NASLite Network Attached Storage

Not sure where I should post this, so it's here and also in the NASLite-2 CDD forum. Please delete if in wrong forum.

I have a LSI MegaRaid 511 i4 RAID controller, and I'm having some problems when trying to configure my storage devices with NASLite-2 CDD.

Here's the portion of syslog where it finds my card.

# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: megaraid: v2.10.10.1 (Release Date: Thu Jan 27 16:19:44 EDT 2005)
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:0f.0
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: megaraid: found 0x101e:0x1960:bus 0:slot 15:func 0
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1:Found MegaRAID controller at 0xd8800000, IRQ:11
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: megaraid: [6.62:1.03] detected 2 logical drives.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: megaraid: supports extended CDBs.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: megaraid: channel[0] is raid.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: megaraid: channel[1] is raid.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: megaraid: channel[2] is raid.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: megaraid: channel[3] is raid.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.info kernel: scsi1 : LSI Logic MegaRAID 6.62 254 commands 16 targs 7 chans 7 luns
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 0 for logical drives.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 1 for logical drives.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 2 for logical drives.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 3 for logical drives.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 4 [P0] for physical devices.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 5 [P1] for physical devices.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 6 [P2] for physical devices.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.notice kernel: scsi1: scanning scsi channel 7 [P3] for physical devices.
# Jan 13 12:46:28 user.warn kernel: GDT-HA: Storage RAID Controller Driver. Version: 3.04

However, when I go to the Storage Configuration Menu, this is what I see:

ls: /etc/ServerElements/nldev/Disk-*: No such file or directory

I was able to configure the physical drives with the RAID BIOS, and it appears NASLite is correctly seeing two logical volumes. Why can't I configure anything on the storage menu?

After digging around on the forum for some time, I may have found the reason why NASLite refuses to see the disks in the storage configuration menu. There are no partitions set up.

I booted an Ubuntu disc, and created extended partitions on both /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, and then booted the NASLite disc again. Still the same problem.

So I booted the Ubuntu disc again, and the partitions were gone! What the heck happened to them?

Also, it looks as if there are multiple SCSI disks found because there are entries for /dev/sda through /dev/sdad. I'm really confused as to why this is happening. Could I have a bad RAID card?

You need to setup a logical drive in the LSI bios and create a raid array, then naslite will see it was 1 drive.

Yes, I had done that, but NASLite refuses to see the logical drive. Ubuntu can see it, and FreeNAS can see it so I know it is not a hardware issue. I tried creating an extended partition, but it just won't work. I'm very disappointed with this product, and I have asked for a refund.

This guy is running the same board as you, so perhaps it is a hardware issue:

http://www.serverelements.com/phpBB2/vi ... =5674#5674

In using Naslite I’ve found that it can be very sensitive to the way your hardware is configured. In return, when properly set it’s unshakable, so I think you may have some hardware tweaking to do before things work. The manual that comes with your card may also be a good point of reference, so don’t go off on Naslite until you get your ducks in a row.

As far as Ubuntu, that thing is huge and supports a lot more than you can expect of Naslite, RAID management software included. As far as Freenas, don’t get me started.

I noticed that others had used this controller with success which is why this is so puzzling. I understand that these small footprint NAS apps aren't going to support as much as a full fledged OS such as Ubuntu, but if FreeNAS doesn't have a problem with my hardware, it's frustrating to not be able to get NASLite to see it. I have tried for days changing all sorts of things in the BIOS, and NASLite refuses to recognize the logical drive on the RAID array.

I originally had another RAID controller that was software based, and I tried using FreeNAS but it would just spontaeously reboot during the initial boot process. Then I purchased NASLite before realizing that it only supported real hardware based RAID controllers. So I got one off ebay (LSI), and now I can't get NASLite to work. I went back to FreeNAS and it works with the new RAID controller. I've was playing around with it last night, and it works well.

So I can thank NASLite for turning me onto a better RAID controller, but as for the software itself, I can't say anything good about it at this point.

You have 2 logical drives configured, you need to go into the LSI bios and completely kill the setup, add all your physical drives to an array set, save and initialize it. Then NASLite will see it as *one* volume.

I exclusively use LSI megaraid cards in all the boxes here, they are fully supported when configured correctly.

And furthermore, naslite will read any ext2 or ext3 formatted drives from ubuntu or freenas or anything else, since your claiming even those don't show up, I'm having a hard time understanding you have everything configured correctly.

It says 2 logical drives because I have two RAID arrays configured. Two 250 GB disks and two 120 GB disks. NASLite sees the two logical drives correctly, but nothing is listed in the storage configuration menu.



I'm not sure what you mean by this, but all I was saying is Ubuntu and FreeNAS correctly detect the RAID card and logical volumes the way things are currently configured and NASLite does not.

Did you format and mount these drives under ubuntu, if so, what was your procedure?

Yes, I did after reading about people having issues with drives with no partition tables. I created partitions using fdisk, and formated using gparted. Interestingly when I wrote the partition tables to the disks, Ubuntu told me it was syncing the drives. I figured that meant the RAID was functioning correctly.

Ubuntu would see your raid as a drive or 2 drives in your case, nothing more, nothing less, if it said "syncing" It stands to reason Ubuntu is seeing this as a software raid, since in a real hardware raid setup the OS has nothing to do with configuring, rebuilding etc of the raid, the OS only formats the volume.


I would take this setup down to 2 drives, go into the LSI bios, *completely* delete all configurations, create a new array set and add the drives, *initialize* the raid set from the bios. Boot into NASLite and see if the new raid drive is there to be formatted from the storage menu and let naslite partition/format it.

You can add your other two drives in a new raid set later.

Also, what RAID level are you using? Since its only a 2 drive setup it can only be either RAID 0 or 1. I don't think the LSI bios would let you choose say raid level 5 with only 2 drives.

I did exactly this several times, and it still didn't work. One RAID array and NASLite still couldn't see it. Very frustrating to say the least.



RAID 1. Just a simple mirror.

Still doesn't explain why Ubuntu gave you the "syncing" message, why would Ubuntu be handling the raid function?

Yeah, can't really explain that. It was able to see the two logical drives though.

I have things running fine on FreeNAS currently. I had high hopes for NASLite, but oh well.

Sorry we couldn't help, there's many people using LSI cards including me, maybe you'll sort your configuration problem out at a later time.