linux/Documentation/md.txt

Harald Hoyer (Harald.Hoyer@hot.spotline.de)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 10:55:01 +0100


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Hi,

attached is an updated version of md.txt.
I did it because someone complained about missing remarks to the md boot support
and lilo.
If you have to add or correct s.th., please mail it to me and I will include it
in md.txt.
If s.o. else is willing to maintain md.txt, she or he can take section 3 and add
it to her/his doc.

Yours,
Harald

--
»»»» Harald Hoyer ««»» mailto:HarryH@Royal.Net ««»» http://hot.spotline.de ««««
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Not only is UNIX dead, it's starting to smell really bad.
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Multiple devices driver for Linux Harald Hoyer <HarryH@Royal.Net> 26.10.98

This driver lets you combine several hard disk partitions into one logical block device. This can be used to combine several redundant hard disks to a RAID1/4/5 device so as to provide protection against hard disk failures. ______________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

1. Authors

2. Tools and Documentation Sources

3. Boot Support

3.1 Introduction 3.2 Boot Arguments 3.3 Usage with boot loader 3.3.1 lilo 3.3.2 loadlin

______________________________________________________________________

11.. AAuutthhoorrss

+o Copyright (C) 1994-96 Marc ZYNGIER

+o kerneld support by Boris Tobotras <boris@xtalk.msk.su>

+o Boot support for linear and striped mode by Harald Hoyer

+o RAID-1/RAID-5 extensions by: Ingo Molnar, Miguel de Icaza, Gadi Oxman

+o Changes for kmod by: Cyrus Durgin

+o Author of this document: Harald Hoyer

22.. TToooollss aanndd DDooccuummeennttaattiioonn SSoouurrcceess

More information and the necessary tools are available over FTP (user: anonymous) from <ftp://sweet-smoke.ufr-info-p7.ibp.fr/pub/Linux> in the md package and the md-FAQ.

Please read drivers/block/README.md and the relevant section of the Disk-HOWTO, available via FTP (user: anonymous) from <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO>.

Marc ZYNGIER <zyngier@ufr-info-p7.ibp.fr> or <maz@gloups.fdn.fr>

33.. BBoooott SSuuppppoorrtt

33..11.. IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

I added boot support for the md device, because if you wanted to have a md based root device, you had to deal with ramdisks and that was very uncomfortable. So now you have direct boot and speed support.

Harald Hoyer

33..22.. BBoooott AArrgguummeennttss

You can boot (if you selected boot support in the configuration) with your md device with the following kernel command line:

md=<md no.>,<level>,<chunk size>,<fault level>,dev0,dev1,...,devn

mmdd nnoo.. is the number of the md device ...

00 means md0,

11 md1,

22 md2,

33 md3

rraaiidd lleevveell is one of the following numbers

--11 means linear mode

00 striped mode (raid-0)

55 raid-5 mode

other modes are currently not able to boot without the md tools.

cchhuunnkk ssiizzee is for raid-0 and raid-1 only. Set the chunk size as PAGE_SIZE << n.

ffaauulltt lleevveell is for raid-1 only. Set the maximum fault number as n. Currently unsupported due to lack of boot support for raid1.

ddeevv00--ddeevvnn are e.g. /dev/hda1,/dev/hdc1,/dev/sda1,/dev/sdb1

eexxaammppllee llooaaddlliinn:: e:\ loadlin\loadlin e:\zimage root=/dev/md0 md=0,0,4,0,/dev/hdb2,/dev/hdc3 ro

33..33.. UUssaaggee wwiitthh bboooott llooaaddeerr

33..33..11.. lliilloo

WWAARRNNIINNGG:: If you want to use a md root partition, you have to place your kernel image zImage, bzImage or vmlinuz on a non-raid partition, e.g. a small /boot ext2 partition located in the first 512MB of the harddisk. lilo can't read from a md device at boot time, so be careful.

You have to add s.th. like this to your lilo.conf:

append="md=0,0,3,0,/dev/hda3,/dev/hdc2"

33..33..22.. llooaaddlliinn

Using loadlin causes no problem with a md root partition, cause loadlin must already have access to the image.

