Arch Linux

leo.pisolo

Member

Registered: 2004-08-25

Posts: 16

RAID 1 (2xP.ATA ATA133) + ArchLinux Installation

Hi alls,
I used Archlinux for a few months and it's great!

Now I wanna install it on a Server with 2 x Hdd Eide P.ata 133 to be used as Raid1.

In Fedora/Debian/Suse (not comparing quality of distro here, of course Arch is much better) I can setup a Raid Software during Hard Disk Partitioning in setup process and all it's working great!

Even a preconfigure Raid 1 (did with Debian) it is recognized by Archlinux during boot (Dmesg boot log) but... CFdisk doesn't show me the md0, just the 2 single disk, and also it doesn't allow me to setup a raid software.

Did I miss somthing ?
I search all wiki/archlinux/forum for RAID but cannot find a clue!

Please help!
Thank you
David

apeiro

Daddy

From: Victoria, BC, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-12

Posts: 771

Website

Re: RAID 1 (2xP.ATA ATA133) + ArchLinux Installation

Yep, RAID/LVM is possible with Arch, but the setup script doesn't support it.  To install on a raid setup, you should manually set up your raid arrays with mdadm (incl. with 0.7) or raidtools (incl. with 0.6), then partition your hard drive, mount the target partitions, and use the quickinst script to install a base system.

See the quickinst wiki page for some tips on using the script.

leo.pisolo

Member

Registered: 2004-08-25

Posts: 16

Re: RAID 1 (2xP.ATA ATA133) + ArchLinux Installation

Hi to all,
quite long time back I asked (see above) a few directios about RAID1 and I meanwhile I read all RAID1 post and also this link:
http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/In … d-or%20LVM

The PC where I'm trying to setup RAID1 is this:
P3-733
Primary Master : SEAGATE 40G ATA (/dev/discs/disc0)
Primary Slave  : SEAGATE 40G ATA (/dev/discs/disc1)
Secondary Master : QUANTUM 20G ATA (/dev/discs/disc2)
Secondary Master : CDROM

The boot (by bios) is on Secondary Master (QUANTUM 20G) that is also the Linux Arch installation hard disk + GRUB.
Till here all is okay, installed Arch, updated,upgraded, etc..

When it's time to setup a RAID something go wrong.

First of all, I read that Wombat (0.7) comes with MDADM but this is not true because by default comes with RAIDTOOLS.
So I 'pacman -R raidtools' & 'pacman -S mdadm'.

I add 'mdadm' as daemon in rc.conf and reboot (to be sure that all is loaded smoothly).

I went to partition the 2xSEAGATE with a single partition (max size) with CFDISK.
I went to create the array RAID1 as follow :
'mdadm --create /dev/md/0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/discs/disc[01]/part1'
And all went okay.
I check 'cat /proc/mdstat' and found the array in syncronization phase.

I had plenty time to wait up to the end of the sync. (just to be sure).
I make a filesystem on the array 'mke2fs -j /dev/md/0' and all went okay.
I mounted the new filesystem on '/mnt', created an empty file 'EXAMPLE' and umounted.
I mounted/unmounted a few times, before to reboot.

Here come the surprise:
After reboot the 'mdadm' daemon is running but when I try to mount '/dev/md/0' on '/mnt' cannot find a valid filesystem.
I checked '/proc/mdstat' but it return me empty (no array)
I checked '/etc/mdadm.conf' but there is no mention about array (suppose to be added automatically).

In short words, the raid array remain OK till the reboot.
If I create the array and mount, it works great.
But I reboot the PC, there is no more sign of array!

I tried with kernel 2.6.11-3-ARCH (ide), same (scsi) and also with a customized recompiled with 3 same results!

Where do I mistake ?
Thank you
P.

FUBAR

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2004-12-08

Posts: 1,029

Website

Re: RAID 1 (2xP.ATA ATA133) + ArchLinux Installation

You shouldn't open different threads about the same problem. That's not nice. Continue in the other thread.

---

A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk I have a workstation.

leo.pisolo

Member

Registered: 2004-08-25

Posts: 16

Re: RAID 1 (2xP.ATA ATA133) + ArchLinux Installation

Sorry!
I didn't mean to open double thread.

The first post was here because last time interested on RAID1 during installation from CD.

Yesterday I posted a new question (for which you answered me in another section on the forum) because I was thinking nice to continue the thread due talking about RAID1 and due because I need it during installation.

Due I did not get attention, I re-posted in Newbie section.
Sorry for my wrong action.
And thanks for support!