Hi, I was testing the installation in new machines (8 identical). They are Intel Server SE7501WV2 (1 Xeon processor with 2 IDE drives 60GB attached only to the internal FastTrack Promise Tech RAID).
I have been trying to install with debian-installer in many different forms. Almost installed using the semi-hardware drivers for RAID in the FastTrack (RAID-1 in BIOS and then installing kernel modules ataraid and pdcraid by hand, even substituting the kernel in the iso) but i got many problems to finish the installation. Also this configuration is not optimal because the kernel drivers are actually software-RAID with some support on hardware (but not using the card BIOS)... Then, i found the Software-RAID Howto and i thought it seems more versatile and even in some cases it could be more efficient. As the systems only have two drives i tried RAID-1. The first trick was to boot from the disks which are attached to a internal card (FastTrack) not visible from the normal BIOS (ide5 and ide6). The card has its own BIOS to boot from arrays of discs attached it. The only way to boot from them without using the hardware support for RAID was to build two arrays with one disc in each one (Span mode), so both were in fact independent discs. Then i found the message from Paul Fleischer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/debian-boot-200404/msg01003.html where he offers his tests about RAID support in debian-installer. I downloaded and burned his image (2004-02-28) from: http://www.daimi.au.dk/~pg/debian/netinst-raid1.iso The installation (standard mode) went as usual in the beginning. The CD booted and the kernel recognized both disks as ide. After the initial questions (language, keyboard, network), i partitioned (manually) both disk in the same way and marked the partitions for raid as type 'fd' (Raid Autodetect). In the configuration of MD devices it failed because there where some garbage from previous tests in the partitions (as suggested in the error message screen). So, i opened a console and wrote some zeros to the first sectors of the partions (with dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disc... this probably can be included in the debian-installer as an option). And then repeated the MD config OK. First time i configured 2 partitions /dev/md/0 and /dev/md/1 (for / and /home) but later, in the first boot, only the md0 was recognized and /home was not mounted with errors, So, i repeated the process mounting only / (left the other md1 for later manual config). After configuring MD and assigning the partitions and mount points the installation of base-system went correctly. Then, the installation tried GRUB, but the boot device (hd0) was not recognized, and i don't know exactly how to force the reference to the correct device in GRUB notation. I tried the LILO option from menu, but after entering the boot device (it must be /dev/ide/disc/disc0 and not /dev/md/0), it exits apparently good but not installed ok, because the installer tried again GRUB. After some investigation I discovered that lilo was not installed and the package (main, not installer) was not included in the CD image from Paul. So i changed to a console and 'chroot /target' to configure /etc/apt/sources.list with one mirror to do 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get install lilo'. Then i was able to repeat lilo configuration from the menu and finish the installation. The new system booted ok for the rest of installation except for one failed try with 2 raid devices failling /dev/md/1 (as mentioned above). I hope this information can be usefull for developers and for anyone trying with similar hardware. I thing that the tests from Paul could be included in the main version at least as options for medium priority. If anyone has a new version or a suggestion, i could do some simple tests (limited on time). Thank, you to all for your amazing work with the debian-installer. Best regards Jose R. -- ,.....................................,..........................,...., : Jose Ramon Alvarez Sanchez : Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] :Ooo.: : Dpto. de Inteligencia Artificial : Tel: (+34) 91-398-7199 :( ): : Univ. Nac. de Educacion a Distancia : Fax: (+34) 91-398-6697 : ) |: : Juan del Rosal, 16 - 3� : --$[0,+oo)@!&>#%{}*\/^_= : (_): : E-28040 Madrid SPAIN : http://www.ia.uned.es/~jras : '.....................................:..........................:....' Simple things are easier, you don't need to trouble your life. Las cosas simples son mas sencillas, no te compliques la vida. _,+'^'+,_,+'^'+,_ Usuario de Debian GNU/Linux: http://www.debian.org/ ________________________________________ Linux Registered User #102342 La Espiral: http://www.laespiral.org/ Debian, para los usuarios... -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
