Arch Linux

Nairou

Member

Registered: 2010-01-12

Posts: 17

RAID1 questions

I currently use Arch on several machines, but I'm considering installing it on a server I have, with a RAID1 on 2 drives. This will be the first time I've dealt with raid arrays on linux.

Previously, I had FreeBSD on this box, and getting RAID1 up and running was trivial. Just install the system on one disk, then create the raid array and mirror onto the other drive. However, looking at the Arch wiki, this appears to be much more complicated on Linux, requiring that I know exactly what I'm doing before performing the initial installation.

On thing I don't quite understand is adding hooks to the mkinitcpio config. The wiki says I can use either mdadm or mdadm_udev, but I can't find any discussion on why I would choose one over the other. The only difference mentioned is that mdadm_udev allows "assembly via udev", but I'm a noob in this regard and don't know what that means. I get the impression that mdadm_udev is the way to go, but I'd like to know why.

Other than that, I'd like to get opinions from people that run raid arrays on Arch. Ignoring the complexity of getting it up and running, how is it in terms of maintenance and reliability? I'd like some reassurance that the initial complexity will be worth it, and that I won't be fighting this raid array going forward.

Thanks!

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: RAID1 questions

Use mdadm_udev; mdadm is no longer supported, udev assembly is what upstream supports.

Maintenance and reliability? I use Raid1 and haven't had a disk fail (yet). When it does happen, I expect it will be trivial to replace the failed drive and go on about my business...

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Registered Linux User #482438

fabertawe

Member

From: Lloegr

Registered: 2009-11-24

Posts: 279

Re: RAID1 questions

I recently set up a 1 TB ext4 RAID1 array for the first time. I followed the Wiki and it was fairly straightforward as I recall. The only issue I've had is with a resync after a kernel panic at boot but that didn't take too long anyway. I use mdadm_udev in mkinitcpio.conf and have not tried it with mdadm.

That's about all the help I can provide as I'm a noob with arrays!

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Ryzen 9 5950X, X570S Aorus Pro AX, RX 6600, Arch x86_64

Nairou

Member

Registered: 2010-01-12

Posts: 17

Re: RAID1 questions

Excellent, thanks for the clarification!