Topic: Howto awoid software raid in SME7?

[Smeily]

Hi,
In sme6 you could choose install one disk, but in sme7 you don't have that option. If I have successfully established a hwraid1 I should be able to unplug one of the disks insert and unplug the other insert again. I can't.
I can setup hwraid1 on the scsi-controller, but sme can see to drives and install swraid1. Have tried to install one disk and make mirror in scsi-controller-setup but didn't work either.
Any suggestions?
SMEily

IBM e-server with 2 hotswopdisks 320 widescsi-controller.
All hardware supported.

[psoren]

Hi,
In sme6 you could choose install one disk, but in sme7 you don't have that option. If I have successfully established a hwraid1 I should be able to unplug one of the disks insert and unplug the other insert again. I can't.
I can setup hwraid1 on the scsi-controller, but sme can see to drives and install swraid1. Have tried to install one disk and make mirror in scsi-controller-setup but didn't work either.
Any suggestions?
SMEily

Are you sure your SCSI controller is a RAID controller?
It really sounds to me like it either isn't a RAID controller or is not set up correct as RAID.
SME should see your drives as one on a hardware RAID1 but it still installs as if it was RAID1 with just one disk enabled.

What is your controller brand and type?`

Per

[Smeily]

Here is som information:

Master scsi controller AIC-7902
Adaptec HostRAID bios v4.30.9

Personalities : [raid1]
md1 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdb1[1]
      104320 blocks [2/2] [UU]

md2 : active raid1 sda2[0]
      71577536 blocks [2/1] [U_]

unused devices: <none>

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/main-root
                       66G  1.3G   61G   3% /
/dev/md1               99M   19M   75M  21% /boot
none                  505M     0  505M   0% /dev/shm

fstab:
/dev/main/root          /                       ext3    usrquota,grpquota        1 1
/dev/md1                /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
/dev/main/swap          swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hda                /media/cdrom            auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
/dev/fd0                /media/floppy           auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0

[Smeily]

"SME should see your drives as one on a hardware RAID1 but it still installs as if it was RAID1 with just one disk enabled".
That is exactly what I want to awoid sw-raid on hw-raid!

[Tib]

Smeily

We have hardware raid setup here at work ... Raid 5 using 3 Scsi hot swap HDD's.

if I run

Code: [Select]


cat /proc/mdstat


our shows

[root@server1 ~]# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md1 : active raid1 ida/c0d0p1[0]
      101888 blocks [2/1] [U_]

md2 : active raid1 ida/c0d0p2[0]
      70991936 blocks [2/1] [U_]

This is normal as I read.



This is the readout of out test server with a software raid 5 setup

[root@server5 ~]# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1] [raid5]
md1 : active raid1 sda1[0] sde1[4] sdd1[3] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
      104320 blocks [5/5] [UUUUU]

md2 : active raid5 sda2[0] sde2[4] sdd2[3] sdc2[2] sdb2[1]
      35117056 blocks level 5, 256k chunk, algorithm 2 [5/5] [UUUUU]



Regards,

Tib

[william_syd]

Smeily

We have hardware raid setup here at work ... Raid 5 using 3 Scsi hot swap HDD's.

if I run

Code: [Select]


cat /proc/mdstat


our shows

[root@server1 ~]# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md1 : active raid1 ida/c0d0p1[0]
      101888 blocks [2/1] [U_]

md2 : active raid1 ida/c0d0p2[0]
      70991936 blocks [2/1] [U_]

This is normal as I read.

I think you may of missed the OP's point.

They do not want their hardware raid array being used as a single drive in a degraded software raid array.

[okepc]

Adaptec "host-raid" is a SOFTWARE raid adapter.

I had set my ibm e-server's host-raid too and sme saw 2 separate drives which were set up as a software raid.

All is working fine inspite of the FAKE raid

b.t.w there are linux drivers around for the hostraid.

Wouldn't recommend it cause its softraid either way.

Do you have the ibm e-server x-series 206?

Dirk

[Smeily]

It is an IBM e-server x226 and here is the description of the RAID features:

Providing outstanding performance and flexibility for servers and high-end work-stations, the dual-channel AIC-7902 delivers Ultra320 SCSI data rates up to 320 MBytes/sec to address emerging band-width-hungry applications, such as real-time video, data mining, Internet/Intranet, and scientific modeling and simulation. The chip features a 66 MHz, 64-bit PCI interface and a 133 MHz, 64-bit PCI-X interface. 320 MByte/sec SCSI data transfer rates. 133 MHz, 64 bit, PCI-X interface that provides 1066 MByte/sec bandwidth. Signal compatible with AIC-7892x Ultra160 SCSI ASIC. Supports HostRAID™ hardware mirroring!!!. PCI 2.3 and PCI-X 1.0A compliant.

[CharlieBrady]

"SME should see your drives as one on a hardware RAID1 but it still installs as if it was RAID1 with just one disk enabled".
That is exactly what I want to awoid sw-raid on hw-raid!

Why do you want to avoid it? It isn't doing any harm.

[Smeily]

It's not the harm but the benefit of having hotswap funtionality.
I have now tried to disable the hwraid and stay with the swraid the SME-server use. Fast but no hotswap. Trying to hotswap makes that drive unusable even after a reconfigure and reboot. When I then try to pull out the second drive the party end (after the first drive is back in of course). There seems to be a master-slave relationship between the two drives?
   not so Smeily.

[CharlieBrady]

It's not the harm but the benefit of having hotswap funtionality.

I'm sure that linux software raid is not interfering with hotswap capability. If you have a hardware raid controller having hotswap capability, then that should work without linux software raid having any visibility of it.

[mercyh]

Smeily,

SME 7.0 is setup to install ANY combination of disks as a raid array. If there is a single disk it will be installed as a degraded raid array. I have a single disk server and it is installed as a degraded raid array. Wouldn't your hardware raid be recognized as a singe disk and installed the same way?

I should be able to unplug one of the disks insert and unplug the other insert again. I can't.

I would think the following is correct:

If you have a hardware raid controller having hotswap capability, then that should work without linux software raid having any visibility of it.