wiki:LSIMegaRAIDSAS

Version 61 (modified by Adam Cécile, 11 years ago) ( diff )

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LSI MegaRAID SAS

lsi_logo

1. Card information

MegaRAID SAS is the current high-end RAID controllers series by LSI.
It is fully hardware RAIDs controllers supporting RAID5, at least, with SAS or SATA interfaces.
If you're a looking for information about MegaRAID SCSI connectors, please look at LSIMegaRAID instead.

All theses card can be used with stock Linux kernel which includes a working driver.
It's quite new and thus, may be missing in some not-up-to-date distributions.

There is currently no known opensource tool for theses cards.
Some old MegaRAID SAS can be used with megactl, but none of current cards works.
However LSI provide megacli, a proprietary management command line utility which is rather hard to use.


2. Linux kernel drivers

Driver Supported cards
megaraid_sas LSI MegaRAID SAS

megaraid_sas is part of mainstream Linux kernel and should be available in all current distributions.
However, please that most of old distributions won't have this driver.

If your card use megaraid_mm or megaraid_mbox driver, please look at LSIMegaRAID instead.

Some lspci -nn output examples:

  • 02:0e.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID controller 5 ![1028:0015]
  • 01:00.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 04) ![1000:0060]
  • 04:0e.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS ![1000:0411]
  • 03:00.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 2108 [Liberator] ![1000:0079] (rev 05)
  • 10:00.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS TB [1000:005b] (rev 01)
  • 08:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller [0107]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] ![1000:0072] (rev 03) Dell PERC H310 Mini
  • 01:00.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 2208 [Thunderbolt] [1000:005b] (rev 05) Dell PERC H710 Mini


3. Management and reporting tools

megactl includes a SAS compliant binary named megasasctl. It seems to work on old card but fails with the new one.
If megasasctl doesn't work for you, you will have to use the proprietary cli utility from LSI: megaclisas.

For managing the card there are no alternatives to megaclisas.

3.1. megactl

Despites megasasctl doesn't seem to work with recent cards, you should really give it a try.

3.1.1. Quickstart and output example

Print current controller status:

server:~# megasasctl
a0       PERC 5/i Integrated      encl:1 ldrv:1  batt:good
a0d0      136GiB RAID 1   1x2  optimal
a0e8s0     136GiB  a0d0  online
a0e8s1     136GiB  a0d0  online
[root@server ~]# megasasctl
a0       PERC 5/i Integrated      encl:1 ldrv:2  batt:good
a0d0       67GiB RAID 1   1x2  optimal
a0d1      836GiB RAID 5   1x4  optimal
a0e8s0      68GiB  a0d0  online
a0e8s1      68GiB  a0d0  online
a0e8s2     279GiB  a0d1  online
a0e8s3     279GiB  a0d1  online
a0e8s4     279GiB  a0d1  online
a0e8s5     279GiB  a0d1  online
[root@server ~]# megasasctl
a0       PERC 6/i Integrated      encl:1 ldrv:1  batt:good
a0d0      1861GiB RAID 6   1x6  optimal
a0e32s0     465GiB  a0d0  online
a0e32s1     465GiB  a0d0  online
a0e32s2     465GiB  a0d0  online
a0e32s3     465GiB  a0d0  online
a0e32s4     465GiB  a0d0  online
a0e32s5     465GiB  a0d0  online

There are several switches which are interresting:

  • -H: Only print lines which are not ok.
    If nothing is printer, everything is fine
  • -B: Ignore batttery problems when running -H.
    In fact megasasctl can't define if your controller has a battery or not.
    If you don't have one, use this parameter.

3.1.2. Periodic checks

You can write your own script around megasasctl to check your adapter status health periodically. However, I already did this for you. See megaraid-status below.

3.2. megaraid-status

3.2.1. About megaraid-status

megaraidsas-status is a wrapper script around megactl with periodics checks.
It is available in the packages repository too.


