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* Re: [gentoo-amd64] How to install to a RAID set?
@ 2006-05-09 13:15 Peter Humphrey
  2006-05-09 13:57 ` Etaoin Shrdlu
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 22+ messages in thread
From: Peter Humphrey @ 2006-05-09 13:15 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-amd64

> Some pointers about what manufacturers/boards provide true hardware raid:
>
> http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html
> http://linux-ata.org/faq-sata-raid.html
>
> I had to face this problem myself some time ago. Seems that areca, 3ware,
> IBM, some of Adaptec's and a few others are the ones you can choose from
> (they provide true hw raid). I bought an Areca ARC-1120 and I'm happy
> with it, but YMMV.

Very useful - thanks. Looks like I'll have to try harder with sw raid, as I
don't think it's worth spending £300 to make the disks go faster, and this
box has only 32-bit PCI slots so I can't fit a modern card (unless you know
different).

--
Rgds
Peter.


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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 22+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-amd64] How to install to a RAID set?
@ 2006-05-07 11:06 Peter Humphrey
  2006-05-07 12:31 ` Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
  2006-05-07 16:36 ` Etaoin Shrdlu
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 22+ messages in thread
From: Peter Humphrey @ 2006-05-07 11:06 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-amd64

Ok, many thanks to all who replied.  I think I'll go the hardware route.

I've found a card that seems ideal for my needs: one that will fit into the
32-bit PCI 2.2 slots on this motherboard but doesn't cost more than the pair
of disks it will drive. It's the Adaptec 1210SA controller.

I'll go searching the HCLs, but meanwhile does anyone here have a view on
this device?

--
Rgds
Peter.



--------- Original Message --------
From: gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org
To: gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org <gentoo-amd64@lists.gentoo.org>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-amd64] How to install to a RAID set?
Date: 06/05/06 20:22

>
> &gt; So I plugged the drives in and started exploring (they're 2 x 200 GB
Maxtor
> &gt; SATA disks). After many attempts I now have a new WinXP installation
on the
> &gt; new RAID-0 set, and all looks fine there. But after innumerable
attempts and
> &gt; much hair tearing I still have no trace of Gentoo. I've eventually
> &gt; discovered that I need to pass &quot;dmraid=X&quot; to the installer
at CD-boot time,
> &gt; but the instructions are both wrong and unhelpful in telling me what
X is. I
> &gt; did manage to read &quot;man dmraid&quot; (though not print it -
anyone know how to
> &gt; print Linux man pages on a Windows box?) from which it seemed I
needed an
> &gt; -ay paramter, thus:
>
> After quite a few experience with most software RAID that require drivers
> I have come to the conclusion that they are not worth anything. You are
> much better off using Linux software raid which will work even if you
> change chipsets, as in upgrading your computer in a later point in time.
> Also there are quite a few software Raid out there that require you to
> rebuild the Raid if you ever update the Bios.
>
> I would only use only actual real Hardware RAID such as an IBM ServeRaid
> card.
>
> If you need raid in Windows XP I think that it also supports a virtual
> Raid system, I have never used it so ymmv.
> --
> gentoo-amd64@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 22+ messages in thread
* [gentoo-amd64] How to install to a RAID set?
@ 2006-05-06 20:18 Peter Humphrey
  2006-05-06 19:38 ` Mike Williams
                   ` (4 more replies)
  0 siblings, 5 replies; 22+ messages in thread
From: Peter Humphrey @ 2006-05-06 20:18 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-amd64

Well, here's a pretty kettle of fish, and no mistake.

Having had this dual-Opteron box for over two years with just plain IDE
disks, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and plug in a couple of
SATAs. So I did. The motherboard has a VIA chipset with what turns out to be
firmware RAID, though I had thought in my innocence that anything in the
chipset would be hardware - hah! Windows drivers for the interface are
supplied, but apparently Linux kernels need libata compiled in and dmraid
installed. Gentoo 2006.0 installation CD has both, so I should be ready to
go.

So I plugged the drives in and started exploring (they're 2 x 200 GB Maxtor
SATA disks). After many attempts I now have a new WinXP installation on the
new RAID-0 set, and all looks fine there. But after innumerable attempts and
much hair tearing I still have no trace of Gentoo. I've eventually
discovered that I need to pass "dmraid=X" to the installer at CD-boot time,
but the instructions are both wrong and unhelpful in telling me what X is. I
did manage to read "man dmraid" (though not print it - anyone know how to
print Linux man pages on a Windows box?) from which it seemed I needed an
-ay paramter, thus:

gentoo dodmraid=-ay

The instructions say to enclose the parameter in quotes, but when I did that
it complained Unknown ""-ay". Omitting the quotes enabled it to connect to
the array (that isn't the word, but I'm not at that screen at the moment)
and give every appearance of knowing what it's doing. But then when I run
fdisk -l I see two 200GB disks /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, not the single 400GB
disk I expect. Clearly, installing to /dev/sda isn't going to get me very
far - not only will it not be the RAID array I want, but I dare say it'll
break the array that the BIOS has created and WinXP is happily using.

I've googled all over the place, looking for clues. That's right - I don't
have any ;-(

Can anyone here help out? Even knowing the format of the name dmraid expects
for an existing array would help, but I can't find anything anywhere.

--
Rgds
Peter.


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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 22+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2006-05-27 10:58 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 22+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2006-05-09 13:15 [gentoo-amd64] How to install to a RAID set? Peter Humphrey
2006-05-09 13:57 ` Etaoin Shrdlu
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2006-05-07 11:06 Peter Humphrey
2006-05-07 12:31 ` Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
2006-05-10 21:52   ` Mike Doty
2006-05-17 10:28   ` Peter Humphrey
2006-05-07 16:36 ` Etaoin Shrdlu
2006-05-06 20:18 Peter Humphrey
2006-05-06 19:38 ` Mike Williams
2006-05-06 20:18 ` Nuitari
2006-05-06 20:34   ` Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
2006-05-06 20:47   ` Neil Stone
2006-05-06 20:53     ` Mike Williams
2006-05-06 21:36     ` Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
2006-05-07  1:40 ` Robert Walter
2006-05-17 10:47   ` Peter Humphrey
2006-05-17 11:31     ` Etaoin Shrdlu
2006-05-17 14:04     ` Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
2006-05-27 10:56     ` Peter Humphrey
2006-05-07 16:23 ` Etaoin Shrdlu
2006-05-07 16:54   ` Nicolas MASSÉ
2006-05-09 14:30 ` Mike Doty

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