10/05/2015

HowToInstallLinuxSoftwareRaidonDebian3.1,3.1r1a&Ubuntu5.10

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HowToInstallLinuxSoftwareRaidonDebian3.1,

HowToInstallLinuxSoftwareRaidonDebian
3.1,3.1r1a&Ubuntu5.10
WriteforHowtoForge

HowToInstallLinuxSoftwareRaid
ThankstothesepeopleandtheirFAQ:

EmidioPlanamente'spages:http://www.planamente.ch/emidio/pages/linux_howto_root_lvm_raid.phpand
Tado'sserverconfigpagesathttp://howtoforge.com.
Testedwiththesedistros:Debian3.1&3.1r1a
sarge,Ubuntuserver5.10"TheBreezyBadger
Release".
WhiletestingISPconfigaccordingtothe

http://howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_ubuntu_5.10tutorialIwantedtoaddRAID1onmyserver.Ifollowed
alltheinstructionsfromhttp://howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_ubuntu_5.10_p2andchangedthingsafter:
Wehaveplacedcookiesonyourcomputertohelpmakethiswebsitebetter.We
useGoogleAnalyticsandGoogleAdsensescripts,whichallsetcookies.More
"Iwillusethefollowingpartitionscheme:
detailscanbefoundinourprivacypolicy.
Donotshowthismessageagain
/boot50MB
/swap1GB
/10GB
/vartherestoftheharddisk"

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Icreatedthepartitionsonbothharddisks(hda+hdb)asabove(sizesoptimizedformysystem)but
insteadofext3asfilesystemchoseLinuxRAIDforall8partitions(2*4,4oneachdisk).
Afteryoucreatedthesepartitionswithidenticalsizesonbothdrives,startConfigureSoftwareRaid.This
istheentryforworkingwithmdadm(http://freshmeat.net/projects/mdadm/).
CreateaRAIDsystemofyourchoice.YoucansetupRAID0,RAID1orRAID5.Ihave2harddisks,
backupistheprimarytask,soIchoseRAID1.Nowitistimetoconnectthepartitionsonhdaandhdb
andcreatetheRAID1arrays.
Pick2equalpartitionsandbindthemasanarray.Dothiswithall8partitionsandyouget4RAID1
arrays.ClosetheRAIDconfigurescreenandyouseeonthepartitionscreen4newRAID1entries.
Openthemonebyoneby.Scrolltothefirstoneandpressenter.ChangetypefromRAIDtoyour
preferredfilesystemandchooseamountpoint(forme:firstoneext3and/bootsecondoneswapthird
oneext3and/thefourthoneext3and/var).GotoSaveandbeverypatient.OnmyserverIhadtostop
withanythingbecausethesystemsloweddowndramaticallyforoveronehour.
Youcanverifythebuildofthearray'sona
secondconsole(ALT+F2)andrepeatedly
typing
cat/proc/mdstatonUbuntu5.1

or

watchcat/proc/mdstatonDebian3.1and
newer.

YoucanseethebuildoftheRAIDarraysthatway.Afterthebuildyouhavesomethinglike:
root@server1:/home/patje/install_ispconfig#cat/proc/mdstat
Personalities:[raid1]md3:activeraid1sda4[0]sdb4[1]133596416blocks[2/2]
[UU]#Creating%20RAID%20devicesmd2:activeraid1sda3[0]sdb3[1]24410688blocks[2/2][UU]
md1:activeraid1sda2[0]sdb2[1]1951808blocks[2/2][UU]
md0:activeraid1sda1[0]sdb1[1]120384blocks[2/2][UU]
unuseddevices:<none>
AfterthistheDebian/Ubuntuinstallerdoestherestoftheinstallation.Nowtakeyourtimeandstudythe
mdadm(http://freshmeat.net/projects/mdadm)tools.Havefun...

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From:Anonymousat:2005102720:49:01

Reply

insteadoftypingcat/proc/mdstatoverandoveragain,youcansimplyusewatch
so:watchcat/proc/mdstat
From:patrickat:2005122216:56:48

Reply

Afterthebasicinstalation'watch'isnotavailble.
From:Anonymousat:2005111014:43:34

Reply

FollowedyourinstructionsandallwentwelluntiltheattempttoinstallGRUBfailed.ItriedLILOand
ittoofailed.IstheresomethingelseIneedtodothateveryonewithlinuxexperienceknowsabout
butanewbiewouldnot?ShouldIjustignoretheerrorandplowon?
From:patrickat:2005111021:40:33

Reply

No,afterthattheinstallerfromDebian/Ubunu(bothtested)didalltherest.
From:Anonymousat:2005121013:42:29