The packages comes with a python wrapper around megasasctl and an initscript that periodic run this wrapper to check status.
It keeps a file with latest status and thus is able to detect RAID status changes and/or brokeness.
It will log a ligne to syslog when something failed and will send you a mail.
Until arrays are healthy again a reminder will be sent each 2 hours.

3.2.2. Wrapper output example

server:~# megaraidsas-status
-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status
a0d0 | RAID 1 | 136GiB | optimal

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status | Warnings
a0e8s0 | SEAGATE ST3146854SS 136GiB | online
a0e8s1 | SEAGATE ST3146854SS 136GiB | online
[root@server ~]# megaraidsas-status
-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status
a0d0 | RAID 1 | 67GiB | optimal
a0d1 | RAID 5 | 836GiB | optimal

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status | Warnings
a0e8s0 | FUJITSU MBA3073RC 68GiB | online
a0e8s1 | FUJITSU MBA3073RC 68GiB | online
a0e8s2 | SEAGATE ST3300656SS 279GiB | online
a0e8s3 | SEAGATE ST3300656SS 279GiB | online
a0e8s4 | SEAGATE ST3300656SS 279GiB | online
a0e8s5 | SEAGATE ST3300656SS 279GiB | online
[root@server ~]# megaraidsas-status
-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status
a0d0 | RAID 6 | 1861GiB | optimal

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status | Warnings
a0e32s0 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online
a0e32s1 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online
a0e32s2 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online
a0e32s3 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online
a0e32s4 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online
a0e32s5 | SEAGATE ST3500620SS 465GiB | online

3.3. megacli

3.3.1. About megacli

megacli is a proprietary tool by LSI which can perform both reporting and management for MegaRAID SAS cards.
However it's really hard to use because it's use tones of command line parameters and there's no documentation.

3.3.2. Quickstart and output example

Get all adapters status and config:

server:~# megacli -AdpAllInfo -aAll
Adapter #0

==============================================================================
                    Versions
                ================
Product Name    : PERC 5/i Integrated
Serial No       : 12345
FW Package Build: 5.2.1-0067

                    Mfg. Data
                ================
Mfg. Date       : 00/00/00
Rework Date     : 00/00/00
Revision No     : @��A
Battery FRU     : N/A

                Image Versions In Flash:
                ================
Boot Block Version : R.2.3.12
BIOS Version       : MT28-8
MPT Version        : MPTFW-00.10.61.00-IT
FW Version         : 1.03.40-0316
WebBIOS Version    : 1.03-04
Ctrl-R Version     : 1.04-019A
[...]

Logical drive 0 on adapter 0 status and type:

server:~# megacli -LDInfo -L0 -a0
Adapter 0 -- Virtual Drive Information:
Virtual Disk: 0 (Target Id: 0)
Name:raid1
RAID Level: Primary-1, Secondary-0, RAID Level Qualifier-0
Size:237824MB
State: Optimal
Stripe Size: 64kB
Number Of Drives:2
Span Depth:1
Default Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAheadNone, Direct, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Current Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAheadNone, Direct, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Access Policy: Read/Write
Disk Cache Policy: Disk's Default

Exit Code: 0x00

Display, disable or enable automatic rebuild on adapter 0:

server:~# megacli -AdpAutoRbld -Dsply -a0

Adapter 0: AutoRebuild is Enabled.

Exit Code: 0x00
server:~# megacli -AdpAutoRbld -Dsbl -a0

Adapter 0: AutoRebuild is Disabled.

Exit Code: 0x00
server:~# megacli -AdpAutoRbld -Enbl -a0

Adapter 0: AutoRebuild is Enabled.

Exit Code: 0x00

Get and modify rebuild rate:

server:~# megacli -AdpGetProp RebuildRate -a0

Adapter 0: Rebuild Rate = 30%

Exit Code: 0x00
server:~# megacli -AdpSetProp RebuildRate 60 -a0

Adapter 0: Set rebuild rate to 60% success.

