[YBA] Linux on Intel R1000GZ

[Jonathan Ben Avraham]

Hi Linux-IL colleagues,
Last night I installed CentOS 6.3 on an Intel R1000GZ server.

My intent at first was to install Debian Wheezy, but I was unable to find 
information on drivers for Debian that support either the RSTe or ESRT2 
(LSI) configuration of the RAID card.

So after giving up on Wheezy I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 desktop. This 
distribution detected the RAID in RSTe configuration, but apparently not 
correctly since at the end of the installation it was unable to install 
grub anywhere.

It seems that Intel only supports RHEL and Oracle Linux on the R1000GZ 
servers, so my third option, which succeeded, was to install CentOS 6.3 
with the BIOS RAID in RSTe configuration.

The reasoning behind not trying harder to find a solution for Wheezy 
is that by using a base OS that supports the board OOTB I will have a 
better chance of getting automated notification of updates for the RSTe 
drivers and any other proprietary drivers without manual searching. In any 
event, I only intend to use the CentOS as a host OS for other mostly 
Debian-based OS's. Is this reasoning sound, or am I a wimp for giving up 
on Wheezy? In general, would installing the base OS that best fits the 
board regardless of other (mostly ideological) considerations be the best 
advice to customers, considering the support implications? (I am assuming 
that selecting the board for the OS is not, in general, an option.)

Purim Sameah,

  - yba


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