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<TITLE>The Software-RAID HOWTO: Introduction</TITLE>
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<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Introduction</A></H2>
<P>For a description of the older RAID layer, the one which is standard
in 2.0 and 2.2 kernels, see the excellent HOWTO from Linas Vepstas
(
<A HREF="mailto:linas@linas.org">linas@linas.org</A>)
available from the Linux Documentation Project at
<A HREF="http://linuxdoc.org">linuxdoc.org</A>.
<P>The home site for this HOWTO is
<A HREF="http://ostenfeld.dk/~jakob/Software-RAID.HOWTO/">http://ostenfeld.dk/~jakob/Software-RAID.HOWTO/</A>, where updated
versions appear first. The howto is written by Jakob
Østergaard based on a large number of emails between the author
and Ingo Molnar
<A HREF="mailto:mingo@chiara.csoma.elte.hu">(mingo@chiara.csoma.elte.hu)</A> -- one of the RAID developers --,
the linux-raid mailing list
<A HREF="mailto:linux-raid@vger.rutgers.edu">(linux-raid@vger.rutgers.edu)</A> and various other people.
<P>The reason this HOWTO was written even though a Software-RAID HOWTO
already exists is, that the old HOWTO describes the old-style Software
RAID found in the standard 2.0 and 2.2 kernels. This HOWTO describes
the use of the new-style RAID that has been developed more
recently. The new-style RAID has a lot of features not present in
old-style RAID.
<P>If you want to use the new-style RAID with 2.0 or 2.2 kernels, you
should get a patch for your kernel, either from
<A HREF="ftp://ftp.fi.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha">ftp://ftp.[your-country-code].kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha</A>,
or more recently from
<A HREF="http://people.redhat.com/mingo/">http://people.redhat.com/mingo/</A> The standard 2.2 kernels does
not have direct support for the new-style RAID described in this
HOWTO. Therefore these patches are needed. <EM>The old-style RAID
support in standard 2.0 and 2.2 kernels is buggy and lacks several
important features present in the new-style RAID software.</EM>
<P>As of this writing, the new-style RAID support is being merged into
the 2.3 development kernels, and will therefore (most likely) be
present in the 2.4 Linux kernel when that one comes out. But until
then, the stable kernels must be patched manually.
<P>You might want to use the <CODE>-ac</CODE> kernel releases done by Alan
Cox, for RAID support in 2.2. <EM>Some</EM> of those contain the
new-style RAID, and that will save you from patching the kernel
yourself.
<P>Some of the information in this HOWTO may seem trivial, if you know
RAID all ready. Just skip those parts.
<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1 Disclaimer</A>
</H2>
<P>The mandatory disclaimer:
<P>Although RAID seems stable for me, and stable for many other people,
it may not work for you. If you lose all your data, your job, get
hit by a truck, whatever, it's not my fault, nor the developers'. Be
aware, that you use the RAID software and this information at
your own risk! There is no guarantee whatsoever, that any of the
software, or this information, is in anyway correct, nor suited for
any use whatsoever. Back up all your data before experimenting with
this. Better safe than sorry.
<P>That said, I must also say that I haven't had a single stability
problem with Software RAID, I use it on quite a few machines with no
problems what so ever, and I haven't seen other people having problems
with random crashes or instability caused by RAID.
<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2 Requirements</A>
</H2>
<P>This HOWTO assumes you are using a late 2.2.x or 2.0.x kernel with a
matching raid0145 patch and the 0.90 version of the raidtools, or that
you are using a late 2.3 kernel (version > 2.3.46) or eventually
2.4. Both the patches and the tools can be found at
<A HREF="ftp://ftp.fi.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha">ftp://ftp.fi.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid/alpha</A>, and in
some cases at
<A HREF="http://people.redhat.com/mingo/">http://people.redhat.com/mingo/</A>. The RAID patch, the raidtools
package, and the kernel should all match as close as possible. At
times it can be necessary to use older kernels if raid patches are not
available for the latest kernel.
<P>
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