FreePBX SAS Kernel Drivers

Reference support ticket #1030972 where most of the below is also explained in detail.

I have been requested to raise my issue as a feature request.

I install and maintain numerous FreePBX systems, Sangoma ISDN, analog cards, Vega gateways and so on and I am currently looking at upgrading a site to the latest FreePBX with the long term aim of upgrading to PBXact. The initial FreePBX install will be a dual server arrangement with multiple commercial modules.

I have received two brand new Dell R350 servers with PERC H355 SAS adapters to act as Primary and Secondary servers however I have ran into an issue where the kernel does not recognise the SAS card, therefore no drives can be found.

I am attempting to install FreePBX 16 (SNG7-PBX16-64bit-2203-1). Only one PCIe slot in the server. The ISO does not detect the SAS card therefore no HDD's are detected so no install can take place. Installing any other flavour OS Linux works fine. The issue lies with the Sangoma ISO.

On installing CentOS or Ubuntu (which detects the card) lspci shows;

01:00:0 RAID bus controller [0104] : Broadcom / LSI MegaRAID 12GSAS/PCIe Secure SAS38xx [1000:10e6]

I have tried numerous driver packs direct from Dell, the SAS card manufacturer and various distro sites but none are accepted by the kernel.

What I have done is enter CTRL+c at the initial boot menu which allows me to edit the GRUB line. I then add inst.dd and run the installer as normal. This extra line forces the kernel to prompt for a driver pack before the OS loads. At this point I can't get the kernel to accept ANY driver pack which makes me suspicious that the Sangoma kernel has been altered. Without knowing what's missing I'm a bit stuck on how best to proceed.

As mentioned in my support post, I downloaded and installed CentOS 7 - The exact same base version install that your platform uses, and this installed without the need for any driver packs. It recognised the controller on its own without any need for driver packs. If the Sangoma ISO is based on CentOS 7 then why does it not have the support out of the box?

It's all pointing towards something that can only be fixed by yourselves which I hope you are able to accommodate.

Hoping you can advise further.

Bottom line is would it be possible for the stock ISO to have kernel support for the PERC H355 SAS adapter

I was hoping to roll this project out but this has knocked me back a bit.

If this is not possible please let me know so I can look at alternative solutions

I am adding some screen shots. Images are labelled descriptively

Base CentOS is booting from a stock CentOS ISO of the same version that Sangoma SNG7. As you can see, card is picked up and drives available.

The rest are showing steps taken using SGN7 ISO without modification and with inst.dd pointing to the driver pack direct from Dell that is not accepted.

Thank you for your time.