Having hard times in installing RHEL 6 on DL120 G6

[Jitendra Mehta]

Hi all,

We've one Proliant DL 120 G6 with RAID 1 facility. Currently we've 2 identical 500GB hard drives for RAID which are provided by HP and a third one which is of 160 GB capacity.

Now after configuring RAID on BIOS when we try to install RHEL6, it doesn't detect RAID and stops at grub cmd prompt.

We tried to install RAID drivers for RHEL 6 but still no success.

We are stuck and not able to make any progress further.

Can anybody help us out and guide about how to configure RAID1 properly and install RHEL6 on the server.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers
Jit

[SMR]

Jitendra,

Are you using the hpahcisr driver during installation?

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3984621&prodNameId=3984622&swEnvOID=4095&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-7ae5325d89834f14b7d71eac61

Let me know

[Jitendra Mehta]

Hi SMR,

Yeah, before installation we're using hpahcisr.dd image instead of hpahcisr.rpm, please check the link below -

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=4091396&swItem=MTX-0bb9862aeabd49f09908fc6db0&prodNameId=4091397&swEnvOID=4095&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

We're using drivers floppy and load it at the time of installation but now it doesn't go further and installation shows error and halts.

I would be grateful if anybody here provide any step-by-step guide to install RHEL6 on DL120 G6 with RAID 1.

Cheers,
Jit

[Jitendra Mehta]

I'm getting the error -

Anaconda died after receiving signal 7. install exited abnormally [1/1]

After installing 'Driver Diskette for HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (x86)' image via usb floppy drive.

What to do next ?

[Aslam Ghumra_2]

Hi Jit, seems I'm also getting similar issues. However I've installed RHEL5 and then as per instructions installed the rpm over that. However I get the error message that the filesystem has errors and that volgroup cannot be found. I've attached a snapshot of the error message.

[Michael A. McKenney]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3984622&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3984621&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4103

You need the driver diskettes that you point to on installation to load the RAID drivers.

[Jitendra Mehta]

Hi All,

Finally I'm able to configure Hardware RAID on server using RHEL 5.

Few points needs to be taken into consideration while configuring RAID, here they are -

-> Watch out for compatible Kernel, here're the supported ones-
RHEL -5.4
SUPPORTED KERNELS: The kernels of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x86) supported by this driver diskette are:
2.6.18-92.el5 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 2 (x86)
2.6.18-128.el5 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 3 (x86)
2.6.18-164.el5 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4 (x86)
2.6.18-194.el5 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 5 (x86)
2.6.18.238.el5 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 5 (x86)


-> Follow these steps after configuring RAID setting at BIOS level -

OS Installation and providing SATA Controller Drivers:-
1. Power down the server.
2. Pull out the cable of 2nd Hard Drive (Raid Enabled).
3. Download the HP embedded SATA Controller driver diskette for Red Hat EL 5 from the link - (File name : hpahcisr-1.2.6- 7.rhel5.i686.dd.gz)
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=3958193&prodNameId=3958194&swEnvOID=4006&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-dd745173958a4a8e92274b0aa1
4. Uncompress the file using WinZip or 7zip and copy it in USB stick.
5. Boot server with Linux bootable dvd and on boot prompt give command boot : linux dd
6. Next it will prompt for driver path so provide USB stick path. This will install drivers for RAID controller.
7. Now create partitions and install OS.
8. Before reboot do below steps (Mandatory)

â ¢ press CTRL+ALT+F2
â ¢ cp -a /tmp/ramfs/DD-0 /mnt/sysimage/tmp
â ¢ chroot /mnt/sysimage
â ¢ cd /tmp/DD-0
â ¢ sh ./fix_driver_order
â ¢ cd /
â ¢ press CTRL+ALT+F6 and click reboot
9. Now Shutdown the Server and attach the cable of Hard drive we pulled out earlier.
10. Restart the server and check if second Hard Drive is coming on Bios or not.
11. If it is coming let the OS boot normally and leave it for 4-5 hours.
12. Server will automatically rebuild on 2nd Hard Drive and you can check its reliability by removing cable of Hard Drive.

Hope it helps fellow sysadmin guys. Btw, HP support is not that helpful, they haven't mentioned anywhere such step-by-step guide moreover their KB and Readme docs are misleading which only increases the confusion and frustration.

Cheers
Jit

[Jitendra Mehta]

Guys there's some typo mistakes due to bullet n' numbering, actual cmds are given below.


press CTRL+ALT+F2
cp -a /tmp/ramfs/DD-0 /mnt/sysimage/tmp
chroot /mnt/sysimage
cd /tmp/DD-0
sh ./fix_driver_order
cd /
press CTRL+ALT+F6 and click reboot