3Ware RAID Controller Problems
Just when I thought I had reached the end of my hardware issues...
I've mentioned that LINUX is not up to handling the SATA controllers on my ASUS K8N-DL motherboard. In the case of the NVidia NForce4 SATA driver (sata_nv), the issues have been well-enough documented on the web that I blame only myself for not doing enough research. In the case of the Silicon Image chip (sata_sil), the problems are less well-known, but are still documented. Rather than spending more time researching and diagnosing these issues, I purchased a 3Ware 9500S-8 SATA RAID controller, a PCI board that by all accounts has been used successfully with LINUX for at least a year. Not only would it bypass the problems with LINUX drivers, but it is a true hardware-based RAID controller that should provide far better RAID performance than would LINUX software RAID 5.
The board arrived, and I installed it with great anticipation. I had purchased the optional battery backup unit, a daughterboard that not only maintains the RAID settings on the controller in case of power loss but also allows the controller to use write-cacheing by saving cached data on the board if it is unable to be written in a power-loss situation. That daughterboard installed easily on the 9500S, and the board itself fit snugly but squarely in one of the two PCI slots on the K8N-DL with plenty of room to attach the eight SATA drive cables. So far, so good.
On power-up, the board was recognized by the system, showing the following:
3Ware ATA RAID Controller - Escalade 9500S-8
BIOS: BE9X 2.03.01.051 Firmware: 2.06.00.009
BBU Status: Charging
Following drives will not be exported to OS:
Port 0 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 1 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 2 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 3 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 4 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 5 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 6 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
Port 7 WDC WD2500JD-00HBB0 232.88 GB
All this was proper. However, the next step was to access the 3ware BIOS in order to create the RAID array. Upon pressing the Alt-F3 access code, the response was:
3ware BIOS not installed
Hmmm. Time for more research. A look at the 3ware/AMCC knowledgebase showed only a note that this could be caused by the board being seated improperly. Twice, I brought down the system and ensured that the board was firmly seated. Each time on bootup I got the same response.
Basically the server is operating properly now with its single PATA drive, but the SATA drives are not visible to LINUX. I have submitted a web service request to 3ware, and I suspect that the answer will be an RMA number to return the board to them for replacement. Life goes on, the sun rises and sets, people are born and die, and computer systems outside the mainstream will continue to need extra care and feeding. Such is life.
I build a new file
I build a new file 3w-xxxx.ko and placed it in the modules directory:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-5-xen-vserver-amd64/drivers/scsi
After a restart of the server the version remains the same.
I expected Version 1.26.03.000
but it was the former v2.26.02.007
I just had a client phone
I just had a client phone with this problem. What sort of resolution did you get?
I returned the board to
I returned the board to 3Ware for a replacement which worked properly. That was in 2005.
However...
Recently the 3Ware board went bad again. Luckily, hard drive prices have come down so much that my critical limit for data, 1-2 TB, can be met by simple mirroring. That has lots of advantages, including the ability to take one of the mirror drives to another machine to offload data.
I've retired the 3Ware board and probably wouldn't go that way today unless I needed a _really_ massive array of 8TB or so. Give it a couple of years, and I'm sure that size will come in a single drive as well.
Robin Felix
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