Read Chapter 4 first to
learn about RAID, the differences between Hardware and
Software RAID, and the differences between RAID 0, 1, and 5.
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 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
New to create a new partition (see Figure 5-1).
Choose from the
pull-down menu.
You will not be able to enter a mount point (you will be able to do that
once you have created your RAID device).
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.
Enter the size that you want the partition to be.
Select Fill to maximum allowable size if you want
the partition to grow to fill all available space on the hard disk. If
you make more than one partition growable, the partitions will share the
available free space on the disk.
Select Force to be a primary partition if you
want the partition to be a primary partition.
Select Check for bad blocks? if you want the
installation program to check for bad blocks on the hard drive before
formatting it.
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, you can configure only the
/home partition as a software RAID device.
Once you have all of your partitions created as software
RAID partitions, select the Make RAID
button on the Disk Druid
main partitioning screen (see Figure 5-3).
Next, Figure 5-2 will appear, where you can
make a RAID device.
First, enter a mount point.
Next, choose the filesystem type for the partition.
Choose your RAID level. You can choose from RAID
0, RAID 1, and RAID
5.
 | 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).
|
Select which partitions will go into this RAID array and
click OK.
A spare partition can be specified for RAID 1 and RAID 5. If a
software RAID partition fails, the spare will automatically be used as
a replacement. For each spare you want to specify, you must create an
additional software RAID partition (in addition to the partitions for
the RAID device). In the previous step, select the partitions for the
RAID device and the partition(s) for the spare(s). Select the number
of spares.
Select whether you want the partition formatted.
The RAID device will appear in the Drive Summary
list as shown in Figure 5-3.
At this point, you can continue with your installation process. Refer
to the Official Red Hat Linux Installation Guide for further instructions.
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