Promise S150 SX4 / TX4 RAID controller in 2.6
 

Both these RAID controllers are on the LQ HCL, but the comments only mention 2.4 kernels. Apparantly 2.6 kernels have built in support for Promise SX4/TX4. I can't find any "success stories" so to speak, neither on Google nor on the LQ forums search. All I get is people trying to get one to work with a 2.4 kernel and the driver sprovided by Promise. Does anyone know if the 2.6 kernel support for the S150 SX4 / TX4 is working or not? I'd like to know before I go and get one. :)

[GOD]Anck,

I maintain a few RAID arrays, one of which is a Promise S150 SX4 with 4 SATA WD250's using RAID 10. This ran fine in Fedora Core 1, but we upgraded to Fedora Core 3 kernel 2.6.10, and we had some issues. In the Fedora install, the disks were recognized (after an array was created in the raid bios) as disks sda through sdd. Here I formatted the 4 disks for Software RAID, and instructed Fedora to create an array using these disks. This is only easily done at install, however, the same thing can be achieved by running

# mdadm --create /dev/md0 -l0 -n4 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

Here -l0 (lowecase L and zero) specifies RAID 0 and -n4 gives the number of disks to use. Change the 4 devices to reflect your hardware setup. Once this is done, the array can be assembled using

# mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

to assemble the array. A file system can be added by running

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/md0

for a ext3 filesystem. mdadm reads config from /etc/mdadm.conf which can be created by running

# echo ’DEVICE /dev/hd[a-z] /dev/sd*[a-z]’ > mdadm.conf

and

# mdadm --examine --scan --config=mdadm.conf >> mdadm.conf

This is probably more info than you needed right away, but the bottom line is that it will work. As to stability, the array hasn't been up long enough for me say yet :)

Also, for a less expensive option you might try the Highpoint RocketRAID 1640 (also a 4 channel SATA PCI). I've had equal luck with this card in the same setup. If you've got the $ go with 3ware.

Thank you for your reply. I will probably be going with the Promise FastTrak S150 SX4. I will likely need to recompile the kernel. Besides general Serial ATA support and the Promise SATA SX4 support module from the SCSI section, would I need to include anything else?

Theres one in there...I posted it.
I have sx4 with 2.6 kernel.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...p?product=2305

Hi,

I carefully readed these posts, and everybody says that the FastTrack S150 SX4 works fine both with 2.4 and 2.6 kernel. So, someone could explain me why it didn't works with a RedHat EL 4 (2.6.10-EL kernel)? It seems to load the right module during the first hardware probe with the installation CD, but at the exact time the kernel starts to load it, the system crash (and I have no possibility to check some error, because it "dies" and doesn't accept keyb input).

Please, help! :)

P.S. : I'm sorry for my bad English, I'm italian...

Hi!
I'm waiting for a server Dual Xeon with Promise SX4 SATA Controller and 4 250Gb Maxtor discs.
I hoped I could install Fedora Core 3 on a RAID5 set, but I'm reading that a lot of people had lots of problems...
Perhaps it could be safer install linux on a standard partition and user datas on a software RAID5 configuration, but that's not the faster solution. This computer will be the server for a parallel computing cluster, so it should be fast (SCSI was really too expensive...).
:confused: Any suggestion? :Pengy:

P.S.
I'm sorry for my bad English, I'm italian as well...

which server is? It's an HP ProLiant ML110?

If so, a little suggestion: change SERVER or Controller (another SATA, i.e. Adaptec controllers works fine) because this "MAGNIFIC" Promise Controller doesn't works with Hardware RAID, only Sw.

It's a self-configured server.
We chose Promise controllere because it was 4 times cheaper than an Adaptec and it looked like to be faster.
My fault was not to look for compatibility promles with Linux before, but I believed what Promise says in its Internet page...
I'll try to install this pseudo-hardware RAID, almost without any hope!
Fra

RAID 1 (Mirror) support for HP-ML110 G3 server
 

Currently, I've install FC4 in my HP ML110 G3 server. I have already configured RAID1 in my hardware level which is in BIOS level itself by pressing Ctrl + I and configured both SATA HDD as RAID1(mirror). FYI, I am using 2 SATA drive in my server which is 80GB each.

After I configure my RAID in BIOS level, I continue to insert my FC4 cd and begins my OS installation. As for the Automatic Disk Partitioning wizard section, it could able to detect 2 HDD, but it did not say that it's a hardware mirror. No indication saying that both HDD's are mirrored by H/W. If i continue installing, the OS will merge both HDD and appears as 150GB as one whole piece of HDD.

All i wanted is to do a hardware mirroring by using RAID1 in my server. Does FC4 supports RAID1 for SATA drive in this server. Correct me if i m wrong.

I am having a big dillema in this issues. Would really thank you all guys if anyone know hows to overcome the situation i m going thru.

Many thanx in advance.
Yours Sincerely,
~XyLeO~

Promise has a binary driver available for Linux, but it's a little tricky to find. I tried to build a Suse 9.1 system using the driver from Promise's driver downloads page. It didn't work. The trick I found was go to the product page for the TX4 Sata150 and from there, click on driver download. You'll get a link to a huge (45mb or so) zipped file with all the available Linux drivers. Extract the one for your distro from there and build the system using that. Strange, but it worked for me.

I've given up on the 2.6 kernel in my machine with the Promise S150 SX4 card. I've installed Red Hat 9 with the 2.6.0.32 driver from Promise (in that 45MB file that CovertPenguin mentioned) and not only does it work, it works with the hardware assisted 'fake' raid. And it works beautifully I might add. The machine does exactly what I want, and not having the latest thing doesn't phase me at all.

If you want to use these old Promise cards, use an older kernel (preferable a distro that is supported out of the box by Promise). There just isn't any drivers around for the 2.6 kernel that work properly.