Reply

TheUbuntu5.10installerfailstoinstallgrubandliloformetoo.Iamusing3SATAdrives(but
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noraidsetupthroughBIOS)justtheLinuxsoftwareraid.
From:Anonymousat:2005121023:46:52

Reply

Anythoughtsonthisverylegitimatequestion?ThisisexactlythereasonLinuxwillNEVERgetto
whereWindowsis.Somebodyasksaquestionanditgetsignoredbecause:
a)Nobodyhasaclue
b)Theguymadethemistakeofsayingthathe'sanewbie,soitgetsignored.Frankly,I'm
surprisedthatnoonesaidsomethinglikeRTFMyouF____newbie.
c)Nobodycaresenoughtoanswerthis.
Guesswhat,IhavetheEXACTsameproblem.Additionally,howinthehelldoyoumirroraswap
partition?Ohthat'sright.YouDON'T!!
Iflinuxexpertsdon'tgettheirheadsoutoftheirassandstartsharingtheknowledge,Linuxis
doomedtofailorattheveryleastbecontrolledbybigcompanieslikeNovellandthelikes.
From:adminat:2005121113:46:37

Reply

"b)Theguymadethemistakeofsayingthathe'sanewbie,soitgetsignored.Frankly,I'msurprisedthatno
onesaidsomethinglikeRTFMyouF____newbie."

Ifyouhadreadthreelinesaboveyou'dhaveseenthis:
"Pleasedonotusethecommentfunctiontoaskforhelp!Ifyouneedhelp,pleaseuseourforum:
http://www.howtoforge.com/forums"

Aforumismuchbettersuitedtoanswerquestionslikethesebecauseithasmuchmore
formattingoptions,asearchfunction,etc.
Inadditiontothat,nooneignoresnewbieshere!Farfromit,thisisoneofthemostnewbie
friendlyplacesonthenet.Havealookattheforum,andyou'llunderstandwhy.
"c)Nobodycaresenoughtoanswerthis."

Becausehedidnotpostintheforum.Youcanusecommentstomakeannotations,share
yourthoughts,butobviouslytheyarenotverywellsuitedtoaskforhelp.I'vepointedoutthe
reasonsforthisbefore.
"Iflinuxexpertsdon'tgettheirheadsoutoftheirassandstartsharingtheknowledge,Linuxisdoomedto
failorattheveryleastbecontrolledbybigcompanieslikeNovellandthelikes."

Youcan'tblameusfornotsharingourknowledge,canyou?We'vewrittentonsoftutorials,
arespendingseveralhourseachdayintheforumtohelpnewbiesandeveryoneelsewithout
benefittingfromitfinancially.Idon'tthinkyouwoulddosomethinglikethatifyouwereinour
placesopleasestoppostingnonsensehere,andifyouhavequestionspleasegototheforum.
Andpleasekeepinmind:ifyou'refriendlytous,we'llbefriendlytoyou,sodon'tstartflame
warsorthelike.
From:thctloat:2005121510:58:04

Reply

wel,asiseeNOBODYheredoesitright.
YouCANinstalladebiansargewithRAID1fromthedebianinstaller.
YouDONThavetoswitchtootherconsoleforthat.
lotsofpeopleforgettoselecttheMDADMindeinstallerwhichmakesyou
abletocreatetheraidvolumes.
I'mgoingtomakeahowtohowthisisdone.
Andyesitsdifficualtinthebeginnen,itookusabout10installationstogetthe
orderofcreatingpartitionetctogetRAID1onrootfrominstaller.

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From:patrickat:2005122216:53:09

Reply

Iwaitforyoureinputandchangethethingsinminethatyoulearnme.Thanks.
From:Anonymousat:2005121805:09:28

Reply

youfindthistobesignificantlydifferentfromwindows?
From:Anonymousat:2005123004:19:09

Reply

Keeponyourwindowsboxthen.
Iwasanewbieonlinuxtooandgotfrustratedtoo,nowiseethatmostquestionsarealready
onthenet,itsjustyouhavetolearnhowtousethenet.andbytheway,raidsystemsarewell
overdocumentedinmanywikipages.andthatswhatiswrongonwindowsmachines,almost
nobodytakestimetolearnwhattheyaredealingwith,AGODabluescreen,whatarethose
stupidnumbers!!
ontheotherhand,thisisaniceonetoo"ibootmysystemandgodKERNELpanic"whatdidi
dowrong:)whellthatsaquestionthatwecouldANSWERNOT.
ithinkyoucouldbetterbeonyourwindowsboxifyoulikethepointandclicksystem,and
nevertakethetimetolearnALLtheshellsthere(notonlycmdanddos)
Andifyouwanttofindoutmoredomorewithyourmachineandliketofigurethingsout
yourselfatleasttakesometimeforityoucouldtrylinux,Ifyoulookgoodonthenetits
almostimpossiblethatyourquestionisnotalreadyasked.doaquicksearchonthesubjectin
googlenewsyouwillseewhatimean
Andlinuxwillbeacompeteteroffwindowssystemsitwilltakeacoupleoffyearsbuttheywill
stay.
andnoi'mnotawindowsfreak,neitheramiamacos2linuxorwhateverforsystemfreak,
justusedtoworkwithall:)
grtz,
Ethereal
From:Anonymousat:2006062911:51:40

