I’m working with some old equipment, specifically a P3 server that has a Mylex DAC960PTL1 raid controller in it running a 1999 version of EzAssist off firmware. I ran into a problem where I couldn’t delete a disk array nor a logical volume once created.
According to the manual, entitled RAID ExAssist Configuration Utility, User Reference Guide, DB13-000047-00 First Edition, 08P5519, by LSI Logic, there were delete menus, but I just wasn’t seeing them.
A little research showed that LSI Logic now owned the Mylex DAC960PTL1, and their download page, while showing plenty of DAC960 variations, did not have the PTL1 suffix. Turns out this is now called the AcceleRAID 250 controller, and drivers and firmware are available.
Turns out the problem was that I needed to upgrade the BIOS, EzAssist, Firmware, and Bootblock by using the latest Software Kit v4.04-02, dated December 20, 2001.
So I grabbed a copy of ez_assist404.zip, unpacked it to a floppy, and followed the directions in the readme, which consisted of booting, holding down Alt-R to bring up the existing EzAssist setup utility, and flashing the files off the diskette one by one.
Once I did that, I was able to manage the existing raid drives, both logical and physical, without incident.
For those curious, you set up the physical drives first, add them to a pool of storage called an array, and from there make logical volumes, which are then exposed to any operating system with a device driver for the raid card, such as Fedora Core 4 (/dev/rd/… which then has a controller/disk/partition notation for device names).
It took over a full day to locate this information and make use of it. Hopefully, documenting this save someone else the trouble.
Thanks for posting this. I’m trying to upgrade from a DAC960 to an Acceleraid 352. Your post was a nice rfresher on this old equipment.
I’m faced with the same problem you had, but I’m confused as to what you did.
You say you unpacked the .zip file, read the “readme” and put the files on a floppy, but the .zip file you linked only contains an executable. What files should I be seeing?
If memory serves me right, I believe I ran the .EXE, it looked for the correct controllers, and emitted the correct data files and produced a readme file.
Thank you for this pricless information. I’m in the process of working on an old server with the DAC960PTL1 and me thinks I’m going to need it. It was very thoughfull of you to offer this up.