[clue-tech] RH 7.3 on PowerEdge 6450

[Chris Tubutis]

On 24 Apr, Jack Parker wrote:
> (Trying to trim, but also keep it together, apologies to the folks
> with the 300 baud acoustic couplers).

Thank you. ;-)

> <Mike>
>> As I recall you have to insert the module at boot time
>> (insmod) for the PERC at least with rh7.3... But I
>> would advise either moving forward to rh9 or one of
>> the Fedora Cores ... after all a fedora is a felt hat
>> :)
> 
> You mean, stick the drives in at some point in the boot cycle?  That
> would be weird.

I think what he's referring to occurs EARLY in the RH install sequence.
One of the first things it does is detect all devices it can; it tells
you what it found and gives you the opportunity to add additional device
drivers (typically located on a floppy you made beforehand). Has nothing
to do with the physical drives themselves.

> Are these issues that would go way with a more current release of dead
> rat? It might be worth biting the database engine bullet if that
> solved the OS problems.

Possibly; I'd even venture to say "probably." I went and searched on
RedHat's site for "Dell PowerEdge SCSI" and it came back with bunches o'
stuff (that I didn't read). I then googled:

Dell PowerEdge SCSI (Redhat or "red hat")

And I came across this at
(http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/power/en/ps2q03_nadon?c=us&l=en&s=gen):

-----
For systems booting with a plug-in RAID card, administrators may need to
install additional SCSI devices from the floppy disk. As of Red Hat
Linux 8.0, all Dell-supplied CD-ROM drives, SCSI adapters, RAID devices,
and NICs are natively supported on the Red Hat CD; no other drivers are
necessary because no other devices are used by the installation program.
-----

Googling on:

Dell PowerEdge 6450 SCSI (Redhat or "red hat")

Came back with other stuff, and I found
http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/software/oslin7x/72i_update/en/install.pdf
which is the RH 7.2 Install Instructions for Dell PowerEdge systems,
there are procedures listed for the various Adaptec host adapters.

But I guess you've already found that stuff, your problem is that the
drives aren't being found? Hmmm...

> Dell has a 7.3 install manual which indicates that I need to load an
> rpm (megaraid_blah_blah).  I've never tried that during the boot
> cycle.  I'm guessing that I'd go into comand line install and apply
> it?

I have no idea. RTFM. :)

>  The problem is the documentation that guys like us write.  We
> don't want to bore people with the basics, but for neophytes (like me
> in this case) the basics are core to the procedure - which of course
> varies with each version of hardware, software, or combination of the
> same.
> 
> "drive to the corner"
> "how do I make the car go?"
> "put it in gear and step on the gas"
> "what's a gear?  How do I step on a gas?"

Yeah. But this can be a lot of fun if your mind is the type that's
intrigued by stuff like this. And when you're done, you'll know more
about this machine than you ever cared to know. ;)

As Mike suggested, and if I were you, I'd prolly be in too much of a
hurry and would want to try a more recent version of RH and see if all
my problems went away. Regardless, it sounds like you have a cool toy to
play with, I wish I had it....

ct