Support for MegaRAID SAS on FreeBSD

[Stephane LAPIE]

Hi,

The instructions I provided work for 9.x and 8.x (well, minus the mfi.c
modification). To make things simple :
- For installing 6.x, 7.x and 8.x, just grab the appropriate archive
from LSI's site and use it as is. (don't modify the mfi.c !)
- For installing 9.x, grab the 8.x driver, modify the one line in mfi.c,
and use it.

1) To create the module for 9.0-RC1, yes, you could :
- Create a VM, install FreeBSD 9.0-RC1 in it
- Install the FreeBSD 9.0-RC1 source
- Apply the instructions for installing the module (it should be
loadable on a GENERIC kernel, then)
- Put the module on a USB key, or something

Installation itself should go something like this :
- Launch the installer on physical hardware
- Drop to a command prompt (if you have a liveFS), load your external
media, load the module to get the hardware detected
- Resume installation now that it can see your hardware
- Before rebooting, manually copy the mfi.ko to your /boot/kernel/
(erasing the older one!), and adding mfi_load="YES" to your
/boot/loader.conf (these paths are relative to your brand new installation)

2) Alternatively, you could engineer your own release :
- Create a VM, install FreeBSD 9.0-RC1 in it
- Install the FreeBSD 9.0-RC1 source
- Apply the instructions for installing the module (it should be
loadable on a GENERIC kernel, then)
- Run a "make release" on the source (you would probably have a few
errors with the mfip modules and mfi_linux, but nothing too hard to solve)

And use the resulting ISO to install FreeBSD normally (since it would
have the special mfi module by default).

Cheers,

On 11/06/2011 04:22 AM, linux freaker wrote:
> Hi Stephane,
> 
> Thanks for your response.
> Since I am unable to install FreeBSD 9.0 RC1 how shall I proceed?
> As you said you need to build a custom kernel or module beforehand, do you
> mean I need to install FreeBSD 9.0 RC1(or earlier) on VM or other supported
> hardware.Though I can install it on other hardware or VM, will it be useful
> to build this kernel there?
> 
> The Instruction which you provided is nice but which FreeBSD version I need
> to run on?
> 
> Well, it would be appreciated if you can provide me with custom ISO Image,
> if possible..
> If not, suggest me and I will follow the steps.
> 
> On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 11:49 PM, Stephane LAPIE
> <stephane.lapie at darkbsd.org>wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> The SAS 9240 controller works fine with the mfi driver provided by LSI,
>> however there is no driver to my knowledge in the default FreeBSD tree
>> that handles this controller, which is kind of annoying.
>>
>> So you have to build a custom kernel or module beforehand for it.
>>
>> I have two servers using this driver right now (one running on
>> 8.2-STABLE and one on 9.0-RC1.
>>
>> (Yes, I know this does not help at all for installation time unless you
>> have a full live filesystem, or engineer your own releases yourself... :/)
>>
>> However, for FreeBSD 9.X, it requires a quick modification to the source
>> for it to build (following enclosed instructions) :
>> - Remove the default /usr/src/sys/dev/mfi (by renaming it, for instance)
>> - Put the driver source provided by LSI in its place
>> - Modify mfi.c, the call to psignal() on line 1603 must be altered to
>> kern_psignal() (only step required for FreeBSD 9.X)
>> - After that modification : cd /usr/src/sys/dev/mfi; make
>> - You can then kldload the resulting mfi.ko module.
>>
>> So, to sum up, the LSI driver works, yes. :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> On 11/06/2011 01:59 AM, linux freaker wrote:
>>> I am facing issue while installing FreeBSD 9.1 RC1 on Dell PowerEdge
>> Server
>>> with MegaRAID SAS 9240 driver.
>>> It is unable to detect the controller.Any idea how to troubleshoot?
>>> I can see that it has mfi.1 driver loaded.(I am not sure if thats
>> mfi/mps).
>>> Do I need to rebuilt the kernel with this new driver.If yes, what steps I
>>> need to follow.
>>> I can see that LSI does provide the new 3.98_FreeBSD_x86_and_x64_drivers
>>> but uncertain if that would work.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org mailing list
>>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hardware
>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "
>> freebsd-hardware-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>>
>> --
>> Stephane LAPIE, EPITA SRS, Promo 2005
>> "Even when they have digital readouts, I can't understand them."
>> --MegaTokyo
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hardware
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hardware-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"

-- 
Stephane LAPIE, EPITA SRS, Promo 2005
"Even when they have digital readouts, I can't understand them."
--MegaTokyo

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 262 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/attachments/20111106/14c0dee7/signature.pgp