Configuration: I have a server that has a built-in adaptec 7899 scsi controller. Attached to this controller are 3 drives. I add another adaptec card on the PCI bus, a Adaptec asc-39160, and attach 3 more drives to this. I set the system up and try to setup a configuration where I can boot using the asc- 39160. Problem: Both cards use the aic7xxx driver. When the driver loads it sees the on- board scsi as sda, sdb, sdc. The asc-39160 is sdd, sde, sdf. I'm using the default install mode, and I select custom configuration. I tell the installer to place /boot on sdd by deselecting everything except sdd, and select ok. The installer forces the /boot partition to be on sda1. I try to edit this and it says that the only allowable drives are sda and sdb. Workarounds: I have a workaround: I attach the asc-39160 drives onto to on-board controller and installing to what is temporarily sda. I switch back, and boot sde. This works: lilo comes up, and linux will boot (but I have to issue override commands to let linux know that the drive is no-longer sda). A second work around works for other scsi-controllers. If an expert install is used I can install the driver for the boot card first, and these drives become sda, sdb etc. Problem synopsis: The SCSI design allows for the ability to boot off any device. Why does the installer force /boot to be on sda or sdb? I don't think is correct. Surely I should not have to place data on another drive that isn't the boot drive?
This is a legacy issue. The variety of controllers which allow other configurations than the legacy "boot off first two drives" is large enough we have not incoporated this into the current installer. It is something we may visit in the future.
Should be fixed now in roswell.