Exit Code: 0x00

Show physical disks from first controller:

server:~# megacli -PDList -a0
[...]
Enclosure Device ID: 32
Slot Number: 1
Device Id: 1
Sequence Number: 9
Media Error Count: 0
Other Error Count: 0
Predictive Failure Count: 0
Last Predictive Failure Event Seq Number: 0
PD Type: SAS
Raw Size: 140014MB [0x11177328 Sectors]
Non Coerced Size: 139502MB [0x11077328 Sectors]
Coerced Size: 139392MB [0x11040000 Sectors]
Firmware state: Rebuild
SAS Address(0): 0x5000c5000c8579d1
SAS Address(1): 0x0
Connected Port Number: 1(path0)
Inquiry Data: SEAGATE ST3146855SS     S5283LN6CNGM
Foreign State: None

We can see that disk 32,1 (enclosure id = 32, slot = 1) is currently rebuilding (firmware state).

Let's check this operation progress:

server:~# megacli -PDRbld -ShowProg -PhysDrv [32:1] -aALL

Rebuild Progress on Device at Enclosure 32, Slot 1 Completed 51% in 10 Minutes.

Create a RAID6 array with megacli

Let's assume we have a server with two MegaRAID SAS cards. The first one is already setup but we have just plugged a disk bays on the second card.

List physical disks on second card (only print enclosure and slots numbers):

server:~# megacli -PDlist -a1 | grep -e '^Enclosure Device ID:' -e '^Slot Number:'
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 0
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 1
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 2
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 3
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 4
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 5
Enclosure Device ID: 0
Slot Number: 6

Now we have all enclosure and slot number. Let's create the new array:

server:~# megacli -CfgLdAdd -r6 [0:0,0:1,0:2,0:3,0:4,0:5,0:6] -a1

Adapter 1: Created VD 0

Adapter 1: Configured the Adapter!!

Exit Code: 0x00

Read Cache, Write Cache, ReadAhead and Battery

A quick section about performance tunning....

Let's enable Read Cache, and always cache data:

server:~# megacli -LDSetProp -Cached -LAll -aAll

Set Cache Policy to Cached on Adapter 0, VD 0 (target id: 0) success
Set Cache Policy to Cached on Adapter 1, VD 0 (target id: 0) success

Enable disks' cache:

server:~# megacli -LDSetProp EnDskCache -LAll -aAll

Set Disk Cache Policy to Enabled on Adapter 0, VD 0 (target id: 0) success
Set Disk Cache Policy to Enabled on Adapter 1, VD 0 (target id: 0) success

About ReadAhead: this feature will read more stuff and store in the cache, guessing the system may access it soon.
We're going to enable an enhanced version of readahead: the adaptative one.
With this option, readahead will only be enabled if the controller receive several access to sequencial sectors. If not, it won't be used to avoid filling cache with randon useless data (in case of randomly accessed sector).

server:~# megacli -LDSetProp ADRA -LALL -aALL

Set Read Policy to Adaptive ReadAhead on Adapter 0, VD 0 (target id: 0) success
Set Read Policy to Adaptive ReadAhead on Adapter 1, VD 0 (target id: 0) success

Now we're going to enable write cache. Beware of data loss! Write cache should be enabled ONLY if you have a battery pack on your controller.
Let's check if we have one and if it's working fine:

server:~# megacli -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuStatus -a0 | grep -e '^isSOHGood' -e '^Charger Status' -e '^Remaining Capacity'
Charger Status: Complete
Remaining Capacity: 1445 mAh
isSOHGood: Yes

server:~# megacli -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuStatus -a1 | grep -e '^isSOHGood' -e '^Charger Status' -e '^Remaining Capacity'
Charger Status: Complete
Remaining Capacity: 1353 mAh
isSOHGood: Yes

