[gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[Jay Maynard]

I've got an Alphaserver 1000A 5/333 with a DAC960P (KZPSC) RAID controller.
I've managed to create the BSD disklabel, but I can't figure out what the
partitions are created as in the LiveCD installer filesystem - or if they're
created at all, and if not, what do I create them as. I did the fdisk
against /dev/rd/disc0/disc, since that was the only file I could find with a
major number of 48 (the DAC960 driver's major number). There are no files of
the name /dev/rd/c0d0*, or anything of the sort. I rebooted after creating
the disklabel, and the driver didn't find the BAD disklabel - does that mean
that it doesn't support them? Am I stuck, in that case? I suppose I could
try MILO again, but I wasn't able to get the ARC firmware to load the OS
from the floppy.

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Re: [gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[Aron Griffis]

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Jay Maynard wrote:	[Thu Jan 22 2004, 09:30:15PM EST]
> I've got an Alphaserver 1000A 5/333 with a DAC960P (KZPSC) RAID controller.
> I've managed to create the BSD disklabel, but I can't figure out what the
> partitions are created as in the LiveCD installer filesystem - or if they're
> created at all, and if not, what do I create them as. I did the fdisk
> against /dev/rd/disc0/disc, since that was the only file I could find with a
> major number of 48 (the DAC960 driver's major number). There are no files of
> the name /dev/rd/c0d0*, or anything of the sort. I rebooted after creating
> the disklabel, and the driver didn't find the BAD disklabel - does that mean
> that it doesn't support them? Am I stuck, in that case? I suppose I could
> try MILO again, but I wasn't able to get the ARC firmware to load the OS
> from the floppy.

You might try booting a Debian ISO to see if the partitions are
recognized.  The current Gentoo ISO apparently has some partitioning
problems.  If the Debian ISO works, then you can make your filesystems,
chroot and install Gentoo.

Regards,
Aron

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Aron Griffis
Gentoo Linux Developer (alpha / ia64 / ruby / vim)
Key fingerprint = E3B6 8734 C2D6 B5E5 AE76  FB3A 26B1 C5E3 2010 4EB0


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Re: [gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[Jay Maynard]

On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 10:48:30PM -0500, Aron Griffis wrote:
> Jay Maynard wrote:	[Thu Jan 22 2004, 09:30:15PM EST]
> > I've got an Alphaserver 1000A 5/333 with a DAC960P (KZPSC) RAID controller.
> > I've managed to create the BSD disklabel, but I can't figure out what the
> > partitions are created as in the LiveCD installer filesystem - or if they're
> > created at all, and if not, what do I create them as. I did the fdisk
> > against /dev/rd/disc0/disc, since that was the only file I could find with a
> > major number of 48 (the DAC960 driver's major number). There are no files of
> > the name /dev/rd/c0d0*, or anything of the sort. I rebooted after creating
> > the disklabel, and the driver didn't find the BAD disklabel - does that mean
> > that it doesn't support them? Am I stuck, in that case? I suppose I could
> > try MILO again, but I wasn't able to get the ARC firmware to load the OS
> > from the floppy.
> You might try booting a Debian ISO to see if the partitions are
> recognized.  The current Gentoo ISO apparently has some partitioning
> problems.  If the Debian ISO works, then you can make your filesystems,
> chroot and install Gentoo.

I was able to get there by defining both DOS partitions and BSD disklabels,
with identical layouts.

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Re: [gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[Aron Griffis]

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Jay Maynard wrote:	[Fri Feb 06 2004, 03:39:19AM EST]
> I was able to get there by defining both DOS partitions and BSD disklabels,
> with identical layouts.

I'd be curious to see this.  Would you post the partition tables?

Regards,
Aron

--
Aron Griffis
Gentoo Linux Developer (alpha / ia64 / ruby / vim)
Key fingerprint = E3B6 8734 C2D6 B5E5 AE76  FB3A 26B1 C5E3 2010 4EB0


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Re: [gentoo-alpha] DAC960 partitioning during install?

[Jay Maynard]

On Fri, Feb 06, 2004 at 10:08:49AM -0500, Aron Griffis wrote:
> Jay Maynard wrote:	[Fri Feb 06 2004, 03:39:19AM EST]
> > I was able to get there by defining both DOS partitions and BSD disklabels,
> > with identical layouts.
> I'd be curious to see this.  Would you post the partition tables?

cdimage root # fdisk /dev/sda
This disk has both DOS and BSD magic.
Give the 'b' command to go to BSD mode.

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 4290 MB, 4290600960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 521 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1             3        34    257040   82  Linux swap
/dev/sda2            35       521   3911827+  83  Linux

Command (m for help): b

BSD disklabel command (m for help): p

3 partitions:
#       start       end      size     fstype   [fsize bsize   cpg]
  a:        3        34        32       swap
  b:       35       521       487       ext2
  c:        1       521       521     unused        0     0

BSD disklabel command (m for help): q
cdimage root # 

The same trick works for /dev/rd/disc0/disc, for the DAC960. I don't know
how far this can be pushed, but I suspect that it will work as long as
partitions can be defined in the DOS table with the same dimensions as the
partitions in the BSD disklabel. I don't think they have to be in the same
order,, and I think that partitions in an extended DOS partition can be defined
to match partitions in the BSD disklabel. I haven't played with any of this,
however. It's only necessary until the system is installed far enough to be
booted off of the target disk. I suspect, but haven't verified, that writing
aboot to the drive will overlay the DOS partition table, and so the system
cannot be rebooted from the LiveCD and used to work with the target disk
once that has been done without redefining a DOS partition table (and, thus,
clobbering aboot).

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