RAID Setup Assistance

[Chong Yu Meng]

Kurt Wall wrote:

>Howdy, list,
>
>I recently acquired a new (to me) server: 
>
>Dual Pentium II 300 CPUs
>512 MB RAM
>Mylex DAC960 RAID controller
>AIC-7990 SCSI controller
>5 IBM DDRS-39130W (9GB) disks
>
>I intend to make it my primary server, but I don't have the faintest
>idea how to configure the RAID stuff. I've installed a minimal
>Slackware 9.1 on it and booted it, so it's accessibly via my internal
>LAN, but beyond that, I haven't done anything with it. I'm not even
>sure how to determine what the current RAID configuration is. So,
>while I read up on the controller and RAID in general, I'm open to
>suggestions.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Kurt
>  
>
If memory serves, the way to configure RAID is:
1. Install the card and hook up the drives, making sure that all IDs are 
set correctly, and that the cable is properly terminated
2. Since you are using a SCSI card, there should be an option during 
bootup to escape to the SCSI BIOS (for Adaptec it is Ctrl+<A>, not sure 
about Mylex, though)
3. Once inside the SCSI BIOS, you will need to decide the RAID-level you 
desire. Then setup the hard disks, etc. for that RAID level (it should 
be fairly intuitive, but if you need more help, you'll need to refer to 
the manual.)
4. Once the disks are setup, you may need to reboot
5. Install operating system.

Not sure if you may need to pass some parameters at the boot prompt. For 
Windows NT 4 + DPT RAID controllers, you needed to specify the drivers 
during OS installation. Also, most RAID cards come with a utility that 
checks if you have RAID setup correctly (DPT had Storage Manager), not 
sure about Mylex, but if you have that utility, use it. It can help 
allay any fears you may have.

If you don't need to specify any additional parameters at the boot 
prompt, during installation, when you reach the disk partitioning 
stage,  you should see your hard disks as logical volume(s) 
corresponding to the RAID level you chose earlier.

Note that you configure RAID first, then install the operating system. 
That's how I did it in the past. You can add disks to the array, but you 
will need to re-configure through the SCSI BIOS again. Same with 
removing disks.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
pascal chong