RAID controller/backplane troubles

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

Sep 11, 2013 22:58

Hi, I've got some problems with a home-operated server that I inherited from a professional context, namely with the disk controller. Should I ask here or would I have better luck on ServerFault?

somequixotic

@hexafraction home server? probably here

depends on how big of a server though

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

"how big a server" Inherited from a school, pretty powerful enterprise machine.

So it's a bit borderline for me.

50-3

@hexafraction OS? and what is the scope of what you wish to do with it?

somequixotic

most people here have experience with stuff that's within a typical (power user/enthusiast) user's budget, whereas the folks in the serverfault chat have experience with many-thousand-dollar (new) servers, usually dual or quad processor (or more), hundreds of gigs of ram, etc

I've used hardware RAID cards though, so I could help you either way probably

!!tell hexafraction meta

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

@50-3 No OS, due to inability to handle a hard disk.

John Cavil

Sep 11, 2013 23:00

@hexafraction Please don't ask to ask; just ask!

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

OK.

somequixotic

:)

Bon Gart

@Sammy Yes. Try turning on the ICS on the WLAN again.

somequixotic

tell us what you've tried

Bon Gart

and I would recommending setting the XP back to auto

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

Sep 11, 2013 23:02

So here it goes. I have the original RAID card in the machine, and it normally boots fine to an "insert disk" message, when I have no disks in the machine. The second I pop a SATA or SAS disk into any of the bays, I immediately get a pretty long hang from the controller kernel.

I found some light oxidation on pins, cleaned it, and everything seemed to be fine with that hardware.

somequixotic

controller kernel? Adaptec? :)

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

Yup, adaptec.

somequixotic

<---Adaptec 6405E sitting in my main desktop tower....

controller kernel always boots slow, but never more than a minute or so

Bon Gart

@hexafraction and you know the drives are good?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

Yes, the drives are known good drives.

If I boot it without the disk I can get the diagnostic but it's useless as there are no drives to diagnose.

somequixotic

Sep 11, 2013 23:04

have you tried the drives individually on the mobo's SATA controller with the same cables and power hookups to be sure that it can at least recognize them in the BIOS? (obviously won't be able to boot due to lack of RAID)

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

I have yet to tear out more hardware so I have physical access to any SATA ports on the mobo. As far as I've seen there are none accessible without tearing out the IO card(which seems to physically block, and also has the VGA port I need)

somequixotic

"I plugged in each drive individually into the SATA/SAS controller and was able to see it in the BIOS and the BIOS didn't freeze like the controller kernel" would be a good thing for you to be able to claim before I'm convinced that it's the RAID controller or the PCIe bus

sorry if it's onerous manual work to do so

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

I have some sort of card that appears to be the disk controller, with two substantial cables running to the IO card, one for the top set of bays, and another for the bottom.

Different combinations of unplugging and switching around those cables seemed to allow it to boot with the disk in but not recognize the disk.

somequixotic

an expansion card that's also a disk controller, but not the RAID? hmm, could be for the boot volume/

be nice to know what exactly that is, you don't sound too sure yourself

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

It looks like the original equipment.

somequixotic

Sep 11, 2013 23:07

but it's not on the mobo itself?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

I'm sadly not too familiar with this machine, so I'm happy if I can get it to boot from a disk.

somequixotic

and it's separate from the RAID card?

@hexafraction are you trying to reinitialize a particular set of volumes as a RAID array, or do you just want to start fresh with an OS on one disk?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

No. It's off the mobo, attached to the "IO board" via 2 substantial cables looking like large versions of the SATA connection.

And I'm just looking for a single-disk OK. The disk is fresh, just a clean Ext4 partition.

Again, sorry for not being acquainted with what everything is.

And it also has a direct PATA connection to a CD drive.

somequixotic

large versions of the SATA connection... SAS?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

Probably. Only 2, I'd say maybe 60-90 pins a piece/

somequixotic

Sep 11, 2013 23:09

that's SAS

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

And yes, that image is the two thick cables to the rows of bays,.

Bon Gart

@hexafraction you know... an IDE hard drive connected to the cable that goes to the optical drive would give you a bootable system with a drive.

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

So I have 2 SAS cables running from the IO card to the circuit behind the bays.

somequixotic

I guess the SAS cables connect to some kind of backplane in the drive bays that allows FIS command queuing or similar SAS equivalent

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

@BonGart The largest IDE disk I can come up with at the moment is a 6 GB antique, so I'll have to try that. Perhaps I may be able to hot-swap in a SAS/SATA drive after boot from a minimal Linux machine.

@somequixotic Seems... right. I think.

Bon Gart

Sep 11, 2013 23:12

@hexafraction I just figure if you are only futzing around at this point to get it booting, it's a way to build a system and then add to it as you go. But then again, I'd be booting to a LiveCD of some sort at this point

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

I can't really tell if it's the IO card or that backplane, but even with both SAS and the IDE links disconnected it still tries to boot a RAID kernel correctly.

@BonGart I can get live CDs fine. I just can't exactly boot from live CDs for every boot.

No disks, obviously, except the CD and the mounted squashFS root partition.

somequixotic

well, I have to help someone with tech at work, and work takes priority, so sorry I can't keep helping; The Comms Room (SF chat) may have additional help... just explain to them the same thing or link them to here; at least now you know you have SAS going out from the IO card (the RAID card I assume you mean) to SAS backplanes for the disks

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

I'm honestly never going to care about RAID, as my use for the machine will not require anything other than a new disk, a quick package reinstall, and quick reconfiguration(with the loss of maybe a day's work) should a disk fail.

OK, thanks.

Bon Gart

@hexafraction not talking every boot (unless you customize an Ubuntu or LinuxMint build so you have a stealth System that vanishes when you remove the CD)... but if the system is attempting to boot to the blank drives you are connecting, and there's nothing to connect to, would it then boot to a CD/DVD?

er.. I mean "nothing to boot to"

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

@BonGart No, it doesn't attempt to boot them. It can't boot the controller kernel even.

Bon Gart

Sep 11, 2013 23:17

@hexafraction does the controller have a setup you can enter? Are you presented with that splash notice when there are no disks connected?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

A lack of bootable drive would result in a screen with an ASCII art floppy disk and drive.

Yes, I get a splash "booting controller kernel" and I can enter the setup but it only pertains to disks and turning off the controller entirely. I've tried various combos of disabling caching, and disabling other features, but none helped beyond leaving me disk-less again.

Bon Gart

@hexafraction "pertains to disks" you don't mean you can tell it what disks it should expect to be connected? Did I miss the model number on the controller?

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

No, when I say that it means that all operations except a minimal setup to turn off or on caching, and the controller, require a disk and/or RAID array.

Bon Gart

Identifying the specific hardware would assist me greatly in getting on the same page. I can call up specs and whatnot. It might be something stupidly simple like the size of the drives.

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

No controller model stamped/stickered, let me look it up.

Bon Gart

Sep 11, 2013 23:23

or just take pictures :)

$hexafraction$

hexafraction

ServeRAID 8i SAS Controller (13N2227)

I've got to run. I'll ask on SF tomorrow when I get a chance to backtrack and reorganize, and report back.

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