Hi, Who likes a good mystery? Compaq makes a tool, cpqacuxe (Compaq Array Configuration Utility) that is a linux executable. This tool can configure a hardware RAID controller based on the input from a text file. I have the tool working in the %pre environment and it does indeed send the hardware RAID config to the cciss controller. Here's two cases, one which works (manual), one which doesn't (automatic). Both are kickstarts. Automatic Method: While running my kickstart from CD, I am first prompted with : "No hard drives have been found. You probably need to manually choose device drivers for the installation to succeed. Would you like to select drivers now?" Which makes sense because %pre (nor anaconda) has not yet been execute. I answer "No" to the dialog. Then anaconda starts, probes kb.mouse,video, etc, and then stops with the message: "An error has occurred - no valid devices were found on which to create new filesystems. Please check your hardware for the cause of this problem or use dasdfmt." And if I press OK the machine reboots. #### If I ALT-F2 to a shell, and "ls /dev/cciss", I only see the /dev/ccciss/c0d0 that I mknoded in %pre, and no other devices, which makes sense then that the installer still can't see any thing to format. I also ran the cpqacuxe utility to confirm that the controller has been configured. Manual Method: While running my kickstart from CD, I am first prompted with : "No hard drives have been found. You probably need to manually choose device drivers for the installation to succeed. Would you like to select drivers now?" At this point I just ALT-F2 and manually run the commands that I do in %pre, which are the following: %pre echo "begin raid flash" mkdir /mnt/cd echo "mounting cd to /mnt/cd" mount /tmp/cdrom /mnt/cd echo "making dir /dev/cciss" mkdir /dev/cciss echo "mknodding /dev/cciss/c*d0" mknod /dev/cciss/c0d0 b 104 0 echo "setting password for cpqacufe" echo -n -e "password\npassword\n"|cpqacuxe echo "importing array config" cpqacuxe -i /mnt/cd/custom/files/seahawk.array If I then go back to the install screen, and select "No", anaconda starts, and doesn't complain at all about partitioning. When I go to check why, I see that something has created /dev entries in /dev/cciss/. Here's the question, why/how/what is different from doing it manually than putting those commands in %pre? Judging from the output of the /tmp/anaconda.log, there shouldn't be anything different because %pre is executed before the partition part of anaconda begins. Here's the relevant log entries of both attempts: ## The one that doesn't work * All kickstart %pre script(s) have been run * Couldnt lookup monitor type ADE2100V2 FL. * Could not probe monitor, and no fallback specified. * Falling back to Generic VGA monitor * resolution and depth not specified, trying to be sane * moving (1) to step partitionobjinit ##The one that does work All kickstart %pre script(s) have been run * Couldnt lookup monitor type ADE2100V2 FL. * Could not probe monitor, and no fallback specified. * Falling back to Generic VGA monitor * resolution and depth not specified, trying to be sane * moving (1) to step partitionobjinit * zeroMBR was set and invalid partition table found on cciss/c0d0 * zeroMBR was set and invalid partition table found on cciss/c0d1 * moving (1) to step autopartitionexecute * moving (1) to step partitiondone * moving (1) to step bootloadersetup * moving (1) to step networkdevicecheck * moving (1) to step timezone As you can see when it doesn't work, it fails on "moving (1) to step partitionobjinit". Is the cciss module reloaded at some point that would cause it to see the devices? I guess the bottom line, is why does one work and not the other. If you made it this far in the email, give yourself a pat on the back, I know it's long. Thanks, James James S. Martin, RHCE Contractor Administrative Office of the United States Courts Washington, DC (202) 502-2394
