It's actually not too bad:
* Create the md* devices, and make them 'active' (with at least the
root device being raid-1)
* mke2fs them (with proper raid options, if nessesary)
* cp -a all the junk from the regular partition(s) to the md(s)
* Fix /etc/fstab on the root md device to reflect the changes.
* make a boot floppy, and set it's root to the proper md device which
has your root.
* then configure/run lilo, and reboot w/o the boot floppy.
The catch to this is that you aren't reusing the/those original
partitions which the installation was initially on. You might be able
to do some trickery to create a degraded raid which automatically
re-syncs and includes them in the raid after you boot from the raid,
but I haven't do this. You could also make them into a raid (like for
/tmp or something) after the fact, too. But, on the other hand, it's
sometimes nice to have some 'regular' paritions from which a normal
system can boot from in cause all hell breaks loose. (Which happens
too often. ;')
I guess to make a long email short, the answer is that you can simply
use 'cp -a ...' to copy everything from an existing distro w/o needing
to install a new distro directly onto the raid.
Phil
On Wed, Jul 12, 2000 at 01:54:28PM -0400, Ilia Baldine wrote:
> I think you want to have / on RAID. In the HOWTO
> they discuss putting / on RAID - it is a somwehat
> involved procedure. Easiest if it is done at install time.
> RedHat actually offers that option at install, i
> don't know about SuSe ( i have a suse box at
> home but I don't run raid on it).
>
> I think it is easiest to put / on a RAID5 partition if
> your system is already installed (by marking the
> existing / partition as failed in raid, copying everything
> from / to the md partition and then readding the
> old / disk back). You need to have a spare disk to
> do it though. Read the HOWTO for details.
>
> -ilia
>
>
> Johnny wrote:
>
> > Yes, now I know that means. But now I ask me where
> > I can install Linux itself, because it contains the
> > data I want to mirror. In Windows NT I have first
> > have the data with the operating system and then
> > simply add a disk on which the whole thing is mirrored.
> > Where is my OS? I use a small boot partition and an
> > 2 GB "/" partition, the "/" should be mirrored. Isn't
> > that possible.
> > HZ
> >
> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Im Auftrag von Henry J. Cobb
> > Gesendet am: Mittwoch, 12. Juli 2000 18:42
> > An: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Betreff: Re: /dev/hda1 mounted
> >
> > If I understand correctly, you're attempting to simply add additional
> > drives to your existing non-RAID boot partition, instead of creating a RAID
> > setup on additional not yet formatted partitions, no?
> >
> > -HJC
>
> --
> -------------------------------------+----------------------
> Ilia Baldine | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Network Research Engineer, | ph#:(919)248-1847
> Advanced Networking Research, MCNC | FAX:(919)248-1455
> -------------------------------------+----------------------
> "I used to think the brain was the most important part
> of the body, but then I realized who was telling me that."
> -Emo Philips
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
--
Philip Edelbrock -- IS Manager -- Edge Design, Corvallis, OR
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.netroedge.com/~phil
PGP F16: 01 D2 FD 01 B5 46 F4 F0 3A 8B 9D 7E 14 7F FB 7A
