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        <h1 style="margin: 1% 0%;">
Convert Root System to Bootable Software RAID1 (Debian)</h1>
        <p>
HowTo convert a Debian system to bootable Software RAID 1 with a second hard drive, 'mdadm' and a few standard UNIX tools</p>
        </div>

        <p style="font-size: 80%">
Version 0.91 (2004-03-27) Lucas Albers -- admin At cs DOT montana dot edu<br />
Home of most recent version: <a href="http://alioth.debian.org/projects/rootraiddoc" target="_blank">
http://alioth.debian.org/projects/rootraiddoc</a><br />
Thanks to: Alvin Olga, Era Eriksson, Yazz D. Atlas, especially Roger Chrisman, and alioth.debian.org<br />
        <p><b>
WARNING: No warrantee of any kind. Proceed at your own risk.</b> A typo, especially in lilo.conf, can leave your system unbootable. <b>Back-up data and make a boot floppy <i>before starting this procedure</i>.</b></p>
        </div> 


        <!-- Table of Contents -->
        <div id="TOC" class="toc">

        <h1>Table of Contents</h1>

        <h3><a href="#summary">
Summary</a></h3>
      
        <h3><a href="#1">
Procedure</a></h3>

      <ol>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#1">
Install Debian</a><br />
on your Primary Master disk -- hda. Or if you already have Debian installed, go to step 2.</li>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#2">
Upgrade to RAID savvy Kernel</a><br />
and install 'mdadm'.</li>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#3">
Setup RAID 1</a><br />
declaring disk-one 'missing' and disk-two hdc.</li>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#4">
Copy your Debian system</a><br />
from hda to /dev/md0 ('missing' + 'hdc').</li>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#5">
Reboot to RAID device.</a><br /></li>
        <li style="margin: 1% 0%;"><a href="#6">
Reformat hda as 'fd' and declare it as disk-one of your RAID,</a><br />
and watch the booted RAID system automatically mirror itself onto the new drive. Done.</li>
      </ol>

        <h3><a href="#I">
Appendix</a></h3>

      <ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman;">
       <li><a href="#I">
RAID Introduction</a></li>
       <li><a href="#II">
Drive designators (hda, hdb, hdc, hdd), jumpers and cables</a></li>
       <li><a href="#III">
Setting up software RAID for multiple partitions</a></li>
       <li><a href="#IV">
Lilo</a></li>
       <li><a href="#V">
Copying Data</a></li>
       <li><a href="#VI">
Rebooting</a></li>
       <li><a href="#VII">
initrd</a></li>
       <li><a href="#VIII">
Alternative way to copy files to RAID partition</a></li>
        <li><a href="#IX">
Performance Optimizations</a></li>
        <li><a href="#X">
Quick Reference</a></li>
      </ol>


        <h3><a href="#references">
References</a></h3>

        </div>


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        <h1>
Summary</h1>
        <p>
We begin with Debian installed on the Primary Master drive, hda (<a href="#1">step 1</a>). We need RAID support in our Kernel (<a href="#2">step 2</a>). We add another disk as Secondary Master, hdc, set it up for RAID (<a href="#3">step 3</a>), and copy Debian to it (<a href="#4">step 4</a>). Now we can reboot to the RAID device (<a href="#5">step 5</a>) and declare hda part of the RAID and it automatically syncs with hdc to complete our RAID 1 device (<a href="#6">step 6</a>).</p>
        <p>
If all goes well</p>
        <ul>
         <li>You do not need a rescue disk or to boot off anything except the hard drive.</li>
         <li>You can do this operation completely remotely.</li>
         <li>And you will not lose any data.</li>
        </ul>
        <p style:"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">
Use this HowTo at your own risk. We are not responsible for what happens!</p>
        <p>
First things first</p>
      <ul>
        <li>Backup your data.</li>
        <li>Create a boot floppy.</li>
      </ul>
        <p>
Whenever you change your partitions, you need to reboot.</p>
        <p>
I assume you will mess up a step so wherever possible, we include verification.</p>
        <p>
I us 'mdadm' because it is easier than 'raidtools' or 'raidtools2'.</p>
        <p>
Directions are for Lilo, because I could not get Grub to work.</p>


        <!-- Procedure -->
     

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        <h1 style="padding-bottom: 6%;">
Procedure</h1>


