> 1. I have two versions of a Software-RAID HOWTO on my system which are
totally different in their scope.
There were essentially two versions of raid - that which worked with the 2.0
Linux kernel and the news stuff that works with the 2.1/2.2 series kernel.
The docs that are in /usr/doc/raidtools-0.90 are your best bet.
> 2. I have followed the instructions (as best that I can) and find that
RAID activation stops during autodetect of RAID arrays.
That gets asked a lot. It's a feature, really. The autodetecton feature
occurs *before* any filesystems are mounted. As the stock Red Hat kernels
only have raid support in modules they can't be loaded before the root
filesystem is mounted. There are two fixes. 1) recompile the kernel with
raid support built in or 2) read the man page for 'initrd' and set up an
initial ram disk with the needed raid modules. Method #2 worked great for
me.
> 3. Why is RAID so hard to set up on Linux?
Huh? It was a snap for me. Perhaps it's more of an familiarity issue. It
doesn't take me 3 days to set up an FTP server or 2 days for a nameserver...
maybe hours but not days.
That should be a real consideration. Setting up a server that you are not
sure of and not comfortable with will almost certainly result in a Bad Day
if something goes wrong. I certainly would not know the first thing about
setting up NT server with Raid and therefore wouldn't recommend a production
server on it - especially if I would be responsible for it - even though it
may do just fine.
Nuff said,
Marc
> ----------
> From: Nixon, Shon
> Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 1999 9:29 AM
> To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> Subject: RAID 1 and RH 6.0
>
> I am considering using RH 6.0 to replace a few of my NT file servers, but
> I do have heavy reservations about using this OS because of the difficulty
> I am having in setting up RAID 1 with my test system. If someone could
> please answer a few questions, I would be deeply appreciative. I am not
> new to Linux though. I presently have an FTP server (which took 3 days to
> complete), Name Server (2 days to complete), and a firewall using the FWTK
> (1 week to complete). My test system is as follows: Compaq Pro Workstation
> 5000 w/ dual PP200s, 128MB RAM, and an NCR-53c875 SCSI adapter and two
> Seagate barracuda UW 2.1GB drives.
>
> 1. I have two versions of a Software-RAID HOWTO on my system which are
> totally different in their scope. I am guessing that I use the on located
> in the /usr/doc/raidtools-0.90 directory? The instructions are very
> confusing and assume to much with the readers level of knowledge. Do I
> need three drives to successfully create a mirror? I have loaded the OS on
> drive /dev/sda. Should I not be able to just make /dev/sdb a mirror of the
> other drive without having to use a third drive just to prepare the OS
> installation?
>
> 2. I have followed the instructions (as best that I can) and find that
> RAID activation stops during autodetect of RAID arrays. I have even
> removed the RAID info from /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. It does start the
> configuration after it has detected the both SCSI drives and then fails. I
> get the message:
>
> kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k md-personality-3, error=2
> do_md_run() returned -22
> unbind<sdb6,1>
> export_rdev(sdb6)
> unbind<sda6,0>
> export_rdev(sdb6)
> md2 stopped.
>
> Any clues?
>
> 3. Why is RAID so hard to set up on Linux? The HOWTO suggested that I
> should "experiment" with this? He also states that I "should use this
> information at my own risk"? Why should a company pursue the use of Linux
> if the person that wrote the HOWTO drops a disclaimer such as this? I know
> that NT is not perfect, but it generally takes me 1.5 hours to complete an
> entire NT Server installation running RAID 1 (software mirroring) and I
> know that it is easy to set up and very reliable from hardware failures
> that I have dealt with in the past. It sounds as if he is not sure of the
> ability of the system to perform RAID or of his instructions. Please
> excuse me. I am really not trying to be so critical of the OS, but these
> are the questions that I am asked by executive management and this project
> is taking way so long to complete. Maybe someone has had to deal with
> these questions and can help me with the answers.
>
>
>
> Shon Nixon
> Chief - Information Technology
> Midrex Direct Reduction Corp.
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
