Bug 223465

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #220850 +++

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Description of problem:
The latest version of 3w-9xxx.c, from manufacturer 2.26.06.001, is supposed to
support the 9650SE card. It is designed for newer than 2.6.9 kernels and will
not compile on RHEL 4. I need to deploy a production server and don't want to
buy an older controller as a work around.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
2.26.04.010

How reproducible:
Always


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Installer won't recognize drives.

Actual Results:


Expected Results:


Additional info:
Upstream maintainer: Tom Couch <linuxraid>

-- Additional comment from scottb on 2007-01-02 14:32 EST --
I got the install accomplished using version 2.26.05.006 of the 3w-9xxx kernel
module I found on www.3ware.com. It looks like they have tested it with WS. I
used it successfully with ES.

It appears that the 2.26.05 series of 3w-9xxx is dedicated to kernel 2.6.9.

3ware's site also contains a 2.26.06 series which is supposed to work with newer
kernels in fedora but I couldn't get them to work.

The current update version of the kernel for RHEL4 contains version 2.26.04.010
of the module. If the next kernel update included 2.26.05.006 or a later version
of the 2.26.05 series, then as far as I know, this bug would be closed.

-- Additional comment from scottb on 2007-01-04 12:22 EST --
Background that I've learned so far about this 3ware card:

This new model (Installation Guide dated Oct 06) is not an incremental updated
version, it's a version for pci-express where the next older model is for pci-x.
I assume that this explains why the older driver isn't compatible; the
connection bus is different.

3ware claims that their cards provide the highest capacity and performance, and
best raid 6 performance. They might be accurate, I checked adaptec to see if
they had a product I could purchase to work around the lack of driver problem
and the biggest card they had was 8 ports with discrete cables (my server has 16
bays) wheras the 3ware product has 16 ports with 4 quad cables (their invention
they say). They claim the write performance hit from raid 6 over raid 5 is only
15% with their cards (as opposed to 60% with others). 

The only problem I have with their product (since I got the driver to work) is
that the management tool is not open source, boo. ( It works good though. )

-- Additional comment from jwilson on 2007-01-05 12:36 EST --
Based on an up-to-date-as-of-this-writing RHEL4 kernel cvs tree's
linux-2.6.9-scsi-3ware-update.patch, we're still at 2.26.04.010 for RHEL4 U5.

-- Additional comment from coughlan on 2007-01-16 10:53 EST --
Chip,

Please check with 3ware to see if there is a low-risk update for this driver
that may be feasible for 4.5.

Tom

-- Additional comment from coldwell on 2007-01-19 10:41 EST --
Created an attachment (id=145988)
patch to support the 3ware 9650SE SATA-RAID controller

From Michael Benz and Patrick Pejack at AMCC.

-- Additional comment from coldwell on 2007-01-19 10:55 EST --
Created an attachment (id=145992)
touch up of the preceeding patch