PE1750 Software Raid + 2xSCSI Interfaces

[Brian E. Seppanen]

Hi Folks:

Although this isn't exactly a Dell specific question, I figured with all 
of the smart people on this list someone must have confronted this issue 
before.

I have a PE1750 with an LSI SCSI Interface and a QLogic QLA2200 Card. 
The system is running Debian 3.1 with kernel 2.6.12.   Internally to the 
1750 (terminated on the LSI Interface) I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. 
/dev/sda and /dev/sdb are mirrored with software raid, so 
/dev/sda3 and /dev/sdb3 are / and /dev/sda4 and /dev/sdb4 are /home.

Terminated on the QLogic QLA2200 Card I have 13 disks in a drive 
enclosure.The remaining 13 drives starting from /dev/sdc onward are intended for a 
raid 5 partition.

I've begun testing of the software raid booting capabilities (can I boot 
either disk without the other one being present).  So I have /dev/sda and 
/dev/sdb internally on the LSI.  I pull /dev/sdb to verify that /dev/sda 
will boot without.  That works without an issue.  However, once /dev/sdb is pulled 
from the LSI controller, the device number on the QLA2200 changes from 
starting with /dev/sdc to now beginning with /dev/sdb.   This causes all 
sorts of problems.

So Long story short, is there a means of assigning specific drive 
identities to specific controllers to prevent this sort of thing 
occurring?   In my fantasy world I assign to the LSI Interface /dev/sda, 
/dev/sdb and /dev/sdc.   The QLA2200 would get /dev/sdd onwards.

This must be possible, so can anyone provide me with a direction to move 
towards a solution?

Thanks for your time and have a happy fourth for those in the US.


Brian Seppanen
608.826.1464