        <h1>
1. Install Debian</h1>
        <p>
Do a fresh install the normal way on your first drive, hda (the Primary  Master drive in your computer). Or, if you already have a running Debian system that you want to use on hda, skip ahead to step 2. If you need Debian installation instructions, see:</p>
        <p>
<a href="http://debian.org" target="_blank">
Debian Installation HowTo</a> &raquo;  http://debian.org</p>
      

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        <h1>
2. Upgrade to a RAID savvy Kernel</h1>  


        <h2>
2.1 Compile and install a RAID savvy Kernel.</h2> 
        <p>
RAID must be <i>compiled</i> into the Kernel, not added as a module, for you to boot from the RAID device (unless you use a RAID savvy initrd initiation ram disk or boot from a non-RAID boot drive, but I do not cover those methods here). You need RAID 1 but I usually include RAID 5, too. For step by step Kernel compile and install instructions, see:</p>
        <p><a href="http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html" target="_blank">
Creating custom Kernels with Debian's kernel-package system</a> &raquo; http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html</p>     


        <h2>
2.2 Verify your RAID savvy Kernel.</h2> 
        <p class="code">
cat /proc/mdstat</p>
        <p>
(You should see the RAID "personalities" your Kernel supports.)</p>
        <p class="todo">
Roger is not sure about his assumption, below, that /etc/modules will not list RAID if Kernel has RAID compiled in instead of loaded as modules. This needs be checked out. This step is in Appendix IX: Quick Reference section, too.</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /etc/modules</p>
        <p>
(IF YOU SEE ANY RAID LISTED IN /etc/modules, then you probably have your Kernel loading RAID via modules. That will prevent you from booting from your RAID device, unless you use initrd. To boot from your RAID device, unless you use a RAID savvy initrd, you need RAID <i>compiled into</i> Kernel, not added <i>as a module.</i>)</p>
        <h2>


2.3 Install 'mdadm':</h2>       
        <p class="code">
apt-get install mdadm</p>
     

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        <h1>
3. Setup RAID 1</h1> 
        <p>
Setup RAID 1 and declare disk-one of your RAID to be 'missing' and disk-two of your RAID to be 'hdc'.</p>


        <h2>
3.1 Create RAID (fd) partition on hdc</h2>
        <p>
Warning: ALWAYS give the partition when editing with cfdisk. By default cfdisk will select the first disk in the system. I accidentally wiped the wrong partition with cfdisk, once.</p>
        <p>
Do A or B, either way will work:</p>
        <p>
A. Create partitions on new disk.</p>
        <p class="code">
cfdisk /dev/hdc</p>

        <p>or</p>

        <p>B. copy existing partitions to new disk with sfdisk.</p>
        <p class="code">
cfdisk -d /dev/hda | sfdisk /dev/hdc</p>


        <h2>
3.2 Create correct partition type signatures on new partition.</h2>
        <p class="code">
cfdisk /dev/hdc</p>

      <ul>
        <li>Select Type, then hit enter, then type 'fd' (this means RAID type partition).</li>
        <li>Select Write</li>
        <li>Select Quit.</li>
      </ul>

        <p class="code">
<span class="reboot">reboot</span></p>
        <p>
(to check that all is working okay.)


        <h2>
3.3 Create RAID device</h2>
        <p>
that has two members and one of the members does not exist yet. md0 is the RAID partition we are creating, /dev/hdc1 is the initial partition. We will be adding /dev/hda1 back into the /dev/md0</p>
        <p>
RAID set after we boot into /dev/md0.</p>
        <p class="code">
mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/hdc1</p>
        <p>
If this gives errors then you need to zero the super block, see useful mdadm commands.</p>


        <h2>
3.4 Format RAID device </h2>
        <p>
You can use reiserfs or ext3 for this, both work, I use reiserfs for larger devices. Go with what you trust.</p>
        <p class="code">
mkfs.ext3 /dev/md0</p>
        <p>
or</p>
        <p class="code">
mkfs -t reiserfs /dev/md0</p>


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        <h1>
4. Copy your Debian system</h1>
        <p>
Copy your Debian system from hda to /dev/md0 ('missing' + 'hdc'). Then, check to make sure that the new RAID device is still setup right and can be mounted correctly. We do this with an entry in hda's /etc/fstab and a reboot. Note that by editing hda's /etc/fstab after the copy, instead of before, we leave the copy on md0 unaltered and only are editing hda's /etc/fstab. NB: THIS IS A BRANCH IN OUR SYSTEM CONFIGURATION, but it will overwritten later by the md0 version of /etc/fstab by the sync in step 6.</p>
      

