Yes: space age hardware with stone age OS. Unfortunately the tools required by my users (all very expensive CAD tools) all require Red Hat 8.0 with the stock kernel, so the "use another distro" answer doesn't help me.

So I have this Dell 850. The documentation on this server is very thin, but after diligent googling I believe that the SATA controller is the Intel ICH7R. The driver disk that you can download from Dell (for Red Hat Enterprise 3) includes a collection of libata.o and ata_piix.o modules.

So I believe that what I need is the ability to build those modules for the kernel I am running -- which is 2.4.18-27.8.0 (a Red Hat special).

Is there someplace on the web that I can find the source to build these modules for the Red Hat 8.0 kernel? The lib_ata directory on ftp.linux.org only appears to include information for kernels 2.4.26 or later. Is there a home page or something for lib_ata?

Failing that, does anyone have any better ideas for getting this thing to run?

Thanks for any suggestions.

libata was backported from the 2.6 kernel to the 2.4 kernels at 2.4.26. That's the earliest 2.4 kernel with sata support IIRC. libata had many changes re sata but the most noticable was sata drives were designated as scsi drives(sdxx) starting with libata. Prior to that, sata drives were designated hdxx in some of the early 2.6 kernels.
Re your immediate problem, I'd try the most recent 2.4 kernel from RH and see if your cad software will work on that. If that doesn't work, try adding an ordinary pata hard drive, assuming you have an open ide port on the box and install RH8 to that with the stock kernel.