Update Adaptec RAID driver

[Mushbytes]

Recently I've been working on a FreeNAS system aimed at storing a large amount of data, mostly video files. I set up a test system using a couple of 1TB hard disks and now I want to transition recreate the volume using 3TB hard disk.
Sadly, according to this list the current version of the system's Adaptec Raid BIOS (52445, build 17544, where I need build 17911) doesn't support 3TB disks.

So far, I've found the latest Adaptec Driver I need, but I've been struggling to get it installed.
I have a .tgz file on a USB stick now, which I've been trying to install using the Shell, giving the following results:

# mkdir /mnt/test/usb
# mount_msdosfs /dev/da0s1 /mnt/test/usb
# cp /mnt/test/usb/aac8x-amd.tgz /tmp
# pkg_add /tmp/aac8x-amd64.tgz
mkdir: /usr/local/drivers: Read-only file system
pkg_add: leave_playpen: can't chdir back to ' '

At this point I've got two questions:

1: Is it even possible to update the Adaptec RAID drivers from FreeNAS?
2: If it IS possible, am I going about this the right way? And if so, what can I do about the errors the pkg_add command gives?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

 

[William Grzybowski]

I dont believe you can upgrade firmware/bios from FreeNAS.

I don't think the freebsd driver will influence that.

 

[jgreco]

Think the better question is, since what he's attempting to install is the Adaptec driver, has he already done the BIOS upgrade? The BIOS upgrade isn't something that can be done within FreeNAS, as you note. The driver update, however, may well be absolutely essential. Updating the drivers might be a bit tricky. I've largely lost track of Adaptec these last several years, so I don't really know what the contents of that driver package are. Do you have a tar directory listing of it handy, so we can see what it wants to install?

 

[cyberjock]

I have an adaptec controller, but I really don't want to tear apart my server right now, so here's some info that may or may not help.

1. If the adaptec controller driver is already included but out of date and is loaded as a kernel driver you will be forced to recompile FreeNAS without the driver to load the driver you have.
2. If there is an update to the already installed driver, I'd highly recommend you put in a ticket at support.freenas.org. If you can provide a link to the newer driver that would be helpful. I've put in a few tickets and I've done my best to make my issues as easy as possible for them. This prevents you from doing #1(which it sounds like you don't know how to do) and makes the Developers do the stuff you aren't too familiar with.
3. I'm fairly certain that I had tried my Adaptec controller back in March 2012 and I didn't have much luck with it. I can't remember if it didn't work at all or had performance issues or what exactly.
4. Unrelated to FreeNAS, but their controllers require forced air to keep them cool or a very high CFM case(typically only found on rack mounted pre-designed computers. If you don't have a PCI slot fan or something blowing directly on the CPU you will burn it out in a year or so.

 

[Mushbytes]

Thanks for the replies all.

Following William's suggestion that FreeNAS wouldn't be able to update the Adaptec BIOS, I tried another way. In the end I installed Windows 7 on another disk in the system and updated the Adaptec BIOS using the Adaptec Storage Manager. Now, I'm running version 18948 and both the Adaptec RAID BIOS and FreeNAS recognize my 3TB disks :)

 

[cyberjock]

The last time I used an Adaptec controller I did updates via a DOS USB stick and the DOS flash utility. It's another option for future reference so you don't have to spend 30 mins installing Windows 7. I keep a 2GB USB stick around with DOS on it just in case I want to upgrade the BIOS or firmware on any hardware I have.