RAID install - mdadm missing (but it's installed)

[Mysticle31]

How do I install to a RAID array?

 

I found the raid button, but it asks if it should install mdadm then it says "MAndatory package mdadm is missing". I looked in add/remove programs and found that mdadm is installed. I havn't really searched for the answer very much.

 

Mandriva has the BEST control center I've seen!!

[scarecrow]

Is it a software, or hardware RAID? Which controller/chipset?

[lavaeolus]

if it's a software-raid, you need mdadm (look if it is started, you can check it in MCC > system > manage your services it should be checked as run at startup), if you have chipset-raid, you might need the dmraid-package (chipset-raids are not really hardware-raids, so in the end they are mostly a waste of time), if you have a real hardware-raid (3ware or something like this) then you might need a driver/configuration-program from the manufacturer.

Edited December 9, 2007 by lavaeolus

[Mysticle31]

I have an intel 875P.

 

I leard a long time ago very early in playing with raid that linux does not like raid controllers like mine. The only distro to use it was SUSE, and Xandros.

 

I'll check to see if it's starting. I've already checked to see if it was installed, and it was.

[scarecrow]

mdadm should be running... and have a valid configuration ( likely /etc/mdadm.conf )

Installing a Linux distro (pretty much every modern one) over i875 soft raid is certainly doable, but not such an easy task.

[Mysticle31]

Well,

 

mdadm is installed, but its stopped. I click on start and nothing happens. I click options on MCC and click display logs and it's blank.

 

mdadm does have a config file in ./etc but it's empty.

 

 

Dang! Mandrivia is bulky. I'm using up 793 megs of ram just sitting on the desktop! Even vista didn't do that, or is it because I'm using a live CD?

 

I think other KDE distros usually take about 350, 400. I'm jealous of XFCE's 123 megs.

[lavaeolus]

it needs to be set to run at startup, on my computer it is shown as not running in the services section of mcc, but my raid works without problems, the main function of mdadm is to initialize the raid at startup.

 

normally in mcc/diskdrake you need to format the partitions you want to include in the raid as "Linux-RAID" then you can specify which partition should belong to which raid-array (you can use more than one simultaneously if you want), the raid level (1 and 5), the raid can now be partitioned in any way you want.

 

the ram-usage seems to be the live-cd, installed it uses around 300-400 MB on my box (with gnome/kde)

 

do you try to activate the raid from the running liveCD ?, I'm not sure if that would work

[Mysticle31]

Is there a way to do raid on the live CD? Does Mandrivia have an alternate install CD for RAID/LVM applications like (x)(k)ubuntu does?.

 

At the moment the only distros I've gotten to install are Xandros, Suse, (x)(k)ubuntu, and fedora.

 

Xandros doesn't like my bluetooth (Logitech mouse and keyboard) and does HCI mode only

Suse - same thing

Xubuntu has no bluetooth

(K)ubuntu has bluetooth but drops the connection overnight and I have to go find the wired kbd/mouse. Plus they won't connect to anything else.

Fedora is just to complex for my current linux leval.

 

So my money on trying Mandrivia is fairly high, along with PCLinux, Mepis, and Freespire.

[ianw1974]

Raid usually only has it's benefits when the distro HAS been installed. Why you would want to do it from a LiveCD I've got no idea. But yes you can do it. It would mean recreating the /etc/mdadm.conf file and then scanning to find the disks and activate the array.

 

In all honesty, if you're thinking of this, just install the distro and it will be done automatically for you every time you turn on the machine. A LiveCD is meant for trying your machine and hardware to make sure all works before you actually install it. Once you've found that most if not all your hardware is working, then install the distro and then install the raid setup. The raid will work, perfectly. I've used it in older versions of Mandriva.

[lavaeolus]

Mandriva has the LiveCD called One and an Installation-CD-Set/DVD (called Mandriva Free), while it has no proprietary drivers like the LiveCD there is no problem installing them later from the non-free repositories.

 

Since I don't use the LiveCD much (I always install from the Free-DVD, because I can choose what I want to have installed) I don't know if you can install a Raid from it, but as Ian already said a raid does only make much sense for a fully installed system.

 

With the Installation CD/DVD I had no problems installing raids, neither when I set up the raid at installation time nor later.

 

An already existing raid was properly detected by the LiveCD.

Edited December 12, 2007 by lavaeolus