New subject: [suse-amd64] Raid 0 + ReiserFS

1 Jul 2004

      I was using the latest suse 9.1 amd release kernel. Have an MSI Master2-Far which uses the via vt8xxx sata controller. 

I had raid0 software stripe, of two identical hitachi 160gb's each drive had 1gb unstripped ext2/swap partition for boot. 

I won't rule out the possibility that it was somthing to do with the sata_via kernel module. Also in the past I have noted that alot of people have wierd expereinces with the way which suse addresses the sata/raid of this chip Suse uses /dev/hdx to address the sata drives. Wheras all other distro's use sd layout. I had to not setup an array in the controller bios, and do it entirely through linux for it to work. Because if I setup the raid arrya first in the controller bios (stripe both discs full), then suse would still insist on recognising them as two seperate /dev/hdX... 

Because I have heard other people with the board and setup have sucsesfully got other distros (i.e mandrake 10) to recognise the bios setup raid array as an sdX device. I beleive that suse is to blame partly.

I would like comment on this. 

Like I said I have posted extensively on the setup of this system in suse, and the way which I was using it was the only configuration that worked...

Kind regards

Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: "Mike Tierney"  
Sent: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:13:15 +1200 
To: 
Subject: RE: [suse-amd64] Raid 0 + ReiserFS 

I've been running SLES 8 under Raid 0 on Reiserfs at home for a few months
now with no problems but then all I do with my home Linux installation is
played Neverwinter Nights or tunnel into work via vmware, SSH and
PCAnywhere.....

You could always use LVM to stripe your reiserfs, thats what I use (under
SLES 8 AMD-64) for our production database server. And yes of course the
striped ResierFS is mirrored!

BTW, which exact version of SuSE Linux are you having this problem with??

The ResierFS faq ( http://www.namesys.com/faq.html )does mention these
issues with _earlier_ kernels.

"Q. Can I use ReiserFS with the software RAID?"

"A. Yes, for all Raid levels using any Linux >= 2.4.1, but DO NOT use Raid5
with Linux 2.2.x. Our journaling and their Raid code step on each other in
the buffering code. Also, mirroring is not safe in the 2.2.x kernels because
online mirror rebuilds in   2.2.x break the write ordering requirements for
the log. If you crash in the middle of an online rebuild, your meta-data may
be corrupted. The only Raid level that is safe with ReiserFS in the 2.2.x
kernels is the striping/concatenation level."

Anyway, if you store any important data on Raid 0 and don't have super-tight
backups you are asking for a beating IMO.

I would take this problem to the ReiserFS guys (www.namesys.com) as they
take any reported problems VERY seriously.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Wiramu Pauling [mailto:aenertia@aenertia.net]
Sent: Thursday, 1 July 2004 3:29 p.m.
To: suse-amd64@suse.com
Subject: [suse-amd64] Raid 0 + ReiserFS

Hi There,

I have a big Warning,

Don't use raid 0 .and reiserfs. bad Bad BAd BAD!. I had been noticing
strange errors for the last two months (certain files reporting 0 length and
being unable to be removed). And I ran a single user session and rebuilt the
reiser tree.

This corrected all the issues, but, created more in the process. Basically I
have been left with holes all over my filesystem, in a fairly random order.
I believe reiserfs 3.6 can't handle the stripe nature of software raid, and
screws up where things are because of this. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with the discs physically. And i'm pretty certain it's just the
combination of reiserfs and raid0.

Anyway. The fact is I've lost a lot of data. Suse people... you need to
change the default type of filesystem for raid stripes.... This progressive
fall to doom will be happening to a number of people with suse installed and
a raid 0 stripe.

I've posted to the reiserfs guys aswell. Currently I'm trying to rescue what
I can but because the problems are random, even taring and sending it across
the network to a temporary machine may only be moving the errors in much of
the cases.

Kind regards

Joel

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RE: RE: [suse-amd64] Raid 0 + ReiserFS

Joel Wiramu Pauling

Stefan Fent

Roy Butler

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