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OS/2 - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: abwillis on 2012.05.07, 05:36:18

Title: IBM System 3650
Post by: abwillis on 2012.05.07, 05:36:18
I have been seeing if I could install eCS 2.1 on an IBM System 3650 that I have an opportunity to test.  The drives are SAS (serial attached scsi) that I have not found a driver for.  I tried the ipsraid, ahci, danis506, and various Adaptec scsi drivers (seems to be Adaptec based).  It seems that there are no drivers to handle this but thought I would check to see if anyone knew of something that might work.
Title: Re: IBM System 3650
Post by: miturbide on 2012.05.07, 18:27:14
Interesting. I'm checking the x3650 specs (http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/hardware/rack/x3650m3/specs.html). I had never tried to install eCS on SAS HDD drives, but just being curious.. did you get any error on booting the eCS 2.1 CD? or the installer just don't see any HDD available to install?

Regards
Title: Re: IBM System 3650
Post by: abwillis on 2012.05.07, 18:40:18
The installer just does not see any drives. 
Title: Re: IBM System 3650
Post by: RobertM on 2012.05.07, 21:25:37
Ummm... wow. What a coincidence!
(1) a friend of mine bought one of these rather recently, and I planned (PAST tense) on testing eCS on it.
(2) last week I was talking to Roderick about this exact machine (and my past tense plans).

The machine (depending on sub-model - I think there are four total) is SAS - supporting 3.5" and 2.5" or solely one of the two formats (if memory serves and dependent on model, ranging from the 6 3.5" SAS bay model to the 16 2.5" SAS bay model and who knows what other variants) using an IBM ServeRAID SAS adapter. There is no OS/2 or eCS driver for SAS support. I *DOUBT* even running regular SATA drives in the SAS bays will work either. Though the machine supports such, and will operate them in "SAS as SATA" mode (just made up that term - but accurate in what it does), that still will require proper chipset support.

On top of that, the ServeRAID cards (SCSI or SAS) are usually a little more than just a storage controller (due to the Remote System Administrator card(s), reporting tool integration, various cache and battery backup schemes, temperature sensors, health sensors and relevant support for things such as "IBM ServeRAID Manager") - but since there apparently are existing and working Linux drivers, it still may be the easiest to get supported - plus, supporting one card model will probably support many or all card models (just as there is only one driver to support virtually all of the SCSI ServeRAID adapters)

I will be attempting (assuming I can make the necessary "machine borrow" to test) to compile one of the open source Linux ServeRAID SAS drivers for use on eCS - but I'll warn you: (1) I am VERY rusty on this (haven't done a driver in over a decade) and (2) I need to put together a "development package" to use - any suggestions? Perhaps Paul's build environment is suitable? Anyone else have an already-set-up build environment that will save me some time?




Andy: I would love to know exactly which one you have and how it is configured (storage bays, ServeRAID adapter version, etc)... I know of the M1 through the M4 variants... but not too much about what differences are in each.




And in summary (which is applicable to ALL SAS machines), there are no SAS drivers at all for eCS/Warp (unless something snuck out as part of some special purchase support contract fulfillment or was written "home grown" - in which cases, no one, including Roderick, is aware of such).
Best,
Rob
Title: Re: IBM System 3650
Post by: abwillis on 2012.05.07, 22:45:12
It is a 7979ac1  these specs seem close, though the drives in this machine are 146G:
http://developer.novell.com/yes/101328.htm

Adaptec RAID BIOS 5.2-0
IBM ServeRAID 8k
I had seen the M1 and M2 designators (maybe even the M3 and M4) while trying to find drivers but not a way to determine which one the system is.  The best I have been able to tell this must be at least the M2 as I think the previous versions to it did not have SAS but that I cannot confirm for 100%.
Title: Re: IBM System 3650
Post by: abwillis on 2012.05.07, 22:55:47
Quote from: RobertM on 2012.05.07, 21:25:37
I will be attempting (assuming I can make the necessary "machine borrow" to test) to compile one of the open source Linux ServeRAID SAS drivers for use on eCS - but I'll warn you: (1) I am VERY rusty on this (haven't done a driver in over a decade) and (2) I need to put together a "development package" to use - any suggestions? Perhaps Paul's build environment is suitable? Anyone else have an already-set-up build environment that will save me some time?
I believe the best development package for drivers is probably OpenWatcom.  That is what is being used for Alsa and Multimac.  I don't know about using GCC to build drivers but I am guessing that as both Uniaud and Multimac would probably have been built with GCC if it was possible (especially considering that when Uniaud was first done it was by Innotek who had ported GCC) it would have been used.