        <h2>
4.1 Create a mount point. </h2>
        <p class="code">
mkdir /mnt/md0</p>


        <h2>
4.2 Mount your RAID device. </h2>
        <p class="code">
mount /dev/md0 /mnt/md0</p>


        <h2>
4.3 Copy your Debian system to RAID device. </h2>
        <p class="code">
cp -axu / /mnt/md0</p>
        <p>
You don't need the -u switch; it just tells cp not to copy the files again if they exist. If you are running the command a second time it will run faster with the -u switch.</p>


        <h2>
4.4 Edit /etc/fstab so that you mount your new RAID partition on boot up.</h2>
<p>
This verifies that you have the correct partition signatures on the partition and that your partition is correct. Sample Line in <span class="code">/etc/fstab</span>:</p>
        <p class="code">
/dev/md0 /mnt/md0 ext3 defaults 0 0</p>
        <p>
Then</p>
        <p class="code">
<span class="reboot">reboot</span></p>
        <p>
And see if the RAID partition comes up.</p>
        <p class="code">
mount</p>
        <p>
Should show /dev/md0 mounted on /mnt/md0.</p>


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        <h1>
5. Reboot to RAID device</h1>
        <p>
For step 5 reboot, we will tell Lilo that
<ul>
<li>as before, /boot and MBR are still on hda,<br />
<li>and now we want root (/) to mount on md0.<br />
</ul></p>
        <p>
We will, as before, be using hda's MBR (Master Boot Record is the first 512 bytes on a disk and is what the BIOS reads first in determining how to boot up a system) and hda's /boot dir (the kernel-image and some other stuff live here), but instead of mounting root (/) from hda, we will mount md0's root (/) (the root of our RAID device, currently running off of only hdc because we declared the first disk 'missing').


        <h2>
5.1 Configure Lilo to boot to the RAID device </h2>
        <p>
(Later we will configure Lilo to write the boot sector to the RAID boot device also, so we can still boot even if either disk fails.)</p>
        <p>
Add a stanza labeled 'RAID' to /etc/lilo.conf on hda1 so that we can boot with /dev/md0, our RAID device, as root (/):</p>
        <p class="code">
#the same boot drive as before.<br />
boot=/dev/hda<br />
image=/vmlinuz<br />
label=RAID<br />
read-only<br />
#our new root partition.<br />
root=/dev/md0</p>
        <p>
That makes an entry labeled 'RAID' specific to the RAID device, so you can still boot to /dev/hda if /dev/md0 does not work.</p>
sample complete lilo.conf file:</p>
        <p class="code">
#sample working lilo.conf for raid.<br />
#hda1,hdc1 are boot, hda2,hdc2 are swap<br />
#hda3,hdc3 are the partition used by array<br />
#root partition is /dev/md3 on / type reiserfs (rw)<br />
#I named the raid volumes the same as the partition numbers<br />
#this is the final lilo.conf file of a system completely finished,<br />
#and booted into raid.<br />
<br />
<br />
lba32<br />
boot=/dev/md1<br />
root=/dev/hda3<br />
install=/boot/boot-menu.b<br />
map=/boot/map<br />
 prompt<br />
 delay=50<br />
 timeout=50<br />
 vga=normal<br />
 raid-extra-boot=/dev/hda,/dev/hdd<br />
 default=RAID<br />
 image=/boot/vmlinuz-RAID<br />
 label=RAID<br />
 read-only<br />
 root=/dev/md3<br />
 alias=1<br />
 
 image=/vmlinuz<br />
 label=Linux<br />
 read-only<br />
 alias=2<br />
 <br />
 image=/vmlinuz.old<br />
 label=LinuxOLD<br />
 read-only<br />
 optional</p>


        <h2>
5.2 Test our new lilo.conf </h2>
        <p class="code">
lilo -t -v</p>
        <p>
(With a RAID installation, always run<span class="code"> lilo -t </span>first just to have Lilo tell you what it is about to do; use the<span class="code"> -v </span>flag, too, for verbose output.)</p>


