Dear Raghava Aditya,
Thank you for your answer.
Am 18.12.2017 um 19:09 schrieb Raghava Aditya Renukunta:
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Menzel [mailto:pmenzel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2017 1:39 AM
To: Raghava Aditya Renukunta
<RaghavaAditya.Renukunta@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; dl-esc-Aacraid Linux Driver
<aacraid@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-scsi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; it+linux-scsi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Driver version for PMC Adaptec HBA in Linux and from vendor
Am 17.02.2017 um 20:29 schrieb Raghava Aditya Renukunta:
Using a PMC Adaptec HBA 1000-8e with latest Linux, it only initializes
in sync mode, instead of async mode.
The patches that enable async mode in HBA 1000-8e, have been included in
the James Bottomley's linux-scsi Branch and are on track be
Included into Linux 4.11.
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/jejb/scsi.git/
```
$ git describe --tag
v4.10-rc8-47-g0722f57bf
$ dmesg
[ 21.359635] Adaptec aacraid driver 1.2-1[41066]-ms
[ 21.360017] aacraid 0000:04:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have
ASPM control
[ 21.363987] AAC0: Async. mode not supported by current driver, sync.
mode enforced.
[ 21.363987] Please update driver to get full performance.
[ 21.364949] AAC0: kernel 1.2-0[0] Nov 5 2015
[ 21.365275] AAC0: monitor 0.0-0[0]
[ 21.371382] AAC0: bios 0.13-209[32000]
[ 21.371711] AAC0: serial 10F447
[ 21.372035] AAC0: Non-DASD support enabled.
[ 21.372360] AAC0: 64bit support enabled.
[ 21.372688] AAC0: 64 Bit DAC enabled
[…]
$ git grep 'AAC_DRIVER_BUILD 41066'
drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.h:# define AAC_DRIVER_BUILD 41066
```
Searching the vendor Web site, there is *Linux Driver Source
1.2.1-53005* available for download [1].
The latest upstream driver version is 50740. We will be reaching version 53005 in couple of patch sets ( ~ 3).
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/jejb/scsi.git/commit/?id=96f6a613
4766de0d42a98c7758736dde16e0add5
Thank you for the details. At our infrastructure we only want to use LTS
Linux kernels, and the latest in 4.14. So right now, Linux 4.14.6
includes version 50834 [1], which is the same version currently in Linus
master branch (4.15-rc3). Is that save to use with async mode, or are
you aware of problems and we should always use the latest out of tree
driver, which is at version 55022 and can be download from the Microsemi
server [3].
Well at this point I am in the process of creating a patch set that solves a kdump regression issue(Should be out before the new year), other than that the upstream driver is pretty much up to date. If kdump support is a must for you I would recommend that 55022 be used.
From your answer the state of async support is unclear to me. Could you
please clarify, if that’s support in 4.14.x? (What source line do I need
to check?)
How does the upstream process work? Is there a git repository somewhere
from Microsemi? Are the patches already up for review? (I didn’t find them.)
We try to push out patch sets to kernel.org for every major driver release we make. Usually they go into the
sub component maintainers branch (linux-scsi ) , which is then pushed out to Linus when the merge
window for opens (currently the merge window for 4.10 is closed , barring fixes). So Linux version 4.11 should have
full async support and more for HBA1000-8e.
We do not maintain a git repository unfortunately, but we do release the >>> source code for every release as you indicated.
For further reference the patches are sent out in the scsi mailing list linux-scsi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ,
the archive is here http://marc.info/?l=linux-scsi&r=1&w=2 .
Hope I cleared up your doubts. Please do reach out if you have other concerns or questions.
Yes, thank you for your elaborate answer, which cleared up a lot of my
doubts. We would be even more satisfied if you moved your development
fully to the Linux kernel tree, so that it always carries the latest
driver. If we can help with that by contacting certain people, please
tell us.
We would love to, but we have lots of customers who are on the older kernel versions 2.6.32, 3.10.0 etc and It becomes almost impossible for us to fully move our development to the Linux kernel tree and support our customers at the same time. Hopefully we will start being up to date with the upstream kernel in the coming months. Hope that answered your questions.
I understand, but doesn’t it make more sense to adapt the model like
done for Linux Long Term Support (LTS) series to develop against the
latest Linux kernel, and then backport the corresponding patches?
Maybe you should talk to Red Hat and SUSE? I guess that’s the systems
you have to support. Probably you already talk to them.
Kind regards,
Paul
[1] https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/raid/aac/linux/aacraid-linux-src-1_2_1-53005_tgz.php
[2] https://elixir.free-electrons.com/linux/v4.14.6/source/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.h#L100
[3] https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/downloads/linux_source/linux_source_code/productid=aha-1000-8e&dn=microsemi+adaptec+hba+1000-8e.php
