====================================================================
=            Adaptec SAS/SATA Family Manager Set v1.0.7            =
=                                                                  =
= README for:                                                      =
=                                                                  =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 i686                                =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 QU-4 i686                           =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 QU-5 i686                           =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 i686                                =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 x86_64                              =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 QU-1 i686                           =
= Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 QU-1 x86_64                         =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 i586                              =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 x86_64                            =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-1 i586                         =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-1 x86_64                       =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-2 i586                         =
= SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-2 x86_64                       =
= Novell Linux Desktop 9 i586                                      =
= Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP-1 i586                                 =
= Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP-1 x86_64                               =
=                                                                  =
====================================================================

0. Supported Hardware

   The following Adaptec SAS/SATA Host Adapters are supported by this 
   driver set. 

   SAS/SATA Adapters          Description
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   AIC-9405                   Four port SAS and SATA 64-bit PCI-X
                              133MHz ASIC.


1. Version History
   1.0.7, Support for RazorLite
   1.0.6, June 28th, 2005, Driver update.
   1.0.0, November 1st, 2004, Initial driver release.

1.1. Software/Hardware Features
     - Support for the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol
       as specified in T10/1562-D specification, Revision 5.
     - Protocol supported: SSP, STP and SMP.
     - Support for ATA/ATAPI protocols as specified in
       ATA/ATAPI-7 V1, Revision 4b and ATA/ATAPI-7 V3,
       Revision 4a.
     - Protocol supported: SATA and ATAPI.
     - Initiator Mode (target mode not currently supported)
     - Support for the PCI-x standard up to 133MHz
     - Support for the PCI v2.2 standard

1.2. Operating System Support:

   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 QU-2 i686
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 QU-4 i686
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 QU-5 i686
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 i686
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 x86_64
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 QU-1 i686
   - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 QU-1 x86_64
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 i586
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 x86_64
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-1 i586
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-1 x86_64
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-2 i586
   - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP-2 x86_64
   - Novell Linux Desktop 9 i586
   - Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP-1 i586
   - Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP-1 x86_64

     Refer to the User's Guide for more details.

2. Installation Instructions

2.1. Installing Red Hat Linux with a SAS/SATA Host Adapter

     1) Install the SAS/SATA adapter and power on your
     system.
     2) Boot from the Red Hat CDROM.
     3) At the boot menu, type 'linux dd' and press ENTER.
     4) Follow the on-screen prompts to insert the Adaptec
        Red Hat driver disk.
     5) Proceed with the normal Red Hat installation steps.

2.2. Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or UnitedLinux
     with a SAS/SATA Host Adapter

     1) Install the SAS/SATA adapter and power on your system.
     2) Boot from the SuSE CDROM.
     3) At the boot menu, press the ALT key to stop the boot.
        For SLES 9, use the F6 key instead of the ALT key.
     4) Select installation and press 'Enter' and follow the on-screen
        prompts to insert the Adaptec SuSE driver disk.
     5) Proceed with the normal SuSE installation steps.

2.3. Installing the Driver when Red Hat or SuSE is Already
     Installed

     1) Download the Adaptec driver RPM file appropriate to
        your version of Red Hat/SuSE.
     2) From a shell prompt, type: rpm -ivh <RPM file> to perform a fresh
        install, or rpm -Uvh <RPM file> to upgrade to a newer driver.
     3) Make sure to reboot the system by issuing the
        command "shutdown -h now". After the system reboots,
        the procedure is then done.
 
2.3. Removing the Driver

     Removing the Adaptec SAS/SATA driver is not presently supported.

3. Command Line Options

   WARNING: ALTERING OR ADDING THESE DRIVER PARAMETERS
            INCORRECTLY CAN RENDER YOUR SYSTEM INOPERABLE.
            USE THEM WITH CAUTION. 

   Edit the file "modules.conf" or "modprobe.conf.local" in the
   directory /etc and add/edit a line containing
	     options adp94xx adp94xx=parameter[,parameter,...]
   "parameter" is one or more of the following:

   cmd_per_lun:<int>
	Global tag depth for all targets on all ports.
	This option sets the default tag depth for all
	targets if they support tag-queueing.
	Default Value: 32, range 1 to 64.

   attach_HostRAID:<int>
	Controls whether the driver should atttach to
	HostRAID enabled controllers.
	Default: 0, false, the driver would *not* attach to
	RAID enabled controllers.  To make the driver
	attach to RAID controllers, turn this on by setting
	it to 1.

