Xen users - Nov 2010 - [HOWTO] Update megaraid_sas driver in Linux 2.6.32.x to make it boot and work with Dell/LSI RAID adapters

Hello,

I noticed the default megaraid_sas driver version in upstream Linux 2.6.32.25
is pretty old, version 4.01, and it seems to be very buggy. 
It fails to bring up disks and boot fails. 

Many people have reported this issue on various hardware using LSI RAID
adapters,
and on various Dell servers (R310/R410/R510/R710) using Dell PERC H700 RAID
adapters
(which are rebranded LSI adapters).

This problem is not Xen specific at all, it''s just a broken driver
version
included in Linux 2.6.32.x kernel. 

Based on posts to various Xen related mailing lists and IRC channels
it seems this issues affects many Xen users, so I decided to post
this small howto here. Hopefully it helps.

Workaround is to manually update the driver:

	- Assumption: You have Linux kernel version 2.6.32.25 already installed.

	- Download new megaraid_sas driver. I tested with version 4.33.
	  It''s available at least from
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=493093
	  As an attachment in comment #16 . 
	  I''ve mirrored the driver here:
http://pasik.reaktio.net/xen/drivers/lsi-megaraid_sas/RH5_4.33.zip
	  LSI support site has Linux driver updates aswell, but atm they only had
version 4.31 there.

	- Extract RH5_4.33.zip
	- Extract megaraid_sas-v00.00.04.33-src.tgz
	- cd megaraid_sas-v00.00.04.33
	- make -C /lib/modules/2.6.32.25/build M=$PWD modules
	- mv /lib/modules/2.6.32.25/kernel/drivers/scsi/megaraid/megaraid_sas.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.32.25/kernel/drivers/scsi/megaraid/megaraid_sas_orig.ko
	- cp -a megaraid_sas.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.32.25/kernel/drivers/scsi/megaraid/megaraid_sas.ko
	- depmod -a 2.6.32.25

	- And now you need to re-generate new initrd image for your kernel to include 
	  the new megaraid_sas driver version 4.33. 
	  Method how to update the initrd image depends on what Linux distro
you''re using.

	- Back up the existing initrd image: 
		mv /boot/initramfs-2.6.32.25.img /boot/initramfs-2.6.32.25.backup.img

	- Re-generate initrd example for Fedora: 
		dracut -f /boot/initramfs-2.6.32.25.img 2.6.32.25

	- Re-generate initrd example for Debian/Ubuntu: 
		update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.32.25

	- Reboot and test.


Good luck! :)

-- Pasi


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