Re: Migrating to Raid
- From: David Wright <david_c_wright@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:39:20 +0100
Buck Rogers wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My present test computer situation:
>
> MB = ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
> CPU = 2.6 P4
> RAM = 1GIG
> HDD = 2 x 200 gig SATA drives, non RAID
> OS = Win 2003 SBS, WinXP Pro, SUSE 10.0 (/, /boot) on HD0
> FC4 (/, /boot), Win 2003 SBS Data, WinXP Pro Data, Swap on HD1
>
> Presently boot to Win XP Pro boot menu to access all OSes.
>
> What I want to do is:
>
> Add a 3Ware 9500S-4LP SATA controller, and add 2 x 250 SATA drives, to
> eventually come up with the same configuration I presently have but in
> a RAID Mirroring environment.
>
> Is there a way I can accomplish this without having to re-install
> everything from scratch? I have Ghost images of all but FC4. I have
> a tar backup of FC4.
>
> My guess is, No, but I want to hear from the Guru's first. However,
> if my objective is possible, any pointers or URLs to guide me would be
> a great help!
>
> I'm asking here, specifically, because this group has been very
> helpful to me in the past and, as an everyday OS, SUSE is used more
> than any other OS I have..........Except I can't get rid of Forte
> Agent. I've used it for years and haven't found any other vehicle in
> Linux to make me want to switch.
>
> Any input on whether I can or can't accomplish my objective is
> appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Buck
Because of the mixed OS environments, I don't know what hardware level 1
RAID would do... You should be able to duplicate the partition sizes (the
extra 50GB on each new drive would be redundant) and set up the RAID 1
mirroring in each OS so that it mirrored its own partitions...
It is unclear whether you want to migrate the two existing 200GB drives into
the array and mirror then, or just use the two new 250GB drives and
replicate the structure on them... Best bet, if you are going to use all 4
drives is to replicate the structure of one of the 200GB drives on one of
the 250GB drives, incorporating the extra 50GB somewhere...
Also, I note you do not have shared partitions for /home /usr etc. in your
current scheme, which means any data you have in one Linux isn't available
in the other, and you need to set-up your desktop environment twice. Using
shared partitions would make life a lot easier - also makes
upgrades/re-installs etc. easier because you don't need to rebuild
your /home /usr etc. from backups afterwards.
A few further questions:
1) Why do you need 2 versions of Linux? You say you mainly use SUSE, do you
still need FC4? If not you can reclaim its space, if you do, look at
sharing the non-core partitions between the two OS's to reduce your
redundant space and to save time configuring them both.
2) Why do you have XP and SBS on the one machine? SBS only runs as a PDC and
won't let any other servers onto the network, and any workstations on the
network need to be in the Domain to access the shares, therefore it sounds
like it is pretty redundant, unless the machine is running as a standalone
machine and you are using the SBS install to test your server development
code or help customers with configuration changes etc.
If you need SBS, it would make more sense to break it out onto a dedicated
server - and a cheap box for that would cost less than your RAID card!
3) Why do you need the RAID 1 in the first place? It doesn't provide a
backup solution for anything other than a minor disk failure. RAID doesn't
help against user error, virus and trojan infections etc. or catastrophic
failure, fire etc. in which case you are back to removable media backups
with offsite storage.
Do you really need so many OS's and moving SBS to its own machine would make
more sense if you really need it...
I'm not sure how Windows and Linux will react to being shared on the raid
controller in a partition scheme like yours, best bet would be to contact
3ware customer support with that query before laying out the cash for the
controller... Theoretically it is possible to have multiple partitions and
OS's, but don't know how it would work out in practice.
With the card priced around $400, it is a big investment, you could buy a
second, machine for that money and slap in a couple of drives to mirror
your environment or have it running as a server in the background - much
better for testing server environments than dual-booting into the server os
for specific tasks...
3ware also had some issues in September...
http://groups.google.com/group/fa.linux.kernel/browse_thread/thread/f7d33963e67d89d1/1073f243d0aa501d%231073f243d0aa501d?sa=X&oi=groupsr&start=0&num=3
You might want to check this problem won't affect you.
As to having to rebuild the partitions on the RAID... Not sure but possibly.
If you have images it isn't so bad. It might be possible to insert your
disks into the array and use them as masters to mirror onto the new drives
- but again, think about mapping one of the 200's onto the 250 to make use
of the extra space, or just get a new pair of 200's...
Also it might be a good opportunity to re-work your partitioning strategy to
share home and data partitions between SUSE and FC if you really need both
of them.
Dave
.
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