I'm a linux newbie. I have a HP Proliant ML350 machine, with 2 processors Intel Xeon @2,4 GHz, 7 HDD's using HP Smart Array 641 RAID.
I had tried to install linux o.s., but it doesn't recognize the raid array. Using the bootable cd's from hp it recognizes the array ( i had installed RAID 5).
I had successfully install Windows 2000 Professional using the RAID, and it works, but with linux i cannot.
Someone told me that i should download the drivers from the hp/compaq site. There are the drivers to download (for a diskette?), but the size is 1,5 Mb and it doesn't fit on a floppy disk. How can i install this on my server.
I'm a beginner using the Linux O.S. and I'm planning to install Slackware 9.
Can someone "teach" me:
1. how can i install the HP Smart Array 641 RAID system on Linux?
2. after that how can i install Linux Slackware 9, step by step. (just the major steps, please)
I'm waiting for an answer from you.

Thank you very much!

robert@ccia-vrancea.ro

I have NO idea about RAID, but there is a step by step guide to installing Slackware 9 on the Slackware website, which surprisingly enough is located at http://www.slackware.com

I don't know how far you may have gotten with this, but there are drivers for many SCSI and RAID controllers with certain kernels on the Slackware CD-ROM. When you boot from your Slackware CD, you have the opportunity to pick different kernels with support for different devices built in. The kernel that has support for many Compaq Smart Array controllers is the one called raid.s. When you boot from the CD, right away you will see a prompt in the lower left hand corner that says

boot:

At that prompt type

raid.s

and hit enter. See if you are able to boot and install that way. When you come to the part of the installation where you select which kernel to install on the hard drive, you will also need to make sure that you use the raid.s kernel. If you cannot boot from your CD-ROM drive, or you are having trouble at a different stage of installing your system, please let us know specifically what you are encountering.

I've tried booting A Compaq ML 350 with Smart Array 642
with Slack 8.1 / 9.0 and Current with RAID.S kernel

in all my attempts i god a message when booting syaing:

<snip>-------------------------------------------------------------------
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
<snip>-------------------------------------------------------------------

i tried with all SCSI Kernel's could'nt find the Array.

What can i do?!

This is an O-L-D post, but for you google'rs out there that seeking help on this issue...

i solve the problem by making a boot disk with RAID.S kernel from
Slackware 9-Current and two rootdisk from the same "Current"
boot'ed with the imaged RAID.S (instruction is in the same ftp folder)
when the boot asked i inserted the ROOT floppys.

finally got the prompt,
there i checked that the Array was indeed found by:
# ls /dev/cciss/c0d0 (<- that is the device, the partitions will be c0d0p1 / p2 / p3 etc.)

and thats it, just did "fdisk /dev/cciss/c0d0" followed by the "setup" command and after 20-30 min Slackware 9 was operational.

Nitzan.

And now tell us about that AWSOME
performance of that box :}
/me is drooling ...

Cheers,
Tink

i just Booted with the Slack and went home.
tomorrow ill continue to finish all installations of everything.

Anyhow, i think the ML 350 was a mistake, too many problems
with Linux. till now i bought only IBM's & Dell's Servers,
Next server will be one of them, i have finished with Proliant idiotic
installations.

I've never dealt with Dell servers in a commercial
environment yet :) ... only IBM and Siemens.
And I liked the IBM boxes better. As for Proliant:
I haven't come across a single compACK yet
that I liked ;)

Cheers,
Tink

We have pretty much all Compaq servers where I work. I have never been impressed with Compaq's consumer desktops, but the servers and business workstations we have used at my workplace have been pretty good. We have Red Hat installed on one server currently (although we have had it on others). Compaq does provide Linux support for several of their servers as long as you are using an approved distribution (I can't remember what else besides Red Hat is supported, maybe Suse). The workstations I have used from Compaq recently have been pretty generic and easy to install Linux on.

We have only one production Linux server at the moment with several Windows 2000 servers (somewhere around ten, but there may be one or two I'm not thinking of at the moment). We also have one Novell 5.1 server. This may sound like the shop is really dominated by Windows, but the Novell server takes care of about 90 percent of the file sharing, and the Linux server is our Apache web server, Squid Internet proxy server, and Postfix spam filter and security gate for the Exchange server, while most of the Windows servers only have one function each. We have four Citrix Metaframe terminal servers, the Exchange server, two SQL 7 servers, a print server, the domain controller, and a backup domain controller (although I guess they don't call them that anymore with 2000). We incidentally also use Linux for a couple of other things. We have a VPN set up with two old boxes running Linux, and I use a very old Linux box in my office for some testing and to burn CD's when they are needed. We also have a couple of workstations in the department that are dual booted between Windows and Linux.