Both adapters have one in this server, let's enable write cache:

server:~# megacli -LDSetProp WB -LALL -aALL

Set Write Policy to WriteBack on Adapter 0, VD 0 (target id: 0) success
Set Write Policy to WriteBack on Adapter 1, VD 0 (target id: 0) success

But disable it if the battery went broken or discharged:

server:~# megacli -LDSetProp NoCachedBadBBU -LALL -aALL

Set No Write Cache if bad BBU on Adapter 0, VD 0 (target id: 0) success
Set No Write Cache if bad BBU on Adapter 1, VD 0 (target id: 0) success

Now we can check if everythin and fine and reboot the server (not sure if it's needed):

server:~# megacli -LDInfo -LAll -aAll

Adapter 0 -- Virtual Drive Information:
Virtual Disk: 0 (Target Id: 0)
[...]
Default Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAdaptive, Cached, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Current Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAdaptive, Cached, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Access Policy: Read/Write
Disk Cache Policy: Enabled
Encryption Type: None

Adapter 1 -- Virtual Drive Information:
Virtual Disk: 0 (Target Id: 0)
[...]
Default Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAdaptive, Cached, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Current Cache Policy: WriteBack, ReadAdaptive, Cached, No Write Cache if Bad BBU
Access Policy: Read/Write
Disk Cache Policy: Enabled
Encryption Type: None

References (extracted from Dell OpenManage doc):

Read Policy: The read policies indicate whether or not the controller should read sequential sectors of the logical drive when seeking data.

  • Read-Ahead. When using read-ahead policy, the controller reads sequential sectors of the logical drive when seeking data. Read-ahead policy may improve system performance if the data is actually written to sequential sectors of the logical drive.
  • No-Read-Ahead. Selecting no-read-ahead policy indicates that the controller should not use read-ahead policy.
  • Adaptive Read-Ahead. When using adaptive read-ahead policy, the controller initiates read-ahead only if the two most recent read requests accessed sequential sectors of the disk. If subsequent read requests access random sectors of the disk, the controller reverts to no-read-ahead policy. The controller continues to evaluate whether read requests are accessing sequential sectors of the disk, and can initiate read-ahead if necessary.

Write Policy: The write policies specify whether the controller sends a write-request completion signal as soon as the data is in the cache or after it has been written to disk.

  • Write-Back. When using write-back caching, the controller sends a write-request completion signal as soon as the data is in the controller cache but has not yet been written to disk. Write-back caching may provide improved performance since subsequent read requests can more quickly retrieve data from the controller cache than they could from the disk. Write-back caching also entails a data security risk, however, since a system failure could prevent the data from being written to disk even though the controller has sent a write-request completion signal. In this case, data may be lost. Other applications may also experience problems when taking actions that assume the data is available on the disk.
  • Write-Through. When using write-through caching, the controller sends a write-request completion signal only after the data is written to the disk. Write-through caching provides better data security than write-back caching, since the system assumes the data is available only after it has been safely written to the disk.

Cache Policy: The Direct I/O and Cache I/O cache policies apply to reads on a specific virtual disk. These settings do not affect the read-ahead policy. The cache policies are as follows:

  • Cache I/O. Specifies that all reads are buffered in cache memory.
  • Direct I/O. Specifies that reads are not buffered in cache memory. When using direct I/O, data is transferred to the controller cache and the host system simultaneously during a read request. If a subsequent read request requires data from the same data block, it can be read directly from the controller cache. The direct I/O setting does not override the cache policy settings. Direct I/O is also the default setting.

Rebuilding a disk by hand when it doesn't occur automatically

I noticed that strange behavior on an IBM controller. Unplugging and pluging back a disk from an array doesn't make the controller rebuild the array with that disk.
Here is what to do:

server:~# megacli -PDlist -a0
[...]
Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 4          
Device Id: 3            
[...]
Firmware state: Unconfigured(bad)
[...]
Secured: Unsecured
Locked: Unlocked
Foreign State: Foreign
Foreign Secure: Drive is not secured by a foreign lock key
Device Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Link Speed: 3.0Gb/s
Media Type: Hard Disk Device
[...]

