Install Gentoo on NetServer LH3

[Tiago Dá Mesquita]

Hi!

I´m trying to install Gentoo with a LiveCD (install-x86-universal-2004.3-r1) on an HP Netserver LH3 PII/350MHz.

Here are my machine's features:
Single processor
640MB Ram
Original Network Adapter (D5013A)
3x 9.1Gb SCSI HardDrives (HP)

The 3 Hard drives are in a RAID array, type 5.

I boot from the LiveCD like indicated in the Installation Handbook (www.gentoo.org), and just before the prompt, I see Network Card Detected (in GREEN letters). However, It's the only thing about the network card I can see, because the screen moves forward to the prompt.
The next step (at the prompt) is to check if the network adapter has been detected. I type "ifconfig" and I don't get any ETH0 information, I only get info on "lo Link encap: Local Loopback..."
I type "net-setup eth0" and configure it automatically, but when I type "ifconfig" again I don't see nothing about ETH0 either.
I know the card on my LH3 can be controlled by the "eepro100" module, which doesn't come with the Gentoo distribuition. I've found a way to compile this module for my kernel, but I need to do it in a hard drive, because my boot CD is obviously read-only.
This brings me to my second (certainly not last!) problem. I can't find/open the hard drive (I have 1 hardware-configured Logical Hard-drive) with fdisk, nor can I make the necessary partitions to install Gentoo.

Wasn't the Logical Hard-Drive (combination of the 3 SCSI drives) supposed to be presented to the Linux OS as ONE normal hard drive?
On startup, by pressing Ctrl+M, I can access the HP RAID Tools (or something like that). Why does one of the disks in the RAID Array (the last) appear as a 17 Gb one, even if my 3 drives are all 9.1Gb each?

Thank you to anyone having the patience to reply.
I'm kinda new with Linux and just got this server, so I'm in the dark here.

Tiago Dá Mesquit

[Stuart Browne]

Yes, the logical disk should present it's self as a single disk (/dev/sda) to the OS, asuming the 'megaraid' module is correctly inserted.

[Tiago Dá Mesquita]

Thanks for the reply, Stuart.

I HAVE managed to get the Ethernet Card working. It must have been some IRQ conflict. I just assigned a fixed IRQ to the Network Card in the BIOS. Before, the card's IRQ number was set to auto.

About the RAID drive, It's still not working.
Here are the commands I issue:

- "modprobe megaraid_mbox"
- "fdisk /dev/sda"

The fdisk command returns "Unable to open /dev/sda"

With
- "lsmod" I get:
"MODULE SIZE USED BY
megaraid_mbox 22640 0
megaraid_mm 6720 1 megaraid_mbox
..."

I load "megaraid_mbox" instead of "megaraid" (with the "modprobe" command) because I only have the "megaraid_mbox.ko" and "megaraid_mm.ko" files in my "/lib/modules/2.6.9-gentoo-r1/kernel/drivers/scsi/megaraid/" directory. That is, no "megaraid.ko". (I assume the ".ko" extention indicates that a file represents a module, please correct me if I'm wrong).
Note that just by loading "megaraid_mbox", "megaraid_mm" is automatically loaded with it, as seen in the "lsmod" I listed above. The opposite, however, is not true.

Can anyone help?

Thank you in advance,

Tiago Dá Mesqui