From Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com Fri Jan 25 06:30:26 2008 Received: from sunmail2sca.sfbay.sun.com (sunmail2sca [129.145.155.234]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m0PEUQDQ011129 for ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:30:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (nwk-avmta-2.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.145.155.6]) by sunmail2sca.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id m0PEUP27000366; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:30:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0JV700027EYPX000@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:30:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from sineb-mail-1.sun.com ([192.18.19.6]) by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0JV700LP8EYNT0C0@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:30:24 -0800 (PST) Received: from fe-apac-04.sun.com (fe-apac-04.sun.com [192.18.19.175] (may be forged)) by sineb-mail-1.sun.com (8.13.6+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id m0PEUNVi018510; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:30:23 +0000 (GMT) Received: from conversion-daemon.mail-apac.sun.com by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) id <0JV700K01DI5QW00@mail-apac.sun.com> (original mail from Alan.Hargreaves@Sun.COM); Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:30:23 +0800 (SGT) Received: from [129.158.12.60] by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTPSA id <0JV7000HKEYK4Q31@mail-apac.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:30:23 +0800 (SGT) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:30:20 +1100 From: Alan Hargreaves Subject: Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers (eg. 1078) driver (mega_sas) into Solaris [PSARC/2008/051 FastTrack timeout 02/01/2008] Sender: Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com To: PSARC-ext@sun.com Cc: lsi-megasas-interest-ext@sun.com Message-id: <4799F27C.9060709@Sun.COM> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Boundary_(ID_VtekvJgGFSehqKw3eyF3FA)" X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296 User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20071203) Status: RO Content-Length: 11853 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_VtekvJgGFSehqKw3eyF3FA) Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I'm not sure what happened to the email on this from sac_nextcase, so I am resending it (also to the Bcc's it should have gone to). I am sponsoring this case for Susan Schuefele and Meera Mankali. The timer is set for February 1. As a Solaris 10 version is planned, this project requests a patch binding. It should be noted that I also sponsored 2008/011 which on first glance would appear to conflict with this case. The parties involved from both groups have been in discussion. It has been agreed that both drivers can co-exist and that the mega_sas driver will integrate first. Expect more information in 2008/011 about how the co-existence will happen. 2008/011 will remain in waiting spec update until the details have been worked out and any new dependencies added. Regards, Alan Hargreaves -- Alan Hargreaves - http://blogs.sun.com/tpenta Staff Engineer (Kernel/VOSJEC/Performance) Systems Technical Support Centre Sun Microsystems --Boundary_(ID_VtekvJgGFSehqKw3eyF3FA) Content-type: text/plain; name=mega_sas.txt Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline; filename=mega_sas.txt Template Version: @(#)onepager.txt 1.31 07/08/08 SMI This information is Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems 1. Introduction 1.1. Project/Component Working Name: Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers (eg. 1078) driver (mega_sas) into Solaris. 1.2. Name of Document Author/Supplier: Susan Scheufele/Meera Mankali - Susan.Scheufele@Sun.COM / Meera.Mankali@Sun.COM 1.3. Date of This Document: 01/24/2008 1.4. Name of Major Document Customer(s)/Consumer(s): 1.4.1. The Community you expect to review your project: ON 1.4.2. The ARC(s) you expect to review your project: PSARC 1.5. Email Aliases: 1.5.2. Responsible Engineer: Susan.Scheufele@Sun.COM, Meera.Mankali@Sun.COM, Yongfeng.Du@Sun.COM 1.5.4. Interest List: lsi-megasas-interest-ext@sun.com, sx86-dev-core@sun.com, Scott.Tracy@Sun.COM, Kevin.X.Song@Sun.COM, Andrew.Roach@Sun.COM 2. Project Summary 2.1. Project Description: This project will integrate LSI's MegaSAS RAID controllers (eg. 1078) Solaris X86 driver, namely mega_sas, into Solaris. The driver has been written by LSI for the Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 releases, and the binary is currently available for download from the LSI website at: http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/internal_raid/megaraid_sas/ megaraid_sas_8888elp/index.html?remote=1&locale=EN There is a recently filed PSARC case for a community driver, PSARC/2008/011 - mfi driver http://sac.sfbay/PSARC/2008/011/. The two teams have agreed that the two drivers will coexist, and the LSI driver will be the default. 2.2. Risks and Assumptions: Assumptions: SUN has licensed LSI's MegaSAS RAID (eg. 1078) mega_sas driver and LSI's RAID configuration and management software. This license allows SUN to integrate LSI's mega_sas driver into Solaris, and distribute the driver via Solaris (eg. Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris under CDDL). LSI developed the driver, RAID management software and the associated SAS RAID hardware and firmware. As per the license agreement with Sun, LSI is obligated to provide Sun with backline technical support for any issues related to this software. If LSI elects to create future updates to the SAS RAID chipset/driver, the integrated Solaris driver will be used as the baseline for future modifications to support the MegaRAID SAS hardware. LSI's RAID configuration and management utilities are supported with this driver and are available for download from LSI's website. Reference: Supporting SLA/CDA and other documentation is available at: http://ego02-x86.west.sun.com/wiki/index.php/SMALL:LSI_IHV_Status 3. Business Summary 3.1. Problem Area: LSI is one of the leading RAID solution vendors in the storage industry segment, and Solaris does not natively support their newer MegaRAID SAS products. This includes the LSI 1078 hardware RAID controller, which has been adopted heavily by industry leaders such as Intel, Dell and IBM. Intel is using the LSI 1078 HBAs on its new Caneland/Foxcove platforms. Dell's PERC/5 HBAs use the LSI 1078 on their currently shipping platforms, and this configuration needs to be supported as part of our OEM agreement with Dell. Sun's OEM agreement with IBM also requires support for their LSI 1078-based platforms. Without this driver, the installation of standard Solaris will not successfully complete on the platforms outlined above. The only way to install Solaris on these platforms is by downloading LSI's Solaris mega_sas driver from LSI website, populating a CD/DVD with the ITU (Install Time Update) and then continuing with the ITU-based installation. This process is cumbersome at best, especially for new Solaris users. 3.2. Market/Requester: a) SUN OEM Partner Engineering groups for Intel, Dell and IBM b) Solaris Marketing c) Intel, Dell, and IBM's customer-base using the LSI 1078 based platforms d) All customers/users using Solaris distributions (Solaris 10/OpenSolaris/Indiana, etc.) on platforms with LSI's MegaRAID SAS controllers 3.3. Business Justification: Intel and Dell are shipping LSI 1078-based platforms already. IBM has informed us that they plan to ship their newer platforms with the LSI 1078 HBAs. Considering this scenario where a high volume of servers will be in the market with LSI 1078 HBAs, it is important to get the LSI MegaRAID SAS driver integration into Solaris completed as soon as possible. Integration of this driver will improve the user's out-of-box installation experience of Solaris for these platforms, and reduce service calls. Lastly, it helps Sun maintain better relationships with our partners and Solaris OEMs, namely Intel, Dell and IBM. 3.4. Competitive Analysis: LSI is currently providing Linux driver support for the 1078 cards. If Solaris does not provide an equivalent out-of-box experience, Solaris adoption on Intel, Dell, IBM, and other x86 platforms using these HBAs will be hampered. SAS drives are achieving higher adoption by the major industry vendors for server systems. In order to be compete successfully with other Operating Systems and support new technologies, Solaris needs the LSI MegaRAID SAS driver out-of-box support for Solaris. 3.5. Opportunity Window/Exposure: Solaris 11 - snv_86 ; Solaris 10 Update 6, Build 1 3.6. How will you know when you are done?: After integrating the mega_sas driver into Solaris, we will be able to: a) Successfully install Solaris without using an ITU b) Successully complete the Solaris HCTS tests for Storage/HBA controllers 4. Technical Description: 4.1. Details: mega_sas -- Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS driver The integration of this driver onto Solaris involves creating the appropriate build environment, compilation, optimization, packaging and testing of the driver as part of Solaris. 4.2. Bug/RFE Number(s): CR 6651366: Solaris needs native LSI mega_sas driver 4.3. In Scope: Integration of mega_sas driver to support LSI's MegaRAID SAS controllers 4.4. Out of Scope: No raidctl plug-in support will be provided. Sun has made a business choice to pass through the responsibility for the device configuration tools to the vendor (eg, LSI). There is no "value add" in adding the same capabilities that LSI provides today. 4.5. Interfaces: +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Interface Name | Commitment | Comments | +-------------------------+------------+----------------------------------+ | | | | | mega_sas(7D) | Committed | LSI driver name for 1078 devices | +-------------------------+------------+----------------------------------+ 4.6. Doc Impact: A man page will be created for the mega_sas(7d) driver. There will be a test plan and test report for the driver. 4.7. Admin/Config Impact: The BIOS will be used to create RAID volumes. In addition, LSI's RAID configuration and management utilities are supported with this driver, and are available for download from LSI's website. 4.8. HA Impact: None identified at this time. 4.9. I18N/L10N Impact: No impact. 4.10. Packaging & Delivery: The mega_sas(7d) driver will be delivered only on the x86 and x64 architectures. The mega_sas(7d) driver will be included as: /kernel/drv/mega_sas /kernel/drv/mega_sas.conf /kernel/drv/amd64/mega_sas The mega_sas(7d) manpage will be included in SUNWman. 