[gentoo-user] Raid1 & fstab

[gentoo-user] Raid1 & fstab

[James]

Hello,

background
I mostly followed these guides to build a raid1
workstation using (2) 2T seagate drives:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86+raid+lvm2-quickinstall.xml
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Software_RAID_Install
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/RAID/Software

Since I'm just using a very simple partion scheme
raid 1(boot, swap, /) I decided to forgo LVM, for now.
Maybe on the next install, I'll get Dale to coach
me on LVM2 ....? 
;-)

Both drives are identical (edited to fit gmane):
Disk identifier: 0xab83344a
   Device Boot Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   * 2048      526335      262144   fd  Lraid auto
/dev/sda2   526336    10573823     5023744   fd  Lraid auto
/dev/sda3   573824  3907029167  1948227672   fd  Lraid auto


OK so my question is does this fstab look ok, workable? improvements?

none        /proc       proc            defaults         0 0
/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom  auto            noauto,rw,user   0 0
shm     /dev/shm   tmpfs        nodev,nosuid,noexec      0 0
/dev/sdb1 /usr/local/video2      ext4    defaults        0 1
/dev/md1          /boot          ext4    noauto,noatime  1 2
/dev/md3          /              ext4    noatime         0 1
/dev/md2          swap           swap    defaults        0 0

I did not setup initramfs, as those steps where not 
part of the guides, but googling I did see many places where
initramfs was suggested. thoughts and comments?

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs

It's my first gentoo software raid.....
My email is down; so only post to this list!

hopeful this AM,
James

[gentoo-user] Re: Raid1 & fstab

[James]

James <wireless <at> tampabay.rr.com> writes:


> /dev/sdb1 /usr/local/video2      ext4    defaults        0 1

oops, ignore this line....

Re: [gentoo-user] Raid1 & fstab

[Joost Roeleveld]

On Monday 11 April 2011 13:59:04 James wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> background
> I mostly followed these guides to build a raid1
> workstation using (2) 2T seagate drives:
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86+raid+lvm2-quickinstall.xml
> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Software_RAID_Install
> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/RAID/Software
> 
> Since I'm just using a very simple partion scheme
> raid 1(boot, swap, /) I decided to forgo LVM, for now.
> Maybe on the next install, I'll get Dale to coach
> me on LVM2 ....?
> ;-)
> 
> Both drives are identical (edited to fit gmane):
> Disk identifier: 0xab83344a
>    Device Boot Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   * 2048      526335      262144   fd  Lraid auto
> /dev/sda2   526336    10573823     5023744   fd  Lraid auto
> /dev/sda3   573824  3907029167  1948227672   fd  Lraid auto
> 
> 
> OK so my question is does this fstab look ok, workable? improvements?
> 
> none        /proc       proc            defaults         0 0
> /dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom  auto            noauto,rw,user   0 0
> shm     /dev/shm   tmpfs        nodev,nosuid,noexec      0 0
> /dev/sdb1 /usr/local/video2      ext4    defaults        0 1
> /dev/md1          /boot          ext4    noauto,noatime  1 2
> /dev/md3          /              ext4    noatime         0 1
> /dev/md2          swap           swap    defaults        0 0
> 
> I did not setup initramfs, as those steps where not
> part of the guides, but googling I did see many places where
> initramfs was suggested. thoughts and comments?
> 
> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs
> 
> It's my first gentoo software raid.....
> My email is down; so only post to this list!
> 
> hopeful this AM,
> James

I don't use an initrd and my OS is on a RAID1-partition.
Eg. that isn't necessary.

About your /etc/fstab, I have some concerns.
One of your RAID-devices is /dev/sda

What is the other one? I hope it isn't /dev/sdb. If it is, you will have 
issues with the "/usr/local/video2" mountpoint.

I would suggest using a LABEL for that mountpoint to avoid any possible 
issues.

Apart from that, it looks fine. Please ignore the error-message when 
rebooting/shutting down the system that /dev/md3 can't be stopped. (It is in 
use for the root-partition ( / )

--
Joost

[gentoo-user] Re: Raid1 & fstab

[James]

Joost Roeleveld <joost <at> antarean.org> writes:



> > /dev/sdb1 /usr/local/video2      ext4    defaults        0 1

This line is a typo, i.e. already deleted.




> I don't use an initrd and my OS is on a RAID1-partition.
> Eg. that isn't necessary.

Good to know.

