RocketRAID 1640 / ataraid / graid

[rjw]

Hi All.

I'm upgrading a FreeBSD 8.2 system which uses a RocketRAID 1640 controller configured as RAID5 and ataraid (DSF: /dev/ar0).

With FreeBSD 9.0 replacing ataraid with graid I can no longer see any raid device.

I found the following which raises a question from me:

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=22807

Support for such popular metadata formats is now implemented:
 Intel, JMicron, NVIDIA, Promise (also used by AMD/ATI) and SiliconImage.

Does this mean RocketRAID is NOT supported under graid?

Any assistance with this is appreciated. I would prefer to use graid if possible but I don't want to jump through hoops to achieve it.

As a side note, reverting back to ataraid from the FreeBSD 9.0 installation media appears to be impossible.

 

[SirDice]

As a side note, reverting back to ataraid from the FreeBSD 9.0 installation media appears to be impossible.

It should be possible but requires a custom kernel.

You'd have to remove:

option ATA_CAM

And add:

device ataraid

I'm not sure if ATA_CAM needs to be removed and perhaps simply kldload(8) ataraid(4) might work.

 

[rjw]

So roll a custom kernel then rebuild the installation media?

 

[SirDice]

Try loading ataraid(4) first. When the installation starts drop to the shell and kldload(8) it. Then exit and continue the install.

 

[rjw]

Try loading ataraid(4) first. When the installation starts drop to the shell and kldload(8) it. Then exit and continue the install.

Tried that. The ahci device overides ata.

 

[rjw]

FYI - I'm currently rebuilding the RAID so when it's complete I'll unload ahci and load ataraid and see how that goes.

 

[rjw]

The above method didn't work (nor did disable-module) so I'm installing FreeBSD 8.2 and doing a source upgrade using my custom kernel.