4.11. Security Impact: No impact. 4.12. Dependencies: Depends upon Solaris DDI/DKI. 5. Reference Documents: Documents and project-related materials are available at: http://ego02-x86.west.sun.com/wiki/index.php/SMALL:LSI_IHV_Status 6. Resources and Schedule: 6.1. Projected Availability: The initial project code is expected to be available by March 2008. The following Solaris releases/builds are targeted: a) Solaris 11 - snv_86 b) Solaris 10 Update 6, Build 1 6.2. Cost of Effort: Developer: 2 engineers for 6 weeks QA: 1 engineer 3 weeks 6.3. Cost of Capital Resources: All testing will use existing Intel Caneland/Foxcove platforms. Dell platforms with PERC RAID controllers will also be included in the testing. Other than the cost of effort mentioned previously, no new capital resources will be needed. 6.4. Product Approval Committee requested information: 6.4.1. Consolidation or Component Name: ON 6.4.2. Contributing OpCo/BU/Division Name: Solaris x86, OPG 6.4.3. Type of PAC Review and Approval expected: Standard 6.4.4. Project Boundary Conditions: TBD 6.4.5. Is this a necessary project for OEM agreements: Yes, for Dell and IBM. Dell is currently using LSI MegaRAID SAS chipsets in their PERC family of RAID controllers, which will need to be supported as part of the Solaris OEM agreement. 6.4.6. Notes/Dependencies: None 6.4.7. Target RTI Date/Release: Solaris 11 - snv_86, Solaris 10 Update 6, Build 1 6.4.8. Target Code Design Review Date: 2/25/2008 6.4.9. Update approval addition: None 6.5. ARC review type: Fasttrack 6.6. ARC Exposure: open 6.6.1. Rationale: Part of OpenSolaris 7. Prototype Availability: 7.1. Prototype Availability: LSI has already published the ITU image of the driver and configuration tools on their website. Several levels of testing have already been completed on this driver. 7.2. Prototype Cost: Not applicable --Boundary_(ID_VtekvJgGFSehqKw3eyF3FA)-- From gdamore@sun.com Fri Jan 25 09:10:53 2008 Received: from newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (newsunmail1brm.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.62.245]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m0PHArP1014485 for ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:53 -0800 (PST) Received: from nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (nwk-avmta-2.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.145.155.6]) by newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id m0PHAopW004029; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:10:53 -0700 (MST) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0JV700F1PME46Y00@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:52 -0800 (PST) Received: from sca-es-mail-2.sun.com ([192.18.43.133]) by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0JV70046QME240B0@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from fe-sfbay-10.sun.com ([192.18.43.129]) by sca-es-mail-2.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id m0PHAoK3007383; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from conversion-daemon.fe-sfbay-10.sun.com by fe-sfbay-10.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-8.04 (built Feb 28 2007)) id <0JV700J01LVUZ700@fe-sfbay-10.sun.com> (original mail from gdamore@sun.com) ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from [192.168.251.106] ([76.174.83.55]) by fe-sfbay-10.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-8.04 (built Feb 28 2007)) with ESMTPSA id <0JV700FTZMDXJBB0@fe-sfbay-10.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:45 -0800 (PST) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:10:14 -0800 From: "Garrett D'Amore" Subject: Re: Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers (eg. 1078) driver (mega_sas) into Solaris [PSARC/2008/051 FastTrack timeout 02/01/2008] In-reply-to: <4799F27C.9060709@Sun.COM> Sender: Garrett.Damore@sun.com To: Alan Hargreaves Cc: PSARC-ext@sun.com, lsi-megasas-interest-ext@sun.com Message-id: <479A17F6.6060100@sun.com> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296 References: <4799F27C.9060709@Sun.COM> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20071023) Status: RO Content-Length: 2086 Alan Hargreaves wrote: > I'm not sure what happened to the email on this from sac_nextcase, so > I am resending it (also to the Bcc's it should have gone to). > > I am sponsoring this case for Susan Schuefele and Meera Mankali. The > timer is set for February 1. > > As a Solaris 10 version is planned, this project requests a patch > binding. > > It should be noted that I also sponsored 2008/011 which on first glance > would appear to conflict with this case. > > The parties involved from both groups have been in discussion. It has > been agreed that both drivers can co-exist and that the mega_sas driver > will integrate first. Expect more information in 2008/011 about how the > co-existence will happen. 