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#This file was created by <saturn> Mon Oct 26 10:45:33 1998 #LyX 0.12 (C) 1995-1998 Matthias Ettrich and the LyX Team \lyxformat 2.15 \textclass linuxdoc \language english \inputencoding default \fontscheme default \graphics default \paperfontsize default \spacing single \papersize Default \paperpackage a4 \use_geometry 0 \use_amsmath 0 \paperorientation portrait \secnumdepth 3 \tocdepth 3 \paragraph_separation indent \defskip medskip \quotes_language english \quotes_times 2 \papercolumns 1 \papersides 1 \paperpagestyle fancy

\layout Title \added_space_top vfill \added_space_bottom vfill Multiple devices driver for Linux \layout Author

Harald Hoyer <HarryH@Royal.Net> \layout Date

26.10.98 \layout Abstract

This driver lets you combine several hard disk partitions into one logical block device. This can be used to combine several redundant hard disks to a RAID1/4/5 device so as to provide protection against hard disk failures. \layout Standard

\begin_inset LatexCommand \tableofcontents

\end_inset

\layout Section

Authors \layout Itemize

Copyright (C) 1994-96 Marc ZYNGIER \layout Itemize

kerneld support by Boris Tobotras <boris@xtalk.msk.su> \layout Itemize

Boot support for linear and striped mode by Harald Hoyer \layout Itemize

RAID-1/RAID-5 extensions by: Ingo Molnar, Miguel de Icaza, Gadi Oxman \layout Itemize

Changes for kmod by: Cyrus Durgin \layout Itemize

Author of this document: Harald Hoyer \layout Section

Tools and Documentation Sources \layout Standard

More information and the necessary tools are available over FTP (user: anonymous ) from \begin_inset LatexDel \url{

\end_inset

ftp://sweet-smoke.ufr-info-p7.ibp.fr/pub/Linux \begin_inset LatexDel }{

\end_inset

\begin_inset LatexDel }

\end_inset

in the md package and the md-FAQ. \layout Standard

Please read drivers/block/README.md and the relevant section of the Disk-HOWTO, available via FTP (user: anonymous) from \begin_inset LatexDel \url{

\end_inset

ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO \begin_inset LatexDel }{

\end_inset

\begin_inset LatexDel }

\end_inset

. \layout Standard

Marc ZYNGIER <zyngier@ufr-info-p7.ibp.fr> or <maz@gloups.fdn.fr> \layout Section

Boot Support \layout Subsection

Introduction \layout Standard

I added boot support for the md device, because if you wanted to have a md based root device, you had to deal with ramdisks and that was very uncomfort able. So now you have direct boot and speed support. \layout Standard

Harald Hoyer \layout Subsection

Boot Arguments \layout Standard

You can boot (if you selected boot support in the configuration) with your md device with the following kernel command line: \layout Standard

md=<md no.>,<level>,<chunk size>,<fault level>,dev0,dev1,...,devn \layout Description

md \protected_separator no. \protected_separator is the number of the md device ... \layout Description

0 \protected_separator means md0, \layout Description

1 \protected_separator md1, \layout Description

2 \protected_separator md2, \layout Description

3 \protected_separator md3 \layout Description

raid \protected_separator level \protected_separator is one of the following numbers \layout Description

-1 \protected_separator means linear mode \layout Description

0 \protected_separator striped mode (raid-0) \layout Description

5 \protected_separator raid-5 mode \layout Standard

other modes are currently not able to boot without the md tools. \layout Description

chunk \protected_separator size \protected_separator is for raid-0 and raid-1 only. Set the chunk size as PAGE_SIZE << n. \layout Description

fault \protected_separator level \protected_separator is for raid-1 only. Set the maximum fault number as n. Currently unsupported due to lack of boot support for raid1. \layout Description

dev0-devn \protected_separator are e.g. /dev/hda1,/dev/hdc1,/dev/sda1,/dev/sdb1 \layout Description

example \protected_separator loadlin: \protected_separator e: \backslash loadlin \backslash loadlin e: \backslash zimage root=/dev/md0 md=0,0,4,0,/dev/hdb2,/dev/hdc3 ro \layout Subsection

Usage with boot loader \layout Subsubsection

lilo \layout Description

WARNING: \protected_separator If you want to use a md root partition, you have to place your kernel image zImage, bzImage or vmlinuz on a non-raid partition, e.g. a small /boot ext2 partition located in the first 512MB of the harddisk. lilo can't read from a md device at boot time, so be careful. \layout Standard

You have to add s.th. like this to your lilo.conf: \layout Standard

append="md=0,0,3,0,/dev/hda3,/dev/hdc2" \layout Subsubsection

loadlin \layout Standard

Using loadlin causes no problem with a md root partition, cause loadlin must already have access to the image. \the_end

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