Fasttrack TX2000 RAID problem

[Molle Bestefich]

Thank you - I'll just forward to the list so that Heinz can also take a peek.

Greg Felix wrote:
>
> `dmraid -tay -vvv`:
> 
> WARN: locking /var/lock/dmraid/.lock
> NOTICE: skipping removable device /dev/sda
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: hpt37x discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: hpt45x discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: isw    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: lsi    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: nvidia discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: pdc    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: pdc metadata discovered
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: sil    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hde: via    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: hpt37x discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: hpt45x discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: isw    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: lsi    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: nvidia discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: pdc    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: sil    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/hdg: via    discovering
> NOTICE: added /dev/hde to RAID set "pdc_bjfgcfhef"
> pdc_bjfgcfhef: 0 78123904 linear /dev/hde 0
> INFO: Activating stripe RAID set "pdc_bjfgcfhef"
> NOTICE: discovering partitions on "pdc_bjfgcfhef"
> NOTICE: /dev/mapper/pdc_bjfgcfhef: dos    discovering
> NOTICE: /dev/mapper/pdc_bjfgcfhef: dos metadata discovered
> NOTICE: created partitioned RAID set(s) for /dev/mapper/pdc_bjfgcfhef
> pdc_bjfgcfhef1: 0 16384 linear /dev/mapper/pdc_bjfgcfhef 25720557
> INFO: Activating partition RAID set "pdc_bjfgcfhef1"
> WARN: unlocking /var/lock/dmraid/.lock
>
> `dmraid -V` :
> 
> dmraid version:         1.0.0.rc8 (2005.05.19)
> dmraid library version: 1.0.0.rc8 (2005.05.19)
> device-mapper version:  4.4.0
> 
> `dmsetup --version`:
> 
> Library version:   1.00.19-ioctl (2004-07-03)
> Driver version:    4.4.0
> 
> Looks like it's just not finding any metadata on /dev/hdg

Absolutely.

It could be caused by (fx.):
 - Promise deciding to move the metadata around on disk
 - An "odd" configuration that causes the PDC BIOS to place it
somewhere that dmraid did not expect
 - dmraid may think that some value in the PDC metadata is constant
and regard it as part of PDC magic, when it's actually a variable
value..

(And a number of other, less likely reasons.)

I'm unfamiliar with PDC metadata - does RAID devices have names in the PDC BIOS?
If they do, you could find the metadata on disk by searching for this name.
It's usually plain ASCII encoded, and usually resides somewhere at the
beginning or end of the disk.  Try finding it with 'hexedit' or
'strings'.  You may find the dmraid source code, particularly
/lib/format/ataraid/pdc.{c,h} useful.

The source code is, btw, extremely well-written.  So it might also
help you to dive in (esp. the above mentioned file) and add some debug
statements to the metadata detection code.

Another thing you can do (it's a long shot, but hey) is to post your
BIOS version number.  If there's any regressions against the PDC BIOS,
we'll know circa when it has happened.  Also, others might have
success with RAID 0 and your firmware version..

> 
> Does this help at all?
> 

Dunno.  Getting closer, I hope :-).