Reply

Whydidyouaskforhelphere?Itsaysspecificallyafterthearticlenottoaskforhelpherebut
insteadusetheforumsthereisevenalink.
Calmdownandaskforhelpintheforums.
Anddon'tstartatiradewhylinuxisbadandwhypeopleusinglinuxdon'tsharetheir
knowledgethisisneithertherightplacenortherighttime.
From:JohnByrneat:2009050402:48:20

Reply

Thatsverywronggoodluckdoingsoftwareraidwithwindowshavefunwiththatwindows
cantexistonastripedpartitionlinuxcanbeinstalledonasoftwareraidhowever/bootmust
beonaseparatepartitionasforubuntuyouneedtograbthealternateinstallcdwhichiseasy
tosetuparaidonnotthestandardinstallcd
From:Anonymousat:2006012922:11:47

Reply

hadasimilarproblemmyself.WhenyousaytheGRUBand/orLILOinstallationfaileddoyou
meanitwouldn'tbootafterinstallation?ThisistheproblemIhadanditwasduetotheRAID
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supportbeingloadedasamoduleandnotcompiledintothekernel.Theeasiestwayroundthisis
tocreateanewinitrdthatpreloadstheRAIDsupport.(Easierthencompilinganewkernel!!)
ThenjustconfigureLILOorGRUBtoloadthatintrdandallshouldbewell.
From:JohnByrneat:2009050402:44:35

Reply

grubshouldbeonitsownpartitionandshouldforthesakeofsimplicitythebootpartitionshould
bethefirstpartitiononthefirstdiskand150mbisagoodsizeitshouldbeformattedwithext2
orext3andswapshouldbeonthelastdriveifyouwanttokeepitsimpleiliketousetheraidfor
"/"andinstallgrubinthembr
From:patrickat:2005121115:15:41

Reply

Hi,
AsIwroteinthehowtohereishowIletthisworkwithMYhardwareandUbuntu5.10/Debian3.10.
Itestedboth.
WhyItdoesn'tworkforyou?IndeedIhavenoclue.TheonlythingIreadis'itdoesn'tworkforme'.
Maybeit'shardwarerelated,maybesomethingelse...
No,I'malsoa'newbee',IplaywithLinuxsincea18monthsorso.
YesIcare,butifyouarenotregistredordon'ttakethetimetomailmeprivate,Iamnotstartinga
searchtoaclueinthiscommentsection.Thiscommentsectionisnotbuildasaforum.
EvercalledtoMicrosofthelpdesk?250acallwithoutbeingsuretheygiveyouaresult...Yougeta
trackingnumberandthat'sit.
From:Anonymousat:2006022607:47:31

Reply

justliketosaythankyouworkedforme,afteracoupleoffalsestarts,lol.I'manewbietooand
anoldgeezertoboot(57))
From:Anonymousat:2006031104:28:21

Reply

Yeametoo...thanks!
From:skua57at:2006091307:08:59

Reply

Coupleofquestions:
1.Whyext3fs?WhynotRaiserfs(whichisajournalingfs)?
2.WhybotherwithRAID1foryoursystempartitions?Ifyouhaveasingleusersystem,whocares
aboutthesystempartitionyou'reupgradingallthetimeanyway.It'syourdocumentsanphotos
thatareirreplaceable.Ontheotherhand,ifyourunacriticleserver,maybeyoucanjustifyRAID...
butthenyouhavetokeepaneyeonthelogsallthetime.
Whichisit?
Whatdoesyour/etc/fstabfilelooklikeforaRAID?Doesthelinuxinstallationknowhowtocreateit,
ordoestheuserhavetotinkerwith/etc/fstab?
IsyourRAIDtransparent,asafilesystem,whenyouboottoaLiveCD?Canyoufixstuffeasilyby
bootingtoaliveCDifyouhaveto?
WhatdoyouputintothegrubsetuptocauseRAIDsupporttobeloaded,ifyourkerneldoesn't
haveRAIDcompiledin?
skua
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Author:

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Published:
Updated:

Oct27,2005
Jun02,2010

Tags:

linux,storage

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