HOWTO: SUSE 10.0 and Software RAID a.k.a FakeRAID

I don't know if this goes here-but it is "fake"

Fake Raid? LVM in SuSe 10 64-bit on LP UT nf3 UD
2-WD 75GB on SATA 1-2
Do not enable raid in bios-Grub no LiLo
setup 3 partitions on each drive, mirror
sda1 native 1-13 boot ext2
sda2 swap 14-275 swap
sda3 LVM 276-9728
sdb1 native 1-13 boot ext2
sdb2 swap 14-275 swap
sdb3 LVM 276-9728
system 144GB LVM2 2-stripe 64k
system/root/LV xfs

YAST does most of the work in expert mode
You can add drives, backup, and boot with rescue media.
Some of this is covered here some here some here

 

LSI megaraid

I have recently installed following a similar procedure in a server with lsi megaraid and noted very high load that seems to be caused by kmirrord process.

Anyone have experience with LSI megaraid & kernel 2.6?

The machine still doesnt't boot. Will solve the "grep: command not found" tomorrow.

Thanks for the info.

 

You must install the grep package.

 

Some helpfull tips

hi,
I had the same problems installtion Suse 10 on my raid. But with Suse 10.1 there is a better way:

While installing, switch to the console an type:
dmraid -an
modprobe dm-mirror
dmraid -ay -i

now you can list your raid volumes:
ls /dev/mapper/

or you can edit the partitions on this raid:
fdisk /dev/mapper/<raiddevice>
for example:
fdisk /dev/mapper/nvidia_jhadcged

Next step: Use the yast partition manager and re-read the partition table. Now there is a new drive /dev/dm-3 or similar.
This drive can not be edited or re-partitioned. You have to do this before with fdisk.
Do NOT mount anything from your native drives (e.g. sda or sdb) because there are now "busy" and can't be used.

Next problem apears while installing the bootloader grub: It seems there is a bug resolving the drive name, so you must edit the parameters by hand. Instead /dev/sda use /dev/mapper/<your raid device>. Edit the device map and replace (hd0) with /dev/mapper/<your raid device>.
Edit menu.lst and replace (/dev/dm-,-1) with (dev/mapper/<your raid device>,<your linux partition number>). See grub manual for details.

After Installation you can't boot from this volume, because dm-mirror is not loaded and dmraid not active. So you must boot from CD and create your own initrd, see the first topic in this thread. After this everything should work fine.

Question to the others: mkinitrd seems to be changed, so the line numbers do not match. Anybody knows the best places??

 

What line numbers?

 

I don't understand this.
Does this mean that I should be able to use a NVRAID-0 set build with WinXP as a boot device for Suse Linux 10.1 ?
And if not, do you know how this can be done - if at all?

 

Howto suse 10.1

FakeRaid for SuSe 10.1 is working fine!

I hope my way is more easier for you.


First of all install windows on your raid disk, because otherwise it will overwrite the bootloader.

You have to change all following enters to your system required configuration!

-Take an old ata hard disk and install the new suse10.1 on it.
in Yast also install the GCC-C++packet
Download the dmraid-1.0.0rc11-pre1.tar.bz2 from http://people.redhat.com/~heinzm/sw/dmraid/tst/
(Warning older versions are not working for the 2.6.16.13 kernel, the dmraid 0.99_1.0.0rc8-12 package included in the suse10.1 also isn´t working)

-Shut down system and strip on your raid disk, start suse10.1 from your old hard disk.
Log in as root, extract your downloaded dmraid, change into dmraid folder, open console and type the following:

„./configure“
„make“
„cp -f /tools/dmraid /sbin/dmraid“
„modprobe dm-mod“
„tools/dmraid -ay -i“
„ls /dev/mapper“

now you should have an output like control via_bdeaacdjjh

-create your partitons
„fdisk /dev/mapper/via_bdeaaccdjjh“
create one swap and one reiserfs partition

this is for example my partition table:
linux:/home/mk # fdisk /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh

Die Anzahl der Zylinder für diese Platte ist auf 38914 gesetzt.
Daran ist nichts verkehrt, aber das ist größer als 1024 und kann
in bestimmten Konfigurationen Probleme hervorrufen mit:
1) Software, die zum Bootzeitpunkt läuft (z. B. ältere LILO-Versionen)
2) Boot- und Partitionierungssoftware anderer Betriebssysteme
(z. B. DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Befehl (m für Hilfe): p

Platte /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh: 320.0 GByte, 320083770368 Byte
255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spuren, 38914 Zylinder
Einheiten = Zylinder von 16065 × 512 = 8225280 Bytes

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende Blöcke Id System
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh1 * 1 1020 8193118+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh2 1021 36715 286720087+ f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh3 36716 36862 1180777+ 82 Linux Swap / Solaris <- my swap device
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh4 36863 38914 16482690 83 Linux <-my root device
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh5 1021 3570 20482843+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh6 3571 6120 20482843+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh7 6121 18868 102398278+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh8 18869 31616 102398278+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh9 31617 36575 39833136 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh10 36576 36715 1124518+ b W95 FAT32

-format your partions:
„mkswap /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh3“
„mkreiserfs /dev/mappper/via_bdeaacdjjh4“

-mount your new suse10.1 root partition
„mkdir /mnt/suse10.1“
„mount -t reiserfs /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh4 /mnt/suse10.1“

