From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 7 13:24:27 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2448C16A4CE for ; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 13:24:27 +0000 (GMT) Received: from av1-1-sn1.fre.skanova.net (av1-1-sn1.fre.skanova.net [81.228.11.107]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D56FC43D4C for ; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 13:24:25 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ertr1013@student.uu.se) Received: by av1-1-sn1.fre.skanova.net (Postfix, from userid 502) id 336EE37FF4; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 14:24:25 +0100 (CET) Received: from smtp2-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (smtp2-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net [81.228.8.178]) by av1-1-sn1.fre.skanova.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 24D1E37F70 for ; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 14:24:25 +0100 (CET) Received: from falcon.midgard.homeip.net (h201n1fls24o1048.bredband.comhem.se [212.181.162.201]) by smtp2-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix) with SMTP id B46D437E44 for ; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 14:24:24 +0100 (CET) Received: (qmail 47812 invoked by uid 1001); 7 Jan 2005 13:24:24 -0000 Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 14:24:24 +0100 From: Erik Trulsson To: Olaf Greve Message-ID: <20050107132423.GA47763@falcon.midgard.homeip.net> Mail-Followup-To: Olaf Greve , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <41B857A0.2070906@leg.ensieg.inpg.fr> <41DE7DA3.8060206@axis.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <41DE7DA3.8060206@axis.nl> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sil 3114 RAID controller issues with FreeBSD 5.3 Release AMD-64 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 13:24:27 -0000 On Fri, Jan 07, 2005 at 01:16:35PM +0100, Olaf Greve wrote: > Hi, > > A client of mine asked me to install their AMD-64 machine as a MySQL > database server. Totally against my strong suggestion to use a proper > SCSI hardware RAID 10 solution (or at least a hardware SATA RAID > solution), they insist on using the internal Sil 3114 software RAID > controller in RAID 1 mode. > > Now, this 'cost reduction' from them backfires, as FreeBSD 5.3 Release > AMD-64 does not properly recognise this controller. First, it locks up > when booting with ACPI enabled (easily fixable by either disabling ACPI > in the BIOS, or by booting without ACPI), then the bootstrap loader > first seemingly does recognise the RAID 1 array (at least it states > something to the effect of "Drive C from BIOS...", but when the > installation CD-ROM has booted, lo and behold! It does not see both > drives as an array, but as separate drives! > > I looked around a bit on the Internet, and seemingly this issue started > to occur around mid june last year with FreeBSD 5.3 versions for these > type of Silicon RAID controllers. > > Now, of course I am still trying to get my client to do it properly and > forget this el-cheapo RAID solution and simply buy a hardware RAID > controller, but if I can't succeed in convincing them, I'd really like > to enable the RAID array of this controller after all. > > Does anyone know how this can be achieved? Is it possible to patch the > device driver once FreeBSD is installed, and somehow get FreeBSD to > build the RAID array? I don't think FreeBSD supports the SiI 3114 as a RAID controller, but only as a normal controller. All the RAID stuff for that controller is done in software anyway, but FreeBSD needs to know what format the BIOS uses for a RAID setup, and it doesn't. I guess you could set up a pure software RAID-1 solution using vinum, but not having done that myself I can't say for sure. See http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/vinum-vinum.html for information on how to use and setup vinum. -- Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se