[NTLUG:Discuss] Software RAID woes

[Scott Ripley]

Kurt Watkins wrote:

> 
> Scott, I'm not much of a hardware guy but I can confirm that the HPT uses a
> single IRQ. Dunno if that's the issue or not. There were some issues with
> MPS 1.4 prior to the NJ BIOS, which I think improved the situation somewhat,
> and MPS 1.4 is related to the IRQ mapping somehow. What BIOS are you using and
> are you using MPS 1.1 or 1.4?
> 
> You might have a peek at www.bp6.com, though I don't remember seeing any
> Linux+RAID posts there. There are also the linux-smp and linux-abit lists, and
> don't forget the HPT366 HOWTO site,
> http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b6506063/hpt366. If you're using 2.3.x to get
> support for the HPT, this site has patches against 2.2, perhaps allowing you to
> use the 2.2 RAID tools...
> 
> Cheers,
> K.


I was looking through bp6.com last night, and that prompted me to
upgrade my BIOS to the NJ revision. It didn't help, but I probably
needed it anyway. I have browsed the linux-smp and linux-kernel mailing
lists for hours. Of the few people who I saw having problems with RAID
on a BP6, it was all something they were doing wrong. They were, except
for 2 people, using the 2.2 kernels. Most of the time they were missing
a patch. Those code snippets seem to be present in the 2.3 kernels.
Also, most were mostly running RedHat, which comes with the updated
tools, I believe.

I am using MPS 1.4. I am using the 2.3 kernels mostly because the SMP
seems to work better. It was a bonus that I didn't have to patch it for
the HPT366. The real reason is I'm a revision junkie. I just have to
recompile my kernel every week or so to get my Linux fix. ;^9 If I were
to use the 2.2 kernel, I would have to patch for RAID support as well.
Alot of what I read last night was talking about the broken RAID code in
2.2. I could do that if I were desperate, but that would be admitting
defeat. :)

The more I think about it, the more I believe I need to find the updated
tools. Everything works fine until I run mdadd and mdrun. The site that
was referenced in the Software RAID HowTo and Kernel Documentation,
ftp://sweet-smoke.ufr-info-p7.ibp.fr/public/Linux/md035.tar.gz, no
longer has a DNS entry. I didn't see it on freshmeat.net. A search
through google comes up with hoards of the RedHat and SuSe rpms, but
since I'm on Slackware I don't think that will do me much good. If
someone knows where the source tarballs for raidtools-.90 are hidden...

Thanks for the link to the hpt366 HOWTO site I had forgotten about it.
If it comes down to it, I may be able to install the rpm utility to
unpack a source RPM of raidtools-.90. Although, that would feel strange
on Slackware.

Thanks,
Scott


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/_____    ______________/  _________  \/  /\ Scott Ripley
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