sata_sil[24] / silicon image binary drivers / SiI4726 RAID

[Paul Neuwirth]

Hallo,
i hope I am here at the right address. I am using a Silicon Image 3124
SATA-Controller with the Silicon Image 4726 pm /
hardware-RAID product, using the sata_sil24 driver.
The pm is also a hardware raid-controller (not SATARAID - fake, see
docs on http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=74).
For the configuration of hardware raid, you can download a software
from the sii website (SiI4726 Manager). But this software only seems to
work with the precompiled proprietary drivers from sii (e.g.
sii3124.ko), i think there are unimplemented specific commands in the
sil_sata(24) drivers.
Isn't it possible to make a opensource way to configure the hardware
raid controller or make the sil_sata(24) driver be usable with the
sii's RAID manager? (If the hardware would be needed therefor i could
provide)
The binary drivers from sii for their controllers are unfortunately only
available for a very low number of kernels (e.g. suse enterprise, RHEL
kernels, see
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=27&cid=3&ctid=2&osid=1&).
I don't know whom to contact at sii to get specifications or (more
improbably) a suiting driver... Nor am I an kernel programmer...
I only know following:
-for the configuration a "config disk" is provided by the pm (hwinfo is
below)
-the sii configuration manager recognizes all SATA-disks, but doesn't
detect serial numbers or the config disk.

Thanks for advice and help,
Paul Neuwirth


hwinfo
[disk]
IDE 250.0: 10600 Disk
[Created at block.233]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_SATA_Config_Disk_0000000_0703517__5_0
Unique ID: by2M.OswvJFVubC7
Parent ID: qnJ_.+pLfg7up4B3
SysFS ID: /block/sde
SysFS BusID: 2:5:0:0
SysFS Device
Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.0/host2/target2:5:0/2:5:0:0
Hardware Class: disk Model: "Config Disk"
Vendor: "Config"
Device: "Disk"
Revision: "PLS1"
Serial ID: "0000000_0703517__5_0"
Driver: "sata_sil24", "sd"
Driver Modules: "sata_sil24"
Device File: /dev/sde
Device
Files: /dev/sde, /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Config_Disk_0000000_0703517__5_0, /dev/disk/by-id/ata-Config_Disk_0000000_0703517__5_0, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:0d.0-scsi-2:5:0:0
Device Number: block 8:64-8:79 Geometry (Logical): CHS 0/255/63
Size: 640 sectors a 512 bytes
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #7 (RAID bus controller)
[pci]
PCI 0d.0: 0104 RAID bus controller
[Created at pci.301]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1095_3124
Unique ID: qnJ_.+pLfg7up4B3
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:00:0d.0
Hardware Class: storage
Model: "Silicon Image SiI 3124 PCI-X Serial ATA Controller"
Vendor: pci 0x1095 "Silicon Image, Inc."
Device: pci 0x3124 "SiI 3124 PCI-X Serial ATA Controller"
SubVendor: pci 0x1095 "Silicon Image, Inc."
SubDevice: pci 0x6124
Revision: 0x02
Driver: "sata_sil24"
Driver Modules: "sata_sil24"
Memory Range: 0xeb008000-0xeb00807f (rw,non-prefetchable)
Memory Range: 0xeb000000-0xeb007fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
I/O Ports: 0xb000-0xb00f (rw)
Memory Range: 0x40000000-0x4007ffff (ro,prefetchable,disabled)
IRQ: 16 (6136 events)
Module Alias: "pci:v00001095d00003124sv00001095sd00006124bc01sc04i00"
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: sata_sil24 is active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe sata_sil24"
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

[Tejun Heo]

Post by Paul Neuwirth
Hallo,
i hope I am here at the right address. I am using a Silicon Image 3124
SATA-Controller with the Silicon Image 4726 pm /
hardware-RAID product, using the sata_sil24 driver.
The pm is also a hardware raid-controller (not SATARAID - fake, see
docs on http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=74).
For the configuration of hardware raid, you can download a software
from the sii website (SiI4726 Manager). But this software only seems to
work with the precompiled proprietary drivers from sii (e.g.
sii3124.ko), i think there are unimplemented specific commands in the
sil_sata(24) drivers.
Isn't it possible to make a opensource way to configure the hardware
raid controller or make the sil_sata(24) driver be usable with the
sii's RAID manager? (If the hardware would be needed therefor i could
provide)
The binary drivers from sii for their controllers are unfortunately only
available for a very low number of kernels (e.g. suse enterprise, RHEL
kernels, see
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=27&cid=3&ctid=2&osid=1&).
I don't know whom to contact at sii to get specifications or (more
improbably) a suiting driver... Nor am I an kernel programmer...
-for the configuration a "config disk" is provided by the pm (hwinfo is
below)
-the sii configuration manager recognizes all SATA-disks, but doesn't
detect serial numbers or the config disk.

The Config Disk pseudo device used for 4276 configuration is seriously
brain damaged.

1. Locks up on SRST.
2. Times out on DMA READ at offset zero (ie. timeout on partition scan).
3. PIO READ works but PIO READs always return zero

Currently, libata-pmp works around #1 and #2. #2 is worked around by
forcing PIO mode. Because PIO READs always return zero, partition code
just skips the device. The problem is that the configuration program
can also read zeros. I suggested SIMG to update their program to use
SG_IO for config disk access which then can be quirked in libata to
allow special case DMA accesses but never got a reply on the subject.