Adaptec aacraid 6805 6405, v 1.1.7-28000

[Entilza]

I'm building a new server with an Adaptec 6805 controller and ran into version problems with the current drivers on Adaptec and the current version of Ubuntu.

The drivers on the Adaptec website are for 10.04.01 (Kernel 2.6.32-24) However Ubuntu now released 10.04.02 (Kernel 2.6.32-28). This makes using insmod aacraid.ko fail due to version differences.

I then downloaded the linux drivers source and was trying to figure out how to get the older kernel source. Took forever but somehow I managed to get it to work by using "dkms" to build the module for the older kernel.

This worked for Step 1 of the installation to actually get Ubuntu to recognize the aacraid driver. (insmod aacraid.ko) finally worked

However step 2 after Ubuntu is installed is to copy an old initrd from 2.6.32-24 again I would think this would be a problem. So I used mkinitramfs to create a proper initrd.img-2.6.32-28-server with the new aacraid.ko driver.

I never tried this step because currently I just have the card I am still waiting for some hardware to continue the rest of the build so I am unable to test this, but I will monitor this thread and provide any info.

I've attached aacraid.ko that I was able to successfully detect on 10.04.02.

Here is the initrd: initrd.img-2.6.32-28-server

If this works I'll link it to a better spot in future. I should have the hardware next week so I will definitely be able to confirm this but if someone needs this right away then please let me know how it worked out.

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UPDATE (Jun 23,11)

http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/ contains Ubuntu 10.04.01 where you can download the exact version of Ubuntu that is currently supported for the Adaptec 6805 / 6405 / etc. From here you can then upgrade to 10.04.02 but you would still have to compile the aacraid driver into the kernel.

I should be getting the remaining hardware for the server next week so I will post more info later.
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Note: These are 64-bit versions

[Entilza]

I finally got around to testing these drivers yesterday and they work! So that will get you into the current 10.04.02 with your Adaptec 6805 / 6405 / etc.

Once there you can download one of the latest kernels but at least you will have a base system to start with and fall back to if there are any issues with compiling the driver into the kernel afterwards.

I'll have to blog about my server build somewhere it was truly a funny experience given everything that had occurred. Building a custom rack server from scratch with just common components works but you really have to research each and every component.

[moprmac]

So how did you get the 6805 working on 10.04.2? Can you provide a little more detail, I have been fight with this for a few days and you seem to be the only one I can find.

I appreciate any help you can offer, but could use more detail as I am a linux noob

Also I am using the card for additional drives, not the os drives, so I already have 10.04.2 running.

Thanks!

[Zonesa]

Can you provide a little how-to about your fix : I'm trying to install Ubuntu with this card without any success.

The following distros are not supported on this card (6405) :

- Ubuntu/Debian
- CentOS 5.x
- VMware ESXi (Work on ESX but poor write performance)
- Citrix XenServer 5.x

Headhash.

[Entilza]

So how did you get the 6805 working on 10.04.2? Can you provide a little more detail, I have been fight with this for a few days and you seem to be the only one I can find.

I appreciate any help you can offer, but could use more detail as I am a linux noob

Also I am using the card for additional drives, not the os drives, so I already have 10.04.2 running.

Thanks!

Download my aacraid.ko and try to use "insmod aacraid.ko" if it loads into memory you should be good to go. if you do a "lsmod" you should see "aacraid" in the list. You can then copy this to /lib/modules/2.6.32-28-server/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko I believe you will need the initrd as well afterwards so copy that to /boot but back up your old one.

Once the driver is in memory you should be able to access it with fdisk or other partition tools. I never went with this method, but it should be easier this way.

As long as you can insmod the aacraid.ko then you are 99% there.

[Entilza]

Can you provide a little how-to about your fix : I'm trying to install Ubuntu with this card without any success.

The following distros are not supported on this card (6405) :

- Ubuntu/Debian
- CentOS 5.x
- VMware ESXi (Work on ESX but poor write performance)
- Citrix XenServer 5.x

Headhash.

Well because Adaptec is so awesome and give us the source code it's technically good for Any Linux Distro.

Here are the instructions from Adaptec: (Note these are for 10.04.01) the files I provide are for 10.04.02 you'll know which one you have if you do "#uname -r" it tells you your kernel if it's 32-24 you have .01 if you have 32-28 you have .02 and need to use my files and change the instructions below to reflect 32-28.



Ubuntu 10.04 Server x86_64 installation procedure:
1. Write "initrd.img-2.6.32-24-server" and "aacraid.ko" on USB drive.
2. Start installing Ubuntu 10.04 Server Linux by booting from the installation CD,
Until a screen *Detect disks* said "No disk drive was detected"
3. Plug-in your USB-key, select for <Go back>, press enter on Detect disks
4. Press "CTRL+ALT+F2" to enter into console 2
5. fdisk -l (scan for device, assume if USB drive is assigned to /dev/sda1)
6. mkdir /mnt2 ; mount /dev/sda1 /mnt2
7. uname -r (verify that your kernel is 2.6.32-24-generic)
8. cp -f /mnt2/aacraid.ko /lib/modules/2.6.32-24-generic/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko
9. cp -f /mnt2/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-server /etc
10. umount /dev/sda1 and remove your USB drive from the installation system
11. Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to return to Ubuntu installer screen and select
for <Go back>, press enter on Detect disks (Expect AACRAID driver get load and display disk partition)
12. Proceed to the installation as usual

**************** Before rebooting the system, make sure you complete steps below ****************

13. Exit to console again (CTRL+ALT+F2) and check for kernel version
14. ls -l /target/boot (expect to see kernel 2.6.32-24-server)
15 cp -f /lib/modules/2.6.32-24-generic/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko /target/lib/modules/2.6.32-24-server/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko
16. cp -f /etc/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-server /target/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-server

Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to return to the installer screen and REBOOT



*** Note: after step 5 I had to plug in the USB key then use "Detect Disks" again in order to get the USB key to be recognized by fdisk -l then I pressed "go back"

[Entilza]

Just a note the files I provided are for the 64 bit versions!

One final note after I got 10.04.02 running with the above files I then switched to the latest stable kernel 2.6.39.x which now has support for the new aacraid driver.

[Entilza]

I've created a new set of drivers for the currently released 10.04.3 Version:

This is only for a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04.3 64 bit.

10.04.3 Comes with kernel 2.6.32-33-server

You follow the same steps as above.

Note I have not tested this one the .2 works 100%. I have no means of testing this as my 6805 is now installed so if anyone is setting up a new one please give this a try. If this is not working just download ubuntu 10.04.2 from http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/ and the above will work.

Here are the new files if someone would report back if this worked out. Follow the same instructions as the top just replace with the new name of the kernel 32-33:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37855661/ubu...64_install.zip

Final Note: If you do install 10.04.2 do not upgrade the kernel with the package updates or you will lose your new aacraid driver. The proper way is to download the new kernel source and copy the aacraid source from adaptec into the source directory and rebuild the kernel... Lot's of work but you can get this to work.

[bennymak]

I'm guessing that initrd is complied without LVM support? Worked fine through install on 10.04.3 till the time came to reboot the system. /boot was accessible no worries suggesting the driver got loaded but then failed to mount the main LVM volume.

Just tried 10.04.2 without LVMs and that's all good. apt-get upgrade to 10.04.3 with the -28 kernel and its happy enough. I'll compile my own kernel later.

Cheers for the module Entilza!

[Entilza]

The 10.04.02 version of this should work with LVM as I am using that one on my own server. Can you try that and see if that one works with LVM for you?