Installing Debian 6 on Adaptec RAID Controllers

1. Copy "aacraid.ko" and "aacraid_1.2.1.29900-1_all.deb" to a USB stick.

2. Start installing Debian 6 from the installation DVD, selecting the "Graphical Install" option.

3. When the "Configure the Network" screen appears, press CTRL+ALT+F2 and then ENTER when prompted.

3. Insert the USB stick.

4. fdisk -l   (scan for device, the following assumes the USB stick is at /dev/sda1)

5. Type the following commands:

# mkdir /AACRAID
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt
# cp /mnt/aacraid.ko /AACRAID
# umount /mnt

6. *** Remove the USB flash before the insmod command ***

7. Then execute:

# cp -f /AACRAID/aacraid.ko /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko
# insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko

8. Press CTRL+ALT+F5 to return to installer. Continue the installation as usual.  !!! READ STEP 9 NOW !!!

9. When the "Finish the Installation" screen appears, DO NOT PRESS CONTINUE!!!!  Press CTRL+ALT+F2 again.

10. Type the following command:

# cp -f /AACRAID/aacraid.ko /target/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko

You may want to make sure that the new driver was copied correctly before proceeding (because if it was not, you will need to start over):

# ls -l /target/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/

11. Continue as follows:

# chroot /target
# /sbin/depmod -a 2.6.32-5-amd64
# update-initramfs -u -v
# exit

12. Press CTRL+ALT+F5 to return to the installer. Click on "Continue" to reboot the system.

13. Upon reboot, open up the Root Terminal from Applications -> Accessories -> Root Terminal and log in as root.  You do not need to use sudo from this terminal.

14. Ensure that you have a connection to the Internet.

15. Install these packages:

# apt-get install build-essential

# apt-get install dkms

16. Insert the USB stick.  Find the device with

# df

Assuming the path is /media/USB/:

# dpkg -i /media/USB/aacraid_1.2.1.29900-1_all.deb
# dkms add -m aacraid -v 1.2.1.29900
# dkms build -m aacraid -v 1.2.1.29900
# dkms install m aacraid v 1.2.1.29900

17. Check the status to ensure that the module is installed:

# dkms status

18. Check the kernel version:

# dpkg -l | grep -i linux-image
ii  linux-image-2.6-amd64               2.6.32+29                    Linux 2.6 for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)
ii  linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64          2.6.32-45                    Linux 2.6.32 for 64-bit PCs

19. To perform online updates:

# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade
# apt-get dist-upgrade


