SATA RAID 1 controllers for Intel board

[Steven Glogger]

hi all

i'm fighting a little bit with a new intel server.
i bought an intel SE7210TP1-E server with integrated RAID controller (SATA)
and thought: nice, one box everything inside ,-)
but it seems that the raid controller is not supported by any freebsd
version (i would love to see it running on 5.x).
on some posts i saw that the onboard controller is some kind of
'software-raid' - but i don't care ,-)
anyhow, i didn't got this onboard raid controller (which seems to be an
adaptec hostraid) working.
(if someone knows how to do it: please mail! *beggin*).

anyhow, i had the fabulous idea to buy an high point 1520 SATA raid
controller which is working fine in other servers.
but i didn't expected intel to NOT work with this controller ;-(
i tried several hours (incl. bios upgrades, etc.) to just BOOT from this
raid controller (with and without any raid).
even when in the amibios is set: primary boot device -> "RocketRaid 1520
SATA controller" nothing will ever boot from this device (and yes, i set the
disk to 'active' - it will boot if i put the disc directly to the on-board
plug).

i contacted intel and they told me:

"Unfortunately we have not validated any High Point RAID controller on
Intel(R) Entry Server Board SE7210TP1-E
For a list of tested and validated hardware for this board please visit the
following URL:
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/se7210tp1-e/sb/cs-00992
0.htm
"

well, nice isn't it? ;-)
(if someone knows how to get this controller running on that specific board:
let me know).

after reading the tested-hardware list (see link from intel) i found out
that the "FastTrak S150 TX4" should boot ;-)
but after looking on google and the mailinglist i couldn't figure out if
freebsd 5.X would recognize it.

does anyone want to share some of his experience how to get a raid running
with either the on-board controller, the hightpoint controller or an
fasttrak S150 TX4? ;-) (otherwise i would prepare a software raid)


greetings! & many thanks in advance ,-)

-steven