> About your /etc/fstab, I have some concerns.
> One of your RAID-devices is /dev/sda
> 
> What is the other one? I hope it isn't /dev/sdb. If it is, you will have 
> issues with the "/usr/local/video2" mountpoint.

the other drive is sdb, but the video2 line was extraneous (deleted gone).


> I would suggest using a LABEL for that mountpoint to avoid any possible 
> issues.

I made noise a while back about LABELS. Lots of comments, but
nothing clear to follow in the docs or a wiki or a how to. I confused
disklables and file system labels and other forms of lables. 
I even filed a bug, which was closed, since *I* did not 
have a proposal on better docs to use LABELS....

Since the guides use (old style mount 
points) for raid, then until the guides change, I (like dale)
not comfortable at all with LABELS....(already tried several
time and got borked systems...) I'm not waisting any more time
on LABELS until there are some docs or examples to follow....
The light just never turned on  and I'm done waisting time
on LABELS



> Apart from that, it looks fine. Please ignore the error-message when 
> rebooting/shutting down the system that /dev/md3 can't be stopped. (It is in 
> use for the root-partition ( / )

Good to know...

Any body else, before I reboot this (turkey) new install
of a system?


James

Re: [gentoo-user] Raid1 & fstab

[Thanasis]

on 04/11/2011 04:59 PM James wrote the following:
> snip...
>
> Both drives are identical (edited to fit gmane):
> Disk identifier: 0xab83344a
>    Device Boot Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   * 2048      526335      262144   fd  Lraid auto
> /dev/sda2   526336    10573823     5023744   fd  Lraid auto
> /dev/sda3   573824  3907029167  1948227672   fd  Lraid auto
>
>
> OK so my question is does this fstab look ok, workable? improvements?
> snip...
> /dev/md2          swap           swap    defaults        0 0
>
I guess you have made md2 a RAID0 for swap, right (post the output of:
cat /proc/mdstat)?
I think you don't need to put swap on RAID0.
Just make the swap (in fstab) with the same priority (pri=) like:
/dev/sda2    none    swap    sw,pri=3    0 0
/dev/sdb2    none    swap    sw,pri=3    0 0
(of course, first stop md2, change the partition ids to 82, and then
mkswap ...)

[gentoo-user] Re: Raid1 & fstab

[James]

Thanasis <thanasis <at> asyr.hopto.org> writes:


> I guess you have made md2 a RAID0 for swap, right (post the output of:
> cat /proc/mdstat)?

nope, swap is raid1

> I think you don't need to put swap on RAID0.

I agree. Everything I read did say may swap on raid 1
so if a disk fails, your swap still works....

(chroot) slam / # cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10] 
md3 : active raid1 sdb3[1] sda3[0]
      1948226512 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]
      
md2 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0]
      5022708 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]
      
md1 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]
      262132 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]
      
unused devices: <none>


none        /proc       proc            defaults         0 0
/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom  auto            noauto,rw,user   0 0
shm     /dev/shm   tmpfs        nodev,nosuid,noexec      0 0

/dev/md1          /boot          ext4    noauto,noatime  1 2
/dev/md3          /              ext4    noatime         0 1
/dev/md2          swap           swap    defaults        0 0


(still in chroot)

new post on raid 1 grub ext4 soon....


James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Raid1 & fstab

[Stroller]

On 11/4/2011, at 3:38pm, James wrote:
> ...
>> I would suggest using a LABEL for that mountpoint to avoid any possible 
>> issues.
> 
> I made noise a while back about LABELS. Lots of comments, but
> nothing clear to follow in the docs or a wiki or a how to. I confused
> disklables and file system labels and other forms of lables. 
> I even filed a bug, which was closed, since *I* did not 
> have a proposal on better docs to use LABELS....
> 
> Since the guides use (old style mount 
> points) for raid, then until the guides change, I (like dale)
> not comfortable at all with LABELS....(already tried several
> time and got borked systems...) I'm not waisting any more time
> on LABELS until there are some docs or examples to follow....
> The light just never turned on  and I'm done waisting time
> on LABELS


Whilst it would be nice if LABELs were documented in Gentoo's installation guide and other docs, I seem to recall there was a reasonable explanation for not doing so. 

Meanwhile LABELs have been fairly comprehensively discussed on this list, and IMO there's very little mystery to them. I'm pretty sure that Dale now *is* using LABELs, and has been for some time (e.g. see [1]). IMO your criticism is misleading.

If you have problems with them, post back and people will try to help. I'm sure we can get you up and running. 

Stroller.



[1] http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gentoo/user/221438#221438