On 5/4/2011 10:04 AM, Josh Grosse wrote:
I still use raid(4) -- RAIDframe -- for it's root-on-RAID capability. I
eagerly await the completion of root-on-RAID with softraid(4).
My thanks to Joel, Jordan, Marco, and the rest of the team developing this.
I use RAIDFrame too, but it was a mistake; I had no idea RAIDFrame was
no longer maintained and had no idea of the existence of softraid when I
installed and implemented 4.6/4.7 machines over the last year or so.
I hadn't used OpenBSD since 3.x days but I knew I needed it for some
routing at work. I also knew I needed some software RAID. Almost every
result from Googling something along the lines of "installing OpenBSD
onto a software RAID" leads to a RAIDFrame guide like the one at
http://www.eclectica.ca/howto/openbsd-software-raid-howto.php
I'm excited to hear softraid is coming along, and remember reading that
support for booting off of one was recently committed. The work done on
softraid is very appreciated and I look forward to seeing more of it
committed, but the reality is there is a significant split regarding
software RAID in OpenBSD. I bet I'm not the only person using RAIDFrame
close to production without realizing it's not even maintained code.
I think this is mainly due to the fact that softraid can't be used for
the root partition (or booted off of, for now). This leads everyone to
follow RAIDFrame guides to install OpenBSD onto software RAID1, but
nobody bothers to mention that RAIDFrame isn't actually maintained anymore.
And I have a feeling it's why my routers crash once every few months or
so with some odd, sd0/sd1 related FIFO errors (using SSDs too...). I'm
currently pulling RAIDFrame out of various routers and not using any
RAID at all anymore -- CARP + pfsync + duplicate hardware is enough for
what these routers do.
In no way am I blaming anyone here -- it's obviously my fault that I
didn't read the 4.7 FAQ closer and learn about softraid -- but I think
large amounts of people are being lead to RAIDFrame via Google without
fully realizing what they are using or why they might be making a bad
decision.
