The Dell™ PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 4/Di/Si and 4e/Di/Si controllers require software drivers to operate with the Microsoft® Windows®, RedHat® Linux®, and Novell NetWare® operating systems.
The drivers support:
40 logical drives per RAID controller
The ability to detect newly configured logical drives in Disk Administrator without rebooting the system (applicable only to Windows operating systems)
The ability to delete the last logical drive created using the configuration utilities (See the RAID controller's user's guide for more information.)
The ability to use the remaining capacity of an array using Dell OpenManage Array Manager or Dell OpenManage Storage Management (if provided).
This chapter contains the procedures for installing the drivers for the following operating systems.
Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 Server
Red Hat Linux
Novell Netware
There are three methods for installing the driver:
During operating system installation. Use this method if you are performing a new installation of the operating system and want to include the drivers.
After adding a new RAID controller. Use this method if the operating system is already installed, you have installed a RAID controller, and you want to add the device drivers.
Updating existing drivers. Use this method if the operating system and RAID controller are already installed, and you want to update to the latest drivers.
Obtaining Drivers
NOTE: See the readme file included with the driver for any updated information.
A driver diskette can be created for each supported operating system from the Dell OpenManage Installation and Server Management or Server Assistant. However, to make sure you have the latest version of drivers, download the updated drivers from the Dell Support web site at: http://support.dell.com.
Using the Dell OpenManage Installation and Server Management or Server Assistant CD to Install an Operating System
The Dell Installation and Server Management or Dell Server Assistant CD is a bootable, stand-alone CD-ROM that provides the tools required to setup and configure new Dell PowerEdge system components and software. It carries the latest available drivers that have been optimized for use on Dell PowerEdge Servers.
The Dell Installation and Server Management or Dell Server Assistant CD provides significant enhancements that streamline the installation of the Operating System on the PowerEdge Server. The Dell Installation and Server Management or Dell Server Assistant CD ships with every Dell PowerEdge Server. This proven set of tools and documentation greatly enhances the customer's out-of-box experience by providing an easy to follow step-by-step setup and operating system installation process.
Perform the following steps to install the driver while you are installing the operating system with the Dell Installation and Server Management or Dell Server Assistant CD.
Power the system down.
Power the system on.
During boot up, the PERC BIOS banner should display. If it does not, power the system down
and refer to Troubleshooting.
NOTE: If this controller is not your primary controller, you can skip to Step 6 and configure the
logical drives using Dell OpenManage Array Manager or Dell OpenManage Storage Management
(if provided) once the operating system is installed.
Insert the Dell Installation and Server Management or Dell Server Assistant CD in the CD
drive and restart the server.
Select the language that you want to use when prompted.
Read and accept the software license agreement to continue.
Select Click here for Server Setup on the Systems Management main page.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete setting up the operating system.
Systems Management detects the devices on your system and then automatically installs
drivers for all of those devices, including your RAID controller.
When prompted, insert the operating system CD and follow the instructions on the screen to
complete the installation. Refer to the operating system documentation for more information
on completing the operating system installation.
Installing Windows 2000 or 2003 Using the Microsoft Operating System CD with Driver Diskette
Creating a Driver Diskette
A driver diskette can be created through one of the following two methods:
Obtain the driver from the Dell OpenManage Systems Management CD or Support CD
Locate and download the latest RAID driver to the system. The driver should be labeled as
packaged for a diskette on the support site.
Follow the instructions on the support site for extracting the driver to the diskette.
Installing the Driver during Operating System Installation
Boot the system using the Microsoft Windows Server 2000/2003 CD.
When the message Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver appears,
press the <F6> key immediately.
Within a few minutes, a screen appears that asks for additional controllers in the system.
Press the <S> key.
The system prompts for the driver diskette to be inserted.
Insert the driver diskette in the floppy drive and press the <Enter> key.
A list of PERC controllers appears.
Select the right driver for the installed controller and press the <Enter> key to load the
driver.
NOTE: For Windows 2003 a message may appear that states that the driver that you provided is
older/newer then the Windows driver. Press the <S> key to use the driver that is on the floppy
diskette.
Press the <Enter> key again to continue the installation process as usual.