        <h2>
5.3 Run Lilo </h2>
        <p>
Configure a one time Lilo boot via the<span class="code"> -R </span>flag and with a reboot with Kernel panic</p>
        <p>
The<span class="code"> -R &lt;boot-parameters-here&gt;</span> tells Lilo to only use the specified image for the next boot. So once you reboot it will revert to your old Kernel. </p>
        <p>
From 'man lilo':<br /><b>
-R command line</b><br /> 
This option sets the default command for the boot loader the next time it executes. The boot loader will then erase this line:  this  is  a once-only command. It is typically used in reboot scripts, just before calling `shutdown -r'.  Used without any arguments, it will cancel a lock-ed or fallback command line.</p>
        <p> Before you can do the 'lilo -v -R RAID' command, you must first do a 'lilo' command to update the Lilo boot record with the contents of your new lilo.conf. Otherwise Lilo does not know what you mean by 'RAID' and you just get a 'Fatal: No image "RAID" is defined' error message when you do 'lilo -v -R RAID'. So,</p>
        <p class="code">
lilo<br />
lilo -v -R RAID</p>


        <h2>
5.4 Edit /mnt/md0/etc/fstab and reboot</h2>
        <p>
to have /dev/md0 mount as root (/), when Lilo boots from our RAID device, /dev/md0.</p>
        <p>
Previous root (/) in fstab was:</p>
        <p class="code">
/dev/hda1 / reiserfs defaults 0 0</p>
        <p>
Edit it to:</p>
        <p class="code">
/dev/md0 / ext3 defaults 0 0</p>
        <p>
Note: edit /mnt/md0/etc/fstab, not /etc/fstab, because at the moment we are booted with hda1 as root (/) but we want to change the /etc/fstab that we currently have mounted on /mnt/md0/etc/fstab, our RAID device.</p>
        <p>
Reboot to check if system boots our RAID device, /dev/md0, as root (/). If it does not, just reboot again and you will come up with your previous boot partition courtesy of the<span class="code"> -R </span>flag in step 5.3 above.</p>
        <p class="code">
<span class="reboot">reboot</span></p>
        <p>
Verify /dev/md0 is mounted as root (/)</p>
        <p class="code">
mount</p>
        <p>
should show:</p>
        
        <p class="code">
/dev/md0 on / type reiserfs (rw)<br />
proc on /proc type proc (rw)<br />
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)</p>
        <p>
'type reiserfs' is just my example; you will see whatever your file system type is.</p>
        <p>
Now we are booted into the new RAID device -- md0 as root (/). Our RAID device only has one disk in it at the moment because we earlier declared the other disk as 'missing'. That was because we needed that other disk, hda, to install Debian on or because it was our pre-existing Debian system.</p>


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        <h1>
6. Reformat hda as 'fd' and declare it as disk-one of your RAID</h1>

        <p>
For step 6 reboots, we tell Lilo that
<ul>
<li>as in step 5 above, our root (/) is now on md0.</li>
<li>and now, /boot is also on md0,</li>
<li>and MBR is on both hda and hdc.</li>
</ul></p>
        <p>
Here we not only use md0's root (/) as in step 5, but also md0's /boot (it contains an identical kernel-image to the one on hda because we copied it here from hda in step 4, but we will be overwriting everything on hda in step 6 and can't continue relying on the stuff on hda) and MBR from either hda or hdc, whichever the BIOS can find (they will be identical MBRs and the BIOS will still find hda's MBR but in case the hda disk were to fail down the road we would want the BIOS to look on hdc as a fail over so that it could still boot up the system).</p>


        <h2>
6.1 Change the signature on /dev/hda to software RAID</h2>
        <p class="code">
cfdisk /dev/hda</p>
        <ul>
        <li>Select "/dev/hda1" </li>
        <li>Then select "[Type]" </li>
        <li>Then hit "enter". </li>
        <li>Then type "FD". </li>
        <li>We are setting partition to "Software RAID" </li>
        <li>Should already be set. </li>
        <li>Then Select "Boot" if not set, so that you can boot
off the device. </li>
        <li>All the boot partitions that are members of your bootable RAID device (hda1 and hdc1) should have the bootable flag set. If one is not set, set it here now</li>
        <li>Then select "Write" and enter 'yes'. </li>
        <li>Then select "Quite". </li>
        </ul>
        <p>
My two hard disks are from different manufacturers and as it happens, while both are roughly 40G, they have different architectures in terms of sectors and precise size. So cfdisk was unable to make the partitions precisely the same size and I had hda1 29,997.60MB and hdc1 30,000MB. This didn't work when I get to the 'mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/hda1' step. I got a, "failed: no space left on device!" error. So I ran cfdisk again and made hda1 slightly larger than hdc1, since I could not make them both exactly the same size. Now hda1 is 30,005.83MB and the 'mdadm -add /dev/md0 /dev/hda1' step works :-). (The remaining 10,000MB on each disk I am using for other purposes, including a md1 of 1,000MB composed of hda2 and hdc2.)</p>


