I have done some more experimenting with a 2.4.0 kernel that I hacked together a
little while back a couple of days after 2.4.0 was released. (I have all of the
drives set to autotune with this 2.4.0 kernel.) I found that when I ran
'badblocks -wv /dev/md0' on a three disk IDE raid device it report 0 bad blocks
out of 90 million total. When I tried to build a four disk array with the fourth
disk failed and copy files over, bad stuff happened once again. Here is an
excerpt out of my /var/log/messages log when I tried to copy files over:
Jan 28 17:21:50 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114184
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114190, count = 2
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114190
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114191
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114199
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114220
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114222
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114227
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114242
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114243
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114251
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114258
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114267
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114271
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114274
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114279
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114284
Jan 28 17:21:51 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114291
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114117
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114121
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114126
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114137
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114142
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114144
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114146, count = 1
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114146
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114149
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114153
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114155
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114159
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114166
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114171
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114176
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114178
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114181
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114229
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114240
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114312
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114313, count = 1
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114313
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114315
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114319
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114320, count = 1
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114320
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114322
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114327
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114330
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114331, count = 1
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114331
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114333
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_free_blocks:
Freeing blocks in system zones - Block = 1114334, count = 4
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114334
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114339
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114360
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114366
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114373
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114375
Jan 28 17:22:47 tick kernel: EXT2-fs error (device md(9,0)): ext2_new_block:
Allocating block in system zone - block = 1114380
When I converted the raid array bad into one big raid device and ran 'badblocks
-vw /dev/md0' I got 12,409 bad blocks out of 135,104,445 blocks total.
One other nicety that I found (besides reduced corruption problems) with the 2.4.0
kernel is that I can write to three disks at the same time and still play mp3's
interruption free.
Overall the results that I got with the 2.4.0 kernel where much better than the
stock kernel that comes with mdk 7.2, but not quite perfect yet. I noticed that
the 2.4.1 kernel is out now, I could look for more recent Promise controller BIOS
drivers, and I signed up to be a crash tester, so I don't consider myself
completely out of options yet.
> >
> > My efforts to set up a software raid in my "spare" time has progressed a
> > little from last time around, but it seems that I have run into a rather
> > significant snag.
>
> That's weird. Civileme, is this indicatave of a problem with the hard
> drive tuning? (I know that Jason tried -u0, but what do I know, I
> try to stick with scsi most of the time ;-)
>
> I'm not TOO surprised that things worked unusually when running with
> one of the drives off, but it would feel much better if it had worked
> perfectly, eh? ;-)
>
> The only other thing I could guess is maybe some kind of collision on the
> ide bus? I'm grasping at straws here... I've done sw raid with scsi
> (2 controllers, 3 drives, raid 5 - I said a bit about it a day or so ago)
> and it worked fine, but then all I did was set it up, try some performance
> tests, then fill the drive up ;-)
>
> Are there any clues in /var/log/messages or friends?
>
> rc
>
> Rusty Carruth Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Voice: (480) 345-3621 SnailMail: Schlumberger ATE
> FAX: (480) 345-8793 7855 S. River Parkway, Suite 116
> Ham: N7IKQ @ 146.82+,pl 162.2 Tempe, AZ 85284-1825
> ICBM: 33 20' 44"N 111 53' 47"W
