Read the Appendix on RAID in the Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide first to
tell about RAID and the differences between Hardware RAID
versus Software RAID.
Software RAID can be configured during the graphical installation of Red Hat Linux
or during a kickstart installation. You can use
fdisk or Disk
Druid to create your RAID configuration, but these
instructions will focus mainly on using Disk
Druid to complete this task.
Before you can create a RAID device, you must first create RAID
partitions, using the following step-by-step instructions.
 | Tip: If You Use fdisk |
|---|
| | If you are using fdisk to create a RAID
partition, remember that instead of creating a partition as type
83, which is Linux native, you must create the
partition as type fd (Linux RAID). Also, for best
performance, partitions within a given RAID array should span identical
cylinders on drives.
|
Create a partition. In Disk Druid, choose
Add to create a new partition (see Figure 4-1).
You will not be able to enter a mount point (you will be able to do that
once you have created your RAID device).
Enter the size that you want the partition to be.
Select Use remaining space if you want the partition
to grow to fill all available space on the hard disk. In this case, the
partition's size will expand and contract as other partitions are
modified. If you make more than one partition growable, the partitions
will share the available free space on the disk.
Choose from the
pull-down menu.
Finally, for , select the
drive on which RAID will be created. If you have multiple drives, all
drives will be selected here and you must deselect those drives which
will not have the RAID array on them.
Continue these steps to create as many partitions as needed for your
RAID setup. Notice that all the partitions do not have to be RAID
partitions. For example, in Figure 4-2, only the
/home partition is a software RAID device.
Once you have all of your partitions created as RAID partitions, select
the Make RAID Device button on the
Disk Druid main partitioning screen (see Figure 4-2).
Next, Figure 4-3 will appear, where you can
make a RAID device.
First, enter a mount point.
Next, choose the partition type for the partition.
Choose your RAID device. You should choose md0 for
your first device, md1 for your second device, and
so on, unless you have a specific reason to make it something
else. Raid devices range from md0 to md7, and each may only be used
once.
Choose your RAID type. You can choose from RAID
0, RAID 1, and RAID
5.
 | Please Note |
|---|
| | If you are making a RAID partition of /boot,
you must choose RAID level 1 and it must use one of the first two
drives (IDE first, SCSI second). If you are not creating a RAID
partition of /boot, and you are making a RAID
partition of /, it must be RAID level 1 and
it must use one of the first two drives (IDE first, SCSI second).
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Finally, select which partitions will go into this RAID array (as in
Figure 4-4) and then click
Next.
At this point, you can continue with your installation process. Refer
to the Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide for further instructions.
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