Re: raid development status
On Sun, Nov 21, 1999 at 02:43:27PM -0500, Alex H. Vandenham wrote:
It would be VERY HELPFUL if someone involved in this project could update some
of the information on the linux raid tools and patches. It's not a big task
and it would make it much easier for users to figure out what to use for
serious production systems.
Use the 2.2.X-ac kernels. Alan Cox keeps the 0.90 RAID code in his kernels, and
for what I know they're stable enough for production systems. They are 2.2
kernels, and they are intended to be as stable as the main 2.2 branch, except
the -ac variants have a few of those extra features that won't go into 2.2.
If we should be using "the latest tools and patches" then let's drop this
Alpha/Beta stuff - I think it's keeping serious production systems from even
trying it.
Agreed, calling 0.90 alpha and the old-stuff beta is somewhat misleading.
It seems that the 0.90 RAID code will be in 2.4 when it comes out, so all this
mess with the alpha confusion and running -ac kernels etc. will soon be over.
(I'll probably keep on running -ac kernels anyway ;)
Also, not everyone wants to upgrade to the latest kernel and it would be
helpful to know which combination of patches and tools should be used with the
various kernel versions since the "Beta" tools and patches (ie 2.0.30).
This is stated in the HOWTO. Use the patch that matches your kernel best,
apply the patch and look out for rejects.
There should be no reason not to run 2.2.X-acY kernels if you're on 2.2
kernels. For 2.0.X you'll have to go find the patch that fits.
This is a very good project technically but it appears to need some better
project management - emphasis on "appears". It would help if information on
the different versions of the tools and patches, and the use of the Alpha/Beta
labels, was more clearly spelled out in the Website and HOWTO.
What website ?
You're right, it could be explained better. People should be moving away from
beta and trying out alpha instead (even though it sounds wrong, I know). The
alpha RAID is _far_ more stable and has some very nice features which is
missing in the beta stuff.
When 2.4 comes out, this confusion should hopefully be over.
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Re: raid development status
The impression that I get is that if one wants to a version of
raid that is most likely to run and most likely to have its problems
addressed if it fails, one should ignore the warnings about running
alpha software (on the grounds that it's at least as stable as raid 0.3x?)
and apply the patch in
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha/raid0145-19990824-2.2.11.gz
and run the userland software from
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha/raidtools-19990824-0.90.tar.gz.
This was my impression, too. I run it on multiple (some dual cpu SMP, some
non-SMP) machines and I'm quite happy with it!
However, maybe I am missing something here. Seeing how this is
a development list, are most people actually running the 0.3x mdtools
stuff?
I don't have any numbers, but I think quite many opt for 0.90 and ignore that
it is declared alpha.
Also, the development snapshots seem to have stopped
after 1999.08.24. Has development stopped?
AFAIK there is quite busy development for integrating RAID stuff into 2.3.xx,
but it is not finished yet.
Or am I looking at the wrong FTP site?
No it's the correct one.
Thomas
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raid development status
Hi gang, I have been following the linux-raid mailing list for the past two weeks in an effort to understand the current state of raid development, and I would like some confirmation or correction of the impression that I am getting with respect to question of which version of raid a Linux distribution should use. It looks to me like the answer is 0.90. It appears that most of the people running raid are running 0.90. There have been requests for it to be integreated into Linus's kernels, and I see that the latest 2.2.x-ac kernels have it (but not the latest 2.2.x-pre or 2.3.x-pre kernels). The impression that I get is that if one wants to a version of raid that is most likely to run and most likely to have its problems addressed if it fails, one should ignore the warnings about running alpha software (on the grounds that it's at least as stable as raid 0.3x?) and apply the patch in ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha/raid0145-19990824-2.2.11.gz and run the userland software from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha/raidtools-19990824-0.90.tar.gz. (By the way, I gave this a whirl on a Quad Xeon with a bunch of SCSI disks to build a little raid 5, and it seems to work.) However, maybe I am missing something here. Seeing how this is a development list, are most people actually running the 0.3x mdtools stuff? Also, the development snapshots seem to have stopped after 1999.08.24. Has development stopped? Is it basically "done" in the sense that there do not seem to be any serious bugs? Or am I looking at the wrong FTP site? Adam J. Richter __ __ 4880 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 104 [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ / San Jose, California 95129-1034 +1 408 261-6630 | g g d r a s i l United States of America fax +1 408 261-6631 "Free Software For The Rest Of Us."