2008/011 will remain in waiting spec update > until the details have been worked out and any new dependencies added. I am greatly interested (and concerned) with this idea of coexistence. I'm a little worried that this direction lies madness. The other FOSS systems that allow different drivers for the same hardware can probably cite it as one of the greatest causes for confusion and support headaches. The PRISM drivers (there are last I checked at least 3 of them) for Linux are a classic example of this. The other thing I am concerned with is that the LSI product is going to be (IIUC) fully open. (At least the kernel driver. I guess the userland administration tools are not. But this is LSI value-add compared to mfi.) If there is no licensing benefit gained by mfi, and no support benefit gained (indeed, I think its probably less support, since I think LSI will support their version of the driver), then I see little point in pressing forward with mfi. I'd really like to see the problem of driver coexistence treated separately, if that is the goal, rather than attempting to shim it into this case. Its a big enough problem that I don't think it is something that can or should be fast-tracked, but probably deserves a full case of its own. (There are so many questions I can ask here, that it boggles the mind.) -- Garrett From Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com Fri Jan 25 13:46:55 2008 Received: from sunmail3mpk.sfbay.sun.com (sunmail3mpk [129.146.11.52]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m0PLktOQ020992 for ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:46:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (brm-avmta-1.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.4.11]) by sunmail3mpk.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id m0PLksjw021395; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:46:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0JV70020BZ65I700@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:46:53 -0700 (MST) Received: from sineb-mail-2.sun.com ([192.18.19.7]) by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0JV700AFQZ64FVA0@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:46:53 -0700 (MST) Received: from fe-apac-03.sun.com (fe-apac-03.sun.com [192.18.19.174] (may be forged)) by sineb-mail-2.sun.com (8.13.6+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id m0PLkpCB018976; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:46:51 +0000 (GMT) Received: from conversion-daemon.mail-apac.sun.com by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) id <0JV700A01Z5K7Q00@mail-apac.sun.com> (original mail from Alan.Hargreaves@Sun.COM); Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:46:51 +0800 (SGT) Received: from [129.158.12.60] by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTPSA id <0JV700AXYZ61TQM1@mail-apac.sun.com>; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:46:50 +0800 (SGT) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:46:47 +1100 From: Alan Hargreaves Subject: Re: Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers (eg. 1078) driver (mega_sas) into Solaris [PSARC/2008/051 FastTrack timeout 02/01/2008] In-reply-to: <479A17F6.6060100@sun.com> Sender: Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com To: "Garrett D'Amore" Cc: PSARC-ext@sun.com, lsi-megasas-interest-ext@sun.com Message-id: <479A58C7.2020603@Sun.COM> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296 References: <4799F27C.9060709@Sun.COM> <479A17F6.6060100@sun.com> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20071203) Status: RO Content-Length: 2457 The idea is that it will be treated completely seperately to this case and 2008/011 will not be able to proceed without it. alan. Garrett D'Amore wrote: > Alan Hargreaves wrote: >> I'm not sure what happened to the email on this from sac_nextcase, so >> I am resending it (also to the Bcc's it should have gone to). >> >> I am sponsoring this case for Susan Schuefele and Meera Mankali. The >> timer is set for February 1. >> >> As a Solaris 10 version is planned, this project requests a patch >> binding. >> >> It should be noted that I also sponsored 2008/011 which on first glance >> would appear to conflict with this case. >> >> The parties involved from both groups have been in discussion. It has >> been agreed that both drivers can co-exist and that the mega_sas driver >> will integrate first. Expect more information in 2008/011 about how the >> co-existence will happen. 2008/011 will remain in waiting spec update >> until the details have been worked out and any new dependencies added. > > I am greatly interested (and concerned) with this idea of coexistence. > I'm a little worried that this direction lies madness. > > The other FOSS systems that allow different drivers for the same > hardware can probably cite it as one of the greatest causes for > confusion and support headaches. The PRISM drivers (there are last I > checked at least 3 of them) for Linux are a classic example of this. > > The other thing I am concerned with is that the LSI product is going to > be (IIUC) fully open. (At least the kernel driver. I guess the > userland administration tools are not. But this is LSI value-add > compared to mfi.) If there is no licensing benefit gained by mfi, and > no support benefit gained (indeed, I think its probably less support, > since I think LSI will support their version of the driver), then I see > little point in pressing forward with mfi. > > I'd really like to see the problem of driver coexistence treated > separately, if that is the goal, rather than attempting to shim it into > this case. Its a big enough problem that I don't think it is something > that can or should be fast-tracked, but probably deserves a full case of > its own. (There are so many questions I can ask here, that it boggles > the mind.) > > -- Garrett > -- Alan Hargreaves - http://blogs.sun.com/tpenta Staff Engineer (Kernel/VOSJEC/Performance) Systems Technical Support Centre Sun Microsystems From Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com Wed Jan 30 10:15:39 2008 Received: from sunmail4.singapore.sun.com (sunmail4.Singapore.Sun.COM [129.158.71.19]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m0UIFbS5028596 for ; Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:15:38 -0800 (PST) Received: from nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (nwk-avmta-2.