Promise RAID controller howto?

Promise RAID controller howto?

[Henning P. Schmiedehausen]

Hi,

I know, that this is a FAQ and the Promise RAID controller card is not
yet usable as a RAID board under Linux 2.x but is there a way to use
the controller just like the UltraATA 100 controller?

I know, that "input high == UltraATA core, input low = RAID core"
according to Andre Hedrick but I really don't care about the RAID
core. I want to use this controller to drive JBOD.

Can one do this? The disks need not to be interchangeable to other
controllers.  Just be accessible.

2.2 solutions preferred, 2.4 ok.

	Regards
		Henning

-- 
Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen       -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH     hps@intermeta.de

Am Schwabachgrund 22  Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0   info@intermeta.de
D-91054 Buckenhof     Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20   

Re: Promise RAID controller howto?

[Andre Hedrick]

On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Henning P. Schmiedehausen wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I know, that this is a FAQ and the Promise RAID controller card is not
> yet usable as a RAID board under Linux 2.x but is there a way to use
> the controller just like the UltraATA 100 controller?

It is not a raid board ... it is a raid lie

> I know, that "input high == UltraATA core, input low = RAID core"
> according to Andre Hedrick but I really don't care about the RAID
> core. I want to use this controller to drive JBOD.

Wrong, if Promise will opensource the signatures then we map the software
raid against that location and use Linux's soft-raid.


> Can one do this? The disks need not to be interchangeable to other
> controllers.  Just be accessible.
> 
> 2.2 solutions preferred, 2.4 ok.
> 
> 	Regards
> 		Henning
> 
> -- 
> Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen       -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
> INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH     hps@intermeta.de
> 
> Am Schwabachgrund 22  Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0   info@intermeta.de
> D-91054 Buckenhof     Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20   
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> 

Andre Hedrick
Linux ATA Development
ASL Kernel Development
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASL, Inc.                                     Toll free: 1-877-ASL-3535
1757 Houret Court                             Fax: 1-408-941-2071
Milpitas, CA 95035                            Web: www.aslab.com

Re: Promise RAID controller howto?

[Erik van Asselt]

Hmmmmm i have the Promise raid source for 2.2 kernel modules so what do you mean
by opensource signatures

i have it working for 2.2 kernels but i can't get it to work properly in 2.4
So if someone want to look at the source !!!
it can be found on www.promise.com

Assie

Andre Hedrick schreef:

> On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Henning P. Schmiedehausen wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I know, that this is a FAQ and the Promise RAID controller card is not
> > yet usable as a RAID board under Linux 2.x but is there a way to use
> > the controller just like the UltraATA 100 controller?
>
> It is not a raid board ... it is a raid lie
>
> > I know, that "input high == UltraATA core, input low = RAID core"
> > according to Andre Hedrick but I really don't care about the RAID
> > core. I want to use this controller to drive JBOD.
>
> Wrong, if Promise will opensource the signatures then we map the software
> raid against that location and use Linux's soft-raid.
>
> > Can one do this? The disks need not to be interchangeable to other
> > controllers.  Just be accessible.
> >
> > 2.2 solutions preferred, 2.4 ok.
> >
> >       Regards
> >               Henning
> >
> > --
> > Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen       -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
> > INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH     hps@intermeta.de
> >
> > Am Schwabachgrund 22  Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0   info@intermeta.de
> > D-91054 Buckenhof     Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> >
>
> Andre Hedrick
> Linux ATA Development
> ASL Kernel Development
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ASL, Inc.                                     Toll free: 1-877-ASL-3535
> 1757 Houret Court                             Fax: 1-408-941-2071
> Milpitas, CA 95035                            Web: www.aslab.com
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Re: Promise RAID controller howto?

[Henning P . Schmiedehausen]

Hi,

as far as I can see (you're talking about the "rel.tgz" archive from
the LinuxBETA directory, don't you?), this is just glue code for their
binary only "ftlib.o" driver.

No real open source here. Maybe Andre can work something from the
header structures.  But then again, the archive is dated 9/28/2000,
it's not exactly new...

	Regards
		Henning



On Thu, Mar 29, 2001 at 12:41:11PM +0200, Erik van Asselt wrote:
> Hmmmmm i have the Promise raid source for 2.2 kernel modules so what do you mean
> by opensource signatures
> 
> i have it working for 2.2 kernels but i can't get it to work properly in 2.4
> So if someone want to look at the source !!!
> it can be found on www.promise.com
> 
> Assie
> 
> Andre Hedrick schreef:
> 
> > On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Henning P. Schmiedehausen wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I know, that this is a FAQ and the Promise RAID controller card is not
> > > yet usable as a RAID board under Linux 2.x but is there a way to use
> > > the controller just like the UltraATA 100 controller?
> >
> > It is not a raid board ... it is a raid lie
> >
> > > I know, that "input high == UltraATA core, input low = RAID core"
> > > according to Andre Hedrick but I really don't care about the RAID
> > > core. I want to use this controller to drive JBOD.
> >
> > Wrong, if Promise will opensource the signatures then we map the software
> > raid against that location and use Linux's soft-raid.
> >
> > > Can one do this? The disks need not to be interchangeable to other
> > > controllers.  Just be accessible.
> > >
> > > 2.2 solutions preferred, 2.4 ok.
> > >
> > >       Regards
> > >               Henning
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen       -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
> > > INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH     hps@intermeta.de
> > >
> > > Am Schwabachgrund 22  Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0   info@intermeta.de
> > > D-91054 Buckenhof     Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20
> > > -
> > > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> > > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > > Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> > >
> >
> > Andre Hedrick
> > Linux ATA Development
> > ASL Kernel Development
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ASL, Inc.                                     Toll free: 1-877-ASL-3535
> > 1757 Houret Court                             Fax: 1-408-941-2071
> > Milpitas, CA 95035                            Web: www.aslab.com
> >
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen       -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH     hps@intermeta.de

Am Schwabachgrund 22  Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0   info@intermeta.de
D-91054 Buckenhof     Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20   

Re: Promise RAID controller howto?

[Gregory Maxwell]

On Thu, Mar 29, 2001 at 12:41:11PM +0200, Erik van Asselt wrote:
> Hmmmmm i have the Promise raid source for 2.2 kernel modules so what do you mean
> by opensource signatures
> 
> i have it working for 2.2 kernels but i can't get it to work properly in 2.4
> So if someone want to look at the source !!!
> it can be found on www.promise.com

The promise controller is not a hardware raid board, it is a regular IDE
controller with a bios overlay. Their marketing is deceiving and fraudulent.

Their software raid is less flexible then Linuxes, and it's performance is
inferior. The only advantages of a promise 'raid' controller is cross-OS
compatibility and a simplified booting process.

Promises Linux 'drivers' are proprietary and a violation of the GPL. Because
their drivers are closed source, you can not debug any kernel with it loaded
and you will not be compatible with future upgrades to your kernel without
promises good will.

Because of these reasons, it would be advantageous for Linux to understand
promises boot signature and allow Linuxes built in raid driver to be used on
promises 'raid' disk. Allowing for the cross-os compatibility and easy
booting but retaining the flexible, high performance and open source of the
Linux code.

Unfortunately, promise is more concerned with living their lie then providing
a high quality product to their customers and refuses to provide the tiny
bit of needed information.