RHEL 6.2 / CentOS 6.2 32-bit Installation with Adaptec RAID Controllers

1.) Copy "aacraid-1.2.1.29900-dd.img" and "aacraid.conf" to the root of a USB stick. 

2.) Create an array on the Adaptec RAID controller from the BIOS. 

3.) Begin installing the OS. When the graphical welcome screen appears, make sure the cursor is on the top line 
"Install a new system or upgrade an existing system". Press TAB.  Add

linux dd

NOTE:  It may be necessary on your system to disable ASPM at this point.  

linux dd pcie_aspm=off

More information can be found here:

http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Power_Management_Guide/ASPM.html

Press ENTER.

If the above option was required, see APPENDIX "Editing grub.conf" below.

4.) Type ALT-F6 and click on the Reboot button to complete the installation.

5.) Remove the installation media (if applicable) and the USB stick. Boot the system from the Series 6 controller.

6.) In order for the driver to withstand online updates, the following must be done.  Insert the USB stick and mount it.

# fdisk -l

Assuming the USB stick is /dev/sdb1:

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

# cp /mnt/aacraid.conf /etc/depmod.d/aacraid.conf

Now when

# yum update

is carried out, the driver will remain installed.

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APPENDIX: Editing grub.conf

If the pcie_aspm=off option discussed above is required for your system, edit grub.conf to add it as a permanent boot option.

#vi /boot/grub/grub.conf

and add this

pcie_aspm=off

to the end of the long line that begins with this

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220....

To insert with vi use "i" (without the quotes). To end the insert function hit ESC. To delete use "x". To write the file and quit use ":wq". 


