promise Tech VessRAID; carving out stripes

[sammy]

We've gotten a number of Promise Technology VessRAID1830s and are
trying to carve out Linux partitions.
Making stripes with the GUI is no problem. We set up stripes of 4 -
2Terabyte disks as RAID5. And while
the OS (RHEL5) sees and recognizes the raw devices (eg /dev/sde), it
often does not recognize or create
the actual partition. I use gnu-parted to make the partition.

Sometimes the above is successful, sometimes not. Often it's
successful if I pull the disks and manual format
them (again with gnu-parted) one by one on a completely different
system and then return them to the RAID
chassis whereupon after a long synchronize the partitioned device (/
dev/sde1) is visible and I can do a mkfs.

So what are the correct steps to make linux partitions on this beast?

Here's a sample session of mine:


root@local]# parted -l
Model: SEAGATE ST3300655LC (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 300GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 214MB 214MB primary ext3 boot
2 214MB 300GB 300GB primary ext3

Model: SEAGATE ST3300655LC (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 300GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 8587MB 8587MB primary linux-swap(v1) boot

Model: SEAGATE ST3300655LC (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 300GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 5371MB 5371MB primary ext3 boot

Model: SEAGATE ST3300655LC (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 300GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 4294MB 4294MB primary ext3 boot

Model: Promise VessRAID 1830s (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 6000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 6000GB 6000GB pink raid

So we clearly see the VessRAID stripe. Now let's make the
partition:

[root@local]# parted /dev/sde
Warning: Device /dev/sde has a logical sector size of 2048. Not all
parts of
GNU Parted support this at the moment, and the working code is HIGHLY
EXPERIMENTAL.

GNU Parted 2.2
Using /dev/sde
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted)
print
print
Model: Promise VessRAID 1830s (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 6000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 6000GB 6000GB pink raid

(parted) mklabel
gpt
mklabel gpt

Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sde will be destroyed and
all data on
this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
Yes/No?
y
y
(parted)
print
print
Model: Promise VessRAID 1830s (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 6000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags

(parted)
mkpart
mkpart
Partition name? []?
pink
pink
File system type? [ext2]?
ext3
ext3
Start?
0
0
End?
-0
-0
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best
performance.
Ignore/Cancel?
ignore
ignore
(parted)
print
print
Model: Promise VessRAID 1830s (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 6000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 6000GB 6000GB pink

(parted) set 1 raid
on
set 1 raid on
(parted)
print
print
Model: Promise VessRAID 1830s (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 6000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 6000GB 6000GB pink raid

(parted)
quit
quit
Information: You may need to update /etc/
fstab.

So according to the above, within the GUI I did
create the stripe and Aliased it to the name "pink"
and was able to make the partition. I should now
be able to mkfs and then see a /dev/sde1 device:

[root@local]# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

8 0 292968750 sda
8 1 208813 sda1
8 2 292752495 sda2
8 16 292968750 sdb
8 17 8385898 sdb1
8 32 292968750 sdc
8 33 5245191 sdc1
8 48 292968750 sdd
8 49 4192933 sdd1
8 64 5859373824 sde

So it's still not seen so I can't mkfs

[root@local]# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sde1
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Could not stat /dev/sde1 --- No such file or directory

So maybe I can force the issue

[root@local]# /sbin/MAKEDEV /dev/sde1
[root@sideshow sbin]# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

8 0 292968750 sda
8 1 208813 sda1
8 2 292752495 sda2
8 16 292968750 sdb
8 17 8385898 sdb1
8 32 292968750 sdc
8 33 5245191 sdc1
8 48 292968750 sdd
8 49 4192933 sdd1
8 64 5859373824 sde

Well, that didn't work, how about this:

[root@local]# mknod /dev/sde1 b 8 65
[root@local]# ls -ld /dev/sde1
brw-r----- 1 root disk 8, 65 Apr 16 11:21 /dev/sde1
[root@local]# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

8 0 292968750 sda
8 1 208813 sda1
8 2 292752495 sda2
8 16 292968750 sdb
8 17 8385898 sdb1
8 32 292968750 sdc
8 33 5245191 sdc1
8 48 292968750 sdd
8 49 4192933 sdd1
8 64 5859373824 sde

[root@local]# mkfs.ext2 sde1
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Could not stat sde1 --- No such file or directory

The device apparently does not exist; did you specify it correctly?