   Example: 
      options adp94xx adp94xx=cmd_per_lun:12,attach_HostRAID:1

   Sets the queue depth to 12 for all targets that support
   tag-queueing, and instructs the driver not to attach to
   RAID enabled controllers.

4. Additional Notes

4.1. Known/Unresolved or FYI Issues

4.2. Third-Party Compatibility Issues

     Adaptec only supports SAS and SATA hard drives running
     the latest firmware available. Please check with your
     hard drive manufacturer to ensure you have the latest
     version.

4.3. Operating System or Technology Limitations

     * PCI Hot Plug is untested, use at your own risk!

     * Sparse LUN space may not be automatically probed.
       This is a limitation of some kernels.  Contact your
       OS vendor for support on this.

     * Using the Driver Update Disk version of this package
       during OS installation under Red Hat might result in
       two versions of this driver being installed into the
       system module directory.  This might cause problems
       with the /sbin/mkinitrd program and/or other RPM
       packages that try to install system modules.  The
       best way to correct this once the system is running
       is to install the latest RPM package version of this
       driver, available from http://www.adaptec.com/.

4.4. Controlling Boot order on non SES-2 systems

    Linux discovers drives by walking sequentially through
    each channel/target/lun of the host adapter, mapping the
    drives that it finds sequentially to sda, sdb, sdc, etc.
    SAS, on the other hand, does not guarantee what order
    drives will be discovered, or appear.  Because of this
    "drive drift" (different than migration) a mechanism is
    needed to guarantee that SAS drives will be consistently
    mapped to device names.  The Razor BIOS provides a
    mechanism for determining what order drives have been
    reported to the system BIOS.  Because of the different
    mechanisms that system BIOS vendors use to manage
    devices in BIOS and because of the limited size of the
    Razor OCM structures, the Razor BIOS structures can not
    be use to consistently map all drives to a unique device
    name that persists across boots.

    The only way to solve the problem of "drive drift" is to
    require that users assign a UUID or label to the
    filesystems on their drives.  In addition, because swap
    does not support labels or UUIDs, we should recommend
    that the users use swap files instead of swap
    partitions.

    Labels:

    The reason why drive name mapping is an issue results
    from the way that Linux approaches assigning mount
    points to filesystems.  Linux uses the /etc/fstab file
    in order to map device names to mount points.  Normally
    the fstab file is populated with lines that look
    something like:

        /dev/sdb2 /users ext3 defaults 0 0

    Unless specified in the options field (field number 4),
    the filesystems that are listed in /etc/fstab are
    automatically mounted by the init scripts as the system
    changes states into multi-user mode.  Unfortunately,
    technologies like SAS and Fibre Channel do not guarantee
    what order drives will be presented to the system.  As a
    result, a drive that was mapped to /dev/sdb on one boot
    might be mapped to a completely different device name
    after a subsequent reboot.  To address this issue, Linux
    has added filesystem labels and UUIDs (Universally
    Unique Identifier).  The main difference between
    filesystem labels and UUIDs is that filesystem labels
    are generated by the user, and UUIDs are generated
    automatically.  For simplicity, this document will refer
    to filesystem labels and UUIDs as "labels".  Once a
    filesystem has a label, the administrator can then
    specify that filesystem by its label instead or its
    device name.  For example:

    # mount UUID=754b0958-f447-490b-9ae2-551987bc31a9 /users
    # mount LABEL=mylabel /users

    Regardless of what drive mapping has been assigned to
    the drive that has the filesystem that contains the
    label specified, mount will find the filesystem and
    mount it.  In addition, the administrator can create
    entries in /etc/fstab that look like:

    UUID=754b0958-f447-490b-9ae2-551987bc31a9 /users ext3 defaults 0 0
    LABEL=mylabel /users ext3 defaults 0 0

    Suse allows the user who is installing the operating
    system to specify that a label should be used for the
    root filesystem.  The user needs to select the 'fstab
    options' button when preparing the boot disk in YaST.
    In the fstab options popup the user will be allowed to
    assign a label or UUID to the filesystem.  During the
    process of installing the system, the install program
    will embed the label for the root filesystem in the
    linuxrc script in initrd.