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.145.155.6]) by sunmail4.singapore.sun.com (8.13.4+Sun/8.13.3/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id m0UIFZUL001367; Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:15:37 +0800 (SGT) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0JVG00C1NYQ08B00@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:15:36 -0800 (PST) Received: from sineb-mail-1.sun.com ([192.18.19.6]) by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0JVG007VSYPXZA70@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:15:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from fe-apac-04.sun.com (fe-apac-04.sun.com [192.18.19.175] (may be forged)) by sineb-mail-1.sun.com (8.13.6+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id m0UIFX5A003316; Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:15:33 +0000 (GMT) Received: from conversion-daemon.mail-apac.sun.com by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) id <0JVG00C01Y88T600@mail-apac.sun.com> (original mail from Alan.Hargreaves@Sun.COM); Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:15:33 +0800 (SGT) Received: from [129.158.12.60] by mail-apac.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTPSA id <0JVG000TZYPV4Q82@mail-apac.sun.com>; Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:15:33 +0800 (SGT) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:15:30 +1100 From: Alan Hargreaves Subject: Re: Integrate LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers (eg. 1078) driver (mega_sas) into Solaris [PSARC/2008/051 FastTrack timeout 02/01/2008] In-reply-to: <479A58C7.2020603@Sun.COM> Sender: Alan.Hargreaves@sun.com To: "Garrett D'Amore" Cc: PSARC-ext@sun.com, lsi-megasas-interest-ext@sun.com Message-id: <47A0BEC2.2050300@Sun.COM> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296 References: <4799F27C.9060709@Sun.COM> <479A17F6.6060100@sun.com> <479A58C7.2020603@Sun.COM> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20071203) Status: RO Content-Length: 2585 Approved in PSARC Meeting on January 30. alan. Alan Hargreaves wrote: > The idea is that it will be treated completely seperately to this case > and 2008/011 will not be able to proceed without it. > > alan. > > Garrett D'Amore wrote: >> Alan Hargreaves wrote: >>> I'm not sure what happened to the email on this from sac_nextcase, so >>> I am resending it (also to the Bcc's it should have gone to). >>> >>> I am sponsoring this case for Susan Schuefele and Meera Mankali. The >>> timer is set for February 1. >>> >>> As a Solaris 10 version is planned, this project requests a patch >>> binding. >>> >>> It should be noted that I also sponsored 2008/011 which on first glance >>> would appear to conflict with this case. >>> >>> The parties involved from both groups have been in discussion. It has >>> been agreed that both drivers can co-exist and that the mega_sas driver >>> will integrate first. Expect more information in 2008/011 about how the >>> co-existence will happen. 2008/011 will remain in waiting spec update >>> until the details have been worked out and any new dependencies added. >> >> I am greatly interested (and concerned) with this idea of >> coexistence. I'm a little worried that this direction lies madness. >> >> The other FOSS systems that allow different drivers for the same >> hardware can probably cite it as one of the greatest causes for >> confusion and support headaches. The PRISM drivers (there are last I >> checked at least 3 of them) for Linux are a classic example of this. >> >> The other thing I am concerned with is that the LSI product is going >> to be (IIUC) fully open. (At least the kernel driver. I guess the >> userland administration tools are not. But this is LSI value-add >> compared to mfi.) If there is no licensing benefit gained by mfi, and >> no support benefit gained (indeed, I think its probably less support, >> since I think LSI will support their version of the driver), then I >> see little point in pressing forward with mfi. >> >> I'd really like to see the problem of driver coexistence treated >> separately, if that is the goal, rather than attempting to shim it >> into this case. Its a big enough problem that I don't think it is >> something that can or should be fast-tracked, but probably deserves a >> full case of its own. (There are so many questions I can ask here, >> that it boggles the mind.) >> >> -- Garrett >> > > -- Alan Hargreaves - http://blogs.sun.com/tpenta Staff Engineer (Kernel/VOSJEC/Performance) Systems Technical Support Centre Sun Microsystems