        <h2>
6.2 Add the first-disk to our existing RAID device</h2>
        <p>
And watch the booted RAID system automatically mirror itself onto the new drive. We are currently booted from MBR and /boot device on /dev/hdc1, with /dev/md0 as root (/).</p>
        <p class="code">
mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/hda1</p>
        <p>
Note: We are adding /dev/hda1 into our existing RAID device. See if it is syncing.</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /proc/mdstat</p>
        <p>
should show that it is syncing.</p>


        <h2>
6.3 Write new /etc/lilo.conf settings</h2>
        <p>
these are from when we are booted onto RAID.</p>
        <p class="code">
boot=/dev/md0<br />
root=/dev/md0<br />
#this writes the boot signatures to either disk.<br />
raid-extra-boot=/dev/hda,/dev/hdc<br />
image=/vmlinuz<br />
label=RAID<br />
read-only</p>
        <p>
YOU NEED THE raid-extra-boot to have it write the boot loader to all the disks.</p>
        <p>
YOU ARE OVERWRITING THE BOOT LOADER ON BOTH /dev/hda and /dev/hdc.</p>
        <p>
You can keep your old boot option to boot /dev/hda so you can boot RAID and /dev/hda.</p>
        <p>
But remember you don't want to boot into a RAID device in non RAID as it will hurt the synchronization. If you make changes on one disk and not the other.</p>


        <h2>
6.4 Run Lilo with -R option and reboot</h2>
        <p>
(we are currently booted into RAID)</p>
        <p class="code">
lilo -t -v</p>
        <p class="code">
lilo -R RAID</p>
        <p>
The -R option tells Lilo it to use the new Lilo setting only for the next reboot, and then revert back to previous setting.</p>
        <p>
        <div class="note">
<b>Note 1:</b> Step 6.4 returned an error, "Fatal: Trying to map files from unnamed device 0x0000 (NFS/RAID mirror down ?)."</p>
        <p>
So I waited for the synchronization, started in Step 6.2, to finish (checking it with 'cat /proc/mdstat'). Once it was done, did 'lilo -t -v' again. No "Fatal" error; Lilo seems happy now (no "Fatal" message).</p>

<b>Note 1a:</b> The synchronization however took two hours! I checked with 'hdparm' and it seems I do have <b>DMA</b> turned off. Perhaps the synchronization would go faster with DMA turned on.</p>
        <p>
So I can now do Lilo with '-R <boot-parameter-here>' switch and reboot.</p>
        <p>
<b>Note 2:</b> another error, "Fatal: No image "RAID" is defined."</p>
        <p>
As in Step 5.3 above, I need to do 'lilo' first so that Lilo reads my new /etc/lilo.conf, otherwise Lilo does not know about my stanza labeled "RAID" which is new in my lilo.conf. (Yes I told Lilo about it on hda1 in step 5.3, but that was after I had copied the hda1 root (/) system to here, md0, which branched my system into two separate system configurations. So it needs to be done here, too. Then I can do 'lilo -R RAID'.</p>
        <p>
<b>Note 2a:</b> However, the '-R' switch is pointless here unless the lilo.conf stanza labeled "RAID" is *not* the first kernel-image stanza in my lilo.conf. Because if it *is* the first stanza, then it is the default stanza anyway, with or without the '-R'.</p>
        <p>
        </div>
Then</p>
        <p class="code"><span class="reboot">
reboot</span></p>
        <p>
and check</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /proc/mdstat
        <p>
and check</p>
        <p class="code">
mount</p>
        <p>
to be sure all is as expected.</p>


        <h2>
6.5 Now run Lilo normally (without -R) and reboot</h2>
        <p>
See what Lilo will do.</p>
        <p class="code">
lilo -t -v</p>
        <p>
If it looks okay, do it:</p>
        <p class="code">
lilo</p>
        <p class="code"><span class="reboot">
reboot</span></p>
        <p>
and check</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /proc/mdstat</p>
        <p>
and check</p>
        <p class="code">
mount</p> 
        <p>
as a final system check.</p>
      