Installing a Windows 2000 or 2003 Driver for a New RAID Controller
Perform the following steps to configure the driver when you add the RAID controller to a system that already has Windows installed.
The Windows operating system should detect the new controller and display a message to inform the user.
The Found New Hardware Wizard screen pops up and displays the detected hardware device.
Click Next.
On the Locate device driver screen, select Search for a suitable driver for my device and click
Next.
Insert the appropriate driver diskette and select Floppy disk drives on the Locate Driver Files
screen.
Click Next.
The wizard detects and installs the appropriate device drivers for the new RAID controller.
Click Finish to complete the installation.
Reboot the server.
Updating an Existing Windows 2000 or 2003 Driver
Perform the following steps to update the windows driver for the RAID controller already installed on your system.
NOTE: It is important that you idle your system before you update the driver.
Press Start —> Settings —> Control Panel —> System.
The System Properties screen displays.
NOTE: In Windows 2003, press Start —> Control Panel —> System.
Click on the Hardware tab.
Click the Device Manager and the Device Manager screen displays.
Click SCSI and RAID Controllers.
Double-click the RAID controller for which you want to update the driver.
Click the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
The screen for the Upgrade Device Driver Wizard displays.
Insert the appropriate driver diskette.
Click Next.
Follow the steps in the Wizard to search the diskette for the driver.
Select the INF file from the diskette.
NOTE: In Windows 2003, select the name of the driver, not the INF file.
Click Next and continue the installation steps in the Wizard.
Click Finish to exit the wizard and reboot the system for the changes to take place.
Installing the Linux RedHat Driver
Use the procedures in this section to install the RedHat Linux driver for RedHat Linux 8.1, 9.0, AS 2.1, 3.0, and ES 2.1, 3.0. The driver is updated frequently. To make sure you have the current version of the driver, you can download the updated RedHat Linux driver from Dell Support at support.dell.com.
NOTE: On a Linux 8.0 system, when you run Cerc Manager (v. 5.23) from a Gnome-terminal in XWindows,
the <F10> key cannot be used to create a logical drive. Instead, you can use the alternate keys
<Shift><0>. (This is not an issue if Xterm is used to call cercmgr). The following is a list of alternate keys
you can use in case of problems with keys <F1> through <F6>, and <F10>:
<Shift><1> for <F1>
<Shift><2> for <F2>
<Shift><3> for <F3>
<Shift><4> for <F4>
<Shift><5> for <F5>
<Shift><6> for <F6>
<Shift><0> for <F10>
To install a RedHat Linux driver more recent than the one on the RedHat CD, you must use a driver diskette when you are installing the operating system. See Installing the Driver for information on this procedure. You must download the files before you begin the operating system installation.
For more detailed installation instructions for RedHat Linux 9.0 or later, see the operating system installation guide on the Dell Support site at: support.dell.com.
Creating a Driver Diskette
Before beginning the installation, download the driver appropriate for your version of RedHat Linux from support.dell.com to your temporary directory. This file includes two RPMs and five driver disk files. From a RedHat Linux system, enter the following commands to separate the individual driver files from the tar archive file:
Complete the installation as directed by the installation program.
Installing the Driver Using an Update RPM
The following procedures explain how to install RedHat Linux 9.0 or later and the appropriate RAID driver using an update RPM with or without DKMS support.
Installing the RPM Package without DKMS Support
Perform the following steps to install the RPM package without DKMS support:
Copy the driver rpm package to the proper location.
Install the driver rpm package:
rpm -Uvh <driver_package_file_name>
Reboot the system to load the new driver.
Installing the RPM Package with DKMS Support
Perform the following steps to install the RPM package without DKMS support:
Decompress the zipped file of the DKMS-enabled driver package.
In the directory containing the decompressed file, type the following shell command:
sh install.sh
Reboot the system to load the new driver.
Create driver diskette image using DKMS.
File and Directories Needed to Create the Driver Update Diskette (DUD)
The following files are needed before creating the DUD.
NOTE: The megaraid2 driver package installs these files. You do not need to do anything at this point.
There is a directory /usr/src/megaraid2-<driver_version>, which contains the driver source
code, dkms.conf and spec file for the driver.
In this directory, there is a subdirectory called redhat_driver_disk which contains the files
needed to create the DUD. The files needed are: disk_info, modinfo, modules.dep, and
pcitable.
