Building Adaptec drivers for kernels for which modules are not yet available

  • 3003052
  • 12-Jun-2006
  • 30-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
Novell Open Enterprise Server
Adaptec SATA and SAS HostRAID Controllers
Adaptec aar81xx and adp94xx Kernel Modules

Situation

As new versions of the SLES kernel are released, third party companies must build their proprietary drivers specifically for these new kernels. The delay between a kernel release and a driver release can sometimes be significant. Two such kernel modules are the aar81xx and adp94xx from Adaptec.

Resolution

Adaptec has made it possible to download a version of their modules (SHIM) which can be built by the end-user for a specific kernel. Included is the ability to build both a driver for an existing kernel and a driver disk for future installs. To use a SHIM driver:

  1.  Navigate to adaptec.com in a web browser.
  2. Search for SHIM. Included in the download results should be a SHIM driver for aar81xx and adp94xx. Download the most recent version of the driver for the applicable module.
  3. Extract the contents of the download and follow the included instructions to build the kernel module.

Additional Information

Note that Novell will not offer any support for the Adaptec driver.