discuss: Re: Booting from IDE RAID Controller Cards
Subject:
Idea: Booting from IDE RAID Controller Cards
From:
Jim Hamilton ####@####.####
Date:
28 Apr 2003 17:02:55 -0000
Message-Id: <3EAD5EBD.4030209@techna-west.com>
I have an idea for a new HOWTO or mini-HOWTO.
Here's the situation:
I have been setting up several systems with IDE RAID controller cards,
with different models like the HighPoint RocketRAID 133 and the Promise
FastTrak TX2. I am setting them up on Slackware systems, and Slackware
isn't officially supported by HighPoint or Promise.
I went through the process of compiling their "partial open-source"
drivers as a module. Due to the closed-source components of their
drivers they cannot be compiled directly into the kernel. When an IDE
RAID array is used as the boot device, an initrd is needed to load the
module at boot time. For distributions that don't have a mkinitrd
utility this can be confusing to set up.
I found that documentation for these different steps was scattered and
patchy. I found no step-by-step reference that would explain to a
newcomer to IDE RAID what needed to be done, and why, and how to go
about it.
I have written some documentation on this problem and its solution for
the office, to help the other IT staff. It would not take much work to
turn this documentation into a HOWTO or mini-HOWTO. The documentation
includes a brief preamble on IDE RAID basics and is about 25 pages long.
With the low price and increasing popularity of the HighPoint and
Promise cards I think a HOWTO or mini-HOWTO on how to boot from one of
them would be a useful resource, especially for distributions that
aren't officially supported by HighPoint or Promise.
Here's what's out there already:
The ATA RAID HOWTO covers booting from a Promise FastTrak controller on
officially supported versions of Red Hat only. The procedure relies on
having drivers compiled by the vendor for a specific version of Red Hat
only. It is not applicable to other distributions. For these reasons I
don't think that my work would overlap the ATA RAID HOWTO at all.
Here's what I'd like to do:
I'd like to contribute a HOWTO or mini-HOWTO on this topic. I'd need
some feedback as to which it should be (or if I should do it at all).
Perhaps a mini as the focus is so narrow? Or is 25 pages of text too
heavy for a mini? :)
I'd also need some guidance with DocBook/XML as I've never used it
before; the document's current format is Corel WordPerfect. I'm happy to
learn something new.
Comments?
Jim Hamilton
####@####.####