-start yast and under software choose Installation into Directory
change the target directory to /mnt/suse10.1
Check Run Yast and SuseConfig on first start
the warning with /suse/i586/kernel-default-2.6.16.13-4i586.rpm you can ignore


-after the installation process have finished open the kernel file
type „vi /etc/sysconfig/kernel“ in console
press the insert key and change „INITRD_MODULES=“sata_via via 82cxxx processor thermal fan“ in „INITRD_MODULES=“sata_via via 82cxxx processor thermal fan dm-mod“
press ESC
„:w“
„:q“

-take my mkinird extract it and copy it to /sbin/mkinitrd
type „mkinitrd“ in console
copy some files:
„cp -R -T /boot/grub/ /mnt/suse10.1/boot/grub“
„cp /boot/initrd-2.6.16.13-4-default /mnt/suse10.1/boot/initrd-2.6.16.13-4-default“
„cp /boot/initrd /mnt/suse10.1/boot/initrd“
„cp /sbin/dmraid /mnt/suse10.1/sbin/dmraid“
„cp /sbin/mkinitrd /mnt/suse10.1/sbin/mkinitrd“
„cp /etc/sysconfig/kernel /mnt/suse10.1/etc/sysconfig/kernel“
„cp /etc/fstab /mnt/suse10.1/etc/fstab“

-modify the files device.map and menu.lst in your /mnt/suse10.1/boot/grub/ dir
modify fstab in your /mnt/suse10.1/sbin/ dir

-grub
switch to console and type „grub“
„device (hd0,3) /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh4“
„device (hd0) /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh“
„geometry (hd0) 38914 255 63“
„root (hd0,3)“
„setup (hd0)“

-shut down system and put away your old hard disk. boot system, after the yast procedure log in as root and open initab
„vi /etc/initab“
press insert key
change „id:3:initdefault:“ into „id:5:initdefault:“
press ESC
„:w“
„:q“

-Reboot your system.

-Don´t forget to change your installation source!
put in your first suse10.1 cd and open yast, ad installation source, cd, the same with your add on cd.

-I have also attached my fstab, device.map and menu.lst.

Goood luck!

 

hi,
i have an error (with the Suse 10.1):
ERROR: dos: reading /dev/mapper/sil_agafdjcaceaj[Invalid argument]
i have compiled dmraid-1.0rc11-pre1 with no problems
anyone have an idea ?
whereas for the suse10.0 this method work fine.
thank
Mamat

 

When do you get that error?

 

just after the compilation of dmraid when i try do discover the partition
when i type ./tools/dmraid -ay -i : i have this message : ERROR: dos: reading /dev/mapper/sil_agafdjcaceaj[Invalid argument]
but with the suse 10.0 i haven't this problem

 

I got that message linux-r1rn:/home/mk # dmraid -ay -i
ERROR: dos: reading /dev/mapper/via_bdeaacdjjh[No such file or directory] ,too. But this was because of an old dmraid version. With the new version of dmraid-1.0.0rc11-pre1.tar.bz2 i still have no problems.

/var/log/messages:
May 21 07:44:32 linux-r1rn kernel: device-mapper: dm-stripe: Target length not divisible by chunk size
May 21 07:44:32 linux-r1rn kernel: device-mapper: error adding target to table

 

I found this regarding your problem:
http://www.redhat.com/archives/ataraid-list/2005-October/msg00005.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2557.html
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=377346

 

Hello,
thanks to crushton, markes and maaki (from www.linux-club.de) finally i just managed to install Suse Linux 10.1 on my FakeRAID! Because i had some problems with the ways provided here i wrote another guide (german language only) how i did it.

View attachment Installation von Suse Linux 10.1 auf FakeRAID.zip
View attachment Installation von Suse Linux 10.1 auf FakeRAID.tar.gz

Sincerely yours,
WEARENOTALONE

 

Hmm,

From a fresh install, can't you setup RAID 1 from there? In setting up the initial system partitions, can't you set it so that /boot is mounted on a normal partition and format two identical partitions on two separate HDDs as Linux RAID and using the RAID utility thereafter? Atleast that's what I did...

 

Like splitting the RAID 1, installing and setting up (incl. dmraid) Linux to the first (primary) HDD and finally rebuilding the mirrored RAID 1?

For RAID 1 that is probably true, but you can not do that with RAID 0. For me it was much faster to install Linux to a seperate HDD, because i already had one extra HDD built-in and i did not have to rebuild my RAID.

Sincerely yours,
WEARENOTALONE

 

Markes, could you please post a "/sbin/mkinird" script for openSUSE 11.1?

This is the first time I installed Linux on this Intel ICH9R sofRAID system, but need updated version of this howto. If anybody has one for openSUSE 11.1 please share with us.

One more question is: what line of /etc/mkinitrd on a runnning Linux should I put the "dmraid" script to have openSUSE recognize my Vista Device Mapper at boot time?

I have a strange situation that I can only boot with floppy but also disk order changes on the fly. GRUB knows disk order at boot time but OS changes all disks to non-raid. I put dmraid -ay in /etc/init.d/boot.local to access Vista.

I have fair amount of knowledge with Linux but I'm not good with programming logics. Please reply, this is my first post in this list.

thanks in advance