Hello Everyone!<br>I recently had to provision a server or two, and everytime I do I second guess myself on Software Raid configurations (and DRBD) for that matter.<br>So this time around I wrote very good and detailed instructions (and took pictures) to get a Raid 1 Mirror for a complete noob.<br>
(no pictures in this email)<br><br>Thought I would share if anyone is trying to do it in the near future on a home desktop perhaps.<br><br>I was kind of shocked I couldn't find half way decent instructions like this on the internet, instead I sort of did it by memory which was a bit painful at moments and made me second guess myself at least a few times.<br>
<br>Hope this is helpful!<br><br>Unix/Linux Disk Naming Conventions<br>=========================================================<br>hda = Physical Volume Label<br>hda1 = First Partition of Physical Volume hda<br><br>hdb = Second Physical Volume<br>
hdb1 = First Partition of Physical Volume hdb<br><br>sda = Serial or SCSI Physical Volume<br>sda1 = First Partition of Physical Volume sda<br>sda2 = Second Partition of Physical Volume sda<br><br><br>Software Raid Configuration on Fedora Core 11 / Red Hat (Disk Druid)<br>
==========================================================<br>This assumes your first Hard disk is "sda", your second hard disk, is "sdb" and you are trying to setup a Raid Mirror (Raid 1), with no Hot Standby Drives.<br>
<br>1.) Click New (to setup a boot partition)<br> # Boot has to exist within a physical volume, because during system boot grub doesn't know about our raid array yet, so it needs something 'physical' to actually access.<br>
Under Mount Point -> set to "/boot"<br> Under File System Type -> Select "ext3"<br> Under 'allowable drives' select sda (or your first hard drive)<br> Under 'additional size options' -> select 'Fixed Size', and set the size to 200mb<br>
click OK<br><br>2.) Click New<br> Under file system type -> Select "Software Raid"<br> Under 'allowable drives' select sda (or your first hard drive)<br> Under 'additional size options' -> select 'fill to maximum allowable size'<br>
click OK<br><br>3.) Repeat the same step as step #2 for your second hard drive (sdb)<br><br>Note: If you want additional drives to be apart of this raid array repeat these steps for each physical volume (physical hard disk)<br>
<br>4.) From the Main Menu<br> Under sda-> you should see sda1 | /boot | ext3 | 196 (approx) | <br> Under sda-> you should see sda1 | | software RAID | hard disk total size | <br>
Under sdb-> you should see sda1 | | software RAID | hard disk total size | <br> <br> -If you added additional Raid Volumes you should see something similar to the two raid volumes above under their respective Physical Volume Labels.<br>
<br>5.) Click the RAID button.<br> Select "Create a Raid Device"<br> Click "Ok"<br> Under "File System Type" -> select "Physical Volume (LVM)"<br> Under "Raid Device" -> select your label the default of "md0" is fine, make sure to remember this for the next step.<br>
Select Raid Level (Raid 1) - which is a raid mirror (you are welcome to use any other RAID type you prefer, the steps are the same)<br> Under "Raid Members" -> check both hard drives sda2, sdb1. (your first raid partition, and your second raid partition)<br>
(If you would like to encrypt your hard drives and require a password during boot check "encrypt")<br> Click Ok (returns to root menu)<br><br>6.) Click "LVM" (VERY IMPORTANT! Make sure you don't click NEW)<br>
Enter a volume group name (leaving default is fine) - just remember what the name is.<br> Under "Physical Extent" -> (Leave this alone, 32mb is fine by default)<br> Under "Physical Volumes" -> to Use -> Make sure that md0 is checked (or the raid device label you selected in the previous step)<br>
Under "Logical Volumes" -> click "Add"<br> Under "File System Type" -> enter "/swap"<br> Under "Logical Volume Name" -> set the field to something logical like "VolSwap".<br>
Under "Size (MB)" -> set to your machines physical memory size x 2.<br> Click Ok<br> <br> Click "Add" Again<br> Under "Mount Point" enter "/"<br> Under "File System Type" enter "ext3" (or your desired partition type)<br>
Under "logical Volume Name" -> set the field to something logical like "VolRoot".<br> Under "Size (MB)" -> leave at default size (Should be maximum volume size).<br> Click Ok to exit this sub menu<br>
<br> Click Ok Again to exit the LVM Menu<br><br>7.) You are now done<br> Click "Next" at the main menu to Finish.<br> When prompted click "Write Changes to Disk" or "Go Back" if you feel you missed something.<br>
<br>If you see any errors, you did something wrong - please consult specific technical documentation, or try these steps again.<br><br>You should see Fedora formatting /File System... with a progress bar, Software Raid is being Setup.<br>
<br>Another feature of Software raid is it can have Hot Spares / Standby drives, although we do not discuss this here.<br>