Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 06:08:50 +0100 From: "Roger 'Rocky' Vetterberg" <listsub@rambo.simx.org> To: Jud <jud@operamail.com> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: RAID, Vinum(?), Filesystems, OSs...Config Help, Please? Message-ID: <3C8998E2.4030803@rambo.simx.org> References: <B6EAHCNKG0T3WOL4ZVP1UTRSMMGF.3c897341@sparky>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Jud wrote: >Owing to my girlfriend's generosity and that great American institution, >the class action lawsuit (specifically, settlement of litigation re: IBM's >MWave modem/soundcard, which was pretty bad at both), I am able to >afford and have purchased two identical new 40gb IBM ATA100 hard >drives that I would like to run as a RAID0 array, keeping my current >20gb ATA66 drive as well. (Losing data is no more than an >inconvenience - anything I want to keep is on someone else's servers, >and I can use part of the 20gb drive as a fast local backup.) My >motherboard (ASUS A7V266-E) has the RAID controller chip used in >the Promise Fasttrak 100 RAID card, which works with FreeBSD. > >While the drives are in transit, I'd appreciate it if someone could point >me toward good information on the following: > >1. If FreeBSD "recognizes" my RAID chip, will it automagically see my >drives as a RAID array? Can I configure the array with Vinum? If yes, >what are the advantages/disadvantages of doing so? > If you use hardware RAID, ie a Promise or HighPoint controller, then you have no need for Vinum. Vinum is software RAID. It "emulates" a hardware RAID controller. Whether or not FreeBSD will see your drives as a RAID array depends totally on how you set them up. Both Promise and HighPoint, and probably every IDE RAID on the market, comes with a sort of BIOS utility where you setup your RAID drives. > >2. What are the parameters of the RAID array I will want/need to >configure? Are there good references regarding how to determine >optimal values for any such parameters? > This is not an easy question to answer, it all depends on what your setup looks like and what you want it to do. Basically, it's usually a fine balance between performance and/or security. High performance usually means lower security, and vice versa. > > >3. I plan to run Win2K, -STABLE and perhaps -CURRENT on the RAID >array, Win98 and perhaps QNX on the 20gb drive. Are swap, >applications, etc., automagically placed to take best advantage of >RAID0, or is this something I will want/need to do myself? I'd be very >grateful for any references or recommendations re configuring for best >performance. > > >Thanks, > >Jud > If you plan on using Vinum (there really is no reason to do that if you have a hardware RAID controller) I have written a small howto at http://bsdvault.net/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=86. It's very basic and only give a small peak at Vinum's capabilitys, but it's a start. Hope this helps. -- R To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3C8998E2.4030803>