "dmraid" and "setup" to a floppy disk (or cd).
Boot the Slackware 13 installation CD/DVD.
Mount the floppy and copy "dmraid" to the "/bin" folder in the RAM disk. If you use a CD or DVD then replace "/dev/fd0" with the device name for the CD/DVD drive.
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp /mnt/dmraid /bin
Copy the modified setup script to "/usr/lib/setup".
cp /mnt/setup /usr/lib/setup
NOTE: That will temporarily replace the existing "setup" script in "/usr/lib/setup".
Un-mount the floppy.
umount /mnt
Detect the RAID drives.
dmraid -ay
Look at the detected devices in "/dev/mapper".
ls -l /dev/mapper
Create a name for the drive where you want to install Linux.
cp -a /dev/mapper/xxxyyyzzz /dev/sdr
Replace "xxxyyyzzz" with the long device name that you find for the RAID array in "/dev/mapper".
Partition the drive.
cfdisk /dev/sdr
Detect the RAID partitions.
dmraid -ay
Look at the detected partitions in "/dev/mapper".
ls -l /dev/mapper
Create a name for the partition where you want to install Linux.
cp -a /dev/mapper/xxxyyyzzz2 /dev/sdr2
Replace "xxxyyyzzz" with the long device name that you find for the RAID array in "/dev/mapper". Replace the "2" with the actual partition number where you want to install Linux.
Run the setup script and select your install device. Ex: "/dev/sdr2". NOTE: Do not set up a swap partition since it won't be detected during setup. You must set up swap space after booting from the RAID array. The modified setup script assumes that you have created the device "/dev/sdr" for the RAID array and some "/dev/sdrX" device for the partition. Edit the "setup" script if you want to change the "sdr" to something else.
setup
If all of that works then you will need to include "dmraid" in your "initrd". Edit the "init" script to include "dmraid -ay". You have to create the "initrd" and install a boot loader before you boot from the RAID partition the first time. I used "grub" for booting, but you may be able to use "lilo". If you have trouble installing a boot loader you may need to use a "grub" boot CD or floppy. See my web site link below.
You can find sample scripts to make an "initrd" here. Look in "sasraid.zip".
http://personalpages.bellsouth.net/e/r/erikfl/raid/
To make things more convenient I also suggest that you create the devices for your array in the Linux partition. That will let you use shorter names in "fstab" and for the boot parameters.
cp -a /dev/sdr /mnt/dev
cp -a /dev/sdr2 /mnt/dev
Replace "sdr2" with the actual Linux partition device name. If you don't create these names then you will have to use "/dev/mapper/xxxyyyzzz2" or something similar in "fstab" and the boot parameters.
Create rules for "udev" to name the devices the way you want.
Example "/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules" file.
Code:
KERNEL=="dm-0", NAME="sdr", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-1", NAME="sdr1", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-2", NAME="sdr2", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-3", NAME="sdr4", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-4", NAME="sdr5", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-5", NAME="sdr6", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-6", NAME="sdr7", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
KERNEL=="dm-7", NAME="sdr8", OPTIONS+="last_rule"
You can get the minor device numbers from the "ls -l /dev/mapper" output.
Here is how "dmraid" works. It searches block devices for recognizable RAID meta data. You can specify options to force the meta data format if there is a problem. After detecting the meta data "dmraid" creates mirror, stripe or redundant arrays using the standard Linux device mapper. The "dmraid" program creates device names for RAID arrays under "/dev/mapper". Since "dmraid" is only a configuration program it uses the standard Linux block device drivers and standard Linux mapper driver. If your fake hardware RAID controller has a standard SATA or SAS chip set supported by Linux (most do) then "dmraid" will allow Linux to access the RAID arrays.
The advantage to "dmraid" is that you can avoid using a proprietary driver for a fake hardware RAID controller. In some cases there is no proprietary driver available. Some proprietary RAID drivers may have better performance or additional features not provided by the Linux device mapper and "dmraid". In that case you are better off to use the proprietary driver.
Fake hardware RAID controllers use BIOS firmware to allow boot loaders to access the RAID arrays. In order for operating systems to access the RAID arrays a special OS driver is required. Since the RAID is not implemented in the disk chip set hardware, the hardware looks like a "normal" SATA, IDE or SAS disk controller to the OS. The proprietary OS driver makes the "normal" hardware appear to be a single RAID array (disk drive) for the OS. When RAID controllers have the phrase "low-cost" or "economical" then they are usually fake hardware RAID. Without the proprietary OS driver the OS can't see the RAID arrays, only the "raw" disks making up the arrays.