The disk drive identified as ![252:4] ([enclosureid:slotnumber]) is currently 'Unconfigured(bad)'.

Make the drive online again:

server:~# megacli -PDMakeGood -PhysDrv[252:4] -a0
Adapter: 0: EnclId-252 SlotId-4 state changed to Unconfigured-Good.

The controller will now recognise the disk as being a "foreign" one. It means it has detected some RAID informations on it, and thus, considers it as a disk being part of an array that may be imported into current controller configuration.

We will now ask the controller to scan for foreign configuration and drop it:

server:~# megacli -CfgForeign -Scan -a0
There are 1 foreign configuration(s) on controller 0.

server:~# megacli -CfgForeign -Clear -a0
Foreign configuration 0 is cleared on controller 0.

The disk should now be available for getting back into the array.
Let's check it:

server:~# megacli -PDList -a0
[...]
Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 4          
[...]
Firmware state: Unconfigured(good), Spun Up
Foreign State: None
[...]

We now need to figure out how that disk was identified inside the RAID array:

server:~# megacli -CfgDsply -a0
[...]
DISK GROUPS: 1
Number of Spans: 1
SPAN: 0           
Span Reference: 0x01
Number of PDs: 4    
Number of VDs: 1    
Number of dedicated Hotspares: 0
Virtual Disk Information:       
Virtual Disk: 0 (Target Id: 1) 
[...]

Physical Disk: 2

Physical Disk: 3
Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 5          
Device Id: 4            
[...]

Here is what's important here:

Span Reference: 0x01 is the number of the array (strip the 0x0 part).
We can see that Physical Disk: 2 has no information, which means the drive is missing.

Now we have all we need to add the disk back into the array.

Get the disk ![252:4] back into array 1, as disk 2:

server:~# megacli -PdReplaceMissing -PhysDrv[252:4] -array1 -row2 -a0
Adapter: 0: Missing PD at Array 1, Row 2 is replaced

And finally start rebuilding:

server:~# megacli -PDRbld -Start -PhysDrv[252:4] -a0
Started rebuild progress on device(Encl-252 Slot-4)

Expand an array over an additionnal disk

Thanks to a co-worker, I have now a quick howto.

Assuming your new unassigned drive is identified as ![252:3] and you have a RAID5 array identified as L0 (See documentation above to figure out how to find this).

Reconfigure the array to add this new drive:

server ~ # megacli -LDRecon -Start -r5 -Add -PhysDrv[252:3] -L0 -a0

Start Reconstruction of Virtual Drive Success.

Exit Code: 0x00

Check operation progress:

server ~ # megacli -LDInfo -L0 -a0


Adapter 0 -- Virtual Drive Information:
Virtual Drive: 0 (Target Id: 0)
[...]
Ongoing Progresses:
  Reconstruction           : Completed 40%, Taken 163 min.
[...]

3.3.3. Periodic checks

You can write your own script around megacli to check your adapter status health periodically. However, I already did this for you. See megaclisas-status below.

Full documentation

A complete documentation is attached as PDF here: raw-attachment:megacli_user_guide.pdf

3.4. megaclisas-status

3.4.1. About megaclisas-status

megaclisas-status is a wrapper script around megacli that report summarized RAID status with periodic checks feature.
It is available in the packages repository too.

The packages comes with a python wrapper around megacli and an initscript that periodic run this wrapper to check status.
It keeps a file with latest status and thus is able to detect RAID status changes and/or brokeness.
It will log a ligne to syslog when something failed and will send you a mail.
Until arrays are healthy again a reminder will be sent each 2 hours.

