Installing Linux on a SAS drive - Help

[Computernaut]

I have an old server I'd like to install Linux on, it came with a bunch of SAS drives and I'd like to use one of those (if possible) for my boot drive. The problem is that Linux doesn't detect the SAS drives. The server is a Dell PowerEdge 2950.

[ManyCoresGuy]

27 minutes ago, Computernaut said:

I have an old server I'd like to install Linux on, it came with a bunch of SAS drives and I'd like to use one of those (if possible) for my boot drive. The problem is that Linux doesn't detect the SAS drives. The server is a Dell PowerEdge 2950.

Are the SAS drives part of a previous raid setup? I would boot into the raid controller and check to see if there are broken raid volumes. That would cause the issue you are having.

[Computernaut]

2 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

Are the SAS drives part of a previous raid setup? I would boot into the raid controller and check to see if there are broken raid volumes. That would cause the issue you are having.

How do I boot into a raid controller?

[ManyCoresGuy]

3 hours ago, Computernaut said:

How do I boot into a raid controller?

Do a quick google search on how to boot into your raid controller on your model server. BTW is this your personal server or company?

[Computernaut]

14 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

Do a quick google search on how to boot into your raid controller on your model server. BTW is this your personal server or company?

Okay.

It is a personal server, but I don't know where it came from originally.

[Computernaut]

On 11/14/2019 at 12:03 AM, ManyCoresGuy said:

Do a quick google search on how to boot into your raid controller on your model server. BTW is this your personal server or company?

So I found out how to get into my RAID controller and I set up my two normal (or as normal as drives can be when attached to a RAID controller) drives, but when I tried to install Linux Mint, it didn't work; I got the the sample desktop (or whatever that is), but when tried to click on the "Install Linux Mint" application on that desktop it did nothing, absolutely nothing. I tried again with Ubuntu Server and got some weird error that made no sense at a different step in the process, and then I tried installing regular Ubuntu and it still didn't work: I got a different error. I'm pretty sure at least one of these has to do with the disks.

[ManyCoresGuy]

This solution might be of help in your situation. https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-HDD-SCSI-RAID/New-HDD-not-being-recognized-by-SAS-controller-on-PowerEdge-T410/m-p/4044131#M30816

[Computernaut]

29 minutes ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

This solution might be of help in your situation. https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-HDD-SCSI-RAID/New-HDD-not-being-recognized-by-SAS-controller-on-PowerEdge-T410/m-p/4044131#M30816

My issue is not with an actual RAID configuration or hot spares (I don't think). What are you suggesting I do? Should I post some of the errors I get?

[ManyCoresGuy]

4 hours ago, Computernaut said:

My issue is not with an actual RAID configuration or hot spares (I don't think). What are you suggesting I do? Should I post some of the errors I get?

Screenshots can help. 

[Computernaut]

11 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

Screenshots can help. 

Here's the crash report from Ubuntu, I've collapsed all the sections so you can see them all. Which one do you need to see in full?

[ManyCoresGuy]

do you have any other drives you can use to install this on? I know this problem has to do with using existing drives that were configured as a raid before which breaks if taken out and inserted back in a different order. I ran into this problem before when i working at a previous job and i needed to spin up a new server with a used SAS drive. 

[ManyCoresGuy]

The drive needs to be 'Enabled" in the raid controller. do you have a lifecycle controller on your dell server?

[Computernaut]

16 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

do you have any other drives you can use to install this on? I know this problem has to do with using existing drives that were configured as a raid before which breaks if taken out and inserted back in a different order. I ran into this problem before when i working at a previous job and i needed to spin up a new server with a used SAS drive. 

I don't have any other good drives, otherwise I'd be using them already. Is it possible to get make the RAID controller "forget" about any configurations and start fresh?

16 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

The drive needs to be 'Enabled" in the raid controller. do you have a lifecycle controller on your dell server?

