I've built 10-20 Linux software SCSI RAIDs on 5-10 systems under various
2.0.x kernels (but none under 2.2.x and none using IDE).
One of the things I've found is that the hardware has to be *very*
reliable. A recent system with two RAID-5 and one RAID-1 took over a month
of swapping components until it was solid.
Typically, for each RAID and available partition, I start the following on
a virtual terminal:
while true; do mke2fs /dev/...; e2fsck -f /dev/...; done
I also run these on the raw partitions before building the RAIDs. Often, a
system which passes manufacturer tests and runs NT and passes QAPLUS/FE and
installs Redhat will fail this test in an hour.
After a *lot* of wasted time in the past, we now require that the system
can run this test for a week before proceeding with further system
configuration.
The three most common problems we've found, in order:
1) Motherboard.
2) Memory.
3) SCSI cable / termination.
--Mike
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Mike Bird Tel: 209-742-5000 FAX: 209-966-3117
President POP: 209-742-5156 PGR: 209-742-9979
Iron Mtn Systems http://member.yosemite.net/