3.4.2. Wrapper output example

server:~# megaclisas-status
-- Controller informations --
-- ID | Model
c0 | PERC 5/i Integrated

-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status | InProgress
c0u0 | RAID1 | 238G | Optimal | None

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status
c0u0p0 | ATA ST3250620NS 3BKH 5QE4PW70 | Online
c0u0p1 | ATA WDC WD2500YS-18S6C07 WD-WCANY3450500 | Online

Another example:

server:~# megaclisas-status
-- Controller informations --
-- ID | Model
c0 | PERC 6/i Integrated

-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status | InProgress
c0u0 | RAID5 | 279G | Optimal | Background Initialization: Completed 42%, Taken 46 min.

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status
c0u0p0 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CLF9 | Online
c0u0p1 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CNGM | Online
c0u0p2 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CGW4 | Online

The same example but with second disk rebuilding:

server:~# megaclisas-status
-- Controller informations --
-- ID | Model
c0 | PERC 6/i Integrated

-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status | InProgress
c0u0 | RAID5 | 279G | Degraded | None

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status
c0u0p0 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CLF9 | Online
c0u0p1 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CNGM | Rebuild
c0u0p2 | SEAGATE ST3146855SS S5283LN6CGW4 | Online

There is at least one disk/array in a NOT OPTIMAL state.

A server with two controllers: The first one with a RAID1 array working fine. A second one with a RAID6 arrays of 7 drives with one offline (the array has just been created so it's under initilisation too).

server:~# megaclisas-status
-- Controller informations --
-- ID | Model
c0 | PERC 6/i Integrated
c1 | PERC 6/E Adapter

-- Arrays informations --
-- ID | Type | Size | Status | InProgress
c0u0 | RAID1 | 69G | Optimal | None
c1u0 | RAID6 | 3574G | Partially Degraded | Background Initialization: Completed 0%, Taken 2 min.

-- Disks informations
-- ID | Model | Status
c0u0p0 | SEAGATE ST373455SS S5283LQ44AGP | Online
c0u0p1 | SEAGATE ST373455SS S5283LQ44ELN | Online
c1u0p0 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK1DQWD | Online
c1u0p1 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK1DQT9 | Online
c1u0p2 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK11NJY | Online
c1u0p3 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK1DQM5 | Online
c1u0p4 | Unknown | Offline
c1u0p5 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK1DQNV | Online
c1u0p6 | SEAGATE ST3750630SS MS049QK1DQX0 | Online

There is at least one disk/array in a NOT OPTIMAL state.

3.5. About /dev/megaraid_sas_ioctl_node

All theses tools requires this device node to be created.
It has to be done by hand.

Proprietary tools creates the device node at startup.
I made some wrappers around binaries from megactl package to create the node if it doesn't exist yet.


4. SMART

Finally I found the way to read SMART through these MegaRAID cards. The first thing you'll have to do is to list IDs of all your physical disks:

server:~# megacli -PDlist -a0 | grep '^Device Id:'
Device Id: 0
Device Id: 1
Device Id: 2
Device Id: 3

Then you can add this kind of lines to /etc/smartd.conf (don't forget to comment the DEVICESCAN one):

# LSI MegaRAID
/dev/sda -d sat+megaraid,0 -a -s L/../../3/02
/dev/sda -d sat+megaraid,1 -a -s L/../../3/03
/dev/sda -d sat+megaraid,2 -a -s L/../../3/04
/dev/sda -d sat+megaraid,3 -a -s L/../../3/05

Please note you need a recent version of smartmontools. 5.38 from Debian Lenny won't work, 5.39.1+svn3124 from Squeeze does.

5. BIOS upgrade from a Linux system

Dell cards can be flashed using firmware-tools.
See http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware for more informations.
However this will only work on RedHat, CentOS, SuSE and Fedora. Even Ubuntu is listed in the wikipage, LSI card upgrade is not supported.
We use a Fedora 8 nfsroot booted by PXE to update our Dell's firmware running Debian.

Michael reported a firmware can be flashed using megacli with the following syntax:

megacli -adpfwflash -f mr2208fw.rom -a0

I haven't done it by myself but I sure it works.



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