The last few days I have revisited RAID setup using the LSI +Megaraid controller. These are a family of controllers called PERC by +Dell, and is present in several old PowerEdge servers, and I recently +got my hands on one of these. I had forgotten how to handle this RAID +controller in Debian, so I had to take a peek in the +Debian wiki page +"Linux and Hardware RAID: an administrator's summary" to remember +that kind of software is available to configure and monitor the disks +and controller. I prefer Free Software alternatives to proprietary +tools, as the later tend to fall into disarray once the manufacturer +loose interest, and often do not work with newer Linux Distributions. +Sadly there is no free software tool to configure the RAID setup, only +to monitor it. RAID can provide improved reliability and resilience in +a storage solution, but only if it is being regularly checked and any +broken disks are being replaced in time. I thus want to ensure some +automatic monitoring is available.
+ +In the discovery process, I came across a old free software tool to +monitor PERC2, PERC3, PERC4 and PERC5 controllers, which to my +surprise is not present in debian. To help change that I created a +request for packaging of the +megactl package, and tried to track down a usable version. +The original project +site is on Sourceforge, but as far as I can tell that project has +been dead for more than 15 years. I managed to find a +more recent fork on +github from user hmage, but it is unclear to me if this is still +being maintained. It has not seen much improvements since 2016. A +more up to date +edition is a git fork from the original github fork by user +namiltd, and this newer fork seem a lot more promising. The owner of +this github repository has replied to change proposals within hours, +and had already added some improvements and support for more hardware. +Sadly he is reluctant to commit to maintaining the tool and stated in +my first pull +request that he think a new release should be made based on the +git repository owned by hmage. I perfectly understand this +reluctance, as I feel the same about maintaining yet another package +in Debian when I barely have time to take care of the ones I already +maintain, but do not really have high hopes that hmage will have time +to spend on it and hope namiltd will change his mind.
+ +In any case, I created +a draft package +based on the namiltd edition and put it under the debian group on +salsa.debian.org. If you own a Dell PowerEdge server with one of the +PERC controllers, or any other RAID controller using the megaraid or +megaraid_sas Linux kernel modules, you might want to check it out. If +enough people are interested, perhaps the package will make it into +the Debian archive.
+ +There are two tools provided, megactl for the megaraid Linux kernel +module, and megasasctl for the megaraid_sas Linux kernel module. The +simple output from the command on one of my machines look like this +(yes, I know some of the disks have problems. :).
+ ++# megasasctl +a0 PERC H730 Mini encl:1 ldrv:2 batt:good +a0d0 558GiB RAID 1 1x2 optimal +a0d1 3067GiB RAID 0 1x11 optimal +a0e32s0 558GiB a0d0 online errs: media:0 other:19 +a0e32s1 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s2 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s3 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s4 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s5 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s6 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s8 558GiB a0d0 online errs: media:0 other:17 +a0e32s9 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s10 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s11 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s12 279GiB a0d1 online +a0e32s13 279GiB a0d1 online + +# ++ +
In addition to displaying a simple status report, it can also test +individual drives and print the various event logs. Perhaps you too +find it useful?
+ +In the packaging process I provided some patches upstream to
+improve installation and ensure
+
As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
+ +