# noob with a promise sx4100



## skeptic (Jun 14, 2010)

Hi all, I am completely new to freeBSD and I am trying to create a home file srever using FreeNAS.  I already have all the hardware but I am unable to have  the raid drives recognized by the OS.  The card is a promise FastTrak sx4100.  I tried a few different configurations on the Card (RAID5, RAID1, JBOD) and none were recognized. The FreeBSD compatibility list does not include this card - but Promise provides generic linux drivers for this card  on their site. They also list a lot of Redhat drivers which I assume will not be compatible.

I am wondering if someone can help me get this driver compiled into the freeNAS server I have.  Do I need to compile a new freeNAS Kernel or can I just compile the drivers and copy them somewhere on the server?  How would I compile this at all? I am pretty clueless on how to make this happen so any help would be very much appreciated.  

Thanks in advance.


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## skeptic (Jun 15, 2010)

*found an old but maybe helpful thread.*

I found this thread for a different promise driver as a how to on SUSE.  

Not sure if it's any help and I would have no idea what to edit in the make file. Any suggestions?

By the way, the readme for the "partial linux driver" tells me to create the driver by:

**************** How to build driver from partial source code *****************

This reamde file will help you build driver binary file from partial source code. You can easily build driver according to the following steps:

Step 1. Set the proper ftlib binary 

	make clean

Step 3. Build driver binary file.

	For kernel 2.4, just type:

		make	

	For kernel 2.6, type:

		make DRIVER_SRC_DIR=`pwd`
PS: Makefile script can receive parameters from command line, so if you want to build drive according to specific settings, such as build driver automaticly. Please refer to Makefile script itself or contact to the author.




How do I find out which kernel I've got?


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## wblock@ (Jun 15, 2010)

Linux drivers aren't going to work on FreeBSD; the underlying structure is different.  The Promise SX4100 was mentioned in a patch for the ata(4) man page in 2006, but it's not there in FreeBSD 8.  Or maybe it just changed to a chipset description.  No idea about RAID on it.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 15, 2010)

skeptic said:
			
		

> How do I find out which kernel I've got?



I think you really need to start reading Sticky: FreeBSD? So, what is it? ..


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## skeptic (Jun 16, 2010)

*Thanks*

wblock, I see what you mean from the sticky DutchDaemon posted - linux drivers wont work.  

I have limited experience with linux and 0 experience with bsd/unix.  

So what I am wondering then is should I just give up and try something else?  maybe build a file server using fedora?  or openfiler?

I also stumbled upon this page which lists the sx4100.  but to be honest I don't even know exactly what that page is for.  it seems to be a list of supported PCI devices for 64bit freeBSD though.

I work in IT/systems engineering and am willing to learn anything and I would really be interested in getting some more knowledge about freeBSD.  But at the same time I don't want to spend months trying to setup a simple home file server.  

So I guess the million dollar question is 'Is it worth it?'  if so can anybody suggest some basic starting points/documentation where I might go to find out how to get this working?

Thanks again for your help.


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## wblock@ (Jun 16, 2010)

That page is just a list of PCI vendor and product ID codes.  It identifies cards but doesn't mean they're supported.

The FreeNAS hardware page lists the SX4000-lite and SX4000 as working, which is encouraging.  After all, yours is only 100 better.

Best bet at this point is the FreeNAS forum.


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