'hpsa' - A SCSI-based Linux device driver for HP Smart Array Controllers

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Figure 5 illustrates the OS device presentation changes that occur when transitioning to hpsa after the OS installation.
Figure 5. OS device presentation changes with driver replacement
Pre-transition tasks
Before transitioning from the cciss driver to the hpsa driver, complete the following processes:
1. Schedule downtime for the transition.
2. Perform and verify a complete system backup.
3. Record physical and logical storage configuration and device mapping.
4. Identify the devices affected by the driver transition.
5. Ensure that none of the affected devices is a boot device.
6. Mount the affected devices using a persistent device naming method, either by-label, or by-uuid.
7. Save a copy of the OS configuration files for future reference.
Post-transition tasks
1. Reboot the server.
2. Verify all appropriate Smart Array devices are accounted for by /dev/sd* names.
3. Perform a full system backup.
4. Verify the backup media.
Deploying hpsa during a controller replacement
Replacing a Smart Array controller with a different model may require you to change drivers. Since newer controllers use
hpsa, and older models use the cciss driver, you may need to switch to the hpsa driver when you replace a Smart Array
controller with a newer model. Even though the data on disk format and the array configuration is entirely compatible
between the controllers, you need to anticipate the potential device name changes and plan for them as part of the
replacement process. For example, if a server is running RHEL 6, and you need to replace a P400 controller with a P410
controller, the driver used with the controller will need to change from cciss to hpsa.