Re: [SLUG] Fastrack TX2000 IDE Raid Controller, mandrake 10, kernel 2.6.x

From: Wade S Grant (SqdnGuns@sqdnguns.com)
Date: Sat Jul 03 2004 - 18:29:40 EDT


On Sat, 2004-07-03 at 18:15, Doug Koobs wrote:
> Hello,
>
> After another hard drive failure, I invested in a Promise Fastrack
> TX2000 IDE Raid Controller, which supposedly works under Linux. Promise
> has released several different versions of drivers, but none for
> Mandrake 10, and I can't get any of the others to work. They've also
> released source code, and I'm trying to compile for my system, but I get
> warnings and and an error. I've managed to fix the warnings by making
> slight modifications to some of the .c files, but I can't get rid of the
> error:
>
> *******************************************************
> [root@mail fasttrack]# make clean all
> rm -f FastTrak.o wrapper.o fasttrak.o ftlog.o
> gcc -D__KERNEL__ -I/usr/src/linux/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2
> -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -pipe
> -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=i586 -DMODULE -c wrapper.c
> wrapper.c: In function `ft_handler_wrapper':
> wrapper.c:97: error: `io_request_lock' undeclared (first use in this
> function)
> wrapper.c:97: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
> wrapper.c:97: error: for each function it appears in.)
> make: *** [wrapper.o] Error 1
> *********************************************************
>
> Here is the snippet of code that I assume is causing the error in wrapper.c:
> *********************************************************
> void ft_handler_wrapper(int irq, void *dev_id, struct pt_regs *regs) {
> /* channel driver is system independent so it does not
> need pt_regs structure */
> ulong smpflag;
> spin_lock_irqsave(&io_request_lock,smpflag);
> ft_handler(irq, dev_id);
> spin_unlock_irqrestore(&io_request_lock,smpflag);
> *********************************************************
>
> But not being a programmer, I have no idea how to fix it. Do I need to
> declare io_request_lock as some kind of variable? Or is it declared in
> something referenced in the #include statements?
> I downloaded the source code from
> http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=88&category=driver&os=100
> There are two versions of the souce code, I've tried to compile both,
> with the same results.
> I've called Promise, and left a message with their tech support, but I
> doubt they'll bother to call back...
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated!
>
> Doug
>
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This may not be of any assistance but may point you in the right
direction:

http://archive.lug.boulder.co.us/bymonth/2002.10/msg00201.html

>From the above link:

I know there has been a lot of interest on the list lately about Raid
solutions and I thought I would share my experience with the Promise
Fasttrack TX 2000 IDE RAID controller.

I installed the controller, and the controller recognized my drives. Using
the BIOS setup screen from the controller, I set up a RAID 1 mirrored array
using a pair of Maxtor 80GB U133 7200 RPM drives.

Next, I booted the machine running RedHat 7.2 using the current release
kernel.

Initially, I attempted to use the pdcraid.o module. Unfortunately it didn't
recognize the controller.

I next build a custom kernel using Linux 2.4.19 and selecting the Promise
IDE Raid controller option. Evidently this driver hasn't been updated,
because it reported the same version as the 2.4.9-34 RedHat kernel and still
didn't work.

Bowing to the inevitable, I went to the Promise web site and downloaded the
controllers drivers. Installation of the kernel drivers failed because I was
running an updated kernel. Promise's drivers don't track the current
revision release of the RedHat kernel. Basically, if you are running an
updated RH kernel, their driver will not work. The supported kernel versions
for 7.2 and 7.3 are:

RH 7.2 - 2.4.7-10
RH 7.3 - 2.4.18-3

I then called Promise tech support. After less than two minutes, I was
connected with a technician. After going through some preliminary
information gathering I explained the problem. Essentially, there was no
resolution. The kernel versions that the distribution ships with are the
ones that are supported.

After doing some additional research on Google, I made the discovery that
the Promise TX 2000 isn't really a hardware Raid controller at all. It is an
IDE controller that has a bios that writes some array configuration data.
The driver provides the actual raid functionality. This is evidently why
promise will not release their driver source into the kernel. Their driver
provides the raid.

At this point I decided that it's time to look at a different solution.

Conclusion: For software raid, it makes a lot more sense to use the built in
Linux support for RAID than buying a software raid controller like the
Promise FastTrack TX2000 IDE controller.

-- 
                              Wade S Grant
                             USMC, Retired
                ----------------------------------------
                 Slackware 10.0 w/ Dropline Gnome 2.6.1
                     Registered Linux User #349591

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