Guest JensC Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 I plan to setup a RAID-system dealing with 4 40GB-Seagate-Disks (ST340016A) on a SIS735-Mainboard running a Linux-OS basing on Mandrake-8.2. I'm not that sure at the moment, but I expect the configuration to become a RAID0+1 or a RAID10. Furthermore I do not want to realize this as a software-based solution(BTW. is it possible, anyway?), but instead by using a controller-card. Since I don't have any experience with that, I'd like to have Your advice, as well about the type controller-card to buy, as about which configuration (RAID0+1 or RAID10) to prefer. Thanks in advance! Yours Jens P.S.: Please excuse my bad English - it's not my native language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qeldroma Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Well, i got VERY good experiences with software raid, it worked pretty well. Perhaps think over it. If you are using one controller for two drives with one cable, they are sharing one bottleneck. So, try to connect one drive per cable... You are talking of IDE-RAID, right? That's what i am talking about ;-) For the devision if 0+1 (3 drives) or 10(4 drives), think of the physical arrangement you will have and think about, where will be bottlenecks. That's the most important thing, i think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuyo Posted January 14, 2003 Report Share Posted January 14, 2003 Try the 3ware controllers. The drives are included in the stock kernel and they work very well. I specifically recommend the 3-ware 7450 or 7850. Hypermicro sells them in the US at a decent price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AA Posted January 14, 2003 Report Share Posted January 14, 2003 I want to run 2 80 Gig drives in a raid configuration. Hardware raid is an option. Would it be better to go for hardware raid if I've got the option or will software raid work just as well. Also I've never encountered a raid machine in my life so I know nothing about it except the principles behind it. How easy is it to set up for one. Do you need to download special software or does linux natively support it. Many many questions Can someone help...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuyo Posted January 29, 2003 Report Share Posted January 29, 2003 I want to run 2 80 Gig drives in a raid configuration. Hardware raid is an option. Would it be better to go for hardware raid if I've got the option or will software raid work just as well. Also I've never encountered a raid machine in my life so I know nothing about it except the principles behind it. How easy is it to set up for one. Do you need to download special software or does linux natively support it. Many many questions Can someone help...? I suppose you are talking IDE Raid not SCSI. 3ware support is built into the kernel. When you are loading Mandrake, simply click yes when asked if you have additional SCSI controllers, that's how the OS sees 3ware cards, and click on the driver for the 3ware card. Prior to this, you should have created your RAID array in the 3ware bios, of course. Best of luck. Of course, if you are so inclined you can go for Software raid, but I much prefer a hardware raid if it is at all possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AA Posted January 29, 2003 Report Share Posted January 29, 2003 Well, first problem is that the server is not an MDK distro. It's an E-Smith distro. It's a one CD Distro so chances are that whatever I might need will not be available without downloading of many packages and many dependencies...!! And yeah, i did mean IDE RAID. What makes Hardware RAID better than software RAID...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuyo Posted January 29, 2003 Report Share Posted January 29, 2003 Well, first problem is that the server is not an MDK distro. It's an E-Smith distro. It's a one CD Distro so chances are that whatever I might need will not be available without downloading of many packages and many dependencies...!! And yeah, i did mean IDE RAID. What makes Hardware RAID better than software RAID...? The 3ware support is built into the standard kernel. Therefore, it is available irrespective of what distro you choose to use. Hardware Raid cards have their own logic chips to do the calculations. For instance, when you are doing XOR parity calculations in RAID 5, this matters. You can also move hds between systems when using hardware raid, which you may or may not be able to do in software raid, depending on how you set it up. Hardware Raid also includes some very nice monitoring utilities, such as the ability to be emailed if one of the hard drives goes down, automatic rebuilds, etc. Look into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qeldroma Posted January 29, 2003 Report Share Posted January 29, 2003 Hardware RAID is MUCH faster, if done by a suitable controller (SCSI). Software RAID can't be compared, because it uses partitions, not harddrives. As ex. my setup is on two physical harddrives (both 40 GB IBM): Partitions: IDE0: 1. 50MB /boot ---> Ext2 2. 2GB /usr ---> RAID 0 3. 512 MB /var ---> RAID 0 4. 512 MB /home ---> RAID 0+1 5. 512 MB /home ---> RAID 0+1 6. 256MB / ---> RAID 0 7. 128MB /etc ---> RAID 0+1 8. 128MB /etc ---> RAID 0+1 9. 256MB swap ---> RAID 0 10. ~30GB /opt ---> RAID 0 IDE1: 1. 50MB free 2. 2GB /usr ---> RAID 0 3. 512 MB /var ---> RAID 0 4. 512 MB /home ---> RAID 0+1 5. 512 MB /home ---> RAID 0+1 6. 256MB / ---> RAID 0 7. 128MB /etc ---> RAID 0+1 8. 128MB /etc ---> RAID 0+1 9. 256MB swap ---> RAID 0 10. ~30GB /opt ---> RAID 0 RESULT: md0: 4GB /usr md1: 1GB /var md2: 1GB /home md3: 512MB / md4: 256MB /etc md5: 512MB swap md6: ~60GB /opt So he takes the partitions and makes a virtual RAID-Device (md) with the different partitiions on it. The speed is very good for RAID 0..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted January 30, 2003 Report Share Posted January 30, 2003 Here's a link to a thread that discusses problems with the promise raid controller in kernel 2.4.19 used in Md 9.0 and other distros: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...=445&highlight= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AA Posted January 30, 2003 Report Share Posted January 30, 2003 I want mirroring though (RAID 1). But if software raid means using partitions I'll go with hardware raid. I want a whole image of drive A on drive B, so that if one of the drives should happen to kick the bucket I have a backup. At the moment I'm only running one IDE drive and if it should die, well yes. I'll be working for 2 weeks solid trying to recover 30 GB of user data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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