        <h2>
Done.</h2>


        <!-- Appendix -->

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        <h1>
Appendix</h1>


        <h2>
I. RAID 1 Introduction</h2>
        <p>
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) refers to putting more than one hard disk to work together in various advantageous ways. Hardware RAID relies on special hardware controllers to do this and we do not covered in this HowTo. Software RAID, this HowTo, uses software plus the ordinary controllers on your computer's motherboard and works excellently.</p>
        <p>
RAID 1 is where you use two hard drives as if they were one by mirroring them onto each other. Advantages of RAID 1 are (a) faster data reads because one part of the data can be read from one of the disks while simultaneously another part of the data is read from the other disk, and (b) a measure of fail over stability -- if one of the disks in the RAID 1 fails, the system will usually stay online using the remaining drive while you find time to replace the failed drive.</p>
        <p>
To achieve the speed gain, the two disks that comprise your RAID 1 device must be on separate controllers (in other words, on separate drive cables). The first part of the data is read from one disk while simultaneously the second part of data is read from the other disk. Writing data to a RAID 1 device takes twice as long apparently. However, unter most system use data is more often read from disk than written to disk. So RAID 1 almost doubles the effective speed of your drives. Nice.</p>
        <p>
RAID is not a substitute for regular data back ups. Many things can happen that destroy both your drives at the same time.</p>


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        <h2>
II. Drive designators (hda, hdb, hdc, hdd), jumpers and cables</h2>
        <p>
<b>Drive designators.</b></p>
        <p>
Drives on IDE 1 -- Primary Controller</p>
        <ul>
         <li>
hda, Primary Master drive</li> 
         <li>
hdb, Primary Slave drive</li> 
        </ul>
        <p>
Drives on IDE 2 -- Secondary Controller</p>
        <ul>
         <li>
hdc, Secondary Master drive</li> 
         <li>
hdd, Secondary Slave drive</li> 
        </ul>
        <p><b>
Jumpers.</b> When moving drives around in your computer, be sure to set the jumpers on your drives correctly. They are the little clips that connect two of various pins on your drive to set it to Cable Select, Master, or Slave. IDE drives usually have a diagram right on their case that shows where to set the clip for what setting. Different brands sometimes use different pin configurations.
        <p><b>
Cables.</b> Use 80 wire 40 pin IDE drive cables, not 40 wire 40 pin or you will slow down your hard drive access. For best results, cables should be no longer than the standard 18". If your cable has a blue end, that's the end to attach to the mother board (I don't know why). I don't think it matters which of the two drive connectors on the cable you plug your drive into, the middle or end one, unless you use Cable Select in which case I believe the sable's end plug is Master and its middle plug is Slave.</p>


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        <h2>
III. Setting up software RAID for multiple partitions.</h2>
        <p>
You can have a multi-partition RAID system if you prefer. You just need to create multiple RAID devices.</p>
        <p>
I have found it useful when setting software RAID on multiple partitions to set the RAID device to the same name as the disk partition.</p>
        <p>
If you have 3 partitions on /dev/hda and I want to add /dev/hdc for software RAID, then boot /dev/hdc and add /dev/hda back into the device, exactly what I did earlier, but with 3 partitions which are: hda1=/boot, hda2=/, hda3=/var</p>
        <p class="code">
fdisk -d /dev/hda | sfdisk /dev/hdc;<br />
reboot<br />
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/hda1<br />
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/hda2<br />
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/hda3<br />
mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/hdc1<br />
mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/hdc2<br />
mdadm --create /dev/md3 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/hdc3<br />
mkfs.reiserfs /dev/md1;mkfs.reiserfs /dev/md2; mkfs /dev/md3;<br />
mkdir /mnt/md1 /mnt/md2 /mnt/md3;<br />
cp -ax /boot /mnt/md1;cp -ax / /mnt/md2; cp -ax /var /mnt/md3;</p>
        <p>
add entry in current fstab for all 3 and REBOOT.</p>
        <p>
Sync data again, only copying changed stuff.
        <p class="code">
cp -aux /boot /mnt/md1;cp -aux / /mnt/md2; cp -aux /var /mnt/md3;</p>
        <p>
edit lilo.conf entry in this case:
        <p class="code">
boot=/dev/md1<br />
root=/dev/md2</p>
        <p>
Edit /mnt/md2/etc/fstab to have / set to /dev/md2.</p>
        <p>
REBOOT into RAID.</p>
        <p>
Add devices in:
        <p class="code">
mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/hda1<br />
mdadm --add /dev/md2 /dev/hda2</p>
        <p>
Wait for sync, write Lilo permanently, and REBOOT into your setup.</p>
        <p>
It is not harder to include more devices in a software RAID device.</p>

