Installing FreeBSD on HP Computer that is using software RAID 5

[Trond Endrestøl]

On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 11:05-0000, Carmel NY wrote:

> On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 22:26:19 +0100, Polytropon stated:
> 
> >On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 11:06:33 +0000, Carmel NY wrote:
> >> Three SATA drives, 1,863 GB each, configured into a RAID 5 with 3,762
> >> total GB
> >> 
> >> This is a software RAID, Intel Rapid Storage Technology 16.5.1.1030
> >> 
> >> I have included the full information at the end. The system is
> >> presently running Win 10 PRO just fine. I want to convert it to a
> >> FreeBSD 12 system. If I install FreeBSD 12 amd64 utilizing ZFS, will
> >> it recognize the drives and set them up correctly or will I have to
> >> do something manually? I want to keep the RAID setup and not use the
> >> drives individually.  
> >
> >Is there a reason you don't want to use ZFS's native RAID
> >features? It's commonly suggested to not rely on software
> >RAID and instead let ZFS manage the drives. You can construct
> >the same RAID setups with ZFS as you can with the controller,
> >and as you're going to scratch the existing content anyway,
> >there is no need to preserve anything of the previous layout.
> >
> >More information here:
> >
> >http://www.zfsbuild.com/2010/05/26/zfs-raid-levels/
> >
> >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS#RAID-Z
> 
> That doesn't answer my question. I wanted to know if when I first 
> install FreeBSD 12, and choose ZFS as the file system, will it 
> recognize the three drives and set them up by default as a RAIDZ 
> (RAID5 or do I have to do that manually after FreeBSD is installed?

If the kernel recognizes your drives, then so will ZFS.

This largely depends on how iRST presents the drives to the OS. You 
may need to destroy the RAID 5 configuration for the drives to be 
visible individually.

I have never tried using iRST and RAID 5 on FreeBSD.

> Time is money, and I don't have a lot of either to waste trying to get
> this system up and running. If it is going to be time intensive, then I
> will just throw the whole idea onto the back burner.

If you can afford some downtime, why not try booting your computer 
using the installation media of choice and see if the boot messsages 
mention your drives?

> Also, as a side note, can the wireless card, a Broadcom BCM4352HMB 
> 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi Adapter be configured to work when FreeBSD is 
> being installed or do I have to wait until the system is up and 
> running to do that? I just ask, because MS Windows, at least Win 10 
> ,allow the card to be setup and running during installation of the 
> OS.

I hope others can chime in on this one.

Speaking for myself, I have a Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 in my 
Dell Latitude E5530 running stable/12. The iwm(4) driver provides only 
54 Mbit/s, but that's acceptable in my case.

> I intend to install FreeBSD with by creating a DVD from the 
> "FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso" download. I therefore need 
> Internet access. I could use an Ethernet cable, but for logistical 
> reasons, I would rather not.

I hope you'll choose FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso or 
FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.

The bootonly image does only boot the system, it does not contain the 
files needed to perform an installation.

The dvd1 image is similar to the disc1 image, but it also contains 
prebuilt packages if you prefer that.

-- 
Trond.