Felix Miata wrote:
On 2008/09/20 15:37 (GMT-0400) Per Jessen composed:
Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC) wrote:
I see 11.0 has an option under the partitioner in YAST for RAID and I am wondering if thee 11.0 install will allow me to create the RAID array and set it up if it detects two drives of the same size and with identical partitions?
Yes it will.
If you have a RAID1 BIOS built into the motherboard, are there any reasons not to use it, as opposed to just using pure software RAID1?
Well, there are a few advantages, IMO, to prefer Linux Software Raid over a pseudo-hardware guide: 1) There is the portability issue. I work with a few real-hardware RAID controllers and I can tell from experience: Having to rely on the Hardware Manufactures can cost you money. Just an example: if you have say, an HP RAID card, and your RAID card "dies", you sometimes have to wait a lot of time to get a compatible replacement. Of course this is not always the case but, it happens a few times, especially on old hardware. So, in what portability is concerned, I would prefer the Linux Raid option. 2) Speed. Your pseudo-raid mobo card, does not do any math for you ( if required ), but will require the processor to do it all. This is just on RAID 4/5/6 setup. If you use RAID0, all information is striped onto you HD's. I don't know if there is any performance improvements with either of the solutions but, probably there isn't. With a RAID 1, all information is mirrored to another HD. In this options I would prefer to use the Linux Raid and rely on Linux to take care of all the asynchronous writes. In what reading is concerned, Software RAID has proven effective, as can reed from both HD's with great overall results. 3) Interoperability. With most Intel's chipsets you can hotplug your HD's. Just use the mdadm tool to remove the HD from the array, remove the HD, add a new one and rebuild your array. You can do this while your machine is in production mode. I believe you are unable to do that with a mobo pseudo-raid ? 4) Routine: If you have a lot a machines to set-up, you can have a monitoring system witch is common to all the machines. You can save time and money by just having one monitoring system. Well, here is my 1 cent... -- Rui Santos http://www.ruisantos.com/ Veni, vidi, Linux! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org