 
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        <h2>
IV. Lilo</h2>
        <p>
You need special entries to use Lilo as your boot loader, I couldn't get grub to work, but nothing prevents you from using grub if I had the directions on how to do so.  Just standard Lilo entries WILL NOT WORK FOR RAID.</p>
        <p>
Entries in /etc/lilo.conf:
        <p class="code">
raid-extra-boot=&lt;option&gt;</p>
        <p>
That option only has meaning for RAID 1 installations. The &lt;option&gt; may be specified as none, auto, mbr-only, or a comma-separated list of devices; e.g., "/dev/hda,/dev/hdc6".</p>
        <p><span class="code">
panic='' </span>line in lilo.conf tells Lilo to automatically boot back to the old install if something goes wrong with the new Kernel.</p>
      
 
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        <h2>
V. Copying data</h2>
        <p>
Use "cp -anu" to just copy updated items. if you are copying a partition that is not root you need to copy the subdirectories and not the mount point, otherwise it will just copy the directory over. To copy boot which is a separately mounted partition to /mnt/md1 which is our new software RAID partition we copy as thus:  "cp -anu /boot/* /mnt/md1" NOTE THE DIFFERENCE when copying mount points and not just /.  If you just do cp -anu /boot /mnt/md1 it will just copy over boot as a subdirectory of /mnt/md1.</p>


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        <h2>
VI. Rebooting</h2>
        <p>
You should always reboot if you have changed your partitions, otherwise the Kernel will not see the new partitions correctly.  I have changed partitions and and not rebooted, and it caused problems.  I would rather have the simpler longer less potentially troublesome approach.  Just because it appears to work, does not mean it does work.  You really only need to reboot if you are CHANGING or rebooting a new Lilo configuration.  Don't email me if you hose yourself because you did not feel the urge to reboot. Trust me.</p>

 
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        <h2>
VII. initrd</h2>
        <p>
(Yazz D. Atlas)</p>
        <p>
initrd: Use RAID as initrd modules. </p>        
        <p>
The Kernel that is installed when you first build a system does not use an initrd.img. However if you just uses apt-get to install a new Kernel from the Internet those Kernel packages from Debian do us an initrd.img.</p>
        <p> 
The new Kernel by default won't contain the right modules for creating a RAID savvy initrd, but they can be added.</p>
        <p>
Before upgrading to a new Kernel you should modify the systems /etc/mkinitrd/modules to include the following:
        <p class="code"> 
~  RAID0<br />
~  RAID1<br />
~  RAID5<br />
~  reiserfs<br />
~  ext3<br />
~  ext2</p>
        <p> 
With those modules you should be able to install the new kernel-image package. The install will add those modules to the initrd.img that. Now you can do for example (I actually only tested with kernel-image-2.4.24-1-686-smp on a machine using testing and unstable listed in the /etc/apt/source.list)
        <p class="code"> 
apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.24-1-686-smp</p>
        <p> 
You will need to modify /etc/lilo.conf to include the right stuff. Otherwise the post install scripts for the package will likely fail.
        <p class="code"> 
image=/vmlinuz<br />
label=Linux<br />
initrd=/initrd.img</p>
        <p>
If you already have a new Debian Kernel installed that has an initrd.img already you can rebuild the initrd.img.
        <p class="code"> 
mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-2.4.24-1-686-smp /lib/modules/2.4.24-686-smp</p>
        <p> 
(The above is all one line)</p>
        <p> 
Run Lilo and REBOOT.</p>
        <p> 
You should now have the modules loaded. Check with:<span class="code"> cat /proc/mdstat </span></p>


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        <h2>
VIII. Alternative way to copy files to RAID partition</h2>
        <p><p class="code">
cd /<br />
find . -xdev -print | cpio -dvpm /mnt/md0</p>

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                <h2>
IX. Performance Optimizations </h2>
                        <p><p class="code">
                        hdparm -d1 -c3 /dev/hda /dev/hdc <br />
                        (go read about hdparm,iozone and bonnie++) <br />
                        </p>

