Adaptec 1430SA on Debian Linux “Etch”
Well folks, I just got saddled with this Adaptec/Marvel piece of poo and now I have to make it work on a Debian server. The server belongs to my employer and is running Debian “Etch”.
The Etch release of Debian does not have a driver for this card built-in and even though Adaptec claim to support Linux, their drivers simply do not work unless you are running some specific outdated versions of Red Hat or SUSE. That’s not what I call Linux support!
I’m not the only one discovering this, Brent Norris wrote a wonderful article titled “Adaptec 1420SA is JUNK!” on his blog which describes pretty much the exact situation I find myself in which Adaptec just doesn’t want to know about Linux.
When are these guys (by whom I mean most major hardware manufacturers) going to realize that Linux is here to stay and is getting real popular, especially in the server room.
Anyway, enough ranting. After a couple of hours Googling around, I see that there is an open source driver available for this card and it is built into Linux kernel version 2.6.22. Debian Etch uses 2.6.18 so all I need to do is upgrade the kernel.
The easiest way to install the upgraded kernel is to get a DEB package from Debian Backports. Go to this page:
http://packages.debian.org/etch-backports/admin/
and grab a kernel, there are usually a couple of different versions available there.
Install it and reboot. Works great so far.
PS. I notice that the driver for this card was released into the Linux kernel by Red Hat corporation. So it seems even they are fed up with Adaptec’s poor support for Linux!
Hi Adam,
I need your knowledge with Adaptec 1430SA. Could you write me exactly how did you make the installation of this card with Debian?
Thank you very much!
Istvan
I thought I just did!
OK, basically all you need to do is install an upgraded kernel.
STEP 1: Go to http://packages.debian.org/etch-backports/admin/ and download a new kernel. The version numbers are changing all the time so you’ll have to identify one of version 2.6.22 or later and find the one appropriate for your platform. The file will be called linux-image-<version>_<platform>.deb
If you are on a regular PC, your platform will be 686 / i386.
The one I got was linux-image-2.6.22-4-686_2.6.22-6~bpo40+2_i386.deb
STEP 2: Install the kernel you just downloaded. Use the dpkg command to do this. You need to be logged in as root first. Here is an example:
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.22-4-686_2.6.22-6~bpo40+2_i386.deb
STEP 3: Reboot
That’s it. The card will now be automatically recognised by Debian and you can access any drives which are attached to it.
Is there a way to modify the netinstall cd like 3ware did so that you could boot of the raid? and install directly to the raid without any need for anything else?
Yes there probably is but I don’t know how.
I suggest you try the new “Lenny” install CD. It probably has the RAID drivers built-in for this card.