I don't remember seeing an enabled vs disabled option in my controller configuration tool, but I'll look again. Also, what's a "lifecycle controller"?

[bcredeur97]

guys he pretty much fixed the drive issue, he's in the OS now having other issues.
 

First thought is drivers. Ubuntu might not have all the correct drivers and such that you need by default. Hence the errors. 

Despite the errors, what isn't working?

[Computernaut]

3 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

guys he pretty much fixed the drive issue, he's in the OS now having other issues.
 

First thought is drivers. Ubuntu might not have all the correct drivers and such that you need by default. Hence the errors. 

Despite the errors, what isn't working?

What isn't working is that Ubuntu won't install. It gives me the error I mentioned previously.

[ManyCoresGuy]

12 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

guys he pretty much fixed the drive issue, he's in the OS now having other issues.
 

First thought is drivers. Ubuntu might not have all the correct drivers and such that you need by default. Hence the errors. 

Despite the errors, what isn't working?

He didnt fix the drive issue because he is using a Ubuntu live usb which runs on ram. Also ubuntu should have full support for dell server hardware since its the most popular enterprise brand. 

[bcredeur97]

Oh, so I'm an idiot, carry on! sorry

[Computernaut]

On 11/16/2019 at 8:14 PM, ManyCoresGuy said:

The drive needs to be 'Enabled" in the raid controller. do you have a lifecycle controller on your dell server?

I'm still not sure about the "lifecycle controller", but I'm quite sure both of my two drives are enabled. They both show up to Ubuntu live as usable volumes. I just can't start the Ubuntu installer.

[ManyCoresGuy]

1 minute ago, Computernaut said:

I'm still not sure about the "lifecycle controller", but I'm quite sure both of my two drives are enabled. They both show up to Ubuntu live as usable volumes. I just can't start the Ubuntu installer.

Hmm. what version of ubuntu are you trying to install? 

[Computernaut]

18 hours ago, ManyCoresGuy said:

Hmm. what version of ubuntu are you trying to install? 

It's in the screenshot, 18.04.

[Radium_Angel]

20 hours ago, Computernaut said:

It's in the screenshot, 18.04.

It's not the drives, per se, but perhaps the RAID controller itself. I have a 2950 and a 2900 III that installed way older versions of Ubuntu than what you are using, natively.

What RAID controller is in the 2950 you have? This makes a difference.

[Computernaut]

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

It's not the drives, per se, but perhaps the RAID controller itself. I have a 2950 and a 2900 III that installed way older versions of Ubuntu than what you are using, natively.

What RAID controller is in the 2950 you have? This makes a difference.

I'm not sure what kind of name you're looking for, but in the configuration utility is says something about it being a "PERC 6/i" and I know from the boot-feed that it's from LSI.

[Radium_Angel]

3 hours ago, Computernaut said:

"PERC 6/i"

That's the key.

Now, there is firmware associated with that RAID card. I don't use the 6/i, so I'm going from memory here, but what you need to do is when the system is booting up, there should be a firmware number just above the Perc 6/i RAID config, and you'll need to ensure it's up to date (dell's website will have those.)

But setting that aside, when you get into the perc 6/i interface, take a pic of what you see, and post it here, we'll go from there...

[Computernaut]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

That's the key.

Now, there is firmware associated with that RAID card. I don't use the 6/i, so I'm going from memory here, but what you need to do is when the system is booting up, there should be a firmware number just above the Perc 6/i RAID config, and you'll need to ensure it's up to date (dell's website will have those.)

But setting that aside, when you get into the perc 6/i interface, take a pic of what you see, and post it here, we'll go from there...

Here's what I see:

 

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, Computernaut said:

Here's what I see:

Check out this video, this may be of some use for you

 

The Perc 6/i has been supported under Ubuntu since the 10 days, so there is either a config issue, or the Perc card is damaged.

Once you get the Perc configured properly, and you try to install Ubuntu, if it throws an error, post that here too, please