    The filesystem creation utilities support labels.
    Reiserfs will automatically create a UUID for a
    filesystem, regardless of whether it is being used in
    fstab.  The user can specify the UUID using the '-u'
    option to mkreiserfs, or they can specifiy a label by
    using the '-l' option.  The user can determine the label
    of a filesystem by using the dumpe2fs or debugreiserfs
    user level commands.

    Swap:

    Currently, the mount utility only supports labels on
    ext2, ext3 and xfs.  Suse has added a patch that
    supports reiserfs (Suse's default filesystem).  Any
    other filesystem type will not be be automatically
    mounted as the system transitions to multiuser.
    Unfortunately, swap labeling is not supported.  In
    Linux, a swap device can be a filesystem or a file.  TO
    ensure that the swap file is always correctly identified
    during drive drift, the user should use swap files
    instead of swap partitions.  In order to use a file for
    swap, the user needs to create a file that will be used
    for swap.  For example, to create a 256M zero
    initialized file and prepare it for the swap subsystem,
    the user might execute the following commands:

     # dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1k count=262144
     # mkswap /swapfile

    After creating the swap file, the user would then edit
    the fstab file, remove the swap line and add the
    following line:

    /swapfile swap swap pri=42 0 0

    To notify the kernel about the new swap file, the user
    would execute the following command:

     # swapon -a

    In the future, there is space that is reserved for a
    label in the swap header.

5. Contacting Adaptec

   A Technical Support Identification (TSID) Number is required for 
   Adaptec technical support.
    - The 12-digit TSID can be found on the white barcode-type label
      included inside the box with your product. The TSID helps us 
      provide more efficient service by accurately identifying your 
      product and support status.
   Support Options
    - Search the Adaptec Support Knowledgebase (ASK) at
      http://ask.adaptec.com for articles, troubleshooting tips, and
      frequently asked questions for your product.
    - For support via Email, submit your question to Adaptec's 
      Technical Support Specialists at http://ask.adaptec.com.
     
   North America
    - Visit our Web site at http://www.adaptec.com.
    - To speak with a Fibre Channel/RAID/External Storage Technical
      Support Specialist, call 1-321-207-2000,
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 3:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., PST.
      (Not open on holidays)
    - For Technical Support in all other technologies including 
      SAS, call 1-408-934-7274,
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., PST.
      (Not open on holidays)
    - For after hours support, call 1-800-416-8066 ($99/call, 
      $149/call on holidays)
    - To order Adaptec products including software and cables, call
      1-800-442-7274 or 1-408-957-7274. You can also visit our 
      online store at http://www.adaptecstore.com

   Europe
    - Visit our Web site at http://www.adaptec-europe.com.
    - English and French: To speak with a Technical Support 
      Specialist, call one of the following numbers:
        - English: +32-2-352-3470
        - French:  +32-2-352-3460
      Hours: Monday-Thursday, 10:00 to 12:30, 13:30 to 17:30 CET 
             Friday, 10:00 to 12:30, 13:30 to 16:30 CET
    - German: To speak with a Technical Support Specialist,
      call +49-89-456-40660
      Hours: Monday-Thursday, 09:30 to 12:30, 13:30 to 16:30 CET
             Friday, 09:30 to 12:30, 13:30 to 15:00 CET
    - To order Adaptec products, including accessories and cables:
        - UK: +0800-96-65-26 or fax +0800-731-02-95
        - Other European countries: +32-11-300-379

   Australia and New Zealand
    - Visit our Web site at http://www.adaptec.com.au.
    - To speak with a Technical Support Specialist, call 
      +612-9416-0698
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., EAT
      (Not open on holidays)

   Japan
    - To speak with a Technical Support Specialist, call 
      +81-3-5308-6120 
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to
      6:00 p.m. TSC

   Hong Kong and China
    - To speak with a Technical Support Specialist, call 
      +852-2869-7200
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00 to 17:00.
    - Fax Technical Support at +852-2869-7100.

   Singapore
    - To speak with a Technical Support Specialist, call 
      +65-245-7470
      Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00 to 17:00.
    - Fax Technical Support at +852-2869-7100
