ML115 - NVIDIA RAID Problem - Linux

[bknonix_1]

Can somebody point me to step by step instructions on how to setup / install RHES 5, Centos 5.4 or FC8 on a ML115 with the onboard RAID turned on.

I have 4 x 160 GB drives, I have enabled the Raid function for all drives in the Bios, I have created 2 mirrored arrays.

I have downloaded onto a diskette the drivers that came on the support CD.

I have booted the installs, done a LINUX DD, when asked for the driver disk, I inserted it. The disk is read.

Then I get a message that there are no controllers for the specified drivers. And I loop.

If I remove the linux dd on the install, I get as far as selecting the Keyboard and it hangs.

Again, RHES 5 / Centos 5.4 and FC8 all do the same thing.

Help!

[contrail7973]

A few days ago, I installed CentOS 5.2 to ML115G5.
And I also made driver disket, but I didn't use the dirver disk.
Maybe CentOS 5.2 or 5.4 has driver module for nVida chipset.
I think that you should try installation with out 'linux dd' option.

[phrouda · Accepted solution]

I have the exact same problem, although I'm trying to install Fedora Core 9.

I have 2 mirrored sets - one with 2x160GB and one with 2x500GB.

The onboard RAID configuration has no problems setting up the 2 RAID sets, but the Fedora installer halts right after I select my keyboard - and it doesn't matter if I use the graphical or the text installer, or if I choose another keyboard than danish.

If I unplug the disks in either RAID set, I'm allowed to finish the installation on the remaining set, but whenever both RAID sets are present, the installer halts.

After a successful installation with only one RAID set, I added the second set, and Fedora recognizes the disks, but not the RAID set.

Apparently the sata_nv driver/device mapper can only see one RAID set at a time.

I'm currently in a proces of trying to "build" the missing device mapper files for the second RAID set, but have not succeeded yet.

Out of curiosity I also tried with a Debian v4.0r5, but this distribution didn't even recognize one RAID set...so I skipped any further experiments in that direction!

Any help is desirable :-)

[Reynolds McClatchey]

I have been using a mirrored set with CentOS5.1x86_64. At install I just set up the mirror with F8 and F10 at boot. Now I need to rebuild the mirror and cannot install the RHEL 5.1 RPMs because the OS is CentOS. Is there any way to rebuild the mirror from the server support CD? It seems to boot a fairly complete Linux system. I want to install ESX; but see no way to control the Nvidia RAID controller. My current thought is to give up on RAID and try to install ESX on plain SATA. Advice?

[bknonix_1]

For the issues outlined here, I gave up as the configuration I was seeking was not working.

I went with an E200 Raid controller card and things are working great. I can setup the 2 sets of mirrored drives and things appear as I would expect. The downside to this approach is the controller card is about the same cost as the base box.

I was a little frustrated that the ML115 does not support many of the nice Administrative Tools, but that is life.