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        <h2>
X. Quick Reference</h2>
        <p><b>
DON'T JUST LOOK AT THIS QUICK REFERENCE. Understand the rest of the document.</b></p>
        <h3 style="font-style: italic; margin: 3% 1% 2% -2%;">
Quick Reference -- setting up bootable system on /dev/md0 using /dev/hda and /dev/hdc as RAID 1 component disks</h3>
        <p>
Verify RAID savvy Kernel. (1) You should see the RAID "personalities" your Kernel supports:</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /proc/mdstat</p>
        <p class="todo">
Roger is not sure about his assumption, below, that /etc/modules will not list RAID if Kernel has RAID compiled in instead of loaded as modules. This needs be checked out. This step is in Procedure step 2, too.</p>
        <p>
(2) You should NOT see any RAID modules in /etc/modules (If you do, review step 2 of Procedure):</p>
        <p class="code">
cat /etc/modules</p>
        <p>
Copy partitions hda to hdc:
        <p class="code">
cfdisk -d /dev/hda | sfdisk /dev/hdc </p>
        <p>
Create array:
        <p class="code">
mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/hdc1 </p>
        <p>
Copy data:
        <p class="code">
cp -ax  / /mnt/md0 </p>
        <p>
Example /etc/lilo.conf entry for 1 disk RAID device:
        <p class="code">
boot=/dev/hda<br />
image=/vmlinuz<br />
label=RAID<br />
read-only<br />
#our new root partition.<br />
root=/dev/md0</p>
        <p>
Add second disk to array:
        <p class="code">
mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/hdc1 </p>
        <p>
Example final /etc/lilo.conf entry:
        <p class="code">
boot=/dev/md0<br />
root=/dev/md0<br />
#this writes the boot signatures to either disk.<br />
raid-extra-boot=/dev/hda,/dev/hdc<br />
image=/vmlinuz<br />    
label=RAID<br />        
read-only</p>
     

        <h3 style="font-style: italic; margin: 3% 1% 2% -2%;">
Useful 'mdadm' commands</h3>
        <p> 
Always zero the superblock of a device before adding it to a RAID device. Why? Because the disks decide what array they are in based on the disk-id information written on them. Zero the superblock first in case the disk was part of a previous RAID device. Also, if a partition was part of a previous RAID device, it appears to store the size of it's previous partition in the signature. Zeroing the superblock before adding it to a new RAID device takes care of cleaning up that, too.</p>
        <p>
Erase the MD superblock from a device:
        <p class="code">
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/hdx</p>
        <p>
Remove disk from array:</p>
        <p class="code">
mdadm --set-faulty /dev/md1 /dev/hda1 <br />
mdadm --remove /dev/md1 /dev/hda1</p>
        <p>
Replace failed disk or add disk to array:
        <p class="code">
mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/hda1</p>
        <p>
(that will format the disk and copy the data from the existing disk to the new disk.)</p>
        <p>
Create mdadm config file:
        <p class="code">
echo "DEVICES /dev/hda /dev/hdc" &gt; /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf<br /> 
mdadm --brief --detail --verbose /dev/md0 &gt;&gt; /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf<br />
mdadm --brief --detail --verbose /dev/md1 &gt;&gt; /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf</p>
        <p>
To stop the array completely:
        <p class="code">
mdadm -S /dev/md0</p>


        <!-- References -->

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        <h1>
References</h1>
        <p>
RAID 1 Root HowTo PA-RISC<br /><a href="http://www.parisc-linux.org/faq/raidboot-howto.html" target="_blank">
http://www.pa-RISC-linux.org/faq/RAIDboot-howto.html</a></p>
        <p>
Lilo RAID Configuration:<br /><a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/debian-user-200309/msg04821.html" target="_blank">
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/debian-user-200309/msg04821.html</a></p>
        <p>
Grub RAID Howto<br /><a href="http://www.linuxsa.org.au/mailing-list/2003-07/1270.html" target="_blank">
http://www.linuxsa.org.au/mailing-list/2003-07/1270.html</a></p>
        <p>
Building a Software RAID System in Slackware 8.0<br /><a href="http://slacksite.com/slackware/raid.html" target="_blank">
http://slacksite.com/slackware/RAID.html</a></p>
        <p>
Root-on-LVM-on-RAID HowTo<br /><a href="http://www.midhgard.it/docs/lvm/html/install.disks.html" target="_blank">
http://www.midhgard.it/docs/lvm/html/install.disks.html</a></p>
        <p>
Software RAID HowTo<br /><a href="http://unthought.net/Software-RAID.HOWTO/Software-RAID.HOWTO.txt" target="_blank">
http://unthought.net/Software-RAID.HOWTO/Software-RAID.HOWTO.txt</a></p>
        <p>
HowTo - Install Debian Onto a Remote Linux System<br /><a href="http://trilldev.sourceforge.net/files/remotedeb.html" target="_blank">
http://trilldev.sourceforge.net/files/remotedeb.html</a></p>
        <p>
Kernel Compilation Information and good getting started info for Debian<br /><a href="http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">
http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net</a></p>


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