Hello,
I was looking for the most crashproof setup of a Software Root-RAID
array:
my conclusion:
assume one wants to setup a machine with Root RAID5 array,
the problem is the booting of the kernel,
since LILO uses the BIOS routines the kernel must reside on a standard
partition (non software-raid),
on the usual 1024 cylinders ecc..
assume I set up LILO to load the kernel off the first disk (where the
/boot dir resides too)
when the first disk crashes , the system won't boot anymore.
Solution:
I use Redhat 5.2 , I prepared a bootdisk, which contains a
2.0.36+raid0145 kernel plus the initrd image
then using as partition id 0xFD on the harddrives, the kernel
autodetects the RAID array and
starts the root /dev/md0 device and boots the system.
So even if the first disk crashes, the system is still functional.
My recommendations:
make 2-3 copies of the bootdisk, and buy a spare 3.5inch floppy drive
(very cheap) ,
in the case that the floppy drive breaks.
:-)
Yes , I know it is not very elegant to boot of a floppy drive, but it
saves a lot of trouble.
Or are there better methods, to boot realiably a pure software RAID5
array ?
any comments ?
PS: do you know if switching on/off the power of the computer with the
floppy disk in the floppy drive,
can accidentally (through electromagnetic discharges) erase the data of
the floppy disk ?
( this is the cause why I recommend to make some copies of the
bootdisk).
best regards,
Benno.
