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Dear Linux Admins,
Problem statement:
We have a VA Linux 2250 file server which has been up and
running with no apparent h/w problems for over a year, ...
This machine has dual CPUs and RAID-5 over 4 disks with a fifth as
hot standby. I know it's been running well because I've been using
it as my own personal play-pen. Those days are over as I'm now
permitted to place it in service as a Samba file & print server.
It still has what I the believe to be the original as shipped
distribution and kernel.
Exec Summary:
RH-7.2 installed on this machine "out of the box" for me. I used
"diskdruid" to partition the RAID. Instructions for replacing
the kernel are included in the details below. It is probably
safest to use the the v2.4.9 RedHat errata kernel on production
systems or wait for v2.4.18 to arrive and be properly aged. See
http://www.byte.com/documents/s=2470/byt1012259408690/0204_bar.html
for a paper on recent kernel perfomance on SMP machines.
Filesystem type "ext3" also performs flawlessly. I have no
reports for any journalling filesystems other than "ext3".
There were no VA Linux specific user groups reported. Various
Linux user groups were reported but none restrict their scope
to VA Linux issues.
A new company www.californiadigital.com has purchased the
manufacturing related assets of VA Linux and will resume sales of
newly manufactured hardware and provide fee-based h/w and s/w
support for systems originally sold by VA Linux.
Detailed Responses:
Question 2
... if I attempt a fresh install of RedHat v7.2 will the
stock Mylex driver in Linux 2.4.x correctly handle the VA Linux
version of the Mylex DAC-960 Raid controller ...
I received the following:
From Bob Staaf <rstaaf@cfl.rr.com>:
Red Hat 7.2 will install fine provided you boot the installer using
"linux apic" otherwise it will hang while trying to load the adaptec
drivers. Once installed though everything will run as normal. The
latest
errata kernel is 2.4.9-21 which includes new adaptec drivers written by
Alan
Cox and also includes new DAC960 drivers as well. I haven't had a
chance to
benchmark my machine yet (VA 2240, Mylex ExtremeRaid 1100) so I can't
tell
you if there is any performance increase. Once thing I also did was
update
the firmware on the motherboard and the Mylex controller.
From Robin Hill <Robin.Hill@biowisdom.com>:
The stock driver should support your card fine. You can try that part
out
without any problem anyway - just check that it gets far enough to
recognise the disk but don't actually run fdisk on it.
From Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc@linuxweasel.com>:
As far as I know, the stock Mylex driver in the kernel should handle
this card. Don't take that as gospel though.
From David Marshall <dmarshall@vmguys.com>:
Just went through an upgrade to a stock RH7.2 on a VA Linux 1220.
We have the same DAC 960 RAID controller, though RAID-1 in our case.
Here are some observations and things I did you may find useful:
- Being very cautious I upgraded using the Anaconda installer but did
not allow the installer to migrate the file systems to EXT3 - I knew
that this way I could boot off a backup kernel in the event of a
problem
- The stock RH7.2 enterprise kernel will not boot with the DAC 960
controller - you're going to have to configure and compile your own
kernel Booting the standard kernel results in a kernel panic as it's
unable to mount the root partition.
- Before VA Linux stopped supporting their servers there was a beta 2.4
kernel on their website. I had a copy of this installed, along with its
source. This proved very useful in configuring a stock RH kernel.
- I downloaded and installed all the Redhat updates, including the
2.4.9
kernel and its source.
- I configured the RH 7.2 kernel (the revised 2.4.9) via 'make
menuconfig' and simultaneously did a 'make menuconfig' using the right
.config file for the VA server, based upon their now defunct 2.4.5 beta
kernel. This proved useful and although there are additional options on
the newer 2.4.9 kernel I was able to set all the options that VA Linux
used, thus compiling a custom kernel that worked well first time.
- I rebooted the newly compiled kernel - it's stock RH7.2 (their
patches) but configured for the VA servers (e.g. DAC 960 support is
compiled in rather than a module) and it's run like a top since.
From Ben Ricker <ricker@wellinx.com>
I have installed 7.2 on a 250 with a Mylex RAID card and it installs out
of the box.
Question 3:
Is anyone aware of any problems using any of the journaling file-
systems on top a RAID system? reiserfs, ext3, ... What about Samba
in the mix? I'm inclined to stay with ext2, but thought I'd ask.
From Robin Hill <Robin.Hill@biowisdom.com>
We're currently running Samba on ext3 on a RAID5 system (a Mylex
AcceleRAID 352) without any problems - it's been going for a good 6
months
now. At home I have reiserfs on a RAID5 system with Samba on that -
again
no problems. It certainly _shouldn't_ make any difference whatsoever -
the
filesystem and controller are entirely separate.
From Darrell Parlee <darrell@parlee.net>
I do run a RedHat 7.2 server using ext3 on an ICP Raid controller.
That machine is a barn buster that has never even hiccuped. Can't
say about other controllers, but a reference point may help.
From Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc@linuxweasel.com>:
There's no problem doing this. Hardware RAID shows up as a standard
block device. Software RAID, using the 2.2 kernel series and journaling
filesystems had some troubles though. I'd go with ext3, and the
shipping Red Hat kernel. I've found it much nicer than ext2.
Ray
--
Ray Lillard Product Systems, Inc.
Member Technical Staff 1745 Dell Ave,
408-871-2500 Campbell, CA 95008
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