Using RedHat 7.3 with Promise on-board RAID
-------------------------------------------

Gigabyte GA-7VAXP motherboard, with Promise 20276 / FastTrak 100 chipset.

The board comes with a thick manual for the Promise RAID chipset,
describing how to configure multiple, nested RAID arrays. After a lot of
unrewarded effort, however, I got a BIOS message explaining that the
Promise RAID Lite BIOS actually only supports one two-disk array, any
other disks appearing as separate one-striped-disk(!) arrays.

Note that recent RH7.3 kernels (after 2.4.20-20.x) need the latest version 
of the drivers (1.03.0.2), but you can only compile the latter using GCC 3, 
not the 7.3 standard compiler (GCC 2.96)!

Otherwise the upgrading instructions below work for at least the last 
RedHat-released kernel (2.4.20-28.7) with the 20276 chipset. 

Versions of the module compiled for kernel 2.4.20-28.7 and
2.4.20-37.7.legacy are available from my webpage; usual disclaimers (I
don't claim it works, you shouldn't assume it's not an evil trojan, etc.)
apply. The sources appear to be identical for all the chipsets I looked
at, but I've not tested the binary with any others.


Upgrading the Kernel
--------------------

The driver knows which version of the kernel it was compiled for, so 
whenever the kernel gets upgraded you also need to re-do the driver...
This can be done while still running the old kernel. Here 2.4.20-18.7 is 
an example of a new kernel. 

See also the readme in the driver sources. They hide on the Promise site 
under one of the other boards. 


1) Install new kernel and the headers and source (kernel-source RPM), and 
driver sources (try Promise site under "TX2000")  

2) Make sure drivers can find new kernel:
	ln -s  /usr/src/linux-2.4.20-18.7 /usr/src/linux

3) Compile driver without versioning ("INDEP386") - this is NOT always the 
default in the makefile, so change if necessary. You may want to change 
the architecture from i586 to i686.
	make

4) Move the freshly-compiled driver module into the kernel area:
	mv FastTrak.o /lib/modules/2.4.20-18.7/kernel/drivers/scsi

5) Update the dependencies (not sure this actually helps in any way)
	 depmod -ae 2.4.20-18.7

6) cd /boot You need to create a new boot image for the system to load 
from:
	mkinitrd --preload jbd --preload ext3 --preload scsi_mod --preload sd_mod 
	--with FastTrak --omit-raid-modules /boot/initrd-2.4.20-18.7-fasttrak.img 
	2.4.20-18.7

7) in grub.conf, amend entry to locate hardware: (for lilo see driver 
source readme file)

	title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-18.7)
		root (hd0,0)
		kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.7 ro root=/dev/sda5 ide0=0x1f0,0x3f6,14 ide1=0x170,0x376,15 ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0 ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0 fasttrak
		initrd /initrd-2.4.20-18.7-fasttrak.img

I don't think you need to modify /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit - I've gotten away 
without it.


Installing
----------

1) Extract suitable drivers on to a floppy (at Promise.com pretend you 
have a FastTrak TX2000 to get the latest (1.02.0.25, for RH 7.3)).

2) Put drives in box and connect up. WD drives must be set to CS not 
master if no slave. When the BIOS sees them press ^F to set up arrays.
Make sure that both drives are in the same array (This is NOT the default 
automagic!)

3) Install RH7.3 from floppy as usual. When asked if you have any other 
devices, say yes and stick in floppy. This will add "Promise RAID" to list 
of other devices; select it and continue. It should appear as a single 
device(?) in disk druid.


Promise TX2000 support:
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=88&category=driver&os=100

David Tonhofer's Mini-Howto for the Promise RAID
http://rei1.m-plify.net/Promise_RAID_Howto.htm

Promise FastTrak RAID driver disk for RH > 8 (and build instructions)
http://members.rogers.com/sith.warrior

J.J. Nebrensky  December 2004