# Ata Raid, HighPointTech controllers and a suggestion.

## GilGalaad

currently there is no support for that ata-raid controller, in no kernel.

that makes impossibile to install any linux distribution on a raid partition.

highpoint released some boot disks, for most famous distributions, whith a module that fits the boot kernel, and make raid partition visible and usable.

but promise released also an open-source driver for that controller (that is nice, cheap, surely not professional but make the same job of the software raid, using the power of it's own chip instead of the cpu one)

could be possible to patch the gentoo boot kernel with this driver, in order to install gentoo directly on a raid partition, (instead that installing on a normal partition and then put /home or such pieces of filesystem on raid AFTER recompiling the kernel) ?

can i "hack" gentoo current kernel? or can i hope this to be done by gentoo staff in the next release?

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## rommel

LINUX SOFTWARE RAID

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## GilGalaad

 *rommel wrote:*   

> LINUX SOFTWARE RAID

 

yes...i used it. but why must i use my cpu power to do something that a dedicated controller does in the same way?

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## GilGalaad

 *rommel wrote:*   

> LINUX SOFTWARE RAID

 

and anyway....without the correct driver i cannot access any of the hd attacched to that controller. it's not nice, even if i choose to use linux software raid :D

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## rommel

there is built in kernel support for ide controllers..i am using a promise tx2 ide ata100...i also just got a tekram ultra 160 scsi dc390u3w the other day and before i reinstalled bsd on that box using the scsi controller i wanted to see if gentoo would boot and see it and it does....so i orderd another to up[grade my gentoo box away from ide....these cards will have support every time i build the kernel and LSR is also fully supported...so why are you buying hardware and hasseling with 3rd paty drivers....upgrade your system if your cpu cant handle the few cycles thats needed to run the raid algorithm...

edit....i just was reading a forum at amdmb on a discussion about the same thing...turns out a member is using a 3ware and getting the same numbers i am getting with LSR.....the discussion was started by another that was complaining about poor performance with an adaptec 2400a ...3ware is supported so not to discurage you from spending money look maybe into these controllers since they already have kernel support.

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## Forge

HPT cards are supported with ataraid, exactly as Promise cards are.

From the first (pre-fdisk, pre-format) stage of the Gentoo installer:

insmod hpt (not 100% sure as to the modulename, I'll edit this later)

insmod ataraid

Now you'll have /dev/ataraid/d0 (for the first RAID array) and /dev/ataraid/d0p1 (first partition on first array).

d0-1 and p1-* are available the same way.

I don't mean to be insulting, but perhaps if the RAID setups are too difficult, you'd be happier with plain disks?

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## GilGalaad

 *Forge wrote:*   

> HPT cards are supported with ataraid, exactly as Promise cards are.
> 
> Now you'll have /dev/ataraid/d0 (for the first RAID array) and /dev/ataraid/d0p1 (first partition on first array).
> 
> I don't mean to be insulting, but perhaps if the RAID setups are too difficult, you'd be happier with plain disks?

 

sorry but this is not the correct way to use that controller. ataraid support is for the 370, and previous ones. with 372 and above, with the correct kernel module provided from highpoint the disk array will be under /dev/sd0 and this is the correct way.

the problem is that such drivers are only available as module, and must be compiled OUT of the sorce tree, so i cannot patch my sources, and i cannot install linux on such devices.

i finally decided to come back to software raid again, and anyway.... raid setup are not DIFFICULT, simply are impossible with the current drivers. (and obviously hoping that highpoint support answers my mail is pure utopia)

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## Forge

Excuse me, but who are you to decide what is 'correct'?

Both the proprietary module approach (which both HPT and Promise support) and the ataraid methods are *equally* valid. just because one method is provided by the manufacturer and one is provided by kernel hackers, does not make one version 'better' or more 'correct' than the other. I thank you for mentioning the proprietary module method, I had forgotten about those, but seeing as your initial question was 'how to install Gentoo', I thought answering your question would be the right thing to do.

And just FYI: The proprietary drivers DO NOT 'use the power of the chip instead of the CPU'. There is no power to the chip, the chip is a simple IDE controller, nothing more, nothing less. In Windows, in the ataraid driver, and in the manufacturer's driver, ALL RAID FUNCTIONS ARE PERFORMED BY THE CPU. This does not change, no matter whose driver you use.

Anyways, I've told you the very quick and very simple way to enable ataraid on any Promise/HPT controller which can be identified by the Gentoo bootCD kernel (which should be all of them). Anything you choose to believe is your business.

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## Forge

P.S. - ataraid supports ANY HPT/Promise chip which can be detected/used as an IDE controller by the kernel. This means that any chip recognized by the driver also gets RAID functionality.

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## rommel

also 3ware has native kernel support....they are probably the best ata raid performers too ...but they cost more....guess you get what you pay for sometimes

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## Forge

3ware is full hardware RAID. All RAID functions are performed by a dedicated onboard processor. The Adaptec 2400A uses an Intel i960 processor to do the work for the two HPT370 chipsets on board.

Both are priced quite high, so it's still really easy to pick out CPU-RAID cards from real hardware RAID cards.

Did you pay >200$ for your RAID card? If so, you just might be lucky enough to have a RAID that doesn't use your CPU for XOR ops!

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## green_buddy

Can we be straight about what type of RAID configuration we're talking about here with the hpt370.  I think the kernal ataraid modules for the highpoint module only supports RAID0 right?  RAID1 is not yet supported by gentoo out of the box without jumping through some pretty sweet hoops I think.

And please correct me if I'm wrong!   :Shocked: 

-green

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