CentOS - Feb 2010 - HP Proliant ML150 : how do I access disks ?

Hi,

Up until now, I've only installed Linux either on "desktop"
hardware,
meaning one of the desktop PCs in the LAN acted as a server machine for 
the network, or I rented some dedicated server somewhere in a datacenter.

Last week I bought some server hardware, a used HP Proliant ML150. It's 
the first time I am dealing with this sort of hardware. The hardware was 
sold "as is", without any warranty.

When I open the front cache, there are six small "drawers", and the 
bottom two of them each contain a 72 GB hard disk.

I inserted a CentOS 5.4 install CD (1 of 6), and the installer (linux 
text) booted correctly. But when it comes to partitioning, it "sees"
no
disk.

Unlike the usual desktop hardware, there seems to be a myriad of 
configuration options, and I'm a bit lost here. So first things first. 
How do I configure this machine so the CentOS installer can actually 
recognize my two inserted hard disks as such : say, sda and sdb or 
similarly ?

Any suggestions ?

Niki Kovacs

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thus Niki Kovacs spake:
> Hi,
> 
> Up until now, I've only installed Linux either on "desktop"
hardware,
> meaning one of the desktop PCs in the LAN acted as a server machine for 
> the network, or I rented some dedicated server somewhere in a datacenter.
> 
> Last week I bought some server hardware, a used HP Proliant ML150. It's
> the first time I am dealing with this sort of hardware. The hardware was 
> sold "as is", without any warranty.
> 
> When I open the front cache, there are six small "drawers", and
the
> bottom two of them each contain a 72 GB hard disk.
> 
> I inserted a CentOS 5.4 install CD (1 of 6), and the installer (linux 
> text) booted correctly. But when it comes to partitioning, it
"sees" no
> disk.
You most probably need a driver disk; searching for the model and 'RHEL
driver' tells me that you need a "Driver Diskette for HP ProLiant Smart
Array Controller", which you can get at hp.com.

You then need to burn it onto CD or copy it to an USB stick (don't know
that piece of driver), so you can load this driver when booting CentOS.
You'll need to boot Linux with the 'dd' option ('dd' stands
for 'driver
disk') when you see grub.
> Unlike the usual desktop hardware, there seems to be a myriad of 
> configuration options, and I'm a bit lost here. So first things first. 
> How do I configure this machine so the CentOS installer can actually 
> recognize my two inserted hard disks as such : say, sda and sdb or 
> similarly ?
> 
> Any suggestions ?
> 
> Niki Kovacs
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There should be a message from the bios about "configure the disk
controller".  It's usually F8 to get into it.  Once in, you will need
to
create virtual/logical drives.  Depending on the model you may not be
able to do anything other than a RAID array.  You may be able to create
single disk 'arrays' if you really want to see the individual drives.

Once you have the drives created, the installer should see them.  On DL
series Proliants they are /dev/cciss/c0d0 (for the first array).  You
will want to grab the appropriate HP agents from the web site.  hpacucli
is very useful as it allows you to access the drives (and any new ones
you get) from the command line of the OS.


On Wed, 17 Feb 2010, Niki Kovacs wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Up until now, I've only installed Linux either on "desktop"
hardware,
> meaning one of the desktop PCs in the LAN acted as a server machine for
> the network, or I rented some dedicated server somewhere in a datacenter.
>
> Last week I bought some server hardware, a used HP Proliant ML150. It's
> the first time I am dealing with this sort of hardware. The hardware was
> sold "as is", without any warranty.
>
> When I open the front cache, there are six small "drawers", and
the
> bottom two of them each contain a 72 GB hard disk.
>
> I inserted a CentOS 5.4 install CD (1 of 6), and the installer (linux
> text) booted correctly. But when it comes to partitioning, it
"sees" no
> disk.
>
> Unlike the usual desktop hardware, there seems to be a myriad of
> configuration options, and I'm a bit lost here. So first things first.
> How do I configure this machine so the CentOS installer can actually
> recognize my two inserted hard disks as such : say, sda and sdb or
> similarly ?
>
> Any suggestions ?
>
> Niki Kovacs
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Wildman, CISSP, RHCE       jim at rossberry.com http://www.rossberry.com
"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best
state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
Thomas Paine

>Last week I bought some server hardware, a used HP Proliant ML150.
That server comes with an onboard sata raid controller that needs a dd
that HP only supports with an rhel kernel <= 5.3.

If you have a Smart Array controller the driver is built in.

If you don't, forget about the sata raid, setup the controller as non raid
in the bios, and use md.