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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hey all,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Seems that there are a lot of posts flying around about raid
problems under FC2 and the 2.6 kernel. If this is old info to you, please
disregard.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Under kernel 2.4 raid controllers that were not true
hardware controllers used the ataraid device-mapper to map the drives to the
raid array. This means most Promise controllers along with pretty much
any motherboard raid support. Or you can put it this way: If you did not
spend at least $500 on your raid card then it is more than likely a software
raid controller. Not a true hardware controller. Any instructions
you see using ataraid under 2.6 will not work with the vanilla kernels.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Kernel 2.6 has done away with the old ataraid in favor of a new
universal userspace device-mapper. In order to get a software raid
controller to function under 2.6 you have to use this new device-mapper
instead. Problem is that it is not completely in place. For
information on how to use the mapper read the following links to get you
started:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/12/29/99">http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/12/29/99</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=128781&highlight=devicemapper+raid">http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=128781&highlight=devicemapper+raid</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Those are the two best sources I’ve found thus far.
Feel free to add more info if you have it. The second of course it specific
to Gentoo, but that is just a matter of using yum instead of emerge and
rc-update.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>This info only applies if you are using the raid bios to
setup the array. When you use the raid bios, you must use the new device-mapper
in order to use the raid arrays.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>My personal recommendation is that you use the software raid
support built into the linux kernel. It is very easy to setup via disk
druid. There have already been a few links posted for linux software
raids. One of those links should get you set. For mirrored raid 1
arrays, it performs at the same speed as the raid controller bios (if not
faster). You can still use your raid controller. Just do not define
the raid arrays under the controller bios.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>If you have to use the raid bios for whatever reason and
cannot wait until the 2.6 device-mapper support is complete, then use the links
mentioned above as a starting point.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Luke Harms<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>lharms@scenpro.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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