To create the DUD image for pre-RedHat4 distribution, the kernel source package has to be
installed to compile the driver. For RedHat4 distribution, the kernel source is not needed.
DUD Creation Procedure
Perform the following steps to create the DUD using the DKMS tool:
Install the DKMS-enabled megaraid2 driver rpm package on a RedHat system.
NOTE: For information about installing drivers if you use the NetWare CD to install your operating
system, see your Novell documentation.
After adding a new RAID controller
Use this method if Novell NetWare is already installed and you want to add the device drivers after installing the RAID controller.
Performing a Standard Mode Installation of NetWare 5.1SBE, 6.0, and 6.5
With standard mode installation, you accept the defaults for the components to be installed.
Updating existing drivers
Use this method if Novell NetWare and the RAID controller are already installed, and you want to update to the latest drivers for the controller.
Installing a NetWare Driver for a New Controller
Perform the following steps to add a NetWare 5.1, 6.0, 6.5, or later driver to an existing installation.
At the root prompt, perform the following steps:
For NetWare 5.1 and 6.0, type:
nwconfig
and press <Enter>.
The Installation Options screen displays.
For NetWare 6.5, type:
hdetect
and press Continue on the first menu to go to the storage drivers, then follow the instructions for updating the driver. For NetWare 6.5, you can press <F3> to auto detect drivers.
Select Configure Disk and Storage Device Options, then press <Enter>.
Select one of the options that display:
Discover and load an additional driver.
If you select the option Discover and load an additional driver, the system detects the extra unit. Perform step 4 to complete the procedure.
At the prompt to select a driver from the list, press <Insert> to insert the driver, which
completes the procedure.
If you select the option Select an additional driver, perform steps 5 - 8.
After you select Select an additional driver, the Select a Driver screen displays.
Press <Insert> and read the instructions that display.
Put the driver diskette in the diskette drive and press <Enter>.
The system then detects a driver and installs it.
Modifying the PCI Slot Numbers for the Controllers
Perform the following steps to modify the PCI slot numbers for the controller:
At the command prompt, type:
C:\NWSERVER>
and press <Enter>.
Type
server –nss
(Not load Storage Service /modules.NLM)
At : Prompt (System Console), type:
load pedge3.ham
and press <Enter>.
The following supported slot options display:
No Selection
PCI Slot_2.1 (HIN 202)
PCI EMBEDDED (HIN 10017)
NOTE: Write down the number after "HIN". In step 3, the number is 10017.
Under choice, type:
0
This is for no selection.
At the command prompt (System Console), type
Edit Startup.ncf
A list of CDM drivers displays.
Select LOAD PEDGE3.HAM SLOT=XXXX.
Before you exit the list of CDM drivers, press <Alt> <V> to save the update.
Press <Alt> <X> to exit to C:\NWSERVER.
At the C:\NWSERVER prompt, type the following for the operating system to boot:
server
The operating system boots.
Performing a Standard Mode Installation of NetWare 5.1SBE, 6.0, and 6.5
Standard mode means that you accept the defaults for the components to be installed. Perform the following steps for a standard mode installation on NetWare 5.1SBE, 6.0, and 6.5:
At Server Settings, select Continue and press <Enter> to accept the default.
At Regional Settings, select Continue and press <Enter> to accept the default.
At Mouse type and Video mode select Continue and press <Enter> to accept the default.
The system will take several minutes to load files. It will find the device drivers that support the adapter.
Insert the driver diskette in the floppy (A:/) drive.
For device types and driver names, select Modify and press <Enter>.
Highlight Storage Adapters and press <Enter>.
At the option Add, Edit or Delete Storage Drivers, press <Insert> to add a driver.
At the option Select a Driver for each Storage Adapter, press <Insert> to add an unlisted
driver.
The system scans the path for the A:/ drive. The driver diskette is already in the A:/ drive. The option Return to Driver Summary displays.
Select Return to Driver Summary and press <Enter>.
Select Continue and press <Enter>.
NOTE: You must load a driver for each controller. For example, if you have four adapters, the driver
is listed four times.
Updating an Existing Driver for NetWare 5.1 or 6.0
Perform the following steps to update an existing driver